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Whisper   Listen
verb
Whisper  v. t.  
1.
To utter in a low and nonvocal tone; to say under the breath; hence, to mention privately and confidentially, or in a whisper. "They might buzz and whisper it one to another."
2.
To address in a whisper, or low voice. (Archaic) "And whisper one another in the ear." "Where gentlest breezes whisper souls distressed."
3.
To prompt secretly or cautiously; to inform privately. (Obs.) "He came to whisper Wolsey."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Whisper" Quotes from Famous Books



... the Lust Haus, leaving the corporal as the next senior officer in charge. The answer in the negative was a great mortification to Mr Vanslyperken, and he descended to his cabin in no very good humour, and summoned Smallbones. But before Smallbones was summoned, he had time to whisper to one or two of the conspirators—"He's gone." It was enough; in less than a minute the whisper was passed throughout the cutter. "He's gone," was sibilated above and below, until it met the ears of even Corporal Van Spitter, who had it from a marine, who had it from another marine, who had ...
— Snarleyyow • Captain Frederick Marryat

... almost in a whisper. The strain upon him was terrible; he was using up the last remnants of his life to ...
— The Squire of Sandal-Side - A Pastoral Romance • Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr

... certain high holidays and occasions of state, the high-priest administers here a sort of mass, at which the whole court attend, even the chief ladies of the harem, who, behind heavy curtains of silk and gold that hang from the ceiling to the floor, whisper and giggle and peep and chew betel, and have the wonted little raptures of their sex over furtive, piquant glimpses of the world; for, despite the strict confinement and jealous surveillance to which they are subject, the outer life, with all its ...
— The English Governess At The Siamese Court • Anna Harriette Leonowens

... mysterious whisper which one uses for such communications, "Dr. La Touche has asked Miss Peabody to marry him, ...
— Penelope's Irish Experiences • Kate Douglas Wiggin

... seriously, "just you make up your mind that we'll never whisper a word of what you tell us to a living ...
— In Camp on the Big Sunflower • Lawrence J. Leslie

... and, whether it's her husband or adversity, whenever I can help her, I must try to do so." It was the revolt of an open nature against the evidence of his senses, but even while Geoffrey framed this resolution something seemed to whisper, "Was she ever fond of you? There is that in the woman's voice which does ...
— Thurston of Orchard Valley • Harold Bindloss

... bridle from its peg, and started for the door amid a respectful and sympathetic silence, which was only partly broken once by the voice of Mitchell, which asked in an awed whisper: ...
— While the Billy Boils • Henry Lawson

... 1853), 'Certainly not; but I claim that you shall not try to hinder our fighting our just and necessary battle against Austria.' This is the turning point. We did try to hinder it, hoping thereby to seduce Austria to our side. To whisper to Austria the words 'H. P. I.' would not have been to stir up those countries to insurrection, but to compel Austria not to threaten Turkey with her armies. Our Government encouraged her in it, and aided ...
— Memoir and Letters of Francis W. Newman • Giberne Sieveking

... other end of the room did not make him turn round, though the French banker had cried in an ecstasy, "Tiens! c'est atroce!" and had bounded up the hall. He sat on, hating this ugly place of his delay, while the Frenchman and the boy kept up an insincere, voluptuous whisper about God and ...
— The Judge • Rebecca West

... the scene vast music billows bound, And all the air is liquid with the sound Of those invisible compelling waves. Perchance they reach the low and lonely graves Where sleep brave Elliott and Hamilton, And whisper there the tale of victory won; Or do the souls of soldiers tried and true Come at the bugle call, ...
— Custer, and Other Poems. • Ella Wheeler Wilcox

... observe the support they receive from a number of Englishmen and Scotchmen, who are grown more German than the Germans, and just as religiously forget to make any reference to this missing link of proof. But these Germanised Scotchmen and Englishmen work hard for Bayreuth: now they whisper in awestruck tones of the beauty and significance of "Parsifal"; now they howl at the unhappy writers in the daily and weekly Press who dare to find little significance and less beauty in the Bayreuth representation; ...
— Old Scores and New Readings • John F. Runciman

... here," he began—but suddenly, to their amazement, the lady, who had seemed dead, with an effort raised herself on her elbow, and spoke in a quick, eager whisper, as if she feared ...
— McClure's Magazine December, 1895 • Edited by Ida M. Tarbell

... to whisper to the parent that the place where they would gain tidings of little Nellie was near that dark, flowing water, which, like such streams, seemed to be always reaching out for some one to strangle ...
— Through Forest and Fire - Wild-Woods Series No. 1 • Edward Ellis

... advance courteously, but in silence. "You may alter your opinion of me one of these days." Adding those words in a whisper, Monsieur Lomaque bowed once more to the bride ...
— After Dark • Wilkie Collins

... were the forests, the beasts and the men, And only the vulture dared again By the far, lone mountains of the moon To cry, in the silence, the Congo tune:— Dying down into a penetrating, terrified whisper. "Mumbo-Jumbo will hoo-doo you, Mumbo-Jumbo will hoo-doo you. ...
— The Congo and Other Poems • Vachel Lindsay

... Dolly to bed, and then went out to shut up the shop for the night. As he carried in his feeble arms a single shutter at a time, he heard himself hailed by a boy's voice, which was lowered to a low and mysterious whisper, and which belonged to Tony, who took the shutter out of ...
— Alone In London • Hesba Stretton

... projected through the air at a pace they had never experienced in their lives before, would say not a word, though the colour be whipped to their cheeks and their eyes rained tears until, clinging to the arm of the driver: "Stop here, mademoiselle!" they would whisper, expecting the car to rear and stop dead at their own doorstep; and finding themselves still carried on, and half believing themselves kidnapped: ...
— The Happy Foreigner • Enid Bagnold

... like my own repeating a promise—a promise unfulfilled that must be kept. 'I will return! I will! I will!' it says. And I hear voices calling in the wind, in the rustling of the leaves, and in the silence of the day, 'Come back! Come back!' And the birds say, 'Come!' The pines whisper to me strange things, and the laughing water in the brooks says 'Come!' ...
— The Strange Little Girl - A Story for Children • V. M.

... the night. There was a moon behind clouds, shedding a diffused light, gleaming now and again in bits of smoky mother-of-pearl. So they walked together on the wet, ribbed sands near the sea, hearing the run of the long, heavy waves, that made a ghostly whiteness and a whisper. ...
— The Rainbow • D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence

... me, my brave Mussulman!" faltered the Wallachian butcher in a terrified whisper, "wouldn't it be as well if you were to take my stick, for he might observe that I had it, and fancy I want to fight him ...
— Halil the Pedlar - A Tale of Old Stambul • Mr Jkai

... He began, straight off, in the most innocently artful, and transparent, and lubberly way, to lead up to the subject of agriculture. The cold sweat broke out all over me. I wanted to whisper in his ear, "Man, we are in awful danger! every moment is worth a principality till we get back these men's confidence; don't waste any of this golden time." But of course I couldn't do it. Whisper to him? It would look as if we were conspiring. So I had ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... the door and investigated the hall, then returning drew up his chair and said in a confidential whisper: ...
— Skippy Bedelle - His Sentimental Progress From the Urchin to the Complete - Man of the World • Owen Johnson

... and yet, when the fleet of Tourville had appeared on the coast of Devonshire, the western counties had risen as one man in defence of the government, and not a single malecontent had dared to utter a whisper in favour of the invaders. Similar promises had been made in 1692; and to the confidence which had been placed in those promises was to be attributed the great disaster of La Hogue. The French King would not be deceived a third time. He would gladly ...
— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 4 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... my father?" freezing through me, Lisped the mute innocence with thunder-sound; "Woman, where is thy husband?"—called unto me, In every look, word, whisper, busying round! Alas, for thee, there is no father's kiss;— He fondleth other children on his knee. How thou wilt curse our momentary bliss, When bastard on ...
— The Works of Frederich Schiller in English • Frederich Schiller

... the men along the ridge dreaming of the leads and pockets they one day might discover, and the owner of Cudlip's Rest trying to persuade himself that there was a future in the field—until one day a whisper went abroad. It ran from tent to tent and from shaft to shaft, travelling up and down the gullies and the ridges by the creek; bringing men to the surface from the bottom of the holes they had been digging for months, and drawing them out of the drives and cross-cuts they had been developing ...
— Colonial Born - A tale of the Queensland bush • G. Firth Scott

... porters were sleeping in the sun as only niggers can sleep when they are tired; but Adams was feeling as if he could never sleep again, as he sat waiting and watching and listening to the faint whisper, whisper of the grass as the wind bent it ...
— The Pools of Silence • H. de Vere Stacpoole

... looked behind him to discover. Was I fool enough, then, to trust his professions? I acknowledge the weakness. I was but a novice, he a practised courtier in the guise of a mountaineer. To make a clean breast of it, I even suspect that his self-gratulatory whisper is still ringing in my ear, for I find that Mademoiselle and I are rivals ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 80, June, 1864 • Various

... lecture nor meeting to detain her, and wonder passed into apprehension. Neighbors went into the adjacent woods and called, but received no answer. Every instant the awful shadow of some dread event solemnized the gathering groups. Every one thought what no one dared whisper, until a low voice suggested the river. Then with the swiftness of certainty all friends far and near were roused, and thronged along the banks of the stream. Torches flashed in the boats that put off in the terrible ...
— Early Letters of George Wm. Curtis • G. W. Curtis, ed. George Willis Cooke

... said, "I am going to tell you something which will surprise you very much. It is necessary that I tell you at once. If you answer me at all do not speak above a whisper." ...
— The Master Mummer • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... that to preserve the national representation from being corrupt no member of the National Assembly shall be an officer of the government, a placeman, or a pensioner. What will Mr. Burke place against this? I will whisper his answer: "Loaves and Fishes." Ah! this government of loaves and fishes has more mischief in it than people have yet reflected on. The English Parliament is supposed to hold the national purse in trust for ...
— The World's Greatest Books—Volume 14—Philosophy and Economics • Various

