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Improperly   /ɪmprˈɑpərli/   Listen
Improperly

adverb
1.
In an improper way.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Improperly" Quotes from Famous Books



... cut seed are almost always traceable to improper seed improperly cut. Only large, mature, sound tubers should be used. Cut them in pieces of two or three eyes each, taking pains to secure around each eye as much flesh as possible, also under the eye to the centre ...
— The $100 Prize Essay on the Cultivation of the Potato; and How to Cook the Potato • D. H. Compton and Pierre Blot

... The slave-boy escapes many troubles which befall and vex his white brother. He seldom has to listen to lectures on propriety of behavior, or on anything else. He is never chided for handling his little knife and fork improperly or awkwardly, for he uses none. He is never reprimanded for soiling the table-cloth, for he takes his meals on the clay floor. He never has the misfortune, in his games or sports, of soiling or tearing his clothes, for he has almost none to soil or tear. He ...
— My Bondage and My Freedom • Frederick Douglass

... skin hanging down on each side in wrinkles, like the alforjos of a baboon, and a mouth so much accustomed to that contraction which produces grinning, that he could not pronounce a syllable without discovering the remains of his teeth, which consisted of four yellow fangs, not improperly, by anatomists, called canine. This person, I say, after having eyed me some time, said, "Oho, 'tis ver well, Monsieur Concordance; young man, you are ver welcome, take one coup of bierre—and come to mine house to-morrow morning; Monsieur Concordance vil show you de way." Upon this ...
— The Adventures of Roderick Random • Tobias Smollett

... admission of the fact, accompanied by a store of other knowledge unfortunately quite foreign to the pursuits of the Society; and I will add, that I regretted to see him insulted by one President in a situation improperly given to him ...
— Decline of Science in England • Charles Babbage

... superfluous expenses be suppressed. There are not more than a hundred paid soldiers in camp, and six captains of infantry and their officers draw salaries. The forts are without garrisons; but for more than a year the wardens thereof have been improperly drawing salaries. Your Majesty has no galleys whatever, and there is one commander, who, though unemployed, draws a yearly salary of eight hundred pesos; and there are many officers who get a salary in the same manner. ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume IX, 1593-1597 • E. H. Blair

... at such a comparatively small distance, could not make out the topographical details of the Moon with any satisfaction by their unaided vision. The eye indeed could easily enough catch the rugged outline of these vast depressions improperly called "Seas," but it could do very little more. Its powers of adjustability seemed to fail before the strange and bewildering scene. The prominence of the mountains vanished, not only through the foreshortening, but also in the dazzling radiation produced by the direct reflection of the solar ...
— All Around the Moon • Jules Verne

... think, until that moment, that he had used his hatchet improperly. His father's question was a revelation to him; and he hung his head in a ...
— From Farm House to the White House • William M. Thayer

... congratulate myself upon the days in which I happen to live; but I do so in this respect, that, compared with every other period of the world, this nineteenth century (or rather, the period between 1750 and 1850) may not improperly be called the Age of Boats; while the classic and chivalric times, in which boats were partly dreaded, partly despised, may respectively be characterized, with regard to their means of locomotion, as the Age of Chariots, and the ...
— The Harbours of England • John Ruskin

... desperately, but that does not matter either—I came here to steal; I go away because I am found out to have deceived and to have behaved improperly—I want ...
— The Good Comrade • Una L. Silberrad

... dwelt in simple but abundant plenty the sturdy "Dutchmen," as they were improperly called,—men of German descent,—who had pushed their settlements southward from Pennsylvania along the Valley, establishing themselves in the midst of fertile fields, owning few slaves, and tilling their own ...
— A Captain in the Ranks - A Romance of Affairs • George Cary Eggleston

... passions vulgarly, though improperly, comprised under the denomination of SELF-LOVE, are here excluded from our theory concerning the origin of morals, not because they are too weak, but because they have not a proper direction for that purpose. The notion of morals ...
— An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals • David Hume

... afford the most certain proof to bleachers of cotton and linen goods as to whether the bleaching has burned or weakened the goods. The same test will quickly determine whether a fabric has been improperly treated in ...
— Textiles • William H. Dooley

... language of all his works is common and idiomatic, but precise and strong: it is the vigorous English of an unpretending man, without the graces of the schools, but expressing his meaning with remarkable clearness. Like Milton's Paradise Lost, Bunyan's allegory has been improperly placed by many persons on a par with the Bible as a body of Christian doctrine, ...
— English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English History - Designed as a Manual of Instruction • Henry Coppee

... be the embroidery of conversation, but it should not be the web. 2. It is called so, but it is improperly called so. 3. Was Cabot the discoverer of America, or was he not the discoverer of America? 4. William the Silent has been likened to Washington, and he has justly been likened to him. 5. It was his address that pleased me, and it was not his dress ...
— Higher Lessons in English • Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg

... It is assuredly connected also with a diseased state of health. Cheerfulness is just as natural to the heart of a man in strong health as color to his cheek; and wherever there is habitual gloom, there must be either bad air, unwholesome food, improperly severe labor, or erring habits of life. Among mountains, all these various causes are frequently found in combination. The air is either too bleak, or it is impure; generally the peasants are exposed to alternations of both. Great hardship is sustained in various ways, severe labor undergone ...
— Modern Painters, Volume IV (of V) • John Ruskin

