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Tear   Listen
noun
Tear  n.  
1.
(Physiol.) A drop of the limpid, saline fluid secreted, normally in small amount, by the lachrymal gland, and diffused between the eye and the eyelids to moisten the parts and facilitate their motion. Ordinarily the secretion passes through the lachrymal duct into the nose, but when it is increased by emotion or other causes, it overflows the lids. "And yet for thee ne wept she never a tear."
2.
Something in the form of a transparent drop of fluid matter; also, a solid, transparent, tear-shaped drop, as of some balsams or resins. "Let Araby extol her happy coast, Her fragrant flowers, her trees with precious tears."
3.
That which causes or accompanies tears; a lament; a dirge. (R.) "Some melodous tear."
4.
(Glass Manuf.) A partially vitrified bit of clay in glass. Note: Tear is sometimes used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, tear-distilling, tear-drop, tear-filled, tear-stained, and the like.
Tears of St. Lawrence, the Perseid shower of meteors, seen every year on or about the eve of St. Lawrence, August 9th.
Tears of wine, drops which form and roll down a glass above the surface of strong wine. The phenomenon is due to the evaporation of alcohol from the surface layer, which, becoming more watery, increases in surface tension and creeps up the sides until its weight causes it to break.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Tear" Quotes from Famous Books



... girls dressed in "linsey woolsey," while the boys of all ages wore buckskin pantaloons and hickory shirts. Now, buckskin is well calculated to stand the wear and tear of even a robust boy. Yet there were awkward drawbacks. The legs of the pantaloons absorbed too much moisture from the dew-bedecked grass and they would stretch out to almost any length. The boy, therefore, ...
— Reminiscences of a Pioneer • Colonel William Thompson

... smiles. A little while now and the whole green earth in its tenderness would dimple exquisitely, with every dimple a flower. Mother Earth, moistening the bare brown fields for the plough with a capricious tear or so for the banished winter, was beginning again. And so was he. Hope swelled wistfully within him like song in the throat of the bluebird and sap in the trees. With the sun warm upon his face and the gladness of spring ...
— Kenny • Leona Dalrymple

... consternation the girl approached tremblingly from the inner shadow. The faintest and saddest of smiles for a moment played around the corners of her drawn mouth and tear-dimmed eyes as she held out her hand ...
— A Protegee of Jack Hamlin's and Other Stories • Bret Harte

... tell you in plain words what was the first suspicion that crossed my mind, when I had made that discovery. You would only be angry—and, if you were angry, you might tear my letter up and read ...
— The Moonstone • Wilkie Collins

... with contrition's tear, Familiar with grief and sin, The other with naught but the angel's face Who ushered the human in; The one a wrestler with Fate's decrees, The other ...
— Indian Legends and Other Poems • Mary Gardiner Horsford

... advanced towards his end. All that he owed to the Emperor was effaced from his mind; what he himself had done for the Emperor was imprinted in burning characters on his memory. To his insatiable thirst for power, the Emperor's ingratitude was welcome, as it seemed to tear in pieces the record of past favours, to absolve him from every obligation towards his former benefactor. In the disguise of a righteous retaliation, the projects dictated by his ambition now appeared to him just and pure. In proportion as the external circle of his operations was narrowed, ...
— The History of the Thirty Years' War • Friedrich Schiller, Translated by Rev. A. J. W. Morrison, M.A.

... her; poor girl, it would be better if she had"—and the kind-hearted tar brushed away a tear with his tawny hand. ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXIII No. 2 August 1848 • Various

... quality in me that makes me as I am—a flabby thing, with strength enough to push away all I desire in life, to keep untarnished my idea of honor, and yet too weak to tear the matter from my mind once ...
— The Reflections of Ambrosine - A Novel • Elinor Glyn

... must tear myself away," he rejoined. "I shall return shortly, and trust to find your father less flinty-hearted ...
— Old Saint Paul's - A Tale of the Plague and the Fire • William Harrison Ainsworth

... and pressed his lips together. Then he went on speaking, stiffly, one word at a time. "And I was saying to myself when you knocked that I would tear it up, every sheet of it, and set it alight in the stove yonder if it would take me back to that hour we had together ...
— Mary Wollaston • Henry Kitchell Webster

... I think upon the kind and considerate beauty Of the maid with the golden curls, And her patched, uncoloured robes of common cloth. And with a change of mood I charge the elegant ladies Three times the value of the articles chosen, And thus tear from their flowery bodies Pieces of their billowing silk To deck the less fervid ...
— Song Book of Quong Lee of Limehouse • Thomas Burke

... of this, to destroy life in you?" Every lean bare arm, that had been without work before, had this work always ready for it now, that it could strike. The fingers of the knitting women were vicious, with the experience that they could tear. There was a change in the appearance of Saint Antoine; the image had been hammering into this for hundreds of years, and the last finishing blows had told mightily on ...
— A Tale of Two Cities - A Story of the French Revolution • Charles Dickens

... could drink in a day an amphora (or about seven gallons) of wine, and eat thirty or forty pounds of meat. He could move a loaded wagon, break a horse's leg with his fist, crumble stones in his hand, and tear up small trees by the roots. See his life ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 1 • Edward Gibbon

... had pushed the rhinestone through a tear in the camel's coat and was slipping it on her finger, muttering ancient and historic words after Jumbo. He didn't want any one to know about this ever. His one idea was to slip away without having to disclose his identity, for Mr. Tate had ...
— O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1920 • Various