... those present slipped out of the enclosure, and hastened to whisper the news in the district. Thus it happened that while the tobacconist, the tavern-keeper, and their friends were still in the enclosure, people began to gather on the road to Santa Sabina, and a large group started in the direction of the ...
— The Saint • Antonio Fogazzaro

... mountains and the tideless sea Stretches a plain where silence reigns supreme; A land of asphodel and weeds that teem Where once a city's life ran joyfully. 'Vanity! Vanity! All Vanity!' Whisper the winds to Sele's murmuring stream; Whilst the vast temples preach th' eternal theme, How pass the glories and their memory. Think what these ruins saw! what songs and cries Once through these roofless colonnades ...
— The Naples Riviera • Herbert M. Vaughan

... of pity than herself. And then as he, thunderstruck, was still unable to find an answer, acknowledging the truth of her words by his very silence, she again began to speak to him of Lourdes, adding in a low whisper that she wished to confide him as well as herself to the protection of the Blessed Virgin, whom she entreated to restore him to faith. And from that evening forward she did not cease speaking on the subject, repeating again and again, that ...
— The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete - Lourdes, Rome and Paris • Emile Zola

... yore! O swear it that I may live! that I may be glad in thine hall, And weave with the wisdom of women, and broider the purple and pall, And look in thy face at the chess-play, and drink of thy carven cup, And whisper a word in season when the voice of the wise goes up, And speak thee the speech of kindness by the hallowed Niblung hearth. O swear it, King of the Niblungs, lest thine honour die of the dearth! O swear it, lord I have wedded, lest mine honour come to nought, And I be ...
— The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs • William Morris

... conscious, because she was ashamed of the reality; to which men have given a bad name, calling it Satan; and so it has to steal into the garden of paradise in the guise of a snake, and whisper secrets into the ears of man's chosen consort and make her rebellious; then farewell to all ease; ...
— The Home and the World • Rabindranath Tagore

... was naturally tender-hearted. She could not bear to see the younger girl crying. She ventured to step inside the door and whisper: ...
— The Girl from Sunset Ranch - Alone in a Great City • Amy Bell Marlowe

... to whisper, swiftly, with a horrible tremble in his voice: "Stand between me, Kate. Stand between me and him. Talk for me, Kate. Will you talk for me?" He drew himself up and caught a long, shuddering breath. "What have I been doin'? What ...
— The Night Horseman • Max Brand

... eighteen, she was twenty; she no longer kissed his forehead at night time, but stood a little further from him with folded arms, chastely smiling, ravishingly sweet. And he—he only named her now in a whisper, feeling as if he would faint each time the well-loved name passed his lips in prayer. No more did he dream of childish games within the garden of heaven, but of continual contemplation before that white figure, whose perfect purity he feared to sully with his breath. Even from his ...
— Abbe Mouret's Transgression - La Faute De L'abbe Mouret • Emile Zola

... when, from a pine tree close to him, issued a report sharp as a pistol shot. It was only the violent contraction of the wood from the severe frost, as he knew in a moment; and the deer browsing yonder on branch tops never winced, though a whisper or a footfall would have sent them bounding away. Presently the crack of Argent's rifle was followed by the spring of a buck high into the air, all four feet together, poor animal, as the death-pang pierced ...
— Cedar Creek - From the Shanty to the Settlement • Elizabeth Hely Walshe

... Rodd had tried to whisper comfort to his comrade, but only to be met with imploring words, the lad begging to be allowed to sit and think; ...
— The Ocean Cat's Paw - The Story of a Strange Cruise • George Manville Fenn

... the lower hall, rendering everything there plainly visible from above; and if Mrs. Stone had not been so distressed by that which was before her, she might have been aware of certain happenings just above her. Why did not some good fairy whisper in her ear just at that moment: "An' had you one eye behind you, you might see more detraction at your heels than fortune before you," but there were apparently none ...
— Caps and Capers - A Story of Boarding-School Life • Gabrielle E. Jackson

... turning over of the rubbish in the forecastle, and much marveling thereat, we ascended to the deck; where we found every thing so silent, that, as we moved toward the taffrail, the Skyeman unconsciously addressed me in a whisper. ...
— Mardi: and A Voyage Thither, Vol. I (of 2) • Herman Melville

... "And whisper'd words of comfort and love Fall sweet on the ear of sorrow; 'Why weepest thou? thou art troubled now, But there cometh a ...
— Queechy, Volume II • Elizabeth Wetherell

... looked upon as a soldier crazed by his sufferings; I heard a whisper, "Out of his head," yet as I gazed earnestly into those stern gray eyes which fronted ...
— My Lady of the North • Randall Parrish

... waking dream, Nor looked upon the earth, nor in the sky; But only far at sea whose amber gleam Was as the light that in fair gems doth lie. Entranced she stood—the mocking visions came— But see! she starts; upon the air her name Steals like a whisper of the wave's low song, Borne by the zephyrs of the night along. She turns—beside her on the rocks he stands With questioning eyes and eager, outstretched hands; She smiles, then starts back with a startled look, As some wild ...
— Love or Fame; and Other Poems • Fannie Isabelle Sherrick