... way behind, we were joined by Jack, when we set up a shout, which somewhat astonished Aunt Deborah and her husband. We saw the latter, who was somewhat deaf, enquiring what the noise was about. When Dick joined them he got a scolding for being so improperly hilarious. ...
— A Yacht Voyage Round England • W.H.G. Kingston

... the Boston Post, found nothing to commend. "Grass," said the writer, making the title of the book his text, "grass is the gift of God for the healthy sustenance of his creatures, and its name ought not to be desecrated by being so improperly bestowed upon these foul and rank leaves of the poison-plants of egotism, irreverance, and of lust, run rampant and holding high ...
— Walt Whitman Yesterday and Today • Henry Eduard Legler

... keep in order. This Gerald Barry was the historian commonly known as Giraldus Cambrensis, to whom we are chiefly indebted for the account of the conquest of Ireland. The Irish chiefs of Leinster flocked to pay their respects, but were most improperly received by John and his friends, who could not restrain their mirth at their homely garb, and soon proceeded to gibes and practical jokes; pricking them with pins, and rapping them on the head with a stick as they bent to pay homage, tweaking their ...
— Cameos from English History, from Rollo to Edward II • Charlotte Mary Yonge

... improperly so called by the first French settlers in Louisiana; for it has nothing of the cat but its nimble activity, and rather resembles a monkey. It is not above eight or ten inches high, and about fifteen long. Its head is like that of a fox; it has long toes, but very short claws, not made for ...
— History of Louisisana • Le Page Du Pratz

... reason. You will not be obligated in any way by authorizing me to act as your agent—I'm getting my fee from Mrs. Fleming—but I would be obligated to represent her only as far as her interests did not improperly conflict with those of the other heirs, and that's what I want ...
— Murder in the Gunroom • Henry Beam Piper

... at this want of discretion, as he considered it, on the part of Confucius, and the vehemence of his master's answer showed that there was a doubt in his own mind whether he had not overstepped the limits of sage-like propriety. "Wherein I have done improperly," said he, "may Heaven reject me! may Heaven reject me!" This incident did not, however, prevent him from maintaining friendly relations with the court, and it was not until the duke by a public act showed his inability ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 1 • Various

... reasonable proposition because it had nothing but its reason to recommend it. On the other hand, being totally destitute of all shadow of influence, natural or adventitious, I was very sure that if my proposition were futile or dangerous, if it were weakly conceived or improperly timed, there was nothing exterior to it of power to awe, dazzle, or delude you. You will see it just as it is; and you will treat ...
— Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 7 • Various

... with assuring them, that I should invariably attend to my orders, and put them in execution; and that a very severe punishment would be inflicted on any who presumed to excite sedition, or behaved improperly on that, or any ...
— An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island • John Hunter

... when moving, like an artillery company coming full tilt down a badly paved street. The exhausted gas coughed resoundingly, the gears groaned and shrieked loudly when improperly lubricated, and the whole machine rattled like a runaway tin-peddler. Ingenious mufflers have subdued the sputtering exhaust, the gears are made to run in oil or are so carefully cut as to mesh perfectly, rubber tires deaden the pounding of the wheels, ...
— Stories of Inventors - The Adventures Of Inventors And Engineers • Russell Doubleday

... was thus loaded, and in the act of swinging round from one guy to another, a great strain was suddenly brought upon the opposite tackle, with the end of which the men had very improperly neglected to take a turn round some stationary object, which would have given them the complete command of ...
— The Lighthouse • R.M. Ballantyne

... above, and in the Preface, on this head, the following opinion of an ingenious and candid foreigner, on this manner of writing, may not be improperly inserted here. ...
— Clarissa Harlowe, Volume 9 (of 9) - The History Of A Young Lady • Samuel Richardson

... Some native functionaries, improperly called gobernadorcillos, [103] exercise command in the towns; they correspond to the alcaldes and municipal judges, of the Peninsula, and perform at once functions of judges and even of notaries, with defined powers. As assistants they ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume XVII, 1609-1616 • Various

... as more logical, the plural form chansons de gestes, and have so written it in my Short History of French Literature (Oxford, 4th ed., 1892), to which I may not improperly refer the reader on the general subject. But of late years the fashion of dropping the s has prevailed, and, therefore, in a book meant for general reading, I follow it here. Those who prefer native authorities will find ...
— The Flourishing of Romance and the Rise of Allegory - (Periods of European Literature, vol. II) • George Saintsbury

... lands; and watery grapes from irrigated lands make inferior raisins. It is maintained, however, with a show of reason, that grapes suffer in irrigated vineyards in the ways set forth only when the vines are over-or improperly irrigated. ...
— Manual of American Grape-Growing • U. P. Hedrick

... opinions are as unavoidable as, to a certain point, they may be necessary; but it is exceedingly to be regretted that subjects cannot be discussed with temper, on the one hand, or decisions submitted to on the other, without improperly implicating the motives which led to them; and this regret borders on chagrin when we find that men of abilities, zealous patriots, having the same general objects in view, and the same upright intentions to prosecute them, will not exercise more charity in deciding on the opinions and ...
— Life And Times Of Washington, Volume 2 • John Frederick Schroeder and Benson John Lossing

... it is a little oval poem, and may not improperly be called a scholar's egg. I would endeavour to hatch it, or, in more intelligible language, to translate it into English, did not I find the interpretation of it very difficult; for the author seems to have been more intent upon the figure of his poem ...
— Essays and Tales • Joseph Addison

... do speake thus of this Sacrifice / We graunte indeede / that the fathers do often tymes speake so as thoughe that the lorde wer offered in this administracion of the Sacrament / or sacrificed: But they vsed this worde / Sacrifice, improperly / for by that kinde of speaking they did onderstonde / the offringes of praise / and sacrifices of thanckes made and gyuen for christes sacrifice done vppon the crosse / This they called to sacrifice. Our sacrificing prests ar not content with this / for they will haue their own worcke ...
— A Treatise of the Cohabitation Of the Faithful with the Unfaithful • Peter Martyr

... maxims, it is the only source of an unaltered contentment which is necessarily connected with it and rests on no special feeling. This may be called intellectual contentment. The sensible contentment (improperly so-called) which rests on the satisfaction of the inclinations, however delicate they may be imagined to be, can never be adequate to the conception of it. For the inclinations change, they grow with the indulgence shown them, ...
— The Critique of Practical Reason • Immanuel Kant

... Gospel,—from the very fact that the story of Redemption is set forth in four narratives, three of which often ran parallel,—this practical inconvenience: namely, that sometimes the expressions of one Evangelist get improperly transferred to another. This is a large and important subject which calls for great attention, and requires to be separately handled. The phenomena alluded to, which are similar to some of those which have been treated in ...
— The Causes of the Corruption of the Traditional Text of the Holy Gospels • John Burgon

... Delia, "I never thought of marrying without your consent. I only gave the young gentleman leave to ask it of you." "You gave him leave! And pray who are you? And so you was in league with him to send this fellow to abuse me?" "Upon my word, I was not. And I am very sorry if Mr. Moreland has behaved improperly." "If Mr. Moreland! and so you pretend to doubt of it! But, let me tell you, I have provided you a husband, worth fifty of this young prig, and I will make you think so." "Indeed sir, I can never think so." "You cannot. And pray who told you to object, before I have named the man. Why, ...
— Damon and Delia - A Tale • William Godwin

... but glorious is its flame, may not improperly be said of it, as has been said of ...
— Critical Remarks on Sir Charles Grandison, Clarissa, and Pamela (1754) • Anonymous

... no doubt was the same sort of fillip to the fancy which a mask and domino or a fancy dress are to that of their wearers. Even in a disguise a man cannot cease to be himself; but he can get rid of his improperly "imputed" righteousness—often the greatest burden he has to bear—and of all the expectations formed on the strength, as Mr. ...
— Sir Walter Scott - (English Men of Letters Series) • Richard H. Hutton

... kiosk the children were eating under the direction of their teacher. For Filipino children they were rather noisy, since at the table and in the presence of other persons their sins are generally more of omission than of commission. Perhaps one who was using the tableware improperly would be corrected by his neighbor and from this there would arise a noisy discussion in which each would have his partisans. Some would say the spoon, others the knife or the fork, and as no one was considered an authority there ...
— The Social Cancer - A Complete English Version of Noli Me Tangere • Jose Rizal

... know even less of love-making and matrimonial prearrangement than I, and so you can't draw invidious comparisons if I do my engaging improperly.' ...
— A Pair of Blue Eyes • Thomas Hardy

... salubrity of the climate, render it the most pleasing situation between the tropics; it is the residence of a number of rich planters and merchants, who have acquired large fortunes therein, and live in the greatest splendour and hospitality. It is not improperly called the Princess of the isles of the ...
— A Museum for Young Gentlemen and Ladies - A Private Tutor for Little Masters and Misses • Unknown

... defence was not so carefully maintained in the latter part of the eighteenth century, for at the beginning of the French Revolution, says Jomini, "Germany had too few fortifications; they were generally of a poor character, and improperly located." France, on the contrary, was well fortified: and although without armies, and torn in pieces by domestic factions, (we here use the language of the Archduke,) "she sustained herself against all Europe; and this was because her government, since the reign of Louis XIII., had continually ...
— Elements of Military Art and Science • Henry Wager Halleck

... attack of rudeness by courtesy: you avert an attack of accusation by flattery. Every:one remembers the anecdote of Dr. Johnson and Mr. Ewing. "Prince," said Napoleon to Talleyrand, "they tell me that you sometimes speculate improperly in the funds. "They do me wrong then," said Talleyrand. "But how did you acquire so much money!" "I bought stock the day before you were proclaimed First Consul," replied the ex-bishop, "and I sold ...
— The Laws of Etiquette • A Gentleman

... to any person bailable, is an offence against the liberty of the subject, in any magistrate, by the common law. And the Court of Queen's Bench will grant a criminal information against the magistrate who improperly refuses bail in a case in which it ought to have been received. It is obviously of great importance, in order to ensure the appearance of the accused at the time and place of trial, that the sureties should be men ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV. • Various

