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Pledge   /plɛdʒ/   Listen
Pledge

verb
(past & past part. pledged; pres. part. pledging)
1.
Promise solemnly and formally.  Synonym: plight.
2.
Pay (an amount of money) as a contribution to a charity or service, especially at regular intervals.  Synonym: subscribe.
3.
Propose a toast to.  Synonyms: drink, salute, toast, wassail.  "Let's drink to the New Year"
4.
Give as a guarantee.
5.
Bind or secure by a pledge.



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"Pledge" Quotes from Famous Books



... degree in which his freedom somehow resolved itself into the need of despising all mankind with a single exception; and the fact that Madame de Mauves inhabited a planet contaminated by the presence of the baser multitude kept elation from seeming a pledge of ideal bliss. ...
— Madame de Mauves • Henry James

... to enter our minds)—Well, do you know what I am thinking of, Nicolas?" he broke off, rising and taking my hand with a smile. "I propose (and I feel sure that it would benefit us mutually) that we should pledge our word to one another to tell each other EVERYTHING. We should then really know each other, and never have anything on our consciences. And, to guard against outsiders, let us also agree never to speak of one another to a third ...
— Boyhood • Leo Tolstoy

... this Lottery, had the conducting of the late State Lottery—the Public will do them the justice to say, that the strictest punctuality as to the time fixed for Drawing, and in the payment of Prizes, was observed by them in that Lottery—they pledge themselves for the same ...
— The Olden Time Series, Vol. 1: Curiosities of the Old Lottery • Henry M. Brooks

... alcohol. These things came home to the drunkards, who had not cared a rush for final perdition. The effect produced was tremendous. Almost all the men and women of the parish took the total abstinence pledge; and since that day drunkenness has nearly ceased in that parish. Nor was the improvement evanescent; it has lasted two ...
— Orthodoxy: Its Truths And Errors • James Freeman Clarke

... should do as the French do, to which Jack Hobson assented, remarking that the French knew nothing about tea, and that a Frenchman's tea would be sure to prove an Englishman's poison. So we resolved to suspend the pledge during ...
— A Stable for Nightmares - or Weird Tales • J. Sheridan Le Fanu

... now free. In 83 he landed at Brundisium. He was joined by Cneius Pompeius, then twenty-three years old, with a troop of volunteers. Sulla did not wish to fight the Italians. He issued a proclamation, therefore, giving them the assurance that their rights would not be impaired. This pledge had the desired effect. The army of the Consuls largely outnumbered his own. Sulla lingered in South Italy to make good his position there. The Samnites joined the Marians, and moved upon Rome with ...
— Outline of Universal History • George Park Fisher

... gazed upon the calm face of Alice with wide-open eyes. Alice went on talking without showing the first signs of fear that Master Tommy would keep his pledge. She was resting after a hard day's work, and she enjoyed having her old schoolmates ...
— The Girls of Central High on Lake Luna - or, The Crew That Won • Gertrude W. Morrison

... and the foreknowledge that I should suffer harm from thee. And thou shalt take a horse and armour of me; and with me thou shalt go to learn chivalry and the use of thy arms." Said Peredur, "Thou shalt have mercy, if thou pledge thy faith thou wilt never more injure the dominions of the Countess." And Peredur took surety of this, and with permission of the Countess, he set forth with the sorceress to the palace of the sorceresses. And there he remained for three weeks, and then he made choice ...
— The Mabinogion Vol. 1 (of 3) • Owen M. Edwards

... the last sacrifice," she said, heavily, "that I can offer. I submit myself, M. Roderer," and then with louder tones, as if she wanted to call all present to be witnesses, she continued, "will you pledge yourself for the person of the king, and for that ...
— Marie Antoinette And Her Son • Louise Muhlbach

... occasion, comforting her as well as he was able himself, and calling in a physician to bind up her wounds. During her sickness, the relationship between Hemmings and the lady seems to have been of the most intimate character. She gave him a pair of diamond ear-rings to pledge for four hundred dollars, which money was a portion of an amount which was to be called into requisition for the necessary engagements and other expenses incurred at the opening of a theatre in Pittsburg, the management to be assumed by Miss Kate Fisher, the well-known ...
— Danger! A True History of a Great City's Wiles and Temptations • William Howe

... "You pledge Your fealty to such rule? What, all— From Heavenly John and Attic Paul, And that brave weather-battered Peter, Whose stout faith only stood completer For buffets, sinning to be pardoned, As the more his hands hauled nets, they hardened— All, ...
— A Dish Of Orts • George MacDonald

... blessed, were in each other's arms, and they forgot all but the delicious present. Vows of love and constancy were exchanged, and rings were given, in remembrance of the blissful hour. But strange to say, as Bolko was about to adorn the hand of Emma with the pledge of his affection, a fearful gust of wind burst the window open, and blew into the room a little glistening object that rolled to Bolko's feet and settled there. Emma raised it from the ground, and discovered in her hand ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 350, December 1844 • Various

... frying sinkers, carries the fragrant fumes out through a transom and gushes it into the open air, so that the sniff of doughnuts is perceptible all down the block. There is a fortune waiting on Vesey Street for the man who will establish a doughnut foundry, and we solemnly pledge our own appetite and that of all ...
— Pipefuls • Christopher Morley

... in 1852, he saw an opportunity two years later of winning fame for Piedmont. The Russians were resisting the western powers which defended the dominions of the Porte. Ministers resigned and the country marvelled, but Cavour signed a pledge to send forces of 15,000 men to the Crimea to help Turkey against Russia. It would be well to prove that Italy retained the military virtues of her history after the defeat of Novara, he said in reply to all expostulations. The result showed the statesman's wisdom and justified ...
— Heroes of Modern Europe • Alice Birkhead

... a written guarantee of the genuineness of the picture, and Wilfer, being half intoxicated at the time, for once forgot his usual caution, and gave the required pledge. With that in his possession, Jasper Vermont had Wilfer in his power, and only left him undisturbed because he saw no ...
— Adrien Leroy • Charles Garvice

... providence of God he had been led, some years before, to become an abstainer from all intoxicating drinks, and, remaining firm to his pledge throughout the course of his downward career, was thus saved from the rapid destruction which too frequently overtook those who to the exciting influences of gambling added the maddening stimulus of alcohol. But the constant mental fever under which he laboured was beginning ...
— The Golden Dream - Adventures in the Far West • R.M. Ballantyne

... While I drink to your health, your youth, and your wealth, And the things that you yet will do. In a vintage rare and olden, With a flavour fine and keen, Fill the glass to the edge, while I stand up to pledge My faith ...
— Flint and Feather • E. Pauline Johnson