... the crowd That thronged the daily mart, Let fall a word of hope and love, Unstudied from the heart, A whisper on the tumult thrown, A transitory breath, It raised a brother from the dust, It saved a soul from death. O germ! O fount! O word of love! O thought at random cast! Ye were but little at the first, But ...
— Poems Every Child Should Know - The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library • Various

... Timid deer trip to the shore to listen; ferocious bears, catching the echo, shed tears of penitence; all creatures of the roaring kind acknowledge themselves surpassed and silenced; the whispering pines whisper all the more softly, as if ashamed of their own verbal weakness. All speeches, even the speeches of a TRAIN, must come to an end; and having ended, the floating DEMOSTHENES sits down to write to the newspapers, that he has just been delivered of his four-hundred-and- twenty-second, ...
— Punchinello, Vol.1, No. 12 , June 18,1870 • Various

... said Emma Jane in an awe-struck whisper. "He raised his hat to us, and we not thirteen! It'll be five years before ...
— Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm • Kate Douglas Wiggin

... most likely never have one now; it had a sad deserted look, and yet it reminded her as nothing else would have done of her promise half an hour ago. She seemed to see Sophia Jane's eager little face, to hear her whisper "soon," and to feel the clasp of her weak fingers. Better feelings came back, to her. She put her jealous thoughts aside with a struggle, and as she wrapped up the collar again determined that to-morrow, if possible, she would take it to Mademoiselle ...
— Susan - A Story for Children • Amy Walton

... angry and alarmed. Fisher, of Philadelphia, jostling right and left in his haste, made his way toward her. She fairly snatched his arm, clung to it with a warmth I had never seen expressed in a ballroom, and began to whisper in his ear. It was not five minutes before he came to me, alone, with a very stern face, bent ...
— Short Story Classics (American) Vol. 2 • Various

... short whisper, which I observed you took with your master, I imagine, Mr Page, you come to ask a ...
— The Works Of John Dryden, Volume 4 (of 18) - Almanzor And Almahide, Marriage-a-la-Mode, The Assignation • John Dryden

... to feel the awe and beauty of the place, and called the direction to me in a whisper. Even that murmur was enough to carry above the rustling of the palms, and startled hundreds of monkeys into wakefulness. We could hear their barks and cries echoing from every part of the forest, and as they sprang from ...
— Captain Macklin • Richard Harding Davis

... is to take the hoss in my string, get him identified 'n' start him a couple of times; then when the odds is real juicy I'm to start Friendless under the dog's name 'n' Harms 'n' his gang'll bet him to a whisper at the poolrooms ...
— Blister Jones • John Taintor Foote

... tranquillity, on constitutional grounds, may be restored, and the horrors of civil discord prevented." Jefferson stated, "Before the 19th of April, 1775 (the day of General Gage's attack on Concord, and the Lexington affair), I never heard a whisper of a disposition to separate from Great Britain." And thirty-seven days before that wanton aggression of General Gage,[371] John Adams, in ...
— The Loyalists of America and Their Times, Vol. 1 of 2 - From 1620-1816 • Egerton Ryerson

... usually left town for their country estates had not gone away that summer. As Natasha, at her mother's side, passed through the crowd behind a liveried footman who cleared the way for them, she heard a young man speaking about her in too loud a whisper. ...
— War and Peace • Leo Tolstoy

... "Come closer, Mag—whisper, Dan. Here, you," said Greene to the foreman, and that official bent down to catch the words which were growing fainter every moment. "I'm goin' to die. Ye mind the time ye kicked me out at the round-house? Well, ye don't need to say; I mind, an' that's sufficient. I swore to git even ...
— Snow on the Headlight - A Story of the Great Burlington Strike • Cy Warman

... come back a terror!" Lucinda cried to Joshua in a high whisper when he brought in the trunk. "She looks like nothin' was goin' to be good enough for her ...
— The Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary • Anne Warner

... interview had several times been interrupted by fear. "Your father is at home, be careful," his mother had said to him each time that he had spoken above a whisper. And his Aunt Elena had stationed herself at the door with a dramatic air, like a stage heroine resolved to plunge a dagger into the tyrant who should dare to cross the threshold. The entire family ...
— The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse • Vicente Blasco Ibanez

... looked around in the clear starlight. The sentinels were all slumbering at their posts. He advanced stealthily in the dusky streets. Not a watchman was going his rounds. Soldiers, burghers, children, women, exhausted by incessant fatigue, were all asleep. Not a footfall was heard; not a whisper broke the silence; it seemed a city of the dead. The soldier crept back through the crevice, and hastened to apprise ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley

... should be glad to meet Mr. Warwick Lake, and I am confident that no two men of common sense and good intentions can fail, in ten minutes, to arrange it so as to meet the Prince's wishes, and not to leave the shadow of a pretence for envious malignity to whisper a ...
— Memoirs of the Life of Rt. Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan Vol 2 • Thomas Moore