... we must make it all right for the burglars. Tell him we will have floors that can be used either way, with rugs or without, with matting, with carpets, or with nothing at all but their own unadorned loveliness. Those in the chambers, where there is not much wear and tear, may be of common clear pine, and we can paint or stain a border around the edges. The others ought to be of harder wood, and, as they will last as long as we shall need floors, we can afford to have them cost rather more than a good ...
— The House that Jill Built - after Jack's had proved a failure • E. C. Gardner

... inner conviction of Mr. Blaine was he had not the vitality to safely take the Presidency if he held it in his hand; that he believed the office would wear him out—that it was a place of dealing with persons who would worry away his existence; that he felt he could not endure the wear and tear and pressure of the first position, and preferred the Secretaryship of State, with the hope of going on with his South American policy, which he had developed in Garfield's time, brief as that was; and I conjectured that all this had been in his mind when he wanted Sherman ...
— McClure's Magazine, January, 1896, Vol. VI. No. 2 • Various

... and could not make up his mind to go into the house, into the snug peaceful nest, which looked out at him so hospitably from all its lighted windows; he had not the force to tear himself away from the darkness, the garden, the sense of the fresh air in his face, from that melancholy, that ...
— Fathers and Children • Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev

... been given for securing and increasing this trait. A large number rest on mere policy, and are good only for the surface; they do not go to the center. Others are too radical, and tear up the roots, leaving one without energy or ambition. The aim should be to keep the native force unabated, but to give ...
— The True Citizen, How To Become One • W. F. Markwick, D. D. and W. A. Smith, A. B.

... Boston was pressing tumultuously into King Street. The Twenty-ninth regiment was hurriedly marshaled under arms; it appeared at first as if the populace, thousands strong, and not without weapons, would rush upon them and tear them in pieces. But by this time the saner and stronger men had reached the scene, and set themselves resolutely to withhold the people. "You shall have justice," they told them, "but let it be by due course of law." And there was Hutchinson, promising everything in his dismay, hurrying ...
— The History of the United States from 1492 to 1910, Volume 1 • Julian Hawthorne

... great number of people I know. They will tear off in their own direction, and drag others after them who wish to go in another direction, and the fire of discord is ...
— The Village Pulpit, Volume II. Trinity to Advent • S. Baring-Gould

... This phenomenon is common in many countries, for only a few books such as the Bhagavad-gita, the Gospels and the sayings of Confucius have a portion of the eternal and universal sufficient to outlast the wear and tear of a thousand years. Vedic literature is far from being discredited in India, though some Tantras say openly that it is useless. It still has a place in ritual and is appealed to by reforming sects. But to see Hinduism in proper perspective we must ...
— Hinduism and Buddhism, Vol I. (of 3) - An Historical Sketch • Charles Eliot

... Maryland presents the example of complete success. Maryland is secure to liberty and union for all the future. The genius of rebellion will no more claim Maryland. Like another foul spirit being driven out, it may seek to tear her, but it will woo ...
— Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present • Various

... looking into them, saw within the breast of each a tiny likeness of the man or woman or child as it might be, humbly bent upon its knees with hands together in an attitude of prayer, and with imploring, tear-stained face looking upwards ...
— Allan and the Holy Flower • H. Rider Haggard

... awakened in him, and, conscious only of his sympathy, had left her hand in his as she would have left it in her brother's. She was bent low over the hound, her face almost touching his big head, and as Saint Hubert looked a glistening tear dropped on Kopec's rough, grey neck. She had forgotten him, forgotten even that he was standing beside her, in the one predominant thought that filled her mind. With an immense effort he got command of himself. Somehow he must conquer this sudden insanity. The loyalty that had hung trembling ...
— The Sheik - A Novel • E. M. Hull

... the life-boats were tear-bringing, hardly less so was the arrival of the boats at the Carpathia with their bands of terror-stricken, grief-ridden survivors, many of them too exhausted to know that safety was at hand. Watchers on the Carpathia ...
— Sinking of the Titanic - and Great Sea Disasters • Various

... calm," said the old woman. "I have a method of laying open to you the soul of Chamsada. Cause your hunters to bring me an egret.[17] I will tear out the heart of this bird, which I will give to you, and as soon as Chamsada shall be asleep, you must bring it near hers, and it will be impossible for her to conceal from you ...
— Eastern Tales by Many Story Tellers • Various

... Unable to shed a tear, Victoire stood in silent consternation, whilst Annette explained to the good steward and his son the whole transaction. Basile, who was naturally of an impetuous temper, was so transported with indignation, that he would have gone instantly with the note from Tracassier to denounce ...
— Murad the Unlucky and Other Tales • Maria Edgeworth

... with a tear and trembling voice, she continued— "Dear friends, do not think it strange that now, visiting you for the first time, I ask your assistance, and confide my wishes and fears to you. To you alone do I dare speak; I have heard you commended by impartial spectators; you are my brother's friends, ...
— The Last Man • Mary Shelley

... to sixty, and when relief arrived it was reckoned that in ten days' longer delay they would have perished to the last man. With one accord the wretched remnant of the colony, together with the latest comers, deserted, without a tear of regret, the scene of their misery. But their retreating vessels were met and turned back from the mouth of the river by the approaching ships of Lord de la Warr with emigrants and supplies. Such were the first three unhappy and unhonored years of the first ...
— A History of American Christianity • Leonard Woolsey Bacon