... break with her little finger—that had risen now between them and happiness. And it was this that he knew was the mountain in his path, for he was certain that Joanne would not break that last link of bondage. She would know, with Mortimer FitzHugh alive, that the pledge between them in the "coyote," and the marriage ceremony in the room below, meant nothing. Legally, she was no more to him now than she was yesterday, or the day before. And she would leave him, even if it destroyed her, heart and ...
— The Hunted Woman • James Oliver Curwood

... that they refuse to receive the tea. But the consignees believed themselves safe. They were merchants of family and property, the governor's sons were among them, and it was rumored that Hutchinson had a pecuniary interest in the success of the venture. They refused to give the pledge. ...
— The Siege of Boston • Allen French

... Catharine's robust character to look upon any pledge, any accepted responsibility, as something not to be undone by any mere feeling, however sharp, however legitimate. You had undertaken the thing, and it must, at all costs, be carried through. That was the dominant habit of her mind; and there were persons connected with her on whom the rigidity ...
— The Case of Richard Meynell • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... likely that a last auspicated volume still sits on its shelf with the spice jars in some English country kitchen and that a worn and toothless cook still thumbs its leaves. If the guests about the table be of an antique mind, still will they pledge one another with its honeyed drinks, still will they pipe and whistle of its virtues, still ...
— There's Pippins And Cheese To Come • Charles S. Brooks

... John Taylor, and many English gentlemen who entertained no love for the king, repaired to the French capital to satisfy themselves as to the pretensions of this young man; and so well had Warbeck's lesson been acquired, that he succeeded in convincing them of his identity, and in inducing them to pledge themselves to aid him in his attempt to recover ...
— Celebrated Claimants from Perkin Warbeck to Arthur Orton • Anonymous

... a touching ceremony to divide among a circle of friends the memorials of the lost. Each one comes inscribed—"no more;" and yet each one, too, is a pledge of reunion. But there are invisible relics of our lost ones more precious than the book, the pictures, or the vase. Let us treasure them in our hearts. Let us bind to our hearts the patience which they will never need again; the fortitude in suffering which ...
— Words of Cheer for the Tempted, the Toiling, and the Sorrowing • T. S. Arthur

... They had fixed up the "cave" with boards and old pieces of carpet "and everything," and they told him, as a secret, how to get to it through the pines without leaving a trail. He had to give the holy pledge of the "Brotherhood" before this could be divulged to him; but he took it with a solemnity which made the boys almost forgive the presence of their Cousin Belle. It was a little awkward at first that she was present; but as the "Constitution" provided only as to admitting men ...
— Two Little Confederates • Thomas Nelson Page

... cried, "but let thy constant mind Oft think of her you leave in tears behind." "Dear maid, this last embrace my pledge shall be! The anchor's weigh'd! farewell! ...
— Old Ballads • Various

... the king, "his life too must be put in pledge, and if he fails, his head and yours ...
— Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm • Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm

... knees and grovelling at them. We encourage him to tell who he is and of what blood born, and reveal how Fortune pursues him since then. Lord Anchises after little delay gives him his hand, and strengthens his courage by visible pledge. At last, laying aside his ...
— The Aeneid of Virgil • Virgil

... of the Greek tragedy, and possibly in part its cause, or at least lending strength to its cause, we may next remark the grand dimensions of the ancient theatres. Every citizen had a right to accommodation. There at once was a pledge of grandeur. Out of this original standard grew the magnificence of many a future amphitheatre, circus, hippodrome. Had the original theatre been merely a speculation of private interest, then, exactly ...
— The Notebook of an English Opium-Eater • Thomas de Quincey

... shut my ear to the facts he revealed, without myself betraying the interests of Rome. But, believe me, it was information I would willingly have spared, My infamy were as his to have rewarded the traitor. Fear not, great Queen; I pledge the word of a Roman and an Emperor for thy safety. Thou art safe both ...
— Zenobia - or, The Fall of Palmyra • William Ware

... consulting with his pal, who occupied the same position as himself in the other Episcopal church, and whose defects were duplicates of his own and had inspired regret in the congregation he was serving, they concluded to try for reform—not wholesale, but half at a time. They took the liquor pledge and waited for results. During nine days the results were entirely satisfactory, and they were recipients of many compliments and much congratulation. Then on New-year's eve they had business a mile and a half out of town, just beyond the State line. Everything went well ...
— Chapters from My Autobiography • Mark Twain

... don't want any promise from you, I want you to be as free as I am. I am not fickle, you know me well enough for that. So don't ask me to give you any promise. You may find my letter a little cold. But I know too much of life to pledge myself lightly. I assure you I think on it often. Sometimes I blush when I ...
— A Book of Remarkable Criminals • H. B. Irving

... "Pledge me your honor you'll from this day form a resolution to reform, Tom; and if I do not draw from your mother a reconciliation, I will seek ...
— Justice in the By-Ways - A Tale of Life • F. Colburn Adams

... alluring," Littimer said. "Bring the guest by all means. I will pledge my diplomacy that you have a long start. Really, I don't know when I have enjoyed myself so much. You shall have the big waggonette for ...
— The Crimson Blind • Fred M. White

... to the furnace, we, to refresh us after our labour, made a bowl of punch, of which I drank so plentifully that I began to feel myself very merry. I forgot all about the matches and my resolution to test them that night. The Frenchman, enjoying my condition, continued to pledge me till his little eyes danced in his head. Luckily for me, being at bottom of a very jolly disposition, drink never served me worse than to develop that quality in me. No man could ever say that I was ...
— The Frozen Pirate • W. Clark Russell

... he settled into business as a leather merchant and tanner, thereby depriving Parliament of as trusty a soldier as ever drew blade in its service. Finding that he prospered in trade, he took as wife Mary Shepstone, a young Churchwoman, and I, Micah Clarke, was the first pledge of ...
— Micah Clarke - His Statement as made to his three Grandchildren Joseph, - Gervas and Reuben During the Hard Winter of 1734 • Arthur Conan Doyle

... some days, and then gradually recovered. Ernest hardly left her till she was out of danger. When she had recovered he got the doctor to tell her that if she had such another attack she would certainly die; this so frightened her that she took the pledge. ...
— The Way of All Flesh • Samuel Butler

... nephew as more sacred and closer than that between father and son. So that, when hostages were demanded, the sister's son was considered a better guarantee than an own son. Engels adds hereto: "If an own son was given by the members of such a gens as a pledge for a treaty, and he fell a sacrifice through his own father's violation of the treaty, the latter had to settle accounts for himself. If, however, it was a sister's son who was sacrificed, then the old gentile right was violated. The nearest gentile ...
— Woman under socialism • August Bebel

... remaking of the world is a free motherhood. Beside this force, the elaborate international programmes of modern statesmen are weak and superficial. Diplomats may formulate leagues of nations and nations may pledge their utmost strength to maintain them, statesmen may dream of reconstructing the world out of alliances, hegemonies and spheres of influence, but woman, continuing to produce explosive populations, will convert these pledges into the ...
— Woman and the New Race • Margaret Sanger

... had now left him for good. The time for half-hearted or three-quarters-hearted attempts to forge ahead were over. He had pledged his heart and shortly hoped to pledge his hand in the service of the loveliest young lady in the world, none less. At present he was only a young instructor; of promise, perhaps, but still unproved. The immediate goal in his academic career was an Assistant Professorship; and although, even under the most ...
— Tutors' Lane • Wilmarth Lewis

... said very solemnly, "I promise to-night, never to touch another drop of liquor as long as I live. Give me strength to keep my pledge, and help me to be a ...
— The King's Daughter and Other Stories for Girls • Various

... had it been necessary to raise the amount of revenue required to meet them by increased taxation or by loans. We are now compelled to pause in our career and to scrutinize our expenditures with the utmost vigilance; and in performing this duty I pledge my cooperation to the extent ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 4 (of 4) of Volume 5: James Buchanan • James D. Richardson

... health unto his Majesty, with a fa, la, fa, Conversion to his enemies with a fa, la, fa, And he that will not pledge his health, I wish him neither wit nor wealth, Nor yet a rope to hang himself— With a fa, la, fa, With ...
— Mistress Nell - A Merry Tale of a Merry Time • George C. Hazelton, Jr.

... this single channel. She had no desire to conceal her situation, to disguise her influence over Odo. She wished it rather to be so visible a factor in his relations with his people that she should come to be regarded as the ultimate pledge of his good faith. But, like all the casuistical virtues, this position had the rigidity of something created to fit a special case; and the result was a fixity of attitude, which spread benumbingly over her whole nature. ...
— The Valley of Decision • Edith Wharton

... the government. He must begin by making certain improvements on the selected land—clearing and cultivating some small portion, building a hut, and probably sinking a well. When this has been done—when he has thus given a pledge of his intentions by depositing on the land the value of a certain amount of labor, he cannot be removed. He cannot be removed for a term of years, and then if he pays the price of the land it becomes his own with an indefeasible title. Many such ...
— Volume 1 • Anthony Trollope

... us to supply the condition in every instance where it is not expressed, thus: "When I shall say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin and do that which is lawful and right; if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity, he shall surely live, he shall not die." So the prophet gives us the second quotation at the head of this article, "Shall not die." ...
— The Christian Foundation, Or, Scientific and Religious Journal, - Volume I, No. 10. October, 1880 • Various

... pleasure, and doing no work, he had squandered all his money and likewise that of the King. Even so he wished to return, but he was more influenced by the sighs and prayers of his wife than by his own necessities and the pledge given to the King, so that, in order to please his wife, he did not go back; at which the King fell into such disdain, that for a long time he would never again look with a favourable eye on any painter from Florence, and he swore that if Andrea ever came into his hands ...
— Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects - Vol. 05 ( of 10) Andrea da Fiesole to Lorenzo Lotto • Giorgio Vasari

... Minister was so powerful in numbers, to bring in a mere yes and no member with himself would be a certain mode of not serving the country, the constitution, and the people, whom he so dearly loved; that the safety which is derived from a man's insignificance is but a bad pledge; and that he thought himself very certain I was as dear, nay and as incorruptible, a lover of old England, or at least of the welfare of mankind, as ...
— The Adventures of Hugh Trevor • Thomas Holcroft

... impossible for me to do so," said the latter. "I am pledged to return to Batavia within a specified time, and from the nature of the country I perceive it will take all the time at my disposal to reach that place so as to redeem my pledge." ...
— Blown to Bits - The Lonely Man of Rakata, the Malay Archipelago • R.M. Ballantyne

... Wherein the Spirit held his wont to walke. What does this meane my Lord? Ham. The King doth wake to night, and takes his rouse, Keepes wassels and the swaggering vpspring reeles, And as he dreines his draughts of Renish downe, The kettle Drum and Trumpet thus bray out The triumph of his Pledge ...
— The First Folio [35 Plays] • William Shakespeare

... voice. "I know whar I'm at. I ain't lived this long and got through without disgrace or jailin' to take up with it at my age; but they don't raid no more cabins. I freed my mind on that last night; I made myself cl'ar; an' that's the one pledge I ax for. Toll him away from the place and layway him, if you must, to run him out. But they's to be no killin', an' no mo' shootin' up houses whar they is women and chil'en. This ain't ...
— Judith of the Cumberlands • Alice MacGowan

... their business paper. The site for the future building had meanwhile been bought, and I rather deplored the publicity which Ned gave to the fact; but, after all, since this publicity served to commit him more deeply, to pledge him conspicuously to the completion of his task, it was perhaps a wise instinct of ...
— The Hermit and the Wild Woman and Other Stories • Edith Wharton

... being, in fact, in no reasonable state of mind, he took the infant in his arms, and himself administered the draught. It soon proved its efficacy, and redeemed the leech's pledge. The moans of the little patient subsided; its convulsive tossings gradually ceased; and in a few moments, as is the custom of young children after relief from pain, it sank into a profound and dewy slumber. The physician, as he had a fair right ...
— The Scarlet Letter • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... pleasing. He was well dressed, and not too much; and, to the natural confidence of his shallow character, added the assurance born of a certain small degree of success in his profession, which he took for the pledge of approaching supremacy. He carried himself better than he used, and his legs therefore did not look so long. His hair continued to curl soft and silky about his head, for he protested against the fashionable ...
— Mary Marston • George MacDonald

... rebel navy, and that Jefferson Davis had next to nothing to do with it. As Chancellor of the Exchequer he was the Minister most interested in knowing that Palmerston, Russell, and himself were banded together by mutual pledge to make the Confederacy a nation the next week, and that the Southern leaders had as yet no hope of "making a nation" but in them. Such thoughts occurred to every one at the moment and time only added to their force. Never in the ...
— The Education of Henry Adams • Henry Adams

... passions; which absence serves only to heighten and improve. Your kind present of the garnet bracelets, I shall keep as carefully as I preserve my own life; and I beg you will accept, in return, my heart-housewife, with the tortoise-shell memorandum-book, as a trifling pledge of my unalterable affection. ...
— The Expedition of Humphry Clinker • Tobias Smollett

... devolved upon one person.[40] Illness hindered one, duty to a brother another, duty to the slave a third, professional engagements a fourth, the fear of bringing the gray hairs of a father to the grave prevented another from serving; but the pledge was made, and ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage

... compliments to madame, and coax her," urged Colonel Menard. "Tell her, if she will let herself be lowered to me, I will pledge ...
— Old Kaskaskia • Mary Hartwell Catherwood

... for that," replied I fervently. "But why is this strange pledge required? Surely, fellow, you will not have the temerity to tell me—his son—that he has been the victim of ...
— For Treasure Bound • Harry Collingwood

... effects of the mission cannot be clearly said, but Joe McCarthy clung to his work until he eventually became overseer at "Layton." With his change in habits, Joe also acquired a self-respect that led him to dress neatly, and to sign the pledge. Thenceforward Molly Healy quoted him as the proof of her powers as a reformer when taunted because of the rabble over whom ...
— Grey Town - An Australian Story • Gerald Baldwin

... I babe is arms that you put such strong liquors before me? However, to show you that I have some childish tastes left, and am not so depraved as you have been trying to make me out for the last hour—I will drink your health in it. It would serve you right if I made you pledge me in the ...
— From the Memoirs of a Minister of France • Stanley Weyman

... honour'd presence graced, Where twenty days in genial rites he pass'd. The parting heroes mutual presents left; A golden goblet was thy grandsire's gift; OEneus a belt of matchless work bestowed, That rich with Tyrian dye refulgent glow'd. (This from his pledge I learn'd, which, safely stored Among my treasures, still adorns my board: For Tydeus left me young, when Thebe's wall Beheld the sons of Greece untimely fall.) Mindful of this, in friendship let us join; If heaven ...
— The Iliad of Homer • Homer

... nothing of your past, as your repentance and your firm resolve to sin no more efface it. To-morrow, you will receive the pledge of reconciliation, you will communicate; after so many years the Lord will set out on the way to your soul and will rest there; approach Him with great humility, and prepare yourself from this moment, by prayer, for this mysterious meeting of hearts which His goodness desires. ...
— En Route • J.-K. (Joris-Karl) Huysmans

... for amends of such spoyles as he had gotten of them that were drowned, also to restore all the captiues againe to the king: and furthermore, he in his owne person, to attend vpon the king to the lande of Ierusalem, in Gods seruice and his, with 400. horsemen, and 500. footemen: in pledge whereof he would giue to his hands his castles, and his onely daughter, and would ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, - and Discoveries of The English Nation, v5 - Central and Southern Europe • Richard Hakluyt

... This, after a pledge to their own people, and a proclamation to both sections, of neutrality! After Federal troops, and Federal encampments had been for weeks upon the soil of Kentucky, and in response to action (which their own had invited) from men (to whom they had promised assistance in just such a contingency ...
— History of Morgan's Cavalry • Basil W. Duke

... assembled, at the Red Lion, passing sumptuary laws binding themselves to economy in the use of wheaten flour, with a view to reduce the consumption of wheat. The meeting set forth its opinion in the following statement, or pledge:— ...
— Fragments of Two Centuries - Glimpses of Country Life when George III. was King • Alfred Kingston

... advance its interests in these particulars, remarks in this place, and on this occasion, might be judged unseasonable. I shall be permitted, however, just to allude to these measures, as an evidence of the deep solicitude with which the institution is cherished by its constituted guardians, and as a pledge, that in all things which relate to its modes of government, discipline, and instruction, they will not be backward to provide that it shall answer the great purposes of its foundation. And in view ...
— The History of Dartmouth College • Baxter Perry Smith

... play, or if Wenna wished him to absent himself—which was of more consequence than Mr. Roscorla's interest—he would make his visits few and formal, but in the mean time, at least, they would have this one pleasant afternoon together. Sometimes, it is true, he rebelled against the uncertain pledge he had given her. Why should he not seek to win her? What had the strict rules of honor to do with the prospect of a young girl allowing herself to be sacrificed, while here he was, able and willing to snatch ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 15, - No. 87, March, 1875 • Various

... only one thing the matter with you, Tom, and that's the drink." "I went home," said Tom, "and I thought to myself, if the drink is all that's wrong with me, what a fool I must be to continue it. Next day I went to Evesham and signed the pledge, and I've never touched a drop since, though the smell and the sight of a public-house have been so sore a temptation that many a time after a long day's work, and with money in my pocket, I've gone a mile or two out of my way ...
— Grain and Chaff from an English Manor • Arthur H. Savory

... their figures up to $25,000 each; one of them was bought. About thirty Republicans and Democrats in the New York Legislature organized themselves into a clique (long styled the "Black Horse Cavalry"), under the leadership of an energetic lobbyist, with a mutual pledge to vote as directed. [Footnote: Documents of the Board of Aldermen, 1877, Part II, No. 8; 212-213.] "Any corporation, however extensive and comprehensive the privileges it asked"—to quote from "The History of Tammany Hall"—"and ...
— Great Fortunes from Railroads • Gustavus Myers

... nothing to redeem his pledge. Those Third Form fellows who had cheered him so lustily would think there was no meaning in his words, that his boast was an empty one. The time had come for him to do something to ...
— The Hero of Garside School • J. Harwood Panting

... By heaven, you put me in mind now of a very necessary office, which I will propose in your pledge, sir; the health of that honourable countess, and the sweet lady that sat by ...
— Every Man Out Of His Humour • Ben Jonson

... places on the left and the right in an orderly manner. The dishes of bamboo and wood are arranged in rows, With the sauces and kernels displayed in them. The spirits are mild and good, And they drink, all equally reverent. The bells and drums are properly arranged[3], And they raise their pledge-cups with order and ease [4]. ...
— The Shih King • James Legge

... India Company had offered many inducements to its patroons.[217] And its pledge to furnish the colonists with "as many blacks as they conveniently could," was scrupulously performed.[218] In addition to the slaves furnished by the vessels plying between Brazil and the coast of Guinea, ...
— History of the Negro Race in America From 1619 to 1880. Vol 1 - Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens • George W. Williams

... sublime to the details of common life, when she had reached this point, Mrs. Jarley remarked that she could pledge herself to no specific salary until she had tested Nell's ability, but that she could promise both good board and lodging for the child and her grandfather. ...
— Ten Girls from Dickens • Kate Dickinson Sweetser

... to the Lamb, and to him that sitteth on the throne, for that is heaven; and who dare promise it to you upon earth? There is a piece of nature in desiring a sense of God's love, it being an apple that the Lord's children delight to play with. But, my Lord, if you would have it only as a pledge of your salvation, we shall seek it from the Lord for you, and you may lawfully pray for it.—Earnest prayers were made for him, and he testified that he was filled with the sense of the Lord's love. Being asked, What he thought of the world? he answered, ...
— Biographia Scoticana (Scots Worthies) • John Howie