... thing," he reasoned in a whisper. "Mark may be in hiding, taking an observation of the mysterious man, and I don't want to spoil it, by butting in. Guess I'll lie low for a while, ...
— Lost on the Moon - or In Quest Of The Field of Diamonds • Roy Rockwood

... know, do you? Well, the important thing now is to see that others don't find out. Don't even whisper the word. Malaria's our cue; pernicious malaria. What's the use of scaring every one to death? We'll call a public meeting for ...
— The Clarion • Samuel Hopkins Adams

... possible by a bequest of $200,000 left by Regent Arthur Hill, '65e, of Saginaw upon his death in 1909, forms one of the unique features of the University's equipment. Despite its seating capacity, with the stage, of over 5,000, it has almost perfect acoustic properties, so that a whisper from the stage can be heard in any portion of this great hall. Its completion in 1913 enabled the University at last to bring the great part of the students together under one roof upon such occasions as the annual convocation, the official opening of the University in the fall. The problem ...
— The University of Michigan • Wilfred Shaw

... Mary Grey's own calculated actions while waiting at the station, a whisper had got around among the attendants that the lovely young lady in black had come down to meet her lover and elope with him; and from the attendants it had reached the ears of ...
— Victor's Triumph - Sequel to A Beautiful Fiend • Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth

... mounting the ladder with the executioner, and when they reached the platform he told her to kneel down in front of a block which lay across it. Then the doctor, who had mounted with a step less firm than hers, came and knelt beside her, but turned in the other direction, so that he might whisper in her ear—that is, the marquise faced the river, and the doctor faced the Hotel de Ville. Scarcely had they taken their place thus when the man took down her hair and began cutting it at the back and at the sides, making her turn her head ...
— CELEBRATED CRIMES, COMPLETE - THE MARQUISE DE BRINVILLIERS • ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE

... dips; the stars rush out: At one stride comes the dark; With far-heard whisper, o'er the sea, Off shot ...
— Poems of Coleridge • Coleridge, ed Arthur Symons

... went dead white, even to the lips, at the remembrance, and her voice sank almost to a whisper as she added: ...
— Dainty's Cruel Rivals - The Fatal Birthday • Mrs. Alex McVeigh Miller

... tell me your story, my beautiful friend," she breathed in a low whisper; "here the cross old people cannot disturb us; and, besides, our roof of leaves here will make quite as good a shelter as ...
— Undine - I • Friedrich de la Motte Fouque

... dressing, Bill Ball caught breath enough to whisper to Lee: "By cripes! I've got it. Circuit's got a hunch some feller's tryin' to rope an' hobble his gal, an' he's goin' to ask Tom for his time, fork a cayuse, an' hit a lope for a railroad that'll take him to whatever little ol' humanyville his gal ...
— The Red-Blooded Heroes of the Frontier • Edgar Beecher Bronson

... De Quincey's age when three deaths happened in the family, which he remembered, not by tradition, but by his own contemporary emotions. A sister of three and a half died, and he was perplexed by her disappearance, and terrified by the household whisper that she had been ill-used just before her death by a servant. A grandmother died about the same time, leaving little impression, because she had been little seen. The other death was of a beloved kingfisher, by a doleful accident. When the boy was ...
— Brave Men and Women - Their Struggles, Failures, And Triumphs • O.E. Fuller

... If you doubt it, now that we're in the moonlight, look up and see my face. Oho! you recognise me, I see. Well, you will die looking at me, you dog, if you deny me what I'm after. I'll loosen my grip enough for you to whisper, and no more. Now what's the password that Clodoche must give to Margot to-night at 'The Twisted Arm'? Tell me what it is; if you want your life, tell ...
— Cleek: the Man of the Forty Faces • Thomas W. Hanshew

... won't say anything about it to the grans?" Marian's voice dropped to a whisper. "When papa sends me money it always goes to the missions; it is my sacrifice, Grandma says. As long as I don't have the money really in my hands, it doesn't so much matter, but it would matter if I had to go without ...
— Little Maid Marian • Amy E. Blanchard

... watch by Jackson's bedside. None of the natives would stay near him. For two days he lay unconscious. At the end of that time he seemed to have some idea of the outside world, for his eyes met mine with intelligence in their look, and on bending over him I heard him whisper, "Forgive me!" Then he relapsed into unconsciousness again. Through the long hours his eyes remained ever open and restless; he could not eat, nor did he sleep, and I was afraid he would pass away through weakness ...
— Stories by English Authors: Africa • Various

... Pyecroft in a whisper. "Because I've just seen a sacred ibis walkin' arm in arm with a British ...
— Traffics and Discoveries • Rudyard Kipling

... formal enough, and the quaint stateliness of the handwriting conveyed its own message of reserve and distance but the signature thrilled her through and through. "Mother!" she repeated, in a whisper. She went out of the post-office blindly, with the precious missive tightly clasped in ...
— Master of the Vineyard • Myrtle Reed

... knew the nature of my errand. I went down stairs and walked up the street, in the greatest perplexity; for—let me whisper it into your ear, reader, I had not a sufficient amount of the current coin of the realm in my pockets to create a ...
— My Life: or the Adventures of Geo. Thompson - Being the Auto-Biography of an Author. Written by Himself. • George Thompson