... enters into a warm attachment of love and friendship: it will be allowed, I say, that these feelings, being delightful in themselves, are necessarily communicated to the spectators, and melt them into the same fondness and delicacy. The tear naturally starts in our eye on the apprehension of a warm sentiment of this nature: our breast heaves, our heart is agitated, and every humane tender principle of our frame is set in motion, and gives us the purest ...
— An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals • David Hume

... scolds his children. At a quarter to ten he puts in an appearance at the Mairie. There, stuck upon a stool, like a parrot on its perch, warmed by Paris town, he registers until four o'clock, with never a tear or a smile, the deaths and births of an entire district. The sorrow, the happiness, of the parish flow beneath his pen—as the essence of the Constitutionnel traveled before upon his shoulders. Nothing weighs upon him! He goes always straight before him, takes his patriotism ready ...
— The Girl with the Golden Eyes • Honore de Balzac

... of these chariots, not quite breast high in front, and open at the back, contained one man to drive, and two or three others to fight—all standing up. The horses who drew them were so well trained, that they would tear, at full gallop, over the most stony ways, and even through the woods; dashing down their masters' enemies beneath their hoofs, and cutting them to pieces with the blades of swords, or scythes, which were fastened to the wheels, and stretched out beyond the car on each side, for that cruel purpose. ...
— A Child's History of England • Charles Dickens

... engrossing at first, less mingled with the charms of fancy, but often, perhaps on that account, more valuable, more enduring? Sincere affection of any sort, is that only which improves with age, gaining strength amid the wear and tear of life. It was to decide this question clearly, that Elinor had desired three months' delay. These three months had nearly passed; when she again met Mr. Ellsworth, in what character ...
— Elinor Wyllys - Vol. I • Susan Fenimore Cooper

... some years older than the countess, but his placid face showed less wear and tear,—a benevolent, kindly face, without any evidence of commanding intellect, but with no lack of sense in its pleasant lines; his form not tall, but upright and with an air of consequence,—a little pompous, but good-humouredly ...
— My Novel, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... punishment, nor could I find anything to say, out of countenance as I was and hideous, for to the disgrace of a shaven poll was added an equal baldness in the matter of eyebrows; the case against me was only too plain, there was not a thing to be said or done! Finally, a damp sponge was passed over my tear-wet face, and thereupon, the smut dissolved and spread over my whole countenance, blotting out every feature in a sooty cloud. Anger turned into loathing. Swearing that he would permit no one to humiliate well-born young men contrary ...
— The Satyricon, Complete • Petronius Arbiter

... title page added to printouts by most print spoolers (see {spool}). Typically includes user or account ID information in very large character-graphics capitals. Also called a 'burst page', because it indicates where to burst (tear apart) fanfold paper to separate one user's printout from the next. 2. A similar printout generated (typically on multiple pages of fan-fold paper) from user-specified text, e.g., by a program such as Unix's 'banner({1,6})'. 3. On interactive software, a first ...
— The Jargon File, Version 4.0.0

... the most wonderful library," said Peppino. "I can never tear myself away from it, when ...
— Queen Lucia • E. F. Benson

... struggled for utterance, but Miriam could not speak just then. She longed, as never before, to tear open the envelope addressed to Laurence Austin and read to North the words his beloved Constance had written to another man before she took her own life. She longed to tell him how, for months previous, she had followed Constance when she left the house, and ...
— Flower of the Dusk • Myrtle Reed

... his situation made him feverish; he felt that he could tear at the walls with his hands, and scream, and scream until his heart would burst. He was unmanned there in the dark. He began to realize this finally after his frenzy had thrown him into a fever. He gave over his pacing of the little ...
— The Bondboy • George W. (George Washington) Ogden

... hid a tear of emotion but squinted again at the little pocket-book. This represented the fourth way to peace, for he had old ...
— The Indian Lily and Other Stories • Hermann Sudermann

... energetic avowal without the encouragement of a blush or a smile, or the discouragement of a frown or a tear. All this that a lover watches for anxiously was hidden by a wall ...
— The Wizard's Daughter and Other Stories • Margaret Collier Graham

... might be seen attacking him in the chest and crushing his head. Elsewhere might be seen elephants crushing numbers of men fallen down on the field. And many elephants, piercing the earth with their tusks (as they fell down), were seen to tear therewith large bodies of men. Many elephants, again, with arrows sticking to their trunks, wandered over the field, tearing and crushing men by hundreds. And some elephants were seen pressing down into the earth fallen warriors and steeds and elephants cased in armour of black iron, as if these ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 2 • Kisari Mohan Ganguli

... of something in the same kind of burlesque with theirs; I thought it time to press the joke no further, and wrote a few couplets at a side-table, which, when I had finished, and was called upon by the company to exhibit, Goldsmith, with much agitation, besought me to spare him; and I was about to tear them, when Johnson wrested them out of my hand, and in a loud voice read them at the table. I have now lost recollection of them, and, in fact, they were little worth remembering; but as they were serious and complimentary, the effect ...
— All About Coffee • William H. Ukers

... smallest degree, Francisco; but do not trouble to tell me—it makes no matter. You have some idea in your head. Carry it out by all means; only don't ask me to cut my hands, tear my clothes, and put myself into a perspiration by climbing ...
— The Lion of Saint Mark - A Story of Venice in the Fourteenth Century • G. A. Henty