... great Miltiades. On the death of the latter, it is recorded, and popularly believed, that Cimon, unable to pay the fine to which Miltiades was adjudged, was detained in custody until a wealthy marriage made by his sister Elpinice, to whom he was tenderly, and ancient scandal whispered improperly, attached, released him from confinement, and the brother-in-law paid the debt. "Thus severe and harsh," says Nepos, "was his entrance upon manhood." [141] But it is very doubtful whether Cimon was ever imprisoned for the state-debt incurred ...
— Athens: Its Rise and Fall, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... still more weak by a long and improbable tale, that the objectionable illustration had been merely a private note which by mistake had been printed, and only designed to show that the person who had been healed improperly attributed his cure to the sanative virtue of the regal unction; since the prince in question had never been anointed. But this was plunging from Scylla into Charybdis, for it inferred that the Stuarts inherited the heavenly-gifted touch by descent. This could not avail; yet heavy ...
— Calamities and Quarrels of Authors • Isaac D'Israeli

... ended this remark, before Ch'ing Wen, who stood by, put in her word. "Who's gone mad again?" she interposed, "and what good would come by hurting her feelings? But did even any one happen to hurt her, she would have pluck enough to bear the brunt, and wouldn't act so improperly as ...
— Hung Lou Meng, Book I • Cao Xueqin

... first, it is a little oval Poem, and may not improperly be called a Scholar's Egg. I would endeavour to hatch it, or, in more intelligible Language, to translate it into English, did not I find the Interpretation of it very difficult; for the Author seems to have been more intent upon ...
— The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - With Translations and Index for the Series • Joseph Addison and Richard Steele

... point, by Fahrenheit's thermometer. If such is the temperature in these latitudes at the end of December, corresponding to our June, what must it be in the shortest days of the year, and where can the Patagonians then take refuge, and the inhabitants of the islands so improperly named the ...
— Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America in the years 1811, 1812, 1813, and 1814 or the First American Settlement on the Pacific • Gabriel Franchere

... help them. On the other hand, He does not forbid to trust in God's promise. Yea, He requires such trust in the promise of God for the very reason that we are unprofitable servants and works can be of no help. Therefore, the knaves have improperly applied to our trust in the divine promise the words of Christ which treat of trust in our own worthiness. This clearly reveals and defeats their sophistry. May the Lord Christ soon put to shame the sophists who thus mutilate His holy Word! Amen.] We leave, ...
— The Apology of the Augsburg Confession • Philip Melanchthon

... swallowing irritant poisons, such as arsenic or corrosive sublimate or irritant plants. Exposure to cold or inclement weather may produce the disease, especially in debilitated animals or animals fed improperly. It is asserted that if cattle feed on vegetation infested with some kinds of caterpillars ...
— Special Report on Diseases of Cattle • U.S. Department of Agriculture

... rock, it became much more unmanageable. While the beam was in the act of swinging round from one guy to another, a great strain was suddenly brought upon the opposite tackle, with the end of which the artificers had very improperly neglected to take a turn round some stationary object, which would have given them the complete command of the tackle. Owing to this simple omission, the crane got a preponderancy to one side, and fell upon the building with a terrible crash. The ...
— Records of a Family of Engineers • Robert Louis Stevenson

... Rationalistic Principles into Religion," and a whole chapter in Mr. Gladstone's late work on Church Principles is headed "Rationalism." Yet we still want a clear definition of the thing signified by this name. The Tract for the Times says, "To rationalize, is to ask for reasons out of place; to ask improperly how we are to account for certain things; to be unwilling to believe them unless they can be accounted for, i.e. referred to something else as a cause, to some existing system, as harmonizing with them, or taking them up into itself.... It is characterised by two peculiarities;—its love of systematizing, ...
— The Christian Life - Its Course, Its Hindrances, And Its Helps • Thomas Arnold

... demonstration. Indeed Dr. Latham has already classed the former with the Shewhapmukh, or, as he terms it, Atna, of Frazer River, the northernmost of the Selish dialects. The term Atna, it may be mentioned, is improperly applied as a family name to these languages, as it is a Takulli (Athabascan or Chepewyan) word, signifying, according to Mr. A. ...
— Alphabetical Vocabularies of the Clallum and Lummi • George Gibbs

... music. They were even longer coming than on the night before, and she made up her mind that Stepan had declared a holiday from the responsibilities of a control. At last there was a faint vibration, and she went cautiously into the dark space behind the circle. The curtains had always hung improperly, and she could see a ...
— The Best Short Stories of 1919 - and the Yearbook of the American Short Story • Various

... bringing professional acquirements and abilities into notice. Afterwards, the merit of the candidate, and his fitness for any given situation, ought, and probably will, ultimately decide whether the assistance has been properly or improperly given. If family friends procure for any young man a reward of any kind which he has not merited, I should object to that as much as if the place or the reward had been bestowed by a professed patron from political or other interested motives. If my friends were to assist you merely because ...
— Tales and Novels, Vol. VII - Patronage • Maria Edgeworth

... analysis showed that she had weak ovaries and weak uterus. These were secondary to a toxic colon, toxic because she had a weak gall bladder and weak pancreas that reduced her digestive capacity and turned her improperly combined Organic, vegetarian legume-rich diet into toxemia. Checking her foods for allergies I discovered the normal pattern: Elsie was intolerant to dairy, wheat, eggs, corn, ...
— How and When to Be Your Own Doctor • Dr. Isabelle A. Moser with Steve Solomon

