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Plainly   /plˈeɪnli/   Listen
Plainly

adverb
1.
Unmistakably ('plain' is often used informally for 'plainly').  Synonyms: apparently, evidently, manifestly, obviously, patently, plain.  "She was in bed and evidently in great pain" , "He was manifestly too important to leave off the guest list" , "It is all patently nonsense" , "She has apparently been living here for some time" , "I thought he owned the property, but apparently not" , "You are plainly wrong" , "He is plain stubborn"
2.
In a simple manner; without extravagance or embellishment.  Synonym: simply.  "They lived very simply"






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Plainly" Quotes from Famous Books



... plainly,' said the colonel. 'He sees that Nevil has ruined himself with his uncle. The old lady won't allow Nevil to visit her; in her condition it would be an excitement beyond her strength to bear. She sent Blackburn to bring Nevil here, and give him the option ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... my youth about the shunned house was merely that people died there in alarmingly great numbers. That, I was told, was why the original owners had moved out some twenty years after building the place. It was plainly unhealthy, perhaps because of the dampness and fungous growths in the cellar, the general sickish smell, the drafts of the hallways, or the quality of the well and pump water. These things were bad enough, and these were all that gained belief among the ...
— The Shunned House • Howard Phillips Lovecraft

... Miss Veemie sweetly inquired. "Certainly you shall!" And, turning, she hurried busily into the house, Miss Sallie following with an expression about her mouth which said as plainly as words that her well-meaning sister would not emerge with cake, or anything else, to interrupt a tete-a-tete ...
— Where the Souls of Men are Calling • Credo Harris

... orders, the extent of their "beat," and the direction of their "front," etc., I turned in. The fires they had built, besides being a comfort to themselves, were also useful to me, because twice during the night when I looked out I could, without leaving my tent, plainly see them at their posts. I finally fell asleep, and dreamt of being decorated with a crossbelt made of V.C.'s and D.S.O.'s and of wearing red tabs all ...
— The Defence of Duffer's Drift • Ernest Dunlop Swinton

... the end of our journey approached, we grew more desperately anxious to push forward, lest we should be too late to give them timely warning of the slave-dealer's approach. We also became more taciturn, and I could see plainly that the irrepressible forebodings that filled my own heart, were shared by my companions. Poor Makarooroo never spoke, save in reply to questions addressed pointedly to himself; and seeing the state of his mind, we forbore to ...
— The Gorilla Hunters • R.M. Ballantyne

... conquests for want of a navy, and England saved her position by her sea-power, though she had failed to use it to the best advantage.'[42] This shows, as we shall find that a later war showed more plainly, that even the Government of a thoroughly maritime country is not always sure of conducting its naval affairs wisely. The Seven Years' war included some brilliant displays of the efficacy of sea-power. It was this ...
— Sea-Power and Other Studies • Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge

... the sixteenth century travellers differed in opinion respecting the chocolatl. Benzoni plainly says that it is a drink "fitter for hogs than men."* (* Benzoni, Istoria del Mondo Nuovo, 1572 page 104.) The Jesuit Acosta asserts, that "the Spaniards who inhabit America are fond of chocolate to excess; but that it requires to be accustomed to that ...
— Equinoctial Regions of America V2 • Alexander von Humboldt

... capped and goggled head was thrust out of the tonneau. Buck could make out nothing definite about the face save that it was smooth-shaven and rather heavy-jowled. He was hoping that the fellow would alight from the car and show himself more plainly but to his disappointment the head was presently drawn back and the machine crept on, swerving a little so that it headed almost ...
— Shoe-Bar Stratton • Joseph Bushnell Ames

... was shown off to advantage by the yachting costume he wore, stood on deck, his arm thrown round the waist of a girl beside him. We were but a minute or two passing the stately vessel, yet I saw plainly this loving group of two, and—I pitied the man! Why? He was English undoubtedly—the son of a country where the very soil is supposed to be odorous of virtue—therefore the woman beside him must be a perfect ...
— Vendetta - A Story of One Forgotten • Marie Corelli

... with materials in all haste, to be ready for the meeting of Parliament on the seventh of February, when like a bomb-shell in their midst fell a royal proclamation, proroguing Parliament again until the third of October. To go on now, especially in haste, was plainly a useless proceeding. ...
— It Might Have Been - The Story of the Gunpowder Plot • Emily Sarah Holt

... under my Arm, a Jew of considerable Note, as I am informed, takes half a Dozen Oranges of me, and at the same time slides a Guinea into my Hand; I made him a Curtsy, and went my Way: He follow'd me, and finding I was going about my Business, he came up with me, and told me plainly, that he gave me the Guinea with no other Intent but to purchase my Person for an Hour. Did you so, Sir? says I: You gave it me then to make me be wicked, I'll keep it to make me honest. However, not to be in the least ungrateful, I promise you Ill lay it out ...
— The Spectator, Volume 2. • Addison and Steele

... whoever transcribed Calisto transcribed also The Captives. But from internal evidence alone—putting aside the testimony afforded by the handwriting, and ignoring the entry in Sir Henry Herbert's Office-Book—any competent reader could plainly perceive that the play is Heywood's. In the very first scene—in the conversation between Treadway and Raphael—we feel at once the charm of that hearty "Christianism" which is never absent from Heywood's work. There is no affectation in Heywood; he is always natural and simple, ...
— A Collection Of Old English Plays, Vol. IV. • Editor: A.H. Bullen

... one who has recently died, it is against etiquette to mention the word "death;" the answer is "his destiny is closed!" But this tenderness is only reserved for "the elect" of the Mussulmen. A Jew's death is at once plainly expressed: "He is dead, sir! asking your pardon for mentioning such a contemptible wretch!" i.e. a Jew! A Christian's is described by "The infidel is dead!" or, ...
— Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 3 (of 3) • Isaac D'Israeli

... lamentations, to rouse her from her lethargy. Such puerile conceits as these form a striking contrast with the real knowledge of the Mexicans, as displayed in their hieroglyphical maps, in which the true cause of this phenomenon is plainly depicted.17 ...
— History Of The Conquest Of Peru • William Hickling Prescott

... theatre, Count Puecke, hoping that this stage potentate's favor would help to push the fortune of his protegee. The Count, a rough, imperious man, who mayhap had been irritated by numerous other appeals of the same kind, looked coldly on the plainly clad, insignificant-looking girl, and said: "What shall we do with such an ugly creature? See what feet she has! and then her face! She will never be presentable. Certainly, we can't take such a scarecrow." The effect of such a salutation on a timid, ...
— Great Singers, Second Series - Malibran To Titiens • George T. Ferris

... found his rider. Brown's greeting was cordial and hearty, Mr. Hamlin's somewhat restrained. But at Brown's urgent request, he followed him up the back stairs to a narrow corridor, and thence to a small room looking out upon the stable yard. It was plainly furnished with a bed, a table, a few chairs, and a rack ...
— Selected Stories • Bret Harte

... in making Meg look particularly nice that Sunday morning, and she was well pleased when her mother smilingly remarked at breakfast that Meg showed very plainly that she had fallen into good hands. "Hatty needs a little attention, herself," added Mrs. Lee, and she glanced at the irregular white line which separated the two heavy masses of waving red hair on each side ...
— Hatty and Marcus - or, First Steps in the Better Path • Aunt Friendly

... their existence had often operated practically in the most embarrassing manner, while it constituted a standing and perpetual infringement of the rights of the Government of Oude; and that his Lordship in Council was, consequently, decidedly opposed to the continuance of a system so plainly at variance with every just principle of policy." The objections of the British Government to such guarantees are stated in letters dated 18th February, 28th March, 20th May, 3rd October, and 19th December 1839, and 11th ...
— A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, Volumes I & II • William Sleeman

... but from his looks and the nature of his silence, Mendez plainly perceived himself to be the person whom the admiral had in view; "Whereupon," continues he, "I added: 'Senor, I have many times put my life in peril of death to save you and all those who are here, and God has hitherto preserved me ...
— The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (Vol. II) • Washington Irving

... things are swollen by wind only, and the more they are inflated the hollower and emptier they are; and such a sharp point as Paul's saying shrivels them. The statement is not meant as the assertion of a necessary or uniform result of knowledge, but it does put plainly a very usual result of it, if it is unaccompanied by love. It is a strange, sad result of superior intelligence or acquirements, that it so often leads to conceit, to a false estimate of the worth and power ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture: Romans Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V) • Alexander Maclaren

... everywhere within the dominion of the United States, and places the citizens of a Territory, so far as these rights are concerned, on the same footing with citizens of the States, and guards them as firmly and plainly against any inroads which the General Government might attempt under the plea of implied or incidental powers. And if Congress itself can not do this—if it is beyond the powers conferred on the Federal Government—it will ...
— The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government • Jefferson Davis

... is that short, sturdy, plainly dressed man, who stands with legs a little apart, and hands behind his back, looking up with keen gray eyes into the face of each speaker? His cap is in his hand, so you can see the bullet-head of crisp brown hair and the ...
— Ten Great Events in History • James Johonnot

... Home Ruler may in this matter take up one position which is consistent. He may say that England can allow to be carried out through the agency of an Irish Parliament a policy which no English Parliament could itself adopt. To put the matter plainly, an English Parliament which cannot for very shame rob Irish landlords of their property may, it is suggested, create an Irish Parliament with authority to rob them. This position is consistent, but it is disgraceful. To ascribe ...
— England's Case Against Home Rule • Albert Venn Dicey

... Wolfe, in a voice loud enough for the other three to hear plainly, "I want to get some ships past the city into the upper reach of the river. The French General will not fight. I give him chance after chance against me, but he does not take it. He thinks a waiting game will serve his turn best, and perhaps he is right. But we must leave no stone unturned to ...
— French and English - A Story of the Struggle in America • Evelyn Everett-Green

... now inquire, how far such freedom can and ought to be conceded without danger to the peace of the state, or the power of the rulers; and this, as I said at the beginning of Chapter XVI., is my principal object. (18) It follows, plainly, from the explanation given above, of the foundations of a state, that the ultimate aim of government is not to rule, or restrain, by fear, nor to exact obedience, but contrariwise, to free every man from fear, that he may live in all possible security; in other words, to strengthen ...
— A Theologico-Political Treatise [Part IV] • Benedict de Spinoza

... plainly very much excited and disturbed. He walked nervously up and down, jerking his sentences out piecemeal ...
— Brand Blotters • William MacLeod Raine

... The plainly drest old man now led us into a long corridor, which goes, I think, the whole length of the house, about five hundred feet, arched all the way, and lengthened interminably by a looking-glass at the end, ...
— Seeing Europe with Famous Authors, Volume I. - Great Britain and Ireland • Various

... half the things they could do: Why, one said "Good morning," as plainly as you. One played the piano, and one, dressed in lace, Walked up to a mirror ...
— Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper and Other Stories • Anonymous

... land-surveyor only took her fancy through not cutting his nails and wearing tight trousers. You're surprised at that? "Why, this," she said, "is a man with no dissimulation about him."... But mercy on us! Rustic fellows like us speak the truth too plainly. But let us move away a bit.... It's not for us to ...
— A Sportsman's Sketches - Volume II • Ivan Turgenev

... a day she abandoned that area, flying heavily eastward. The droning and swooping gnats of aircraft plainly distressed her. At first she had only tried to avoid them, but now and then during her eastward flight from St. Louis she made short desperate rushes against them, without skill or much sign of intelligence, screaming from a wide-open ...
— The Good Neighbors • Edgar Pangborn

... demands of Marjorie's claim to enjoyment. She was not a mere type of the worldly-minded woman. She represents, indeed, the claim of modern women for a distinctive interest and employment not less urgent and necessary than the interests and employments of men. And when she failed, as she plainly must have failed, to find any such occupation, her sense of beauty and her justifiable demand for life found an outlet largely in shopping, in entertaining, in all such ephemeral attractions and amusements as women in her class may seek and reject. ...
— H. G. Wells • J. D. Beresford

... said Ransom, very gently. The stamping and rapping swelled and swelled for a minute, and then it subsided; but before it had done so Ransom's definition of it had plainly become the true one. The tone of the manifestation was good-humoured, but it was not gratulatory. He looked at his watch again, and saw that five minutes more had elapsed, and he remembered what the newspaperman in Charles Street had said about Olive's guaranteeing Verena's punctuality. Oddly ...
— The Bostonians, Vol. II (of II) • Henry James

... which was pushed from the strand and rowed swiftly along the stream—for the tide was in its favour—by a couple of watermen. Though scarcely two hours past midnight, it was perfectly light. The moon had arisen, and everything could be as plainly distinguished as during the day. A thin mist lay on the river, giving the few craft moving about in it a ghostly look. As they approached London Bridge, the thief-taker whispered Van Galgebrok, who acted as steersman, to make for a particular ...
— Jack Sheppard - A Romance • William Harrison Ainsworth

... in front of the house now, and could see Miss Pompret quite plainly. Certainly the elderly lady did look as ...
— Bobbsey Twins in Washington • Laura Lee Hope

... suh," assented the ragged man, surprised and plainly grateful that one holding a supremely high position in the community should vouchsafe to remember a fact relating to so inconsequent an atom as himself. "But I ain't heared it fur so long I come mighty nigh furgittin' it sometimes, myself. ...
— The Best Short Stories of 1917 - and the Yearbook of the American Short Story • Various

... of his productions, an Indian Chief, gilded all over, stood during the better part of a century on the cupola of the Province House, bedazzling the eyes of those who looked upward, like an angel of the sun;" plainly indicating that he thought the Indian was carved from wood, instead of being made, as ...
— The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 1 • Various

... of the jury, ought to end the accusation, since he admits that he bought corn and the law plainly forbids it, and you have sworn to give judgment according to law. But that you may be convinced that they are wrong about the officers I must say something further about them. 8. Since they made the charges against them let us call the ...
— The Orations of Lysias • Lysias

... worthless trifles; the exploiting of her own wealth, had all been designed to create a confidence which would prepare the way for such a coup as the present. And this morning she had been deliberately decoyed out of the way, while the last scene of the comedy was enacted. The messages were plainly a ruse, while the different rendezvous would have provided a further detention, allowing the conspirators plenty ...
— Flaming June • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey

... He was plainly one of those who feel the constant need of an audience. And since there was no office-boy present, for him to dazzle with his wit, he applied himself to demonstrating to his table-companion what a sad, sad ...
— Australia Felix • Henry Handel Richardson

... business life of John. But this is surely not lived alone. Though called a function of John, it is rather a function of the community, and he merely shares it. I had no right to confine to John himself that which plainly stretches beyond him. Let us correct the figure, then, by laying off another beside it to represent Peter, one of those who shares in the business experience of John. ...
— The Nature of Goodness • George Herbert Palmer

... south-east, out over the mouth of the Thames, until at an altitude of 10,000 feet an upper current changed the course to southwest, the balloon mounting rapidly till 23,000 feet was reached, at which height the coast of France was plainly seen. At 25,000 feet both voyagers were gasping, and compelled to inhale oxygen. At 27,500 feet, only four bags of ballast being left, the descent was commenced, and a safe landing was ...
— The Dominion of the Air • J. M. Bacon

... he confessed, dejectedly, turning his glance toward Mary, whom, plainly, he regarded as his real adversary in the combat on his client's behalf. "I'm going to be quite frank with you, Miss Turner, quite frank," he stated with more geniality, though with a very crestfallen air. Somehow, indeed, there was just a shade too much of the crestfallen ...
— Within the Law - From the Play of Bayard Veiller • Marvin Dana