... night concealed it, a tear might have been seen by the others in the boat to trickle down the check of Nancy Corbett, as she was reminded of her former life; and as she again fixed her eyes upon the brilliant heavens, each particular star appeared to twinkle ...
— Snarley-yow - or The Dog Fiend • Frederick Marryat

... is called a fracture. The great danger in the case of a fracture is that the sharp, jagged edges of the bones may stick through the flesh and skin, or tear and bruise the arteries, veins, and muscles. If the skin is not broken, a fracture is not so serious, as no germs can get in. Therefore never move a person with a broken bone until the fracture has been so fixed that the broken ends of ...
— Manual for Noncommissioned Officers and Privates of Infantry • War Department

... the principles that support society, there is one which it does not understand, which its ignorance has vitiated, and which causes all the evil that exists. This principle is the most ancient of all; for it is a characteristic of revolutions to tear down the most modern principles, and to respect those of long-standing. Now the evil by which we suffer is anterior to all revolutions. This principle, impaired by our ignorance, is honored and cherished; for if it were not cherished it would harm nobody, it would ...
— What is Property? - An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government • P. J. Proudhon

... sheddeth! How dreary, how dead doth the world still appear, When only half-dried on the eye is the tear! ...
— The Poems of Goethe • Goethe

... trade by railway between the northern counties and the metropolis. So long, however, as the traffic was conducted on main passenger lines at comparatively high speeds, it was found that the expenditure on tear and wear of road and locomotive power,—not to mention the increased risk of carrying on the first-class passenger traffic with which it was mixed up,—necessarily left a very small margin of profit; ...
— Lives of the Engineers - The Locomotive. George and Robert Stephenson • Samuel Smiles

... Mr Thudicumb will do his best to beat out of the bay," answered Roger Trew. "I know that no seaman would like to be caught on a lee-shore like this in such a gale; and if it lasts long, even though the anchors do hold, it is likely enough to tear the stem out of her. The brig is not a bad craft for fine weather sailing, but she is lightly put together, and I wish that she was under weigh clear of the land, and then I would not ...
— In the Eastern Seas • W.H.G. Kingston

... polished woods, etc. Besides these minor attractions, a much greater one exists in the splendid view which we obtain from the terraces and from the summit of the Chinese tower. I found it difficult to tear myself from contemplating this charming prospect; a painter would become embarrassed by the very richness of the materials around him. Every thing I had seen from on board here appeared before my eyes with increased loveliness, because I here saw it from a higher position, and obtained ...
— A Visit to the Holy Land • Ida Pfeiffer

... one wagon were piled the guns and pistols of the emigrants, together with half a dozen men who had been wounded in the four days' fighting. In the other wagon a score of the smaller children were placed, some with tear-stained faces, some crying, and some gravely apprehensive. At Lee's command the two wagons moved forward. After these the women followed, marching singly or in pairs; some with little bundles of their most precious ...
— The Lions of the Lord - A Tale of the Old West • Harry Leon Wilson

... with joy that the Old Brown Coat had been found again. The Sixteen Coat-Tails came in very solemnly and took possession of it. Each of the Sixteen in turn looked over it carefully, but could not find the least rent or tear. "How wonderful!" said they, "but we are very glad to get it again; we are so distinguished now." The bells of the city were rung and crowds of people came to rejoice over the recovery of the coat. Meanwhile the Phoenix ...
— Seven Little People and their Friends • Horace Elisha Scudder

... the recital of famine to tear out a chunk of bear-meat and broil it on a stick over the coals. This he devoured with smacking lips, while Long-Beard ...
— The Strength of the Strong • Jack London

... uncleanly object became violently affected by the tender, motherly way in which she was addressed. Great tear-drops trickled down her grimy face, leaving a narrow, snow-like line in their wake. Presently she was convulsed with sobs that shook her whole body, whilst she wrung her hands as though some great ...
— Chinese Folk-Lore Tales • J. Macgowan

... the world is all unjust?" he roared, as he faced Houston. "Is eet that some of us do our part, while others store up for emergency? Eh? Bah! I am the mad enough to tear them apart!" ...
— The White Desert • Courtney Ryley Cooper

... She wondered how long it would be. There was watermelon at home for dinner; she had seen it borne in, a great, striped promise of ripe and juicy lusciousness, on the marketman's shoulder before she came to school. And here a tear, long gathering, splashed ...
— Emmy Lou - Her Book and Heart • George Madden Martin

... Gamelin pressed her daughter to her bosom, and dropped a tear on the collar of the box-coat. Then she began again ...
— The Gods are Athirst • Anatole France

... Thames; and as the privates evidently sympathized with the seamen, Major Brock not only seldom went to bed till nearly daylight, but slept with loaded pistols, while during the day he frequently visited the mess-rooms, to tear down or erase such inscriptions as "The Navy for Ever." But soon after he became the lieutenant-colonel, by happily blending conciliation with firmness, and bringing to a court martial two or three officers, whose misconduct could not be overlooked, he quickly restored ...
— The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock • Ferdinand Brock Tupper

... subject of a vast amount of research in various special branches of science. A very noteworthy fact is that both the physical work and the mental work of this human engine are always accompanied by both physical and chemical changes in the structure of its machinery—corresponding to the wear and tear of non-living engines. It also presents certain sexual and spiritual phenomena that have a striking likeness to certain phenomena, especially wireless phenomena, to electricity and to radium. This human engine-battery is of unusual strength, durability and perfection; ...
— Manhood of Humanity. • Alfred Korzybski