... Digest of Dustbin Law, and recommend it to the perusal of every householder. In the case of The Vestry of Shoreditch v. Grimes, Lord Justice SLUSH remarks—"The Vestry complains that the Defendant's bin was improperly covered; that, in fact, it was not under coverture. To this the Defendant replies that his bin was void ab initio, as there was nothing in it. Then the question arises whether the Defendant's Cook was justified in tipping the Dustman into the ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 103, July 23, 1892 • Various

... My "Technical Piano-Exercises"—improperly advertised in the papers as "Pianoforte-School"—still require a few months for revision and arrangement with fingering, etc., but could come out next year if I ...
— Letters of Franz Liszt, Volume 2: "From Rome to the End" • Franz Liszt; letters collected by La Mara and translated

... and envy, which are acknowledged by all to belong exclusively to the spirit, and to involve no relation whatever to matter or the bodily organism. Such feelings are not infrequently styled sensations, though improperly." PORTER Human Intellect Sec. 112, p. 128. [S. '90.] Feeling is a general term popularly denoting what is felt, whether through the body or by the mind alone, and includes both sensation and emotion. A sense is an organ or faculty ...
— English Synonyms and Antonyms - With Notes on the Correct Use of Prepositions • James Champlin Fernald

... denotes "a distinct part or parcel": as, "The auctioneer sold the goods in ten lots." The word does not mean "a great number"; therefore it is improperly used in the sentences: "He has lots of money," and "I know a lot of ...
— Practical Exercises in English • Huber Gray Buehler

... are single words, most of them monosyllables, employed to mark relation. Relation is also expressed by combinations of words which often correspond to simple prepositions in other languages. These combinations are, not improperly, ranked among the prepositions. The following lists contain first the Prepositions properly so called, which are all simple; secondly, improper Prepositions, which, with one or two exceptions, seem all to be made up of a ...
— Elements of Gaelic Grammar • Alexander Stewart

... speaks of "the faulty line of McCook's formation on the right." But he knew this on the 30th, and told McCook that it was improperly placed. McCook did not think so. Rosecrans told him that it faced too much to the east and not enough to the south, that it was too weak and long, and was liable to be flanked. Knowing all this and knowing McCook's pride of opinion, ...
— The Army of the Cumberland • Henry M. Cist

... evidence produced against some at least of these unhappy gentlemen, was slight and inconclusive. Lord Rochford is universally believed to have fallen a victim to the atrocious perjuries of his wife, who was very improperly admitted as a witness against him, and whose infamous conduct was afterwards fully brought to light. No absolute criminality appears to have been proved against Weston and Brereton; but Smeton confessed the fact. Norris died much more generously: he protested that he would ...
— Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth • Lucy Aikin

... to be flesh which he sees to be bread. And what way will you take to convince a man of any improbable opinion he holds, who, with some philosophers, hath laid down this as a foundation of reasoning, That he must believe his reason (for so men improperly call arguments drawn from their principles) against his senses? Let an enthusiast be principled that he or his teacher is inspired, and acted by an immediate communication of the Divine Spirit, and you in vain bring the evidence of clear ...
— An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume II. - MDCXC, Based on the 2nd Edition, Books III. and IV. (of 4) • John Locke

... like all other wooden parts, shrink away from the screw heads and allow the hammer to drift to one side or rattle. While the action is in the piano, strike the keys to see if there are any that strike improperly. Mark the keys so as to indicate just what the trouble is, so that you will know how to remedy it when the action is out. If the hammers are set so close that they rub against each other, you may have to cut off a slight shaving of felt, but this is rarely necessary; for if properly placed, ...
— Piano Tuning - A Simple and Accurate Method for Amateurs • J. Cree Fischer

... exercised its powers for the protection of its members rather than of authors. A publisher wishing to establish a monopoly in a book he had acquired entered it on the Stationers' Register, paying a fee of sixpence, and was thereby protected against piracy. When the copy so registered was improperly acquired, the state of the case is not so clear. At times the officials showed hesitation about registering a book until the applicant "hath gotten sufficient authoritye for yt," and As You Like It, for example, appears in the Register only "to be staied," which it was until ...
— The Facts About Shakespeare • William Allan Nielson

... be a faithful reprint of the former edition of 1702. The commencing and concluding paragraphs in this reprint are precisely the same as those transcribed by MR. GATTY'S friend from the MS. in his possession. His idea, that an incorrect copy of his MS. was improperly obtained, and published in 1813, seems to be ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 75, April 5, 1851 • Various

... affected with the disorder in question during or soon after the time they are thus improperly suckled, they will nevertheless acquire therefrom a predisposition to cephalic disease at some future ...
— Remarks on the Subject of Lactation • Edward Morton

... approached rather revolution than reform, and thus alienated the more temperate of their own party, till at length their schemes terminated in the Rye-house Conspiracy. The speech having such an effect, was therefore not improperly adopted as a termination to the ...
— The Dramatic Works of John Dryden Vol. I. - With a Life of the Author • Sir Walter Scott