... King of the Israelites, her husband, to seal the counterfeit letters that ordered the death of that unfortunate man. Did not Judah, as mentioned in the 38th chapter of Genesis, abuse his daughter-in-law, Thamar, who had disguised herself, by giving her his ring and bracelets, as a pledge of the ...
— Thaumaturgia • An Oxonian

... "Have you signed the pledge for life, Barnabas?" said Priscilla. "Let go of her hand for one minute and answer the question ...
— Priscilla's Spies 1912 • George A. Birmingham

... choir. There is nothing more annoying to the choir than, at some moment when they have drawn out a note to exquisite fineness, thin as a split hair, to have some blundering elder to come in with a "Praise ye the Lord!" Total abstinence, I say! Let all the churches take the pledge even against the milder musical beverages; for they who tamper with champagne cider soon get to Hock ...
— Around The Tea-Table • T. De Witt Talmage

... "Then pledge yourself with me to bestow upon him all that can give him the only earthly happiness he desires. Stephen, you are not blind—you know he loves your child—make the way brighter for him— give him your confidence, your encouragement, ...
— Marguerite Verne • Agatha Armour

... the world in a hard and bitter school. She could fully fathom the base selfishness of the man who pretended to love her, and she understood why it was that he shrank from offering her the only real pledge of his truth. ...
— Run to Earth - A Novel • M. E. Braddon

... Florence. This is the most favourable construction we can put upon Lorenzo's conduct. Yet some facts of the case warn us to suspend our judgment. He seems to have formed no plan for the liberation of his fellow-citizens. He gave no pledge of self-devotion by avowing his deed and abiding by its issues. He showed none of the qualities of a leader, whether in the cause of freedom or of his own dynastic interests, after the murder. He escaped ...
— Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, Complete - Series I, II, and III • John Symonds

... companions trusty Of early days here met to dine? Come, waiter! quick, a flagon crusty— I'll pledge them in the good old wine. The kind old voices and old faces My memory can quick retrace; Around the board they take their places, And share the wine ...
— Ballads • William Makepeace Thackeray

... caught up at first by the ears of backbiters, soon came to the hearing of the king. Now, mark how the wickedness of the king turned the confidence of the sire to the peril of the son, by commanding that this dearest pledge of his life should be placed instead of the wand, with a threat that, unless the author of this promise could strike off the apple at the first flight of the arrow, he should pay the penalty of his empty boasting by the ...
— Popular Tales from the Norse • Sir George Webbe Dasent

... will be remembered, was single-handed. When the gods prevailed on the wolf Fenrir to allow himself to be bound with the bandage Gleipner, Tyr put his right hand into the wolf's mouth, as a pledge that he would be loosened. The gods refused to liberate the wolf, which in revenge bit off Tyr's hand. He and his enemy, the monster dog Garmr, met their death in the twilight battle of ...
— The Mysteries of All Nations • James Grant

... receive the honour conferred upon him. Some months before the anniversary of St. Andrew's day, he had sailed on his last expedition. The medal, therefore, was delivered into the hands of Mrs. Cook, whose satisfaction at being intrusted with so valuable a pledge of her husband's reputation cannot be questioned. Neither can it be doubted, but that the captain, before his departure from England, was fully apprized of the mark of distinction which was intended for him by the ...
— Narrative of the Voyages Round The World, • A. Kippis

... fighting a sturdy battle with the king's justices to preserve some ancient privilege, the right of the borough perhaps to "swear by itself,"—that is, to a jury of its own or its freedom from the general custom of "frank-pledge." As trade advanced commercial bodies grew up in the boroughs and formed themselves into gilds; and these gilds gradually drew into their own hands the government of the town, which in old days had been decided by the general voice of the whole body of its burghers—that ...
— Henry the Second • Mrs. J. R. Green

... good-nature, brushing aside the remonstrances of Lucky Broad and his fellows by declaring that he was having the time of his life, and arguing that he injured nobody. In the end the girl prevailed upon him to stop drinking, and then bound him to further sobriety by means of a sacred pledge. When, perhaps a week later, he disappeared into the hills Rouletta and her corps ...
— The Winds of Chance • Rex Beach

... soon infect their brain, and for several hours these gentlemen are for a time entirely deprived of their senses. What a field for Father Mathew; but never, I am certain, has the worthy Apostle of Temperance ever dreamed of offering the pledge to the wolves of Le Morvan—the rub would be to hang the medal round the necks of these ...
— Le Morvan, [A District of France,] Its Wild Sports, Vineyards and Forests; with Legends, Antiquities, Rural and Local Sketches • Henri de Crignelle

... called silence and renewed his pledge, I, overbold, said, "Master, I did it, and now wilt thou please to give ...
— Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker • S. Weir Mitchell

... might express, had, in fact, expressed to a certain musician, ignorant that any Swann or Odette, anywhere in the world, existed, when he composed it, and would express to all those who should hear it played in centuries to come—than as a pledge, a token of his love, which made even the Verdurins and their little pianist think of Odette and, at the same time, of himself—which bound her to him by a lasting tie; and at that point he had (whimsically entreated ...
— Swann's Way - (vol. 1 of Remembrance of Things Past) • Marcel Proust

... you might have done so; my feelings so clearly expressed ought to have prevented your suspicions. You had nothing to fear; if some others had had such a pledge they would have laughed to scorn the testimony of ...
— Don Garcia of Navarre • Moliere

... enthusiasm, and a sweetness of its own to his courtesy. Spenser's admiration for that bright but short career was strong and lasting. Sidney was to him a verification of what he aspired to and imagined; a pledge that he was not dreaming, in portraying Prince Arthur's greatness of soul, the religious chivalry of the Red Cross Knight of Holiness, the manly purity and self-control of Sir Guyon. It is too much to say that in Prince Arthur, the hero of the poem, ...
— Spenser - (English Men of Letters Series) • R. W. Church

... liberation of Martin Alfonso and prisoners, by the assistance of Khojah Sabadim, to whose suggestions the former unfortunate expedition was owing; and to secure the fidelity of Sabadim, a ship belonging to him with a rich cargo was detained in pledge. From Chittagong, Silva sent a messenger to Gowro with a letter and a present; but as the answer was long in coming, Silva judged that the king had detained his messenger along with the rest, on which he ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume VI - Early English Voyages Of Discovery To America • Robert Kerr

... "'I pledge my word,' was the reply. 'You see, Mr. Tubbs, I have been sick for some time past, and that, of course, has used up my money. Now, thank Providence, I am well again, and ready to go to work. But I need clothes, as you see, before I have the ...
— Frank's Campaign - or the Farm and the Camp • Horatio Alger, Jr.

... that, although he could not at present return the five hundred thousand dollars, if no action were taken against him now, which would prevent his resuming his business on a normal scale a little later, he would pledge his word that every dollar of the involved five hundred thousand dollars would eventually be returned to the treasury. If they refused, and injury was done him, he proposed to let them wait until he was "good and ...
— The Financier • Theodore Dreiser

... Well, Sir, pardon me the question, And be of better cheer. Come, taste my wine; 'Tis of an ancient vintage; many a day 'T has thawed my veins among our glaciers, now Let it do thus for thine—Come, pledge me ...
— The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 4 • Lord Byron

... pledge each other to our success in this good, home-grown Indiana cider, that leaves our heads clear and our arms strong? If you will—then—" She began to blush furiously and her voice trembled, but she lifted the glass high over her head and cried bravely, ...
— The Gentleman From Indiana • Booth Tarkington

... Ladies of Tabor came and washed and dressed Caroline Siner's body and made it ready for burial. For twenty years the old negress had paid ten cents a month to her society to insure her burial, and now the lodge made ready to fulfil its pledge. After many comings and goings, the black women called Peter to see their work, as if for ...
— Birthright - A Novel • T.S. Stribling

... splendid woman!" Ned Rosier repeated, for departure. He resolved that his conduct should be worthy of an aspirant who was already a model of discretion; but he saw nothing in any pledge he had given Madame Merle that made it improper he should keep himself in spirits by an occasional visit to Miss Osmond's home. He reflected constantly on what his adviser had said to him, and turned over in his mind the impression of her rather circumspect tone. He had gone to her de confiance, ...
— The Portrait of a Lady - Volume 2 (of 2) • Henry James

... silence and bowed his head in meditation. For a quarter of an hour was no word spoken, for gravely Charlemagne considered every question placed before him, and weighed well his words; for once he had given pledge no power ...
— Journeys Through Bookland V3 • Charles H. Sylvester

... with equal law, in place of the grasping avarice of a crafty minister, or the hot fury of a drunken tyrant. The Indian subject of England will then form a contrast to the wretched serf of a Rajah, that will be a more powerful pledge of obedience than ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, Number 385. November, 1847. • Various

... of the Old Ranger for office was again overcome, as will appear from the following: "I entered this Legislature, as I had the last, without any pledge or restraints whatever; I then was, and am yet, only an humble member of the ...
— Something of Men I Have Known - With Some Papers of a General Nature, Political, Historical, and Retrospective • Adlai E. Stevenson

... the example and the pledge for us. St Paul saw this, of course, and your present position illuminates his teaching for me enormously. So I have much to thank you for, Kate. It is easier to learn from those we know and trust, than ...
— Seen and Unseen • E. Katharine Bates

... if a girl of that sort had promised to marry him he would not have sent for her, but would have come in person, if he had been compelled to pledge his last possessions, or crawl to the tideway on his hands and knees. For all that he was ...
— Masters of the Wheat-Lands • Harold Bindloss

... This snuff-box,—once the pledge of Sharper's love, When rival beauties for the present strove; At Corticelli's he the raffle won; Then first his passion was in public shown: 40 Hazardia blush'd, and turn'd her head aside, A rival's envy (all in vain) to hide. This ...
— Poetical Works of Pope, Vol. II • Alexander Pope

... the workingmen of Bow, who have been fortunate, so far as I can perceive, in the possession (if in one case unhappily only temporary possession) of two such men of undoubted ability and honesty to direct their divided counsels and to lead them along a road, which, though I cannot pledge myself to approve of it in all its turnings and windings, is yet not unfitted to bring them somewhat nearer to goals to which there are few of us but would extend some measure of hope that the working classes of this great Empire may in due course, yet with ...
— The Big Bow Mystery • I. Zangwill

... would suffer him to retain the title and authority of king. Then, receiving no answer[c] from Ireton, he authorized the earl of Southampton to state to Colonel Rainborowe, that the king was ready to deliver himself up to the army, on receiving a pledge that his personal safety should be respected.[1] But Rainborowe referred him to the parliament; and the unhappy monarch, having exhausted every expedient which he could devise, left Oxford at midnight,[d] disguised as a servant, following his supposed master[e] Ashburnham, who rode before ...
— The History of England from the First Invasion by the Romans - to the Accession of King George the Fifth - Volume 8 • John Lingard and Hilaire Belloc

... denudes him, washes him, rubs soap into his eyes, spanks him, re-arrays him, and sets him in a clean place, giving him a teaspoon to play with. Then she resumes her household work; whereupon Ormuzd whispers in the pledge's projecting ear, and that heaven-directed bimbo straightway turns his head toward the dust-hole, and, again illustrating the first clause of the Sphynx's not very complicated riddle, keeps the strictly noiseless tenor of his way, till Ahriman's priestess looks round to see the ...
— Such is Life • Joseph Furphy

... marriage? What use is it to see her as undisciplined—as unfit as ever? I know it! I always knew it. But I feel still a traitor to her! She had warning! She trusted the power of my attachment in spite of my judgment! Fickle to her, or a falterer to my higher pledge? Never! I must let her see the position—crush any hope—otherwise I cannot trust myself, nor deal fairly by ...
— Hopes and Fears - scenes from the life of a spinster • Charlotte M. Yonge

... pledge I took and gave,— It was not for the silver coin; I wished to cross the briny wave, And England's gallant sons to join. Since—many a summer's sun has set, An' time's graved-care is on my brow, Yet I am free and willing yet To ...
— Revised Edition of Poems • William Wright

... Mr. Chairnan," said the latter, a fine specimen of the hardy, resolute, and intelligent yeoman of the times—"I rose but to ask whether the news just received can be relied on: can it be, that Judge Chandler, after his pledge to us at Chester, would be guilty of conduct reflecting so deeply on his ...
— The Rangers - [Subtitle: The Tory's Daughter] • D. P. Thompson

... all loyal obedience, all religious faith was to expire, and final Night envelope the Destinies of Man! On serious hearts, of that persuasion, the matter sinks down deep; prompting, as we have seen, to backstairs Plots, to Emigration with pledge of war, to Monarchic Clubs; nay ...
— The French Revolution • Thomas Carlyle

... and Soldiers' Delegates who join the government must, until the creation of an All-Russian organ of the Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates, consider themselves responsible to the Petrograd Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates, and must pledge themselves to give accounts of all their activities to ...
— Bolshevism - The Enemy of Political and Industrial Democracy • John Spargo

... my best falcon as pledge for the Countess of Buchan's well-doing, an she hath done this without her lord's connivance," whispered the Prince of Wales to one of his favorites, with many of whom he had been conversing, in a low voice, as if his father's wrathful accents ...
— The Days of Bruce Vol 1 - A Story from Scottish History • Grace Aguilar

... inseparable from delicate and numerous operations, than in abandoning them to the destruction by which they are threatened. The invitation which the Administration of the Museum gave to the National Institute to attend the restoration of the Madonna di Foligno by RAPHAEL, is to us a sure pledge that the enlightened men of whom it is composed felt that they owed an account of their vigilance to all the connoisseurs ...
— Paris As It Was and As It Is • Francis W. Blagdon

... things, as though the pledges of my heart had wings and soared over hill and dale into the pure, serene, radiant ether. No vow, no conditions—nothing but appropriate motion, pure striving for the divine. This is my pledge: Freedom from all ties, and that I will have faith only in that spirit which reveals the beautiful and prophesies eternal ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. VII. • Various

... the eyes and remarks of the world. The very resolution to bend in faithful obedience to a rite usually belonging to early youth and not obviously enforced to human reason, nor made an express condition of salvation, was as a pledge that he would strive to walk for the future in the path of self-denying obedience. Who that saw the manly well-knit form kneeling among the slight youthful ones around, and the thoughtful, sorrow-marked brow bowed down beneath the Apostolic hand, could doubt that such faith and ...
— The Young Step-Mother • Charlotte M. Yonge

... silver cup, and, quaffing it off, asked his brother to pledge him, observing, the wine was Bacharac, of the ...
— The Abbot • Sir Walter Scott

... his wife kept their appointments with that punctuality which bespeaks an expectant mind. The friendly farmer's gig was borrowed, and in that they went, discussing many things by the way. They had instructed the household to expect them back by one, and injunctions were given to the eldest pledge to have ready by that accustomed hour the remainder of the huge stew which the provident mother had prepared on the previous day. The hands of the kitchen clock came round to two, three, four, before the farmer's gig wheels were again heard at the vicarage gate. With what palpitating ...
— Barchester Towers • Anthony Trollope

... supposed that all, nor any considerable number of the Pony Express men were saintly, nor that they all took their pledge too seriously. Judged by present-day standards, most of these fellows were rough and unconventional; some of them were bad. Yet one thing is certain: in loyalty and blind devotion to duty, no group of employees will ever surpass the men who conducted the ...
— The Story of the Pony Express • Glenn D. Bradley

... mislead you. Unfortunately, you happened to see him running the Archie fire and saw the signals which he had used again and again in crossing over. When you reported to me, we feared the cat was out of the bag. There seemed to be only one way out—to pledge you to secrecy and lead you to believe that we were simply waiting for the proper time to bag him. I knew you would keep your word, and that is another reason why you are here—as a sort of reward. You are the only one who has ever had ...
— Aces Up • Covington Clarke

... dearest. Your friend must be a true woman, and it was very sweet of you to be so tender with her. It was noble of you to be severe with her too, and to make her go through purgatorial fires. That is what good women always do with the injured of their own sex. It is a kind of pledge and badge of their purity, and it is a safeguard and shield, whatever the unthinking may say. I love you for your severity to the poor soiled dove, my dear one, just as much as I love you for your tenderness. It shows me how rightly I judged the moral elevation of your soul, ...
— The Eternal City • Hall Caine

... was to deale with him, if by any means I might procure a daughter of his, who (Pocahuntas being already in our possession) is generally reported to be his delight and darling, and surely he esteemed her as his owne Soule, for surer pledge of peace." This visit ...
— Baddeck and That Sort of Thing • Charles Dudley Warner

... body could a common library be formed. The beginning was simple. The first books reserved for common use had their home in St. Mary's Church: some lay in chests, and were lent in exchange for a suitable pledge; others were chained to desks so that students could readily refer to them. These books were almost certainly theological in character, and all were no doubt given by benefactors, now unknowm. Such a gift was received early in the thirteenth century from Roger de L'Isle, Dean of ...
— Old English Libraries, The Making, Collection, and Use of Books • Ernest A. Savage

... responded by a shrewd look as he drew out his snuff-box and gazed at the Princess Goritza. Monsieur de Valois was well aware that in the feminine ethics of love fidelity to a first attachment is considered a pledge for the future. ...
— An Old Maid • Honore de Balzac

... we are bidden to care for and protect the members of our family, wife, children and slaves. Of social virtues we have love of our neighbor, honesty in dealing, just weights and measures, prohibition of interest and of taking a pledge from the poor, returning a find to the loser, and a host ...
— A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy • Isaac Husik

... the induction of Tarzan into the kingship of the Waziri was occupied in escorting the Manyuema of the Arab raiders to the northern boundary of Waziri in accordance with the promise which Tarzan had made them. Before he left them he exacted a pledge from them that they would not lead any expeditions against the Waziri in the future, nor was it a difficult promise to obtain. They had had sufficient experience with the fighting tactics of the new Waziri chief not to have the slightest desire to accompany ...
— The Return of Tarzan • Edgar Rice Burroughs

... they remove sinners from their societies; they have bishops who preside over them, approved by the suffrages of those whom they are to conduct. At the end of each month every one contributes if he will, but no one is constrained to give; the money gathered in this manner is the pledge of piety; it is not consumed in eating and drinking, but in feeding the poor, and burying them, in comforting children that are destitute of parents and goods, in helping old men who have spent the best of their days in the ...
— History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science • John William Draper

... business whatever transacted during last week, and even the duty remains without fluctuation. In this state of inactivity the effects of the Metropolitan Total Abstinence movement was a topic of interest to the trade. As it appears that nearly 70,000 persons took the pledge, the consumption of malt liquor must seriously diminished, and the demand for Hops will consequently be very considerably decreased. It is fortunate, therefore, for the planters that this year's growth is not large, otherwise the prices would have been seriously low, and ...
— The Economist - Volume 1, No. 3 • Various

... "I pledge my honour that he will not do so," said the adventurer, "nor would I assist him in the attempt." And Diaz, as he said this, proceeded ...
— Wood Rangers - The Trappers of Sonora • Mayne Reid

... that a vote for the first reading and the printing of the Bill in any sense involved the party in even a modified acceptance of the measure, in doing so the Irish members were acting in fulfilment of a pledge given by Mr. Redmond six months before, when, speaking on ...
— Ireland and the Home Rule Movement • Michael F. J. McDonnell

... plenty of water, for the river is narrow and very deep, all but in one place, about a mile from the stockade, and of that he is not sure, he will not pledge himself to its being sufficiently deep; but all Rajah Gantang's prahus have gone up ...
— Middy and Ensign • G. Manville Fenn