... than sixty yards distant, rose the branching antlers of a huge buck. Close by was a second buck, and the reddish-gray flanks of several other deer were visible. As they moved about on the snow, the rasping crunch of their hoofs could be plainly heard. ...
— The Camp in the Snow - Besiedged by Danger • William Murray Graydon

... ignorant of their doings, and it straightway revealed plainly to those who could understand any such signs all that would later result from their domination. For of a sudden such a storm came down upon the whole city and all the land that quantities of trees ...
— Dio's Rome • Cassius Dio

... move from the place where he stood, and he showed very plainly by his countenance and his manner, that he did not mean to give the squirrel up. Presently they heard him ...
— Stuyvesant - A Franconia Story • Jacob Abbott

... man listened. The sound was plainly audible, but it was a muffled sound, as if the walls and windows were padded with mattresses to prevent any sounds of the operations within from reaching inquisitive, ...
— The Mask - A Story of Love and Adventure • Arthur Hornblow

... to show what impressed the mind of a boy in 1845 with the idea of city splendor. The President's place at Quincy was the larger and older and far the more interesting of the two; but a boy felt at once its inferiority in fashion. It showed plainly enough its want of wealth. It smacked of colonial age, but not of Boston style or plush curtains. To the end of his life he never quite overcame the prejudice thus drawn in with his childish breath. He never could compel himself to care for nineteenth-century style. He was never able to adopt ...
— The Education of Henry Adams • Henry Adams

... throughout the long story, Constantine looked me fixedly in the eyes. The strange light of another world, of the fatalist East, looked plainly out of his eyes. Every Russian carries a terrible possibility about with him like a torch of tragic flame, ready to be lighted ...
— Bog-Myrtle and Peat - Tales Chiefly Of Galloway Gathered From The Years 1889 To 1895 • S.R. Crockett

... to be denied that Athenagoras views the revelation in the prophets and in Christ as completely identical. But in one very essential point he agrees with Justin; and he has even expressed himself still more plainly than the latter, inasmuch as he does not introduce the assumption of a "seed of the Logos implanted by nature" [Greek: sperma logou emphuton]. The philosophers, he says, were incapable of knowing the full truth, since it was not from God, but rather from themselves, that ...
— History of Dogma, Volume 2 (of 7) • Adolph Harnack

... shot into a bright and ruddy blaze, illumining hill and river, and even the anxious countenances of the travellers. At the same time, a dark figure, as of a man engaged feeding the flame with fresh fuel, was plainly seen twice or thrice to pass before it. How many others, his comrades, might be watching its increasing blaze, or preparing for their wild slumbers, among the rocks and bushes where it was kindled, it was impossible to divine. The sight of the ...
— Nick of the Woods • Robert M. Bird

... seemed to me a providential direction against moving towards Rome, and a better "Preservative against Popery," than the three volumes in folio, in which, I think, that prophylactic is to be found. However, on occasions which demanded it, I felt it a duty to give out plainly all that I thought, though I did not like to do so. One such instance occurred, when I had to publish a Letter about Tract 90. In that Letter, I said, "Instead of setting before the soul the Holy Trinity, and heaven and hell, the Church of Rome does seem to me, as a popular ...
— Apologia Pro Vita Sua • John Henry Cardinal Newman

... He was equally clear and determined in his distrust and dislike of the opposition. Not long before leaving office he had written a letter to Jefferson, which, while it exonerated that gentleman from being the author of certain peculiarly malicious attacks, showed very plainly that the writer completely understood the position occupied by his former secretary. It was a letter which must have been most unpleasant reading for the person to whom it was addressed. A year later he wrote to John Nicholas in regard to Jefferson: "Nothing short of the ...
— George Washington, Vol. II • Henry Cabot Lodge

... now close at hand; a boy in the stern sheets was the only officer, and a poor one plainly, for the men were talking as ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 13 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson

... to us is as a hill, From whence we plainly see Beyond this world, and take our fill Of things that ...
— Among Famous Books • John Kelman

... what? I see plainly enough that the jig is up. You'll make a mistake if you don't do me up brown! Don't you pay anything for me; let 'em do what they please. Good-by, it's time ...
— Plays • Alexander Ostrovsky

... a great stride towards another point, and now she could hear very plainly the regular breaths coming and going as of one in deep sleep. This suspense was worse than any. She laid herself out on the floor, rested her elbows on the boards and buried her chin in her palms. Wild thoughts of hatred and ...
— Honor Edgeworth • Vera

... and there is no disgrace to a man while he is young in pursuing such a study; but when he is more advanced in years, the thing becomes ridiculous, and I feel towards philosophers as I do towards those who lisp and imitate children. For I love to see a little child, who is not of an age to speak plainly, lisping at his play; there is an appearance of grace and freedom in his utterance, which is natural to his childish years. But when I hear some small creature carefully articulating its words, I am offended; the sound is disagreeable, and has to my ears the twang of slavery. So ...
— Gorgias • Plato

... behind the footlights explaining to a young man who was not her husband that her marriage vows need not be too seriously considered if he, the young man, found them too inconvenient. Which scared the young man, who was plainly a purveyor of heated air and a short sport. And, although she explained very clearly that if he needed her in his business he had better say so quick, the author's invention gave out just there and he called in the young wife's ...
— Iole • Robert W. Chambers

... mourning in which you stand, I have endeavored to meet all the insults you have offered me with forbearance. But, sir, I am here to defend my mother's rights and to protect her from insult! And I tell you plainly that you have affronted her for the very last time! One more word or look of insult leveled at Marah Rocke and neither your age, position nor this sacred roof shall protect you from personal chastisement at ...
— Capitola the Madcap • Emma D. E. N. Southworth

... of the eighteenth century men became more and more plainly divided into two political parties. Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, a man of decided genius and consummate ability, was the leader of those who maintained that the government of the United States should be strictly limited to the powers expressly granted in the Federal ...
— School History of North Carolina • John W. Moore

... the work is accomplished, come Letters of renegation, come Curates who are 'learning to be Carpenters,' Curates with their new-wedded Nuns: has not the Day of Reason dawned, very swiftly, and become noon? From sequestered Townships comes Addresses, stating plainly, though in Patois dialect, That 'they will have no more to do with the black animal called Curay, animal noir, appelle Curay.' (Analyse du Moniteur (Paris, ...
— The French Revolution • Thomas Carlyle

... the rails and gesticulated wildly. But in amazement his arms fell to his sides. For the train, now only a hundred yards distant and creeping toward him at a snail's pace, carried no head-light, and though in the moonlight David was plainly visible, it blew no whistle, tolled no bell. Even the passenger coaches in the rear of the sightless engine were wrapped in darkness. It was a ghost of a train, a Flying Dutchman of a train, a nightmare of a train. It was as unreal as the black swamp, ...
— The Red Cross Girl • Richard Harding Davis

... down to what appeared to Frank to be an interminable business, and what rendered it more tantalizing was, that the morning and evening guns at the English forts could be plainly heard. ...
— By Sheer Pluck - A Tale of the Ashanti War • G. A. Henty

... tall, and seemingly robust; his face long and oval, his nose aquiline, his mouth furnished with a set of elegant teeth, white as the drifted snow, his complexion clear, and his aspect noble. His chestnut hair loosely flowed in short natural curls; and his grey eyes shone with such vivacity, as plainly showed that his reason was a little discomposed. Such an appearance prepossessed the greater part of the company in his favour. He bowed round with the most polite and affable address; inquired about his squire, and, being informed of the pains Mr. Fillet had taken for his recovery, insisted ...
— The Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves • Tobias Smollett

... 'I tell you very plainly that I will not work for the advancement of the Bishop of Winchester. He turned me loose upon the street to-night after I had served him, with neither guard to my feet nor bit to my mouth. If my side goes up, he may go with it, but I ...
— The Fifth Queen • Ford Madox Ford

... come," said the gentleman. "I care not, but, I tell you plainly, that until you give me back my ten crowns, I will not leave here, ...
— One Hundred Merrie And Delightsome Stories - Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles • Various

... to tell me the whole story; and especially, if you have done wrong about it, in any way, don't attempt to smooth and gloss it over, but tell me that part more plainly and distinctly and fully ...
— Rollo's Museum • Jacob Abbott

... and the disintegration of the Aldrich-Hale group, the congressional election of 1910 took place. Signs of impending change had already become evident. Insurgent Republicans were carrying the party primaries; and the Democrats, who were plainly confident, emphasized strongly the tariff act, Cannonism and the high cost of living as reasons for the removal of the Republicans. The result was a greater upheaval than even the Democrats had prophesied. In nine states ...
— The United States Since The Civil War • Charles Ramsdell Lingley

... professional and personal; with the first the action is mechanical and exhibits few, if any, traces of personality. Yet in the oldest manuscripts studied and consulted there are certain defined characteristics plainly shown. The handwritings of historical and celebrated personages coincide to a remarkable degree with their known virtues and vices, as criticized ...
— Disputed Handwriting • Jerome B. Lavay

... of a lot about this 'ere Socialism,' remarked the man behind the moat, 'but up to now I've never met nobody wot could tell you plainly exactly wot ...
— The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists • Robert Tressell

... this last subject [the changes from one set of animal and vegetable species to another]...you remember what Herschel said in his letter to me. If I had stated as plainly as he has done the possibility of the introduction or origination of fresh species being a natural, in contradistinction to a miraculous process, I should have raised a host of prejudices against me, which are unfortunately opposed at every step ...
— The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume I • Francis Darwin

... and, on the morning of January 11, Miss Anthony, Mrs. Hooker, Paulina Wright Davis and Hon. A. G. Riddle appeared in the judiciary committee room. None of them had met Mrs. Woodhull, whom they found to be a beautiful woman, refined in appearance and plainly dressed. She read her argument in a clear, musical voice with a modest and engaging manner, captivating not only the men but the ladies, who invited her to come to their convention and repeat it. Mrs. Hooker and Judge Riddle also addressed the committee and Miss ...
— The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2) • Ida Husted Harper

... again and Suzanne, wrapped in a gray cloak and looking very large, assumed her old grim look. John glanced at her and for the moment he was just a little afraid of her. He saw her eyes saying very plainly: "You're an American and a foreigner and my mistress, Mademoiselle Julie Lannes, a very young girl, is French. You should not be talking together at all, and if you were not so necessary to us in our hour of danger I would see that she was quickly ...
— The Hosts of the Air • Joseph A. Altsheler

... the mountains very plainly when the sun was setting," said Howard, "and it cannot ...
— Adrift in the Wilds - or, The Adventures of Two Shipwrecked Boys • Edward S. Ellis

... two or three lessons be demonstration lessons; that is, to have all operations performed by the teacher. An assistant may be chosen from the class, who can help in any required way. The receipts for the day should first be read, and copied plainly by all the pupils. Each process must be fully explained, and be as daintily and deftly performed as possible. Not more than six dishes at the most can be prepared in one lesson, and four will be the usual number. Two lessons a week, from two to three hours each, are all for which ...
— The Easiest Way in Housekeeping and Cooking - Adapted to Domestic Use or Study in Classes • Helen Campbell

... come to the door, Mrs. Merton," said she, "and look at my pony-phaeton, it is so pretty; Lady Raby admires it so much; you ought to have just such another." As she spoke, she favoured Mrs. Merton with a significant glance, that said, as plainly as glance could say, "I have something to communicate." Mrs. Merton took the hint, and followed the good lady out of ...
— Alice, or The Mysteries, Book III • Edward Bulwer Lytton

... St. Cuthbert's hermitage at Farne, and there, he said afterwards, he longed for the first time for the rest and solitude of the hermitage. He had been sixteen years a seaman now, with a seaman's temptations—it may be (as he told Reginald plainly) with some of a seaman's vices. He may have done things which lay heavy on his conscience. But it was getting time to think about his soul. He took the cross, and went off to Jerusalem, as many a man ...
— The Hermits • Charles Kingsley

... clothespin was fastened in its place, and the last brown towel hung upon the currant bushes. It was Mrs. Markham's weakness that her wash should be fluttering in the wind before that of Mrs. Jones, which could be plainly seen from her kitchen window. But to-day Mrs. Jones was ahead, and Melinda's pink sun-bonnet was visible in the little back-yard as early as eleven, at which time the Markham garments had just commenced to boil. The bride had brought with her a great deal of extra work, ...
— Ethelyn's Mistake • Mary Jane Holmes

... physical, social and economic environment reveals clearly the many powerful forces then at work. At the same time these do not alone explain Israel's later history and the uniqueness of its character and faith. These later facts plainly point back to a strong, commanding personality, who shaped the ideals and institutions of this early people and left upon them the imperishable imprint of his own unique individuality. Although the traditions regarding him have been transmitted for centuries from mouth to mouth, they portray the ...
— The Making of a Nation - The Beginnings of Israel's History • Charles Foster Kent and Jeremiah Whipple Jenks

... saw plainly enough that Moses was displeased and hurt, and had it been in the days of her fourteenth summer, she would have thrown her arms around his neck, and said, "Moses, I don't care a fig for that man, and I love you better than all the world." But this the young lady of eighteen ...
— The Pearl of Orr's Island - A Story of the Coast of Maine • Harriet Beecher Stowe

... plainly as that?" she smiled. "It's a secret. A really wonderful secret. I'm just bursting to talk about it, but I mustn't. Talking might break the spell. Do you—along with your other naive ...
— Burned Bridges • Bertrand W. Sinclair

... which he had just adopted in his denunciation of sciences and arts, and his panegyric on the simplicity of the natural life, with such duties as he had to perform? And how preach disinterestedness and frugality from amid the cashboxes of a receiver-general? Plainly it was his duty to pass in independence and poverty the little time that was yet left to him, to bring all the forces of his soul to bear in breaking the fetters of opinion, and to carry out courageously whatever ...
— Rousseau - Volumes I. and II. • John Morley

... which suited her. For example, she fully understood what St. Paul means when he tells the Thessalonians that BECAUSE they were called, THEREFORE they were to stand fast. She thought with Paul that being called; having a duty plainly laid upon her; being bidden as if by a general to do something, she OUGHT to stand fast; and she stood fast, supported against all pressure by the consciousness of fulfilling the special orders of One who was her superior. ...
— Mark Rutherford's Deliverance • Mark Rutherford

... two were in focus together. Every second they dropped closer and closer to Smith's borrowed eyes. And in less time than it takes to tell it, they had come so close that when the occupant of the disabled craft lurched heavily to one side, Smith could plainly make out the long, flying hair of ...
— The Devolutionist and The Emancipatrix • Homer Eon Flint

... Chestnut whinnied, and lowering his head, caressed his shoulder affectionately with his nose. Then raising his head, he began to paw the ground impatiently, indicating as plainly as words that it was time ...
— When Dreams Come True • Ritter Brown

... on th' west over there," Luther said, pointing to the roofs of the Hunter place, plainly to be seen over the rise of land between. "They're th' folks for you t' know—th' only ones with book-learnin' around here. Goin' t' ...
— The Wind Before the Dawn • Dell H. Munger

... cordially for your generous defence of me against Mr. Mivart. In the "Origin" I did not discuss the derivation of any one species; but that I might not be accused of concealing my opinion I went out of my way and inserted a sentence which seemed to me (and still so seems) to declare plainly my belief. This was quoted in my "Descent of Man." Therefore it is very unjust, not to say dishonest, of Mr. Mivart to accuse me of base fraudulent concealment; I care little about myself; but Mr. ...
— Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters and Reminiscences, Vol. 1 (of 2) • James Marchant

... boyish and very poor; but they are not fair examples of the whole, which is much simpler and more direct than might have been expected. Moreover, the thought is the really important thing. We see plainly that the speaker belongs to the new era and the new generation of national measures and nationally-minded men. There is no colonialism about him. He is in full sympathy with the Washingtonian policy of independence in our foreign relations ...
— Daniel Webster • Henry Cabot Lodge

... for returning officers, of the following train of reasoning. The three lists with 8000, 7500, and 4500 supporters are competing for seats. The first seat has to be allotted; to which list is it to go? Plainly to the list with 8000 supporters. Then the second seat has to be disposed of; to which list is it to go? If it is given to the first list, then the supporters of the first list will have two members in all, ...
— Proportional Representation - A Study in Methods of Election • John H. Humphreys

... error. The fate which really befell James is attributed to John. Georgius Hamartolos therefore cannot be quoting directly from Papias, for Papias cannot have reported the martyrdom of John. But, on the other hand, Papias seems plainly to have been the ultimate source of his information. The work is precisely and correctly quoted. The general tenor accords with the main object of Papias' book—the exposition of a saying of Christ, ...
— Essays on "Supernatural Religion" • Joseph B. Lightfoot

... Laura's countenance told too plainly the disappointment she felt. "I am afraid Mrs. Perry is in want of that money," remarked the husband after she ...
— Friends and Neighbors - or Two Ways of Living in the World • Anonymous

... thing told us at the very outset of the book;—it is a revelation. That is, it is something revealed directly by God. It is the only book of the Bible of which we are told plainly and directly ...
— Quiet Talks on the Crowned Christ of Revelation • S. D. Gordon

... especially with her pale, even rather sallow, longish face. But in those eyes and in the lines of her exquisite lips there was something with which his brother might well be passionately in love, but which perhaps could not be loved for long. He expressed this thought almost plainly to Dmitri when, after the visit, his brother besought and insisted that he should not conceal his ...
— The Brothers Karamazov • Fyodor Dostoyevsky

... Symphony. First sounded by the shrill sweet winds, it had suddenly been given out by the strings, in magnificent unison, and had mounted up and on, to the jubilant trilling of the little flutes. There was such a courageous sincerity in this theme, such undauntable resolve; it expressed more plainly than words what he intended his life of the next few years to be; for he was full to the brim of ambitious intentions, which he had never yet had a chance of putting into practice. He felt so ready for work, so fresh and unworn; the fervour of a deep enthusiasm was rampant in him. What a single-minded ...
— Maurice Guest • Henry Handel Richardson

... patience of the contemplative spirit in Prometheus is to be followed by the daring of the active demagorgon, at whose touch all "old thrones" are at once and for ever to be cast down into the dust. It appears too plainly, from the luscious pictures with which his play terminates, that Mr. Shelley looks forward to an unusual relaxation of all moral rules—or rather, indeed, to the extinction of all moral feelings, except that of a certain mysterious indefinable kindliness, as the natural ...
— Famous Reviews • Editor: R. Brimley Johnson

... be induced to say anything more about Captain Olaf, and doubtless regretted that he had even mentioned his name. The waif plainly confounded "circumstances" and property. Mr. Lowington several times returned to the main inquiry, but the young man would not even hint at the explanation of the manner in which he had come to be a waif on the North ...
— Up The Baltic - Young America in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark • Oliver Optic

... urging his suit with any hazardous impatience, but offering to wait as long as Clarissa pleased for his sentence. And then, in the midst of the girl's distress at the renewal of this embarrassing declaration, her father spoke to her, and told her plainly that she was, in all honour, bound to become Mr. Granger's wife. She had suffered him to devote himself to her, with a devotion rare in a man of his age and character. She had allowed the outer world to take the business for granted. It would be a ...
— The Lovels of Arden • M. E. Braddon

... in the rigging could be seen plainly now. There was no excitement. They kept very still, watching the futile efforts of the life-savers, waving their hands occasionally as though in token of their thanks and their knowledge of the utter futility of ...
— Dan Merrithew • Lawrence Perry

... shuddered slightly, and by a singular freak of my brain pictured to myself Monsieur Georges—Georges—my husband—in a cotton night cap and a dressing-gown. The vision flashed across my mind in the midst of the storm. I saw him just as plainly as if he had been there. It was dreadful. The nightcap came over his forehead, down to his eyebrows, and he said to me, pressing my hand; "At last, Valentine; you are mine; do you love me? oh! tell me, do you love me?" And as his head moved as he uttered these words, ...
— Monsieur, Madame and Bebe, Complete • Gustave Droz

... answer," said Lord Evandale, "that, ere rushing on battle, I wished to bid adieu to my betrothed bride? Surely it is judging coldly of my feelings, and showing too plainly the indifference of your own, to question my motive for ...
— Old Mortality, Complete, Illustrated • Sir Walter Scott

... on the wayside towards their left. And king Yudhishthira, regarding it attentively, said unto Bhima and Dhananjaya, 'This jackal that belongs to a very inferior species of animals, speaking to our left, speaketh a language which plainly indicates that the sinful Kurus, disregarding us, have commenced to oppress us by resorting to violence.' After the sons of Pandu had given up the chase and said these words, they entered the grove which contained their hermitage. And there they found their beloved one's maid, ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Bk. 3 Pt. 2 • Translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli

... the S.E. were covered with snow, and the rain continued. They proceeded on in a course N. 20 degrees W. near the river several miles, till at the distance of eleven miles they reached a ridge, from the top of which on the north side they could plainly discern a mountain to the S. and W. at a great distance covered with snow; a high ridge projecting from the mountains to the southeast approaches the river on the southeast side, forming some cliffs of dark hard stone. They also saw that the river ran for a great distance west ...
— History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, Vol. I. • Meriwether Lewis and William Clark

... is plainly perplexed.) The man who handles all the life insurance funds, who controls more strings of banks and trust companies than all the Rothschilds a hundred times over—the merger of iron and steel and coal and shipping and all the other things—the man who blocks ...
— Theft - A Play In Four Acts • Jack London

... he made choice," she said when it was marked plainly. "Me, I think he was leading us on the night trail to this place—I think so. He is here to guard the gold of El Alisal for you. That is how it will ...
— The Treasure Trail - A Romance of the Land of Gold and Sunshine • Marah Ellis Ryan

... Campeador Gave houses and possessions whereof they were right glad. All men of the Cid's bounty good testimony had. And of them that had come later well content was every one. My lord Cid saw it plainly that they fain would get them gone, With the goods that they had taken, if unhindered they might go. The lord Cid gave his order (Minaya counselled so) That if any man that with him in richer case did stand Should take his leave in secret and fail to kiss ...
— The Lay of the Cid • R. Selden Rose and Leonard Bacon

... that the cavern of the veil is somewhere on this world. But why?" Thorvald stood up, the firelight marking plainly the lines between his tanned arms, his brown face and throat, and the paleness of his lean body. "Why do we dream ...
— Storm Over Warlock • Andre Norton

... back to her husband, or out to her mother's. She considered the matter and chose to go back to Bowman, saying bitterly that her mother made the match in the first place, and stood always against her daughter and with her son-in-law whatever he did. Plainly it took all of Laura's persuasions to prevent actual blows between Gilbert and Edwards. Also, she would only promise to go back and live under Bowman's roof, but not as his wife—and the whole situation was ...
— The Million-Dollar Suitcase • Alice MacGowan

... reviewed, mentally, the events leading up to his landing here. The sudden appearance on his teleview screen of the face and slim shoulders of a girl. Her attractiveness plainly distinguishable through her helmet; for a moment he forgot that he disliked women. The call for help, cut short ... but not before he had learned that apparently she was being held prisoner on Asteroid Moira. ...
— The Beast of Space • F.E. Hardart

... so unknown or so little known would plainly be of small profit and less interest, unless the reader was already furnished with some mental images of such creatures and groups of creatures—images calculated to sustain his attention and excite his interest in the various kinds of animals ...
— The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, September 1879 • Various

... plainly presented as many of the various lights and shadows of human character. Love and faithlessness, sincerity and deceit, nobility and dishonor, kindness and ingratitude, morality and vice—all the virtues ...
— Shadow and Light - An Autobiography with Reminiscences of the Last and Present Century • Mifflin Wistar Gibbs

... sat laughing in our faces, with his hands in his pockets and his round shoulders raised; plainly signifying that it was quite true, and that he despised us ...
— Great Expectations • Charles Dickens

... Sarah hesitated, plainly; but honesty conquered. She refused the money, which, nevertheless, I gave her; and, from her careless replies, I soon ...
— Gifts of Genius - A Miscellany of Prose and Poetry by American Authors • Various

... songs presented in this paper the bars have been omitted for the reasons presented above. The peculiarity of the songs as rendered by the preceptor is thus more plainly indicated. ...
— Seventh Annual Report • Various

... were now both eager for the battle. The king set out from London on October 12. His consummate generalship is nowhere more plainly shown than in this memorable campaign. He formed his own plan, and he carried it out. He determined to give battle, but only on his own ground, and after his own fashion. The nature of the post shows that his real plan was to occupy a position where the Normans would have to attack ...
— The World's Greatest Books, Vol XI. • Edited by Arthur Mee and J.A. Hammerton

... to the front, I pondered long and anxiously over all that had passed in London. I had plainly told the War Cabinet that I did not share these alarmist views, which I considered were not founded on any definite or reliable information, and I had warned them that these views disagreed altogether with ...
— 1914 • John French, Viscount of Ypres

... monstrous irrational phenomena of the former time, war was certainly the most strikingly insane. In reality it was probably far less mischievous than such quieter evil as, for example, the general acquiescence in the private ownership of land, but its evil consequences showed so plainly that even in those days of stifling confusion one marveled at it. On no conceivable grounds was there any sense in modern war. Save for the slaughter and mangling of a multitude of people, the destruction of vast quantities of material, and the ...
— In the Days of the Comet • H. G. Wells



Words linked to "Plainly" :   colloquialism



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