... You and I know what the lever of their power is. Break that lever before their faces, and they can shake you no more forever. Most of you have treated me with kindness and consideration; and I trust you will not now think I improperly touch what is exclusively your own, when, for the sake of the whole country, I ask: can you, for your States, do better than to take the course I urge? Discarding punctilio and maxims adapted to more manageable times, and looking only to the unprecedentedly stern facts ...
— Abraham Lincoln, Vol. II • John T. Morse

... out to be one long misery for Vandover. He had never been upon a second-class boat before and had never imagined that anything could be so horribly uncomfortable or disagreeable. The Mazatlan was overcrowded, improperly ballasted, and rolled continually. The table was bad, the accommodations inadequate, the passengers hopelessly uncongenial. Cold and foggy weather accompanied the boat continually. The same endless procession of bleached hills still filed past ...
— Vandover and the Brute • Frank Norris

... learned to distinguish the poisons of the Ticuna, Yagua, Peva, and Xibaro Indians, which being all obtained from the same plant, perhaps differ only by a more or less careful preparation. The Ticuna poison, to which La Condamine has given so much celebrity in Europe, and which somewhat improperly begins to bear the name of ticuna, is extracted from a liana which grows in the island of Mormorote, on the Upper Maranon. This poison is employed partly by the Ticunas, who remain independent on the Spanish territory near the sources of the Yacarique; and partly by Indians ...
— Equinoctial Regions of America V2 • Alexander von Humboldt

... common sense is infallible," answered Staniford. He was ashamed to know that the beautiful young girl was as improperly alone in church as she would have been in a cafe, and he began to hate the European world for the fact. It seemed better to him that the Aroostook should put about and sail back to Boston with her, as she was,—better that she should be going ...
— The Lady of the Aroostook • W. D. Howells

... and dimness that obliterated all the bright colors of the girls' dresses and hats. The circumstance that not a single face was visible produced a curious impression on one's mind. It made Dale feel for a moment as though he were improperly prying, behind people's backs, at matters that did not in the least concern him; and next moment he thought that all the gray stooping forms were exactly like those of ghosts. Then, in another moment, noticing with what rigid immobility ...
— The Devil's Garden • W. B. Maxwell

... which is called the pulmonary circulation, is the one step in real advance that was made between the time of Galen and the time of Harvey. And I would beg you to note that the word "circulation" is improperly employed when it is applied to the course of the blood through the lungs. The blood from the right side of the heart, in getting to the left side of the heart, only performs a half-circle—it does not ...
— William Harvey And The Discovery Of The Circulation Of The Blood • Thomas H. Huxley

... of the new crop, because tree seed kept in ordinary storage loses its vitality materially. When properly stored in air-tight receptacles, however, as is now done by some seed dealers, it will retain its germinative power for several years with only slight depreciation. Moreover, fresh seed, if improperly treated, may be of very poor quality, so that the age of the seed is of little value in the determination of its worth and the only sure method of ascertaining this is by means of germination or cutting tests. The latter method is the quickest and most simple and consists of cutting ...
— Practical Forestry in the Pacific Northwest • Edward Tyson Allen

... I can excuse them; and whose good nature, like that of a lover, will find out those hidden beauties (if there are any such) which it would be great immodesty for me to discover. I think I don't speak improperly when I call you a lover of poetry; for it is very well known she has been a very kind mistress to you: she has not denied you the last favour, and she has been fruitful to you in a most beautiful issue. If I break off abruptly here, I hope everybody ...
— The Comedies of William Congreve - Volume 1 [of 2] • William Congreve

... of life Drunkeness a true and certain trial of every one's nature I can more hardly believe a man's constancy than any virtue "I wish you good health." "No health to thee," replied the other If to philosophise be, as 'tis defined, to doubt Improperly we call this voluntary dissolution, despair It's madness to nourish infirmity Let him be as wise as he will, after all he is but a man Living is slavery if the liberty of dying be wanting. Look upon themselves as a third person only, a stranger Lower himself to the meanness of defending ...
— Widger's Quotations from The Essays of Montaigne • David Widger

... promises of the gospel. When any object of good is proposed and promised to us upon asking, it clearly evinces that there can be no impotence in us, with respect to obtaining it, besides the disapprobation of the will; and that inability which consists in disinclination, never renders any thing improperly the subject of ...
— The Book of Religions • John Hayward

... meantime, had led his men through the dense woods, and by making a wide detour, had penetrated almost to the rear of the enemy's fortress, which, he figured, would be the most likely to be improperly guarded. ...
— The Boy Allies Under Two Flags • Ensign Robert L. Drake

... objected to this operation that the flap is apt to slough. When improperly performed, as when the flap is scored transversely in its separation, and especially when the flap is cut too long (as has been already noticed), this may occur; but that there is nothing whatever in the position or condition of the flap itself that at all necessitates ...
— A Manual of the Operations of Surgery - For the Use of Senior Students, House Surgeons, and Junior Practitioners • Joseph Bell

... circumstance of the excess or deficiency of fibrous actions, and not the cause of them. Others again are taken from the deformity occasioned in consequence of the unnatural fibrous motions, which constitute diseases, as tumours, eruptions, extenuations; all these therefore improperly give names to diseases; and some difficulty is thus occasioned to the reader in endeavouring to discover to what class ...
— Zoonomia, Vol. II - Or, the Laws of Organic Life • Erasmus Darwin