... looks to me this way. People can fight for some things . . . their property, and their vote and their work. And I guess the colored people have got to fight for those, themselves. But there are some other things . . . some of the nicest . . . why, if you fight for them, you tear them all to pieces, trying to ...
— The Brimming Cup • Dorothy Canfield Fisher

... claimed the quest and rode away, but first, Embracing Balin, 'Good my brother, hear! Let not thy moods prevail, when I am gone Who used to lay them! hold them outer fiends, Who leap at thee to tear thee; shake them aside, Dreams ruling when wit sleeps! yea, but to dream That any of these would wrong thee, wrongs thyself. Witness their flowery welcome. Bound are they To speak no evil. Truly save for fears, My ...
— Idylls of the King • Alfred, Lord Tennyson

... tumbled from his hand. He caught the handle of the door as though he would tear it from its socket, but his voice, when at last it came, was quiet, almost his ...
— The Cathedral • Hugh Walpole

... down in sackcloth and ashes? Wilt thou call this a fast, And a day acceptable to Jehovah? Is not this the fast that I choose: To loose the fetters of injustice, To untie the bands of violence, To set free those who are crushed, To tear apart every yoke? ...
— The Makers and Teachers of Judaism • Charles Foster Kent

... minutes. Then, of a sudden, she lifted her tear-stained face towards me, all rosy with blushes and wearing that sweet look which I had known so well ...
— The Seven Secrets • William Le Queux

... neighbours, who asked her what was the matter. "Ah! wahi, the head of my house is no more," cried she, "my heart is all bitterness—my soul is dried up—my liver is but as water; ah! wahi, ah! wahi," and she continued to weep and tear her hair, refusing all consolation. The neighbours came to her assistance; they talked to her, they reasoned with her, restrained her violence, and soothed her into quietness. They all declared that it was a heavy loss, ...
— The Pacha of Many Tales • Frederick Marryat

... free. At this stage, when his position was more difficult, and his guidance came from common sense and the military books, of which, ever since Bull Run, he had been trying, amidst all his work, to tear out the heart, there is evidence on which to judge the intelligence which he applied to the war. Certainly he now and ever after looked at the matter as a whole and formed a clear view of it, which, for a civilian at any rate, was a reasonable view. Certainly also at this time ...
— Abraham Lincoln • Lord Charnwood

... A tear stole slowly down her face, and fell upon the shining pearls that she still clasped between her fingers. "Why did not the grave cover us both? Why was I left alone and so desolate in the world? Can it be that Mark has deceived me—Mark Abrams, the only friend in the world that I implicitly trust? ...
— Leah Mordecai • Mrs. Belle Kendrick Abbott

... it was so piquant, and wrote in English, and most of it true, of the retiredness of her life, and how unpleasant it was; that being wrote in English, and so in danger of being met with and read by others, I was vexed at it, and desired her and then commanded her to tear it. When she desired to be excused it, I forced it from her, and tore it, and withal took her other bundle of papers from her, and leapt out of the bed and in my shirt clapped them into the pocket of my breeches, that she might not ...
— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys

... headlands beyond it stood out in bold relief against the sky, while to their extreme right they could see the whole sweep of the bay and the lofty downs above it. It is not surprising that they should have been unwilling to tear themselves away from such a scene. It calmed their agitated feelings, for Nora could not conceal from herself that one of the kindest of fathers was about to be taken from her, while Lady Sophy, almost friendless as she ...
— The Heir of Kilfinnan - A Tale of the Shore and Ocean • W.H.G. Kingston

... Mr John Gordon isn't let to put his foot here in this house; and then I'd go. John Gordon, indeed! To come up between you and her, when you had settled your mind and she had settled hern! If she favours John Gordon, I'll tear her best frock ...
— An Old Man's Love • Anthony Trollope

... aloud for a moment. Then ensued an interval of silence. Suddenly the interest of the subject seemed to lay hold upon her, and she began to speak very rapidly, lifting her white tear-stained face, and pushing her bonnet back on her ...
— The Mystery of Witch-Face Mountain and Other Stories • Charles Egbert Craddock

... Luttridge, and Miss Annabella, vanished from his view. He breathed nothing but love; he would ask no permission, he would wait for none from Belinda: he declared that instant he would set out in search of her, and he would tear that infamous letter to atoms in her presence; he would show her how impossible suspicion was to his nature. The first violence of the hurricane Mrs. Luttridge could not stand, and thought not of opposing; but whilst ...
— Tales and Novels, Vol. III - Belinda • Maria Edgeworth

... unction, and his looks—those sweetly softened looks! The other day, when he was speaking on the mediation of Christ, he was divine. At one moment he wiped away a tear; he was no longer master of his emotions; but he grew calm almost immediately—his power of self-command is marvellous; then he went on quietly, but the emotion in turn had overpowered us. It was electrifying. The Countess de S., who was near me, was bubbling like a spring, ...
— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet

... What have I said? Woe's me! And where Gone straying from my wholesome mind? What? Did I fall in some god's snare? —Nurse, veil my head again, and blind Mine eyes.—There is a tear behind That lash.—Oh, I am sick with shame! Aye, but it hath a sting, To come to reason; yet the name Of madness is an awful thing.— Could I but die in one swift ...
— Hippolytus/The Bacchae • Euripides