... the prodigious head and the baby mouth and the intense, deepset, restless eyes stood by his chair, and with knuckles on the table much of the time, talked down into the flowers directly in front of him. He spoke sometimes in a husky, low voice, now and again in a smothered shriek, again in a tragic whisper. He was in a small gathering and he seemed to know that though the dingy, mysterious room was somewhat high, he had no need to lift his voice to the shrill impetuous discord that is said to characterize his speeches in Commons or Lords. He was carried away by some indefinable ...
— The Masques of Ottawa • Domino

... the tempter was again there—a messenger of Satan ready to overthrow the faith which until now had sustained him. "Finding is not stealing," was the specious whisper; "and ...
— Watch—Work—Wait - Or, The Orphan's Victory • Sarah A. Myers

... appeared at the door leading to the other half of the cottage; she was apparently speaking to Miss March on the staircase. We heard again those clear, quick, decided tones, but subdued to a half-whisper. ...
— John Halifax, Gentleman • Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

... In dying notes discovers The woes of hopeless lovers, Whose dirge is whisper'd by the ...
— The Golden Treasury - Of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language • Various

... not happen in again for nearly two weeks and then only to pay a brief call, but he stole an opportunity, when Katy John was not looking, to whisper in Stella's ear: ...
— Big Timber - A Story of the Northwest • Bertrand W. Sinclair

... there was a knock at the door. She opened it and admitted Rowland. He went to the bed, and began to whisper gently of the hope of salvation to those who believe. Gladys opened her eyes, and caught the hand ...
— Gladys, the Reaper • Anne Beale

... which no lights were allowed, and mysterious halts occurred, when we flung ourselves down at our horses' feet on the dusty road and took snatches of sleep. Then a rumbling would be heard, and down the column would come the whisper "The guns are up"—probably some obstacle such as a drift or donga had delayed them—then forward. We halted at twelve and were up again at four. The day being Sunday we, as usual out here, rested ...
— A Yeoman's Letters - Third Edition • P. T. Ross

... very happy looking woman came to the door, and stilled the little one's boisterous proclamation to the hoarse whisper of, "A lady! A lady!" as she took her hand; but she did not rebuke or ...
— The Quality of Mercy • W. D. Howells

... take her to the tea-room for some ice, and there it was that, while I was standing with my partner a little way off, we heard Miss Avice Stympson's peculiarly penetrating attempt at a whisper, observing, "Yes, it is melancholy! I thought we were safe here, or I never should have brought my dear little Birdie.... What, don't you know? There's no doubt of it—the glaze on the pottery is dead men's bones. They have an arrangement with the hospitals in London, ...
— My Young Alcides - A Faded Photograph • Charlotte M. Yonge

... on until there were twenty lines on the paper. The game was growing exciting and, under the stress of it, the counting on the old settee rose above the discreet whisper it was originally meant to be. "Twenty-one!" cried Amanda. Aunt Rebecca walked to ...
— Amanda - A Daughter of the Mennonites • Anna Balmer Myers

... the naval gun's shells—for he evidently had a nonchalant idea that there was some one about there—went flying overhead and bursting beyond. This was very irritating to watch, and I was glad to be sent back to "whisper a word in his ear." Making a hasty sketch of the hill, I galloped back and presented it to the captain with explanation, and had the satisfaction of seeing 300 yards knocked off "Joey's" next shot, which was, I should judge, a very hot one. "Stay and have some grub," said ...
— With Rimington • L. March Phillipps

... defying the spring, "signify that both the spear-head and the spear-handle belong to the Sioux chief whose daughter"—and I lowered my voice to a whisper which only Laplante and Hamilton could ...
— Lords of the North • A. C. Laut

... time George and I had edged nearer the porch, and even before he breathed her name in a whisper, I knew in the instant that her sparkling glance ran over me, that she was my little girl of the red shoes just budding into womanhood. She was standing in a square patch of sunlight, midway between the steps ...
— The Romance of a Plain Man • Ellen Glasgow

... you have done at your uncle's house," said he, in a whisper, as though he had possessed himself of ...
— Seek and Find - or The Adventures of a Smart Boy • Oliver Optic

... severity to second-class men. After I had sent it off, an ugly little voice asked me, once or twice, how much of my noble defence of the poor in spirit and in fact, was owing to your having not seldom smashed favourite notions of my own. I silenced the ugly little voice with contempt, but it would whisper again and again. I sometimes despise myself as a poor compiler as heartily as you could do, though I do NOT despise my whole work, as I think there is enough known to lay a foundation for the discussion on ...
— The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume I • Francis Darwin

... his room," answered the other in a whisper, closing the front door with infinite softness. "He won't let me go in, the doctor won't; I—I ain't seen him in four days. Ask the doctor if I can't just have a blink at him—just a little blink through the crack of the door. Just think, Miss, I ain't seen him in four ...
— A Man's Woman • Frank Norris

... apostle, because I persecuted the church of God," 1 Cor. xv. 9. And shall I add the example of a great father? Augustine confesseth(1385) honestly, that for the space of nine years he both was deceived, and did deceive others. Nature will whisper to a man to look to his credit: but the text here calleth for another thing,—to look to the honour of God, and to thine own shame; and yet in so doing thou shalt be more highly esteemed both by God and by his children. Now without this let a man seem to turn and reform never so well, all is unsure ...
— The Works of Mr. George Gillespie (Vol. 1 of 2) • George Gillespie

... he was outnumbered and that the boys from Cedar Lodge meant business. He grumbled a good deal and talked in a whisper with Werner and Glutts. In the meanwhile, Codfish hurriedly gathered together his few belongings, and presently announced that he was ...
— The Rover Boys on a Hunt - or The Mysterious House in the Woods • Arthur M. Winfield (Edward Stratemeyer)

... he, in an excited whisper. "She sounded a little like kicking, so Philpot's keeping guard. We had one screw half in before she ...
— My Friend Smith - A Story of School and City Life • Talbot Baines Reed

... strange contraltos; the forms? not those of men or women, but mystic, hybrid creatures, with hands nervous and pale, and eyes charged with eager and fitful light ... "un soir equivoque d'automne," ... "les belles pendent reveuses a nos bras" ... and they whisper "les mots speciaux ...
— Confessions of a Young Man • George Moore

... in Bohemia. The very location of it is secret. If you wish to know where it is ask the first person you meet. He will tell you in a whisper. 'Tonio discountenances custom; he keeps his house-front black and forbidding; he gives you a pretty bad dinner; he locks his door at the dining hour; but he knows spaghetti as the boarding-house knows ...
— The Voice of the City • O. Henry

... I went to my room. I could hear voices talking in all parts of the house. They would gather about me and whisper and talk about some way in which they would kill me; then the windows would be full of cats, and I could feel little kittens in my pockets; and when I walked I would step on kittens, and they would mew, and the old cats would ...
— Fifteen Years in Hell • Luther Benson

... were instinctively, not pausing to choose her words, speaking in a quick, vehement whisper, because his distress was more than she ...
— The Rocks of Valpre • Ethel May Dell

... cretin—is it not?" said Mrs. Holiday to her husband, in a whisper, as soon as they had ...
— Rollo in Geneva • Jacob Abbott

... away with a light laugh. Bill turned a stony face to the Expressman. Suddenly a gleam of mirth came into his gloomy eyes. He bent over the young man, and said in a hoarse, chuckling whisper: ...
— The Idler Magazine, Vol III. May 1893 - An Illustrated Monthly • Various

... discovery—those six strange people called "Indians"; these, along with an iguana and some red flamingoes, parrots, and unfamiliar plants, were exhibited in every town, and every town gaped in wonder, and crowded close to get a view of the Admiral and his Indios, and to whisper in awed tones, "and there is much gold, too, but ...
— Christopher Columbus • Mildred Stapley

... this be?" she asked Mr. World in a passing whisper. "You have seen how he urges me to perfect peace, ...
— Mr. World and Miss Church-Member • W. S. Harris

... Shadrach, snoring gloriously in his bed, was awakened by his partner's entering the room bearing a lighted lamp. The Captain blinked, raised himself on his elbow, looked at his watch which was on the chair by the bed's head, and then demanded in an outraged whisper: ...
— Mary-'Gusta • Joseph C. Lincoln

... say something to her in a low voice. And then I heard—(with a short laugh)—oh, it rings in my ears still, with its mixture of what was heartbreaking and what was so ridiculous—I heard my own servant whisper: "Let me go, Mr. ...
— Ghosts - A Domestic Tragedy in Three Acts • Henrik Ibsen

... let him know I had a violent cold, and was very ill with it. Two days after he came again, and I let him see me again, but feigned myself so hoarse that I could not speak to be heard, and that it was painful to me but to whisper; and, in a word, I held him in this suspense near ...
— The Fortunate Mistress (Parts 1 and 2) • Daniel Defoe

... swept my moving-van; and from the distance I could hear the half-whisper—which was yet a roar—of Case as he admonished his children. "Mon," he would say to a shirking, shrinking coolie second-story man, "mon, do you t'ink dis the time to sleep? What toughts have you in your bosom, dat you delay de Professor's ...
— Edge of the Jungle • William Beebe

... Derues in a whisper to the Martins. "I am afraid he is delirious again; I will prepare a draught, which will give him a little rest ...
— Celebrated Crimes, Complete • Alexandre Dumas, Pere

... King and the Red Queen,' Alice said (in a whisper, for fear of frightening them), 'and there are the White King and the White Queen sitting on the edge of the shovel—and here are two castles walking arm in arm—I don't think they can hear me,' she went on, as she put her head closer down, 'and I'm nearly sure they can't see me. ...
— Through the Looking-Glass • Charles Dodgson, AKA Lewis Carroll

... white. He held out his hand to Thorndyke, "Shake," he said in a whisper, not intended for the ears of the officer, "I don't believe that we shall meet again. I felt that we were to be parted ...
— The Land of the Changing Sun • William N. Harben

... and authority. "If you are spared," said the tribune, "by the mercy of the Romans, will you not promise to support the good estate with your lives and fortunes?" Astonished by this marvellous clemency, the barons bowed their heads; and while they devoutly repeated the oath of allegiance, might whisper a secret, and more sincere, assurance of revenge. A priest, in the name of the people, pronounced their absolution: they received the communion with the tribune, assisted at the banquet, followed the procession; and, after every spiritual and temporal ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6 • Edward Gibbon

... that she was "embarking in a war with the greatest potentate in Europe;" yet now that the voyage had fairly commenced, and the waves were rolling around her, she seemed anxious to put back to the shore. For there was even a whisper of peace-negotiations, than which nothing could have been more ill-timed. "I perceive by your message," said Leicester to Walsingham, "that your peace with Spain will go fast on, but this is not the way." Unquestionably it was not the way, and the whisper was, for the moment at least, ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley

... and I wanted to give a new impulse to that poor child's thoughts. But I must try and cure myself of this impulsiveness, just as if it were not 'bred in the bone,' for it was an impulse that made me whisper my secret to Sybil; and once, it has got me into serious trouble." And her brow darkened, as she thought of the feud thus raised between ...
— The Diamond Coterie • Lawrence L. Lynch

... convulsive and then ceased; by an odd but not quite unnatural conjunction, the captain's soothing current of talk died away at the same time and by proportional steps, and the pair remained sunk in silence. The lagoon broke at their feet in petty wavelets, and with a sound as delicate as a whisper; stars of all degrees looked down on their own images in that vast mirror; and the more angry colour of the Farallone's riding lamp burned in the middle distance. For long they continued to gaze on the scene before them, and ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. XIX (of 25) - The Ebb-Tide; Weir of Hermiston • Robert Louis Stevenson

... Betty, in a return whisper. "We met him on the road one day, and supplied a bolt that he ...
— The Outdoor Girls in a Motor Car - The Haunted Mansion of Shadow Valley • Laura Lee Hope

... looking up, saw the concern and interest written on each boyish face and silently prayed as she played. Another worker saw, too, and came and talked to the boys, but both shook their heads at her invitation; however, when she was gone, Theo said in a whisper to Austin, "I will go if ...
— The Hero of Hill House • Mable Hale

... me now— And pours its light on others down. Ye rustling evening breezes, rouse you, Blow on my breast, Awake all joy that kills, Awake all pain that brings to death, So that my sore and bleeding heart, Steeped to the core in bitter tears, May break in yearning comfortless. Why whisper ye, ye darksome trees? So softly and like friends together? And why, O golden skirts of sky. Look ye so kindly down on me? Show me my grave; For that is now my haven of hope, Where I shall calmly, ...
— Weird Tales, Vol. II. • E. T. A. Hoffmann

... sharply, "the first man who peeps above a whisper gets his so plenty that he won't care a damn who's nominated for sheriff!" He spoke to Norton and Hollis without turning his head. "You two get whatever guns them gentlemen happen to have on them, standing to one side so's I can see to perforate anyone ...
— The Coming of the Law • Charles Alden Seltzer

... searched. However, our fears were unfounded, and they were most polite. The driver muttered something in Dutch, whereupon the leader came to the door, and said in broken English: "Peeck neeck—I see all right." I am sorry to say one of the gentlemen of our party muttered "Brute" in an audible whisper; but, then, he had undergone a short, but a very unpleasant term of imprisonment, with no sort of excuse, at the instance of a Boer Veldtcornet, so no wonder he had vowed eternal vengeance. Luckily, this officer ...
— South African Memories - Social, Warlike & Sporting From Diaries Written At The Time • Lady Sarah Wilson

... said Celeste in a whisper to the candid mathematician, "Couldn't you be, like Pascal and ...
— The Lesser Bourgeoisie • Honore de Balzac

... great outward emotion, and quite coolly, as if the topic of conversation were something else, turned and looked about him, and, seeing one of his secretaries, summoned him courteously, and bade him, in a whisper, write word to Louis de Sancerre, his marshal, to come to him directly. They who were there were amazed that, though the matter was so weighty, the king took no great account of it. Some young esquires who were waiting upon him at table were bold ...
— A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times - Volume II. of VI. • Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot

... a bad cold; I hardly know how—perhaps from getting her feet wet yesterday; and is so hoarse this morning that she can scarcely speak above a whisper." ...
— Who Are Happiest? and Other Stories • T. S. Arthur

... material by a ball and socket contrivance above and below, were not yet opened, and the party were detained on the bridge. A small oval orifice only appeared, less than a human face, and an ear was applied there to receive an expected word in a whisper. This complied with, the ponderous gates unfolded, and a vista of solemn magnificence was presented to the view. It was a vista at once of colossal statues and trees, interminable in perspective and extending, ...
— Memoir of an Eventful Expedition in Central America • Pedro Velasquez



Words linked to "Whisper" :   verbalize, stage whisper, rustle, whispering, shout, susurration, utter, speaking, verbalise



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