... 1: As Augustine observes (Contra Julian. iv, 3) just as prudence is sometimes improperly taken in a bad sense, so is craftiness sometimes taken in a good sense, and this on account of their mutual resemblance. Properly speaking, however, craftiness is taken in a bad sense, as the Philosopher ...
— Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) • Thomas Aquinas

... than to misapply his desires, and to overate his reasonable duty. But it is at the same time believed that a remedy of such defects which should consist in the destruction of those principles which are improperly acted on, would be worse than the disorder. And now the thought strikes me, that the way by which we account for the improprieties which have just been traced up to their causes, will as charitably account for what seems to incite you to aim a fatal stroke at a fabric which has its foundation ...
— A Series of Letters In Defence of Divine Revelation • Hosea Ballou

... and rebuked his error in language of unusual severity, for it was evidently capital and fatal if persisted in. The Buddha does not state what transmigrates, as the European reader would wish him to do, and would no doubt have replied to that question that it is improperly framed and does not ...
— Hinduism and Buddhism, Vol I. (of 3) - An Historical Sketch • Charles Eliot

... of the Desmonds. We have already observed that what Aharlow was to the southern insurgents, the deep, secluded valley of Glenmalure was to the oppressed of Leinster. It afforded, at this period, refuge to a nobleman whose memory has been most improperly allowed to fall into oblivion. This was James Eustace, Viscount Baltinglass, who had suffered imprisonment in the Castle for refusing to pay an illegal tax of a few pounds, who was afterwards made the object of a special, vindictive enactment, known as "the ...
— A Popular History of Ireland - From the earliest period to the emancipation of the Catholics • Thomas D'Arcy McGee

... winch, which caused the bourdon, whilst the performer stopped the notes on the strings with his fingers. This instrument has been very ignorantly termed a vielle, and yet continues to be so called in France. It is the modern Savoyard hurdy-gurdy, as we still more improperly term it; for the hurdy-gurdy is quite a different instrument. In later times, the rote appears to have lost its rank in concert, and was called the beggar's lyre.—No. 4 is evidently the syrinx, or Pan's pipe, which has been revived with so much success in the streets of ...
— Account of a Tour in Normandy, Vol. II. (of 2) • Dawson Turner

... the last to the great down, which is properly called, by way of distinction, Salisbury Plain, and leads from the city of Salisbury to Shaftesbury. Here also his lordship has a hare-warren, as it is called, though improperly. It has, indeed, been a sanctuary for the hares for many years; but the gentlemen complain that it mars their game, for that as soon as they put up a hare for their sport, if it be anywhere within two or three miles, away she runs for the warren, and ...
— From London to Land's End - and Two Letters from the "Journey through England by a Gentleman" • Daniel Defoe

... of the privilege I have already frequently taken of making abrupt transitions from one subject to another, according as the recollection of past circumstances occurs to my mind, I shall here note down a few details, which may not improperly be called domestic, and afterwards describe a conspiracy which was protected by the very man against whom ...
— Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, Complete • Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne

... comedy of thunderstorms more hotly than I did if I had not believed the friar to be mad. But I was very much offended by the titles of dishonour most improperly bestowed upon me, and was determined to have done with their inventor. "Sir," I said, "you have done me a service, I allow, and I am much obliged to you; but I am constrained to point out that I have carried your baggage on my shoulder for some ...
— The Fool Errant • Maurice Hewlett

... the car," Sir Timothy explained. "She most improperly bribed my chauffeur to lend her his coat and ...
— The Evil Shepherd • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... merchant's name as an eternal memorial to him—was as impressive inside as out. The stained-glass windows had been made by a famous New York firm; the altar had been designed by an even more famous sculptor. The walls, quite improperly, were adorned with paintings of former presidents, but the largest painting of all—it was fairly Gargantuan—was of the pork merchant, a large, ruddy gentleman, whom the artist, a keen observer, had ...
— The Plastic Age • Percy Marks

... of the mediatorial office of Christ is very improperly apprehended. The necessity of a mediator between us and God can never be fully realized in this life. This belongs to that association of deep and profound mysteries emanating from the mind of God, that angels intently desire to look into. ...
— Autobiography of Frank G. Allen, Minister of the Gospel - and Selections from his Writings • Frank G. Allen

... dirty baby, properly fed, will thrive. A baby deprived of fresh air, but wisely fed, will survive and even develop into a strong healthy man or woman. But the baby raised according to the latest and most approved rules of sanitation and hygiene, if improperly fed, will languish ...
— The Mother and Her Child • William S. Sadler

... poor dear grandfather always taught. Nobody can suppose that I am not come to years of discretion; and you very well know I have always been a good and tender mother to you; and so I always shall be; and I am sure you will not think hardly and improperly of my conduct in any way, for that would be very unkind and unbecoming; and, if I have done all for the best, to be hardly thought of afterwards would be very improper indeed. Mr. Thornby [the lawyer] is a very prudent man, and so I have ...
— The Adventures of Hugh Trevor • Thomas Holcroft

... contained in the food. Nearly all foods—except fruit—require cooking. The digestibility of starch depends almost entirely upon the manner in which it is cooked, especially the cereal class. Gastric troubles are sure to follow the use of improperly cooked grains or ...
— Public School Domestic Science • Mrs. J. Hoodless