... morbid sensibilities in Mrs. Piozzi's composition. She can tell all her sorrows without ever a tear. A mark of exclamation looks better than a blot. And yet she had suffered; but it had been with such suffering as makes the soul hard rather than tender. The pages with which she ends this narrative of her life are ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 7, No. 43, May, 1861 • Various

... Otto, unable to repress a smile, which rose in spite of the ready tear that dimmed his eye at the mere mention of his mother. "You know the cat is her great resource—a sort of safety-valve. Sometimes, when I've been listening to her, lying on the rug at her feet half asleep, I've heard her talk to that cat as if it really was a human being, and tell it all about ...
— The Island Queen • R.M. Ballantyne

... chemical products. Then, besides all this direct destruction of commodities which must ultimately be replaced, or which at least some kind contractor may plausibly offer to replace, consider for a moment the increased wear and tear of every sort of equipment both civil and military, from steam-rollers and rolling-stock to boots and bandages and walking-sticks, which a state of war must involve. Or consider again that the mere mobilisation of an army implies that several hundred thousand men, whose annual income before was ...
— The World in Chains - Some Aspects of War and Trade • John Mavrogordato

... like those of a hunted deer. She looked mutely about her: how could she understand, who trusted so completely, who lived in a labyrinth without a clue, who had built her dream world so securely that she had left no way of egress for herself? These were cruel people! She was mad to get away, to tear off this strange dress, to fling herself down in the darkness, in the woods, hiding her face against the earth! But though she was only Audrey and so poor a thing, she had for her portion a dignity and fineness ...
— Audrey • Mary Johnston

... "change of front." I'll write to Nina by this post. I'll ask my lord to let me tear off this portion of the telegram, and ...
— Lord Kilgobbin • Charles Lever

... are tears in your eyes, you foolish child!' he said quickly. 'Did you really mind what I said, my dear Audrey?' in a more agitated tone—for, to his surprise, a large bright tear fell on ...
— Lover or Friend • Rosa Nouchette Carey

... this quarrel with Natalie de Santos. But she can prove absolutely nothing. He will face her boldly. She is ALONE in the world. He can tear the veil aside ...
— The Little Lady of Lagunitas • Richard Henry Savage

... animal caught sight of the grizzly bear. Frantic with terror, he turned and fled as mule never fled before. Down went the mule on the back track along the edge of the chaparral. Once in a while, as the bags flew around, they would catch on the bushes, and tear a hole. Soon the tin cups and plates began to fly, the mule kicking at them with every jump, making such a din as to set all the rest of the animals flying through the bushes, and down the trail in the wildest imaginable stampede. The huge ...
— Christopher Carson • John S. C. Abbott

... to pieces, and fight," said the sturdy Scotchman to his sons. They fought, father and sons together, and won. A like command seems to have come down the centuries to an American-born son—"Tear your briefs and petitions to pieces, and fight." He also fought, and, though sorely wounded, won. Shall the crown of valor be withheld by a free people that was once bestowed ...
— The Life, Public Services and Select Speeches of Rutherford B. Hayes • James Quay Howard

... to tear my clothes if you wish," replied Jack; "at the same time give me your pistol; I will draw the charges and load them again. ...
— Mr. Midshipman Easy • Frederick Marryat

... my love with weary burden fall Daily upon thy too accustomed ear With words so oft repeated that the dear, Sweet tones of early joy begin to pall? What gift of loving may I give to call Again to your deep eyes of brown the tear Of welling, full delight and love, the clear, Rose-petaled blush that holds my ...
— Ainslee's, Vol. 15, No. 5, June 1905 • Various

... knocks attendant on these ceremonies, the antelope had retired to a back attic, and bolted herself in; and at every new arrival, Miss Griffin had gone so much more and more distracted, that at last she had been seen to tear her front. Ultimate capitulation on the part of the offender, had been followed by solitude in the linen-closet, bread and water and a lecture to all, of vindictive length, in which Miss Griffin had used expressions: Firstly, "I believe you all of you knew of it;" Secondly, "Every one of you is ...
— The Signal-Man #33 • Charles Dickens

... struck with paralysis, pale, and gasping for breath, and says,—in that far-off, moaning voice we all remember in his famous farewell to the "big wars that make ambition virtue,"—"The widow sits upon my arm, and the wronged orphan's tear glues it to the scabbard,—it will not be drawn," etc., etc.,—or something of the sort. It was not so much a thrilling as a ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 106, August, 1866 • Various

... his eyes and looked at her face. She returned his glance for a moment, then flushes of color spread over her face and died down, and she dropped her face. He laid his hand softly upon hers, and spoke her name for the first time, "Alves." A tear dropped on his hand beneath the lamp, then another and another. He started up from his seat and strode to the window, keeping his back turned to the quiescent woman. It was terrible! He knew that he was a fool, but none the less something awesome, ...
— The Web of Life • Robert Herrick

... elastic principle. Never, under any circumstances, cut it away. Put two nails in the shoe on each side, and both forward of the quarters, and one in the toe, directly in front of the foot. Let those on the sides be an inch apart, then you will be sure not to cut and tear the foot. Let the nails and nail-holes be small, for they will then aid in saving the foot. It will still further aid in saving it by letting the nails run well up into the hoof, for that keeps the shoe steadier on ...
— The Mule - A Treatise On The Breeding, Training, - And Uses To Which He May Be Put • Harvey Riley

... detonations, bursting in a lather of rage. Out beyond, the billows appeared to be sheared flat by the force of the wind, yet that ceaseless upheaval of spume showed that the ocean was in furious tumult. For moments at a time the whole scene was blotted out by the scud, then the curtain would tear asunder and the wild scene would leap up again before ...
— The Iron Trail • Rex Beach

... twinkling in the friendly way they have. At last there was just such a night. All the afternoon little Miss Fuzzytail went about in the Old Pasture saying good-by to her friends and visiting each one of her favorite little paths and hiding-places, and I suspect that in each one she dropped a tear or two, for you see she felt sure that she never would see them again, although Peter had promised that he would bring her back to the Old Pasture for a visit ...
— Mrs. Peter Rabbit • Thornton W. Burgess

... and boys Tear their clothes and make a noise, Spoil their pinafores and frocks, And deserve no Christmas-box. Such as these shall never ...
— Struwwelpeter: Merry Tales and Funny Pictures • Heinrich Hoffman

... out our dog Cerberus, whose keeper I was! But I have got you to-day; and the black stones of Styx, the rocks of Acheron, from which the blood is dripping, and the roaming dogs of Cocytus shall account to me for you; the hundred-headed Hydra shall tear your sides to pieces; the Tartessian Muraena[438] shall fasten itself on your lungs and the Tithrasian[439] Gorgons shall tear your kidneys and your gory entrails to shreds; I will go and fetch them as quickly ...
— The Eleven Comedies - Vol. I • Aristophanes et al

... it they go pell-mell. Zadkiel is hemmed up in a corner of the cart-shed, and his brother and sister make pretence, to tear him limb from limb. Zadkiel defends himself gallantly, but has to succumb at last, for he is fairly rolled on his back, and in a few minutes is, figuratively speaking, turned inside out. Then they espy the good-natured admiring face of their mother, peering at them over ...
— Little Folks (Septemeber 1884) - A Magazine for the Young • Various

... order into the music as well as into the lives of people. But whereas it ennobled the people, it killed the music, the one vent in life through which unbounded utterance is possible; its essence is so interwoven with spirituality that to tear it away and fetter it with human mathematics is to lower it to the level of mere utilitarianism. And so it was with Greek music, which was held subordinate to metre, to poetry, to acting, and finally ...
— Critical & Historical Essays - Lectures delivered at Columbia University • Edward MacDowell

... blow but his bones were so hard he scarcely seemed to feel it. The violence of the attack overthrew Ourson. The wild boar, seeing his enemy on the ground, did not give him time to rise but sprang upon him and with his tusks endeavored to tear ...
— Old French Fairy Tales • Comtesse de Segur

... its march, which is to be diverted only by the penitence of the oppressor. Awake, O monarch, from thy lethargy! Disdain the abuses thou hast received: pull down the statue which calls thee immortal: be truly great: tear thy ...
— The Tatler, Volume 1, 1899 • George A. Aitken

... Harmachis," said my uncle, sternly. "What ails thee, then? If the lad is thus, the more reason that he should die. Wouldst thou nurse up a young lion to tear thee ...
— Cleopatra • H. Rider Haggard

... there is an enormous flow of sap which will sometimes tear the plates out of the pith. Grafts may be protected by girdling the stock a few inches below the place where the graft is set, or both above and below it. In 1937 259 walnuts three years old were cut off six inches above the ground and girdled two inches above ...
— Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Thirty-Eighth Annual Meeting • Northern Nut Growers Association

... exclaimed Christy, as he wiped a tear from his eye. "He was the guest of Captain Rombold; but he has been turned out of his cabin to ...
— A Victorious Union - SERIES: The Blue and the Gray—Afloat • Oliver Optic

... most remarkable feature in Caesar's campaigns, and that which indicates most clearly his greatness as a commander, was the smallness of the number of men that he ever lost, either by the sword or by wear and tear. No general was ever so careful ...
— Caesar: A Sketch • James Anthony Froude

... ears and look round, a good deal ashamed of himself; but he could not tear himself away so long as the cockatoo held that tempting morsel. The greedy dog knew that both the cockatoo and Polly never held anything long, and that if he only had patience he would get it in the end. Polly ...
— The Cockatoo's Story • Mrs. George Cupples

... wharves; 'The Man with the Coat of Green' had his company upon the morning adventures in the islands of fairydom. It was then, as in after years she was the woman serious, when her own songs moved her, with her dalliance and indifference gone. A tear trembled at her eyes at the trials of the ...
— Gilian The Dreamer - His Fancy, His Love and Adventure • Neil Munro

... sent on an errand with sixpence and had stolen the money; with many sobs and tears he confessed that he had spent it in cakes. Mr. Kent looked at the tear-stained face; the untidy brown head scarcely reached to the table, and the good magistrate thought, with something like pain at his heart, of a fair-haired boy at home. So he spoke kindly to the poor, trembling prisoner, and while he strongly reprimanded, still encouraged him to better ...
— The Coquette's Victim • Charlotte M. Braeme

... removal, elimination, extrication, eradication, evolution. evulsion^, avulsion^; wrench; expression, squeezing; extirpation, extermination; ejection &c 297; export &c (egress) 295. extractor, corkscrew, forceps, pliers. V. extract, draw; take out, draw out, pull out, tear out, pluck out, pick out, get out; wring from, wrench; extort; root up, weed up, grub up, rake up, root out, weed out, grub out, rake out; eradicate; pull up by the roots, pluck up by the roots; averruncate^; unroot^; uproot, pull up, extirpate, dredge. ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget

... her with its books and its sewing, but just now finished and neatly folded, gave evidence that she had spent a busy morning. Outside there was bright sunshine, too, but there was also a raw March wind that filled the air with dust and stimulated the tear-ducts of the eyes that faced it. The little glass porch had brought a very great pleasure into her life, giving her, during the shut-in winter season, always hard for her to endure, wider views of earth and sky, a flood of the sunshine in which she loved to bask and, on days ...
— The Fate of Felix Brand • Florence Finch Kelly

... place until the second chunk was tossed and he was ordered to take it. Then he, too, leaped and caught it, savaging it in mimicry of a kill. For a while, he stood watching them growl and snarl and tear their meat, great beasts whose shoulders came above his own waist. While they lived to guard it, the Crown was safe. Then he crossed to the hearth, scraped away the covering ashes, piled on kindling and logs and fanned the fire alight. He lifted the pack to the ...
— The Keeper • Henry Beam Piper

... gun-boats. Schools were dismissed; the children cried as they ran home, telling those they met that the Yankees had come to kill them and their mothers. But there were those who cried for joy at the sight of the national flag. The starting tear manifested the deep feeling of these friends as they attempted to relate the scene, but said it was impossible, as it was beyond description. It seemed like an oasis in a desert to meet such kindred spirits. We left them, with their ...
— A Woman's Life-Work - Labors and Experiences • Laura S. Haviland

... account have missed them. Ada again assured him that nothing should induce her to give him up, and he repeated his promise to hasten and claim her in spite of all opposition. The appearance of Bowse's honest face up the companion-ladder was the signal for him to tear himself away from her, and he had just time to get over the side, when the ...
— The Pirate of the Mediterranean - A Tale of the Sea • W.H.G. Kingston

... Indian raid could induce. I secured my weapons and mounted without realizing what I was doing. My first coherent thought was one of amazement to behold Cousin stuffing smoked meat into his pack with one hand while the other held a tough morsel for his teeth to tear at. He ate like a ...
— A Virginia Scout • Hugh Pendexter

... proprietor's own account, the cultivation, harvesting, threshing, and storing would amount to the value of 13,550 days' labour. The wages, seed, keep of horses and cattle, the interest of capital invested in stock, cost of superintendence, wear and tear of tools, etc., would stand him in 8,000 scudi, or 80 scudi per rubbio. The earth returns sevenfold on the seed sown. If 100 measures of seed are sown, the return will be 700. The average price of the measure of corn may be taken at 10 scudi. Thus the value of the crop will be 7,000 scudi, ...
— The Roman Question • Edmond About

... one of the advantages of sweetness and light over fire and strength, that sweetness and light make a feudal class quietly and gradually drop its feudal habits because it sees them at variance with truth and reason, while fire and strength tear them passionately off it because it applauded Mr. Lowe when he called, or was supposed to call, ...
— Culture and Anarchy • Matthew Arnold

... struck a match. Conspicuous on the table lay a piece of paper. She bent to examine it. A piece of lined paper, torn from an exercise book, it was neatly inscribed with the words "What is Life without Love?" The final word and the note of interrogation were somewhat blurred, as by a tear. The match had burnt itself out. The landlady lit another, and read the legend a second time, that she might take in the full pathos of it. Then she sat down in the arm-chair. For some minutes she wept there. Then, having ...
— Zuleika Dobson - or, An Oxford Love Story • Max Beerbohm

... and laborious, but rather singular and irksome. It was to drive the Sultan's bees every morning to their pasture grounds, to attend them all day long, and against night to drive them back to their hives. One evening I missed a bee, and soon observed that two bears had fallen upon her to tear her to pieces for the honey she carried. I had nothing like an offensive weapon in my hands but the silver hatchet, which is the badge of the Sultan's gardeners and farmers. I threw it at the robbers, with an intention to frighten ...
— Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 5 • Charles Sylvester

... a bric-a-brac merchant on the Quay Voltairean—an old-fashioned Jew with a filthy overcoat, the very sight of which made one long to tear it off—approached Maria one day, just as she was about to sketch a rose in the Marquise's powdered wig, and after raising a hat greasy enough to make the soup for a whole regiment, said ...
— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet

... may be strong and genuine, because there is no danger about it; there is the suave mari magno preservative from the risk of a too deep emotion. But in matters which directly affect the interest of the individual it does not do to be too serious. The tear of Sensibility must not be dropped in a manner giving real pain to the dropper. Hence the humoristic attitude. When Xavier de Maistre informs us that "le grand art de l'homme de genie est de savoir bien elever sa bete," he means a great deal more than he supposes himself to mean. The ...
— A History of the French Novel, Vol. 1 - From the Beginning to 1800 • George Saintsbury



Words linked to "Tear" :   shoot down, revelry, tear gas, tear sac, drib, gap, tear off, divide, piss-up, deplumate, drop, rush along, lacerate, displume, part, rip, deplume, H2O, rend, tearing, tear apart, speed, rive, race, hasten, lacrimal secretion, cleave, rent, tear into, step on it, teardrop, pelt along, rupture, weep, hie, bucket along, scud, separation, strip, dart, wear and tear, buck, bust, opening, tear duct, disunite, tear sheet, shred, pluck, cannonball along, rush, tear up, tear down, snap, driblet, split, lachrymal secretion, binge, shoot



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