... his place again. It had been reported that, consequent upon a hasty pledge to remain in Liverpool until his candidate was returned, he was now doomed for ever to wander an unquiet sprite upon the banks of Mersey. But he has wisely determined that Parliament must not suffer ...
— Punch, Volume 153, July 11, 1917 - Or the London Charivari. • Various

... reliance on the machinery of the United Nations to safeguard peace. But before the United Nations could give full expression to the concept of international security embodied in the Charter, it was essential that the five permanent members of the Security Council honor their solemn pledge to cooperate to that end. This the Soviet Union has ...
— State of the Union Addresses of Harry S. Truman • Harry S. Truman

... heard this at second hand, if he had read it, or if it had related to someone other than himself, he would have detected the sophistry of it. But, exhilarated by wine and intoxicated by ambition, he saw nothing but a pledge to deal squarely by ...
— Philip Dru: Administrator • Edward Mandell House

... for warning, no promise can bind you. If I see a rascal about to blow a place up with dynamite no pledge will stand in my ...
— Round the Red Lamp - Being Facts and Fancies of Medical Life • Arthur Conan Doyle

... Not that any freak of his old partner's—of the man whom he had once regarded as, above all, practical and energetic—could now surprise him; but it seemed astonishing that Godfrey should have persuaded a man of solid means, even a Celt, to pledge himself to such an enterprise Was the story true? Did Milligan really exist? If any doubt were possible on this point, did it not also throw suspicion on the story of Strangwyn, and the ten thousand pounds? Will grew serious at the reflection. ...
— Will Warburton • George Gissing

... regard me as the wife! That's an unnecessary sentiment, I pledge you my word. It's a little late in the day, too, for such considerations. ...
— The Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith • Arthur Wing Pinero

... the great task as he was, and as entirely severed from all existing organisations. Catherine Mumford, like himself, innocent of any unkind feeling towards her Church, had been excluded from it, simply because she would not pledge herself to keep entirely away from the ...
— The Authoritative Life of General William Booth • George Scott Railton

... great; by sending the boy before him with the fire, he could see if those he was going to join were armed or not, whilst the trees kept him from their view. This man had a stone hatchet, a spear, and a throwing-stick, which one of our natives was very desirous of his leaving; probably as a pledge for his returning in the morning, but this he refused: he was a young man, of the tribe of Bu-ru-be-ron-gal, and named -Bur-ro-wai; his hair was ornamented with the tails of several small animals, and ...
— An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island • John Hunter

... Preston, "do but listen to me, and I'll make your husband consul at Timbuctoo! He shall never know of it, I tell you: he can never know of it. I pledge you my word as a Cabinet Minister! Oh, don't look at me in that arch way: by ...
— The History of Samuel Titmarsh - and the Great Hoggarty Diamond • William Makepeace Thackeray

... money they may have to give for their marriage; who would not like to sacrifice them to their own interests, and who would, above all things, try to see in a marriage that sweet conformity of tastes which is a sure pledge of honour, tranquillity and joy; and ...
— The Miser (L'Avare) • Moliere

... my mother, Lift to my western sweetheart One full cup of English mead, breathing of the may! Pledge the may-flower in her face that you and ah, none other, Sent her from the mother-land ...
— Collected Poems - Volume One (of 2) • Alfred Noyes

... else enjoy theirs. He likes his huge pipe, and he likes his mug of beer, and as these become empty he likes to have them filled again; and he likes to see other people like their pipe and their mug of beer. If you were to go dancing round a German, shrieking out entreaties to him to sign a pledge that he would never drink another drop of beer again as long as he lived, he would ask you to remember that you were talking to a man, not to a child or an imbecile, and he would probably impress the request upon you by boxing your ears for your impertinence. He can conduct himself sensibly ...
— Diary of a Pilgrimage • Jerome K. Jerome

... drink my hostess's health, but I will not pledge your ripeness in so thin-spirited a tipple. Yet a malediction may cream on it, so here's damnation ...
— The Proud Prince • Justin Huntly McCarthy

... Pickwick. 'Your wages I shall continue to pay. Any one of my three friends will be happy to take you, were it only out of respect to me. And if I ever do leave this place, Sam,' added Mr. Pickwick, with assumed cheerfulness—'if I do, I pledge you my word that you shall ...
— The Pickwick Papers • Charles Dickens

... constitution of the society, it was the brute's turn to do that day. I thought I saw him leer in an ugly way at me while the decanters were going round, but as there was no love lost between us, that might easily be. What was my indignant surprise when he called upon the company to pledge him to "Estella!" ...
— Great Expectations • Charles Dickens

... advocate, and with all my heart I vote for its renewal. It is but just that the princes and rulers of the earth should give example to the world of good faith in their dealings; for the integrity of the sovereign is a pledge to all nations of ...
— Joseph II. and His Court • L. Muhlbach

... search of adventures which never occur outside of blood-and-thunder papers and story books. The paper we allude to—GOLDEN DAYS—promised this, and we have carefully watched it for two years to see how its pledge would be redeemed. We are glad to be able to state it has exceeded our most sanguine expectations. While it has been constantly filled with stories and sketches of the most fascinating character, we have never seen a sentence in it which we could ...
— Golden Days for Boys and Girls - Volume VIII, No 25: May 21, 1887 • Various

... south-east, and includes Kos, Patmos, Astypalia, Karpathos, Kasos, and, above all, Rhodes. The Sporades were occupied by Italy during her war with Turkey in 1911-12, and she stipulated in the Peace of Lausanne that she should retain them as a pledge until the last Ottoman soldier in Tripoli had been withdrawn, after which she would make them over again to the Porte. The continued unrest in Tripoli may or may not have been due to Turkish intrigues, but in ...
— The Balkans - A History Of Bulgaria—Serbia—Greece—Rumania—Turkey • Nevill Forbes, Arnold J. Toynbee, D. Mitrany, D.G. Hogarth

... when they told King Konrad, the good King laughed aloud; "If this was not our meaning, they've made it so," he vowed, "A promise is a promise, our loyal word was pledge; It stands, and no Lord Chancellor ...
— The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: - Masterpieces of German Literature Translated into English, Volume 5. • Various



Words linked to "Pledge" :   pledge taker, promise, covenant, honour, warrantee, guarantee, assure, collateralize, security interest, fellow member, toast, donate, assurance, obligate, hypothecate, consign, booze, oblige, pledger, vow, honor, salute, warranty, charge, bind, fuddle, warrant, reward, pawn, troth, commitment, vouch, drink, wassail, dedication, member, give, hold



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