... ago there was a shrewd land agent living in Austin who devoted his undoubted talents and vast knowledge of land titles, and the laws governing them, to the locating of surveys made by illegal certificates, or improperly made, and otherwise of no value through non-compliance with the statutes, or whatever flaws his ingenious ...
— Rolling Stones • O. Henry

... to-morrow may be met. Fear and uneasiness about the future, the atra cura of the Latins, you will look for among us in vain. It is this care which poisons the pleasure of the present; whilst that other, which can only improperly be called care, but the real name of which is foresight, by means of the perfect sense of security which it creates concerning the morrow enhances the delight of present enjoyment by the foretaste to-day of future enjoyments already provided for. Herein lies the ...
— Freeland - A Social Anticipation • Theodor Hertzka

... course, I beg your pardon a thousand times, and Her Highness's too. Really, I spoke quite thoughtlessly and most improperly.' he answered, laughing at her mock displeasure, 'And now, Djama, since we have had two declarations of love and a peacemaking, don't you think it would be cruel to keep Her Highness waiting any longer on the threshold of her new life? Come, Hartness, you and I have no more business here at present. ...
— The Romance of Golden Star ... • George Chetwynd Griffith

... supposing that the queer little birds by which our parks have been enlivened for some few years past are improperly called English sparrows. That they are German is obvious from the fact of their preferring a Diet of Worms to any other ...
— Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 16, July 16, 1870 • Various

... occupations, but as if they were hardships; she was sullen towards her mamma, snappishly brief with her aunt and sister, and so ungracious and indifferent even with her father, that Albinia trembled lest he might withdraw the attention so improperly received. When this dreary state of things had lasted more than a week, he did tell her that if she were tired of the lessons, it was not worth while to proceed; but that he had hoped for ...
— The Young Step-Mother • Charlotte M. Yonge

... gold do not agree. It is maintained that there are mines and washings which have been neglected, or improperly worked, and that a vigorous exploration would reopen this source of wealth; but it is also said as confidently that the Spaniards took off all the gold, and were reduced to working mines of copper, before the middle of the sixteenth ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 9, No. 56, June, 1862 • Various

... of trade, improperly used it is the death of business. No man should run into debt for a luxury, and every prudent man will have money in his purse for life's necessities. Remember, the man who is in debt without seeing his way out is a slave. Speaking of this Jacob ...
— How to Get on in the World - A Ladder to Practical Success • Major A.R. Calhoon

... improper person (possibly infamous) for such a high and responsible position, and my rights as a citizen are not safe in the keeping of such a poltroon and conniving attorney, and he is probably disqualified to hold the high and responsible office of Senator of the United States—that he improperly accepts fees from clients, possibly in part for the influence which his exalted position as Senator gives him as counsel for parties having cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and which practice is wholly inconsistent with the faithful, impartial performance of his sworn ...
— Personal Reminiscences of Early Days in California with Other Sketches; To Which Is Added the Story of His Attempted Assassination by a Former Associate on the Supreme Bench of the State • Stephen Field; George C. Gorham

... many of our fellows as could stick on it, while others were scrambling in at the doors on each side, and not a few on the roof, handling the baskets there so roughly, as to occasion loud complaints from the fowls within. I rode up to the carriage, to see that the people inside were not improperly treated; but the only one there was an old gouty gentleman, who, from the nature of his cargo, must either have robbed his own house, or that of a very good fellow, for the carriage was literally laden with wines and ...
— Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, in the Peninsula, France, and the Netherlands - from 1809 to 1815 • Captain J. Kincaid

... behind him no property adequate for its support. A baronet, so thought Roger Carbury, should be a rich man, rich enough to grace the rank which he assumed to wear. A title, according to Roger's doctrine on such subjects, could make no man a gentleman, but, if improperly worn, might degrade a man who would otherwise be a gentleman. He thought that a gentleman, born and bred, acknowledged as such without doubt, could not be made more than a gentleman by all the titles which the Queen could give. With these old-fashioned notions Roger hated the title ...
— The Way We Live Now • Anthony Trollope

... and French armies in the Haitian wars of a century ago. It must be remembered, however, that the French part of the island being shut out from the eastern breezes by high mountain ranges is hotter than the Spanish part, and that the European troops, improperly clad and fed, underwent great hardships and were ignorant of sanitary precautions. Among travelers it is the concensus of opinion that climatic conditions in the Dominican Republic are as favorable as in any other tropical country. Far from presenting dangers to health there are ...
— Santo Domingo - A Country With A Future • Otto Schoenrich

... day. It was very warm, and after we left the suburban trolley-line, where motormen stopped the cars to look at us and people crowded to the porches to stare at us, the water question grew serious. Tish had studied sanitation, and at every farm we came to the well was improperly located. Generally it was immediately ...
— More Tish • Mary Roberts Rinehart

... a number of points of contact, and constituted harder and more compact masses. It finally results that instead of the original masses of madrepores and millepores there occurs only masses of a compact calcareous rock, which modern mineralogists have improperly called primitive limestone, because, seeing in it no traces of shells or corals, they have mistaken these stony masses for deposits of a ...
— Lamarck, the Founder of Evolution - His Life and Work • Alpheus Spring Packard



Words linked to "Improperly" :   properly, improper



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