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Prolong   /prəlˈɔŋ/   Listen
Prolong

verb
(past & past part. prolonged; pres. part. prolonging)
1.
Lengthen in time; cause to be or last longer.  Synonyms: draw out, extend, protract.  "She extended her visit by another day" , "The meeting was drawn out until midnight"
2.
Lengthen or extend in duration or space.  Synonyms: keep up, sustain.  "Prolong the treatment of the patient" , "Keep up the good work"



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"Prolong" Quotes from Famous Books



... was unintermitting. But the health of our generalissimo, which had been impaired during his residence in England, began to give way beneath such a pressure of fatigue and anxiety. Yet it pleased Providence to prolong his life till towards the close of the year 1813: when he had the satisfaction of viewing his folios, quartos, octavos, and duodecimos, arranged in regular succession, and fair array; when his work was honestly done; and when future visitors had only to stretch forth their ...
— A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume One • Thomas Frognall Dibdin

... splash While many a broken band, Disorder'd, through her currents dash, To gain the Scottish land; To town and tower, to down and dale, To tell red Flodden's dismal tale, And raise the universal wail. Tradition, legend, tune, and song, Shall many an age that wail prolong: Still from the sire the son shall hear Of the stern strife, and carnage drear. Of Flodden's fatal field, Where shiver'd was fair Scotland's spear, And broken was ...
— The Prose Marmion - A Tale of the Scottish Border • Sara D. Jenkins

... must far sooner, were The natural compound left alone to fight Its way back into earth, and fire, and air, But the unnatural balsams merely blight What nature made him at his birth, as bare As the mere million's base unmummied clay— Yet all his spices but prolong decay. ...
— English Satires • Various

... indiscreet female, and Mr. Spooner was for the moment confounded by his own success. He had hardly told himself what reception he had expected, or whether, in the event of the servant informing him at the front door that the young lady was not at home he would make any further immediate effort to prolong the siege so as to force an entry; but now, when he had carried the very fortress by surprise, his heart almost misgave him. He certainly had not thought, when he descended from his chariot like a young Bacchus in quest of his ...
— Phineas Redux • Anthony Trollope

... point of separating marriage from marital rights was settled in a conversation between Louis and me, in the course of which he gave proof of an excellent temper and a tender heart. Darling, my desire was to prolong that fair season of hope which, never culminating in satisfaction, leaves to the soul its virginity. To grant nothing to duty or the law, to be guided entirely by one's own will, retaining perfect independence—what could be more ...
— Letters of Two Brides • Honore de Balzac

... mountains on either side. There is a good deal of cultivated land, and scattered farm-houses appear. The soil is excellent. But it is like a pearl cast before an obstinate, unfriendly climate. Late frosts prolong the winter. Early frosts curtail the summer. The only safe crops are grass, oats, and potatoes. And for half the year all the cattle must be housed and fed to keep them alive. This lends a melancholy aspect to agriculture. Most of the farmers look ...
— Little Rivers - A Book Of Essays In Profitable Idleness • Henry van Dyke

... the deed. Take my advice, and convey it carefully to the nearest consecrated ground, and there reverently deposit it. We will preserve this ball, with the pistol; and now let Mr Ankins dress your slight wound. We must see you well through this affair, and the Admiralty must prolong your leave of absence, if it be necessary. I should wish to know more of you as a private individual—there is my card. You are a very good lad for honouring ...
— Rattlin the Reefer • Edward Howard

... remarkable letter, recognising, in the strongest terms that could be used, his abilities, his integrity, and his patriotism. M. de Forcade had just received a telegram from the father of M. Guary, at Paris, announcing his arrival at Anzin for the next day, and asking me to prolong my visit, which I ...
— France and the Republic - A Record of Things Seen and Learned in the French Provinces - During the 'Centennial' Year 1889 • William Henry Hurlbert

... humbling themselves before her, but she forbade them to show their mirth, saying, "I am a Saracen, and have renounced the faith; otherwise I should not be here, but were dead already. Therefore I pray and beseech you as you love your lives and would prolong your days, whatever you may see or hear, not to show me any affection, but keep yourselves strange to me, and leave me to unravel the coil. Now I will tell why I have revealed myself to you. My husband, the Soudan, rides presently to battle. I know well, ...
— French Mediaeval Romances from the Lays of Marie de France • Marie de France

... to prolong it," said Madame de Cintre; and turning to the door she put out her hand again. "If you can pity me a little, ...
— The American • Henry James

... industrial nations. The political agitation in Asia; revolutions in South America and political unrest in some European States; the methods of sale by Russia of her increasing agricultural exports to European markets; and our own drought—have all contributed to prolong and deepen the depression. ...
— Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present • Various

... of every person there is constant need for solid food to preserve health and prolong life; and, just as such food is necessary to satisfy the requirements of the body, so, too, is there need for water. As is well known, the composition of the body is such that it contains more liquid ...
— Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 5 • Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences

... I may feel, I want to prolong the agony as long as possible. All my patients are like that. And so are those who are morally diseased; one of them, and a bad case too, is at ...
— A Doll's House • Henrik Ibsen

... fact, for, from some flaring posters, it appeared that an aeroplane exhibition and race had been arranged for the next day by a traveling company of aviators. That evening, at the hotel, a deputation of citizens waited on the boys and asked them if they would not prolong their stay and take part in the air sports. The mayor, whose name was Jasper Hanks, mentioned a prize of five hundred dollars for an endurance flight ...
— The Girl Aviators' Motor Butterfly • Margaret Burnham

... them, and vainly attempting over and over again to join battle. Some of Gonzalvo's officers advised him to fall back on Capua, so as to withdraw his troops from an unhealthy and difficult position; but "I would rather," said he, "have here, for my grave, six feet of earth by pushing forward, than prolong my life a hundred years by falling back, though it were but a few arms' lengths." The French army was dispersing about in search of shelter and provisions; and the Marquis of Mantua, disgusted with the command, resigned ...
— A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times - Volume III. of VI. • Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot

... personal cowardice. Like Pompey, like Napoleon, he yielded in the crisis of his fate to the instinct of self-preservation. He fled from the field where he had lost his crown, not to organize a new army, not to renew the contest, but to prolong for a few weeks a life which had ceased to have any ...
— The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 5. (of 7): Persia • George Rawlinson

... western shore in the distance. The few boats floating on the surface of the water looked unreal. The faint soft beat of a distant motor equally false. Jimmy hardly breathed; he had a vague unformed desire to hold this scene, to prolong it. There was a silence that was almost painful. ...
— Death Points a Finger • Will Levinrew

... priest, whom she would at first be likely to see. Moreover, her mistress had gone to the country with her children, so she had nothing to prevent her remaining during the little time Mrs. Rush might wish to prolong her visit. ...
— Hubert's Wife - A Story for You • Minnie Mary Lee

... over, at least for a time, when, next day, came notes from the girls saying they had decided to prolong their visit in ...
— Andy at Yale - The Great Quadrangle Mystery • Roy Eliot Stokes

... call To grace with harp their festal hall? O! must my voice awake the song?— My skill the artful tale prolong? Yes! I am call'd—it is my doom! Unhappily, ye know not whom, Nor what, impatient ye demand! How hostile now the fever'd hand, Across these chords unwilling thrown, To echo plainings of my own! Little indeed can ye divine What song ye ask ...
— The Lay of Marie • Matilda Betham

... never in Indian nature to prolong a conflict once it is obvious they must suffer heavy losses. They consider it the better wisdom to run away and await an opportunity when the advantage will be with them. Cornstalk had been confident that his early morning attack would drive ...
— A Virginia Scout • Hugh Pendexter

... But we hasten to close these reflections, which tenderness to the friend and companion of our boyhood, and gratitude to him who has enlivened many an hour, and added so much to our stock of intellectual happiness, forbid us to prolong. Let those who feel that they could spurn the temptation, in comparison with which every other that besets our miserable nature is as dross—the praise yielded by a polished and fastidious nation to rare and acknowledged genius—denounce as they will the infirmity of Le Sage. But let them be quite ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 55, No. 344, June, 1844 • Various

... out in the ordinary way. All that we need in this case is a piece of paper cut roughly to the sky line and kept moving during part of the exposure over the part which is to be held back. If necessary, cut down the light in order to prolong the exposure, or expose at a greater distance from the light. One or more test-strips will be required for this purpose in order to ascertain the relative times of exposure. A modification of this method is when a small portion of the negative only needs extra printing—a face or hand for instance. ...
— Bromide Printing and Enlarging • John A. Tennant

... imaginary juniper bush, singing lustily, and illustrating the different actions of the washing operations. Finally, two and two and arm in arm, they promenade round, as if going to church, and generally prolong the walk while they sing the last verse a ...
— Peeps at Many Lands: Norway • A.F. Mockler-Ferryman

... had studied your military books, and knew that only by an irregular warfare could we hope to prolong our existence. It was no longer an insurrection; we were simply fugitives trying to sell our lives dearly. If Suetonius had offered us terms we would gladly have laid down our arms, but as he simply strove to destroy us we had, like animals brought to bay, to fight for our own ...
— Beric the Briton - A Story of the Roman Invasion • G. A. Henty

... accumulate and fill the year with hardly a break in its monotony; the next year and the next are the same, except that old Grandet's meanness is accentuated as his wealth increases; the present is like the past, the future will prolong the present. In such a scene Eugenie's patient acquiescence in middle age becomes a visible fact, is divined and accepted at once, without further insistence; it is latent in the scene from the beginning, even at the time of the small romance ...
— The Craft of Fiction • Percy Lubbock

... could have wished to prolong the conversation with the consul, and he would willingly have gratified me had not his duties called him away. After he left me, I was extremely affected, but, as had so often happened, no tears came to give me relief. The habit of long, internal grief, seemed yet to prey upon my ...
— My Ten Years' Imprisonment • Silvio Pellico

... about to transgress decency, but again, as before, separated myself, and remained ignorant of what it was on which I had verged in my excitement. At another meeting, however, I had been allowed to prolong my embrace and to act, indeed, upon my full instincts. Once more I felt suddenly the coming of something acutely impending; I took my courage in my hands and went boldly forward. In another moment I had hold of the mysterious secret of masculine energy, to which all my years of dilirious ...
— Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2 (of 6) • Havelock Ellis

... their followers who had light carriages, endeavoured to make their escape through the fields; but it only served to prolong their misery. ...
— Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, in the Peninsula, France, and the Netherlands - from 1809 to 1815 • Captain J. Kincaid

... had once been biscuit. They were too precious to be thrown away. I put them into the bottom of the cask. I got back also several bits, which, though wet, had not lost their consistency. I was grateful for them; for though they would not keep, they would assist me to prolong existence for some few days. I ate some of the pulp, and a couple of olives to enable me to digest it. The other pieces of biscuit and the olives and pickles had been, I suppose, washed away out of my reach, for I felt about in every direction, but could lay my hands on nothing more. ...
— Dick Cheveley - His Adventures and Misadventures • W. H. G. Kingston

... need much care. I prefer a bicycle to a beast, so I'll get in the squashes, pick the apples, and cover the strawberry bed when it is time," added Frank, who had enjoyed the free life at Pebbly Beach so much that he was willing to prolong it. ...
— Jack and Jill • Louisa May Alcott

... Carlsruhe ("Charles's Rest") to the eastward, but the bracken and underbrush have given way to beaten roads, which prolong with perfect regularity the fan of streets. An avenue of the finest Lombardy poplars in Germany, the trees being from ninety to a hundred and twenty feet high, extends for two miles to Durlach. Around the city spread rich plum and cherry orchards, yielding the "lucent sirops" from which is distilled ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 12, No. 32, November, 1873 • Various

... the British Army now in the general operations should, therefore, be constantly to prolong the general line as it detrains, in order to outflank the enemy and thus to join hands with ...
— 1914 • John French, Viscount of Ypres

... again ordered in the year 1435 to prosecute their discoveries, with instructions to prolong their voyage, if possible, till they should meet with inhabitants. Having proceeded about forty miles to the southward of the Angra dos Ruyvos, without being able to see a single inhabitant, they adopted an expedient ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. II • Robert Kerr

... objects of sanitation is to eliminate disease due to bacteria and to prolong the normal life, so far as is possible, past the early period when diseases are easily contracted. It is not hoped that death can in any case be prevented, but hygiene will have done its utmost when death occurs only among the aged and when the diseases then causing ...
— Rural Hygiene • Henry N. Ogden

... can stand up there for a while," said the doctor, "and that will prolong the struggle a bit. Here, come up higher!" he cried, making signs to our black companions, who after a time came unwillingly from their lower position, splashing mournfully through the water, but evidently unwilling even then ...
— Bunyip Land - A Story of Adventure in New Guinea • George Manville Fenn

... appealing for fair judgement, for reason, for a wise policy which should soften the bitterness of the settlement between victors and vanquished. Facts must be recognized, he pleaded, and the French claim for peculiar consideration and their traditional amour propre must not be allowed to prolong the miseries of war. At the same time Morier did not close his eyes to the danger arising from the overwhelming victories of the German armies. No one saw more clearly the deterioration which was taking place in German character, ...
— Victorian Worthies - Sixteen Biographies • George Henry Blore

... heavily. Rowena's lack of response to her appeal was a bitter disappointment; but she realised that it was useless to prolong the interview. A few moments longer she waited, hoping against hope for a word in reply, then stifling a sigh, she rose from ...
— Etheldreda the Ready - A School Story • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey

... convinced the lawyers that they had not acted wisely in attempting to revive usages that had fallen into desuetude because they were inconvenient to new arrangements or repugnant to modern taste. No attempt was made to prolong the festivity over a succession of days. It was a revel of one day; and no one wished to add another to the period of riot. At two o'clock on Feb. 2, 1733-4, the new Chancellor, the master of the revels, the benchers of the inns, and the guests (who were for the most part lawyers), ...
— A Book About Lawyers • John Cordy Jeaffreson

... most assiduously followed the progress which was made in La Valliere's portrait; and did so with a care and attention arising as much from a desire that it should resemble her as from the wish that the painter should prolong the period of its completion as much as possible. It was amusing to observe him follow the artist's brush, awaiting the completion of a particular plan, or the result of a combination of colors, and suggesting ...
— Louise de la Valliere • Alexandre Dumas, Pere

... to Trouville? Robert denies that sea-air ever disagrees with him (sea-bathing does), and it may be good for you and for Pen, to say nothing of Arabel, who is coming in the course of the summer. The objection is the journey, but if the railroad is there, it would not prolong the journey (in relation to Fontainebleau) more than two or three hours, if so much, would it? We ought to inquire a little beforehand. We shall get to you as early as we can. The weather is against us everywhere. We shall cut ...
— The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume II • Elizabeth Barrett Browning

... prehistoric, their development in Greece and Rome, their culmination during the ages of faith, and their disappearance in the age of science. It would be especially instructive to note the conscientious efforts to prolong their life by making futile compromises between science and theology regarding them; but I shall mention this main group only incidentally, confining my self almost entirely to the one above named—the most remarkable of all—the myth which grew ...
— History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom • Andrew Dickson White

... sea-chest. Where, then, was the boat? It was gone!—it must have been swept away by the fury of the wind. Alas, then all chance was over! and if not washed away by the angry waters, he had but to prolong his existence but a few days, and then to die. The effect of the blow he had received on his forehead, with the shock of mind occasioned by the disappearance of the boat, overpowered him, and he remained for some time in a ...
— The Pirate and The Three Cutters • Frederick Marryat

... features of nature's reparative process. It is seldom necessary to disturb a sick child for the giving of food or medicine oftener than every second or third hour. Medicine may always be given with food. Meddlesome interference, talkative attendants, or excessive noise may exhaust a child and may prolong and render dangerous or fatal a condition that would otherwise ...
— The Eugenic Marriage, Vol 2 (of 4) - A Personal Guide to the New Science of Better Living and Better Babies • W. Grant Hague

... he answered, "yet I was your friend, yet I was willing to prolong the term of your genuine [tranquillity]! I pointed out to you a method of preserving peace with your own soul; I came to you in behalf of the poor, and instructed you how to merit their prayers; you heard me, you were susceptible, you complied! I meant to have ...
— Cecilia Volume 1 • Frances Burney

... the Mississippi valley been as numerous and unwarlike as the Aztecs, de Soto would have repeated the work of Cortes, and we would very possibly have been barred out of the greater portion of our present domain. Had it not been for their Indian allies, it would have been impossible for the French to prolong, as they did, their struggle with their much more numerous ...
— The Winning of the West, Volume One - From the Alleghanies to the Mississippi, 1769-1776 • Theodore Roosevelt

... such an interim was undesirable. It would only lead to suffering. And while it lasted she, Beryl, might need something and lack it. That must not be. Adela was finished, and she must learn to understand that she was finished. No woman ought to seek to prolong her reign beyond a certain age. If Adela had come back with her sheaves they must be resolutely ...
— December Love • Robert Hichens

... warm themselves beside it, or your scattered timbers may warm me. Strange instincts might be supposed to thrill and shudder in the ribs of ships that sail toward the beacon of a drift-wood fire. Morituri salutant. A single shock, and all that magnificent fabric may become mere fuel to prolong the flame. ...
— Oldport Days • Thomas Wentworth Higginson

... things worse, there was not only no effort made to curtail the business, but advantage was taken of every circumstance to prolong it. The longer it was dragged out the better chance there was of an acquittal. Had a juryman died after months of the trial had passed, the Government must have abandoned the prosecution. It would have been impossible to commence again. This was the last ...
— The Reminiscences Of Sir Henry Hawkins (Baron Brampton) • Henry Hawkins Brampton

... to prolong the interview would only make matters worse. The good father was evidently roused; but whether against him, Jonah, or against Jeffreys, he could scarcely tell. He departed decidedly crestfallen, and more than half repenting ...
— A Dog with a Bad Name • Talbot Baines Reed

... increase of the number of persons who supply them. Two children will play with the same number of toys for a longer time, without tiring, than if they were alone;—and three or four would, in the same proportion, increase the interest and prolong the season of activity. But as soon as the reiteration of the ideas suggested by their game becomes languid or difficult, their play for the time loses its charms, and the fascination is gone. That it is the cessation of active thought, which is the chief cause of their play ceasing to please, ...
— A Practical Enquiry into the Philosophy of Education • James Gall

... title offered to those who would assassinate him, which created an inclination in three or four wretches to undertake it, who had but a rope or the wheel for recompense, it not being in any human power to prolong or shorten any man's life without the permission of God." The Prince of Conde had been commissioned to fight the valiant chief of the Huguenots, "for that he was their sworn enemy," says the cardinal. In the eyes of fervent Catholics the name of Conde had many wrongs ...
— A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times - Volume V. of VI. • Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot

... To prolong the questioning, Jane felt, would be only to arouse suspicion, and reluctantly she allowed old Lena to precede her to the elevator, anticipating her, however, in ringing the bell, pressing the button four times as Dean had directed. As they descended together she was almost in ...
— The Apartment Next Door • William Andrew Johnston

... to prolong the wretchedness of another, no matter if his most deadly enemy. He stood with his left foot slightly advanced and his muscles gathered, so that he did not require the slightest preparation, and, having held the pose just long enough to make sure ...
— Camp-fire and Wigwam • Edward Sylvester Ellis

... blaze, BECCARI'S shells emit prismatic rays. So to the sacred Sun in MEMNON's fane, Spontaneous concords quired the matin strain; 185 —Touch'd by his orient beam, responsive rings The living lyre, and vibrates all it's strings; Accordant ailes the tender tones prolong, And holy echoes swell ...
— The Botanic Garden - A Poem in Two Parts. Part 1: The Economy of Vegetation • Erasmus Darwin

... What an immortal figure the dim Mrs. Horton would have become in the hands of Jane Austen! In Nature and Art, her attempts at social satire are superficial and overstrained. But weaknesses of this kind—and it would be easy to prolong the list—are what every reader of the following pages will notice without difficulty, and what no wise one will regard. "Il ne faut point juger des hommes par ce qu'ils ignorent, mais par ce qu'ils savent;" and Mrs. Inchbald's knowledge was ...
— A Simple Story • Mrs. Inchbald

... nowise misled by the easy, postponed consent, but he could not prolong the interview. He rose and went. In the act of shutting the door behind him, something, he did not know what, made him turn his head: the earl was leaning over the little table by his bedside, and pouring something ...
— Donal Grant • George MacDonald

... interval, this pause of life (While yet our liberty and fates are doubtful) With resolution, friendship, Roman bravery, And all the virtues we can crowd into it; That Heav'n may say, it ought to be prolong'd. Fathers, farewell—The young Numidian prince Comes forward, and expects to know our ...
— Cato - A Tragedy, in Five Acts • Joseph Addison

... every harsher thought suppress'd, And sacred be the last long rest. Here, where the end of earthly things Lays heroes, patriots, bards, and kings; Where stiff the hand, and still the tongue, Of those who fought, and spoke, and sung; Here, where the fretted vaults prolong The distant notes of holy song, As if some angel spoke agen, 'All peace on earth, good-will to men'; If ever from an English heart, O, here let prejudice depart, And, partial feeling cast aside, Record that Fox a Briton died! When Europe crouch'd to France's yoke, ...
— Book of English Verse • Bulchevy

... "We can but prolong our lives," he remarked at length. "The men are now almost worn-out, and cannot, I see, continue much longer at work." Even as he spoke, several of the crew left their posts, and, throwing themselves on the deck, declared that they could do no more. Others murmured out that the ...
— The Golden Grasshopper - A story of the days of Sir Thomas Gresham • W.H.G. Kingston

... Why prolong the story of the next few days? They were just such days as every man and every woman who has loved has lived through, and knows far better than can be said or sung. Love's beginnings are varied, and his final crises of avowal ...
— Hetty's Strange History • Helen Jackson

... before the exchange took place. On the acceptation or refusal of these terms, peace or war was to be determined. A week only was allowed for a reply; and at the lapse of that time, no reply being given—Napoleon wishing still to prolong the discussion—the British ambassador, in compliance with his instructions, declined all further negociations, and prepared to quit Paris, which he did on the 12th of May. Orders were immediately issued for seizing the ships of France, and of the states subject to her power, ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

... religious? Can I then transfer "Of thy existence part? Not Hecat's power "Fateful, would sanction this; nor stands thy wish "In equity. Yet, Jason, will I try "More than thou seek'st to give. With all my skill "Thy sire's existence to prolong, thy years "Unshorten'd; should the tri-form'd goddess aid "Propitious my designs."—Three nights were now Deficient, ere the full-form'd horns could meet The lunar orb to fill. Complete her round; A solid sphere of light from earth beheld, Medea wanders forth; loose all her ...
— The Metamorphoses of Publius Ovidus Naso in English blank verse Vols. I & II • Ovid

... order that they might be able to follow these poetic licenses in the dramatic phrasing of the singer. This dramatic rubato is, of course, a very different thing from the freedom which Italian singers often allow themselves on favorable high notes, which they prolong, not in order to emphasize an emotion but to show off the beauty and sustaining power ...
— Chopin and Other Musical Essays • Henry T. Finck

... by experience, that to argue the matter would only prolong the torture, so we let him ...
— Novel Notes • Jerome K. Jerome

... rested; how she longed for that overpowering fatigue and exhaustion of mind and body to prolong itself! And as the hours went on, she knew that she was getting rested, and that she would have to wake up to everything again by and by. It should not be at ...
— Hills of the Shatemuc • Susan Warner

... telling herself how glad she was that John and Edna felt free to go away without her. It was only the assurance that she should not be in danger of hampering them that would make her happy in accepting Edna's invitation to prolong ...
— The Opened Shutters • Clara Louise Burnham

... to precede him to Paris, he removed his captives from Narbonne, dragging them in his train to ornament his last triumph, and embarking on the Rhone at Tarascon, nearly, at the mouth of the river, as if to prolong the pleasure of revenge which men have dared to call that of the gods, displayed to the eyes of the spectators on both sides of the river the luxury of his hatred; he slowly proceeded on his course up the river in barges with gilded oars and emblazoned ...
— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet

... cold indraft on the hot tenderness of his heart for a moment. But, no; it could not be the cow-camp. There was no sign that grazing herds had been there lately. She was running because she was afraid to have him overtake her in the dusk, running to prolong the race until she could elude him in the dark, afraid of him, who loved ...
— The Duke Of Chimney Butte • G. W. Ogden

... introduced, if it be convenient, to-morrow, I propose to make a very brief statement of the effect of each section, as we understand it; but I do not intend, by any long speeches or any remarks, to prolong this matter unnecessarily. I have expressed my own individual views, and each member of the committee, I suppose, stands to the opinion expressed by him in the speeches he has made in the Senate—speeches that were carefully ...
— Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet - An Autobiography. • John Sherman

... awoke, lo! he sorrowed after the vision of Laieikawai, because he had awakened so soon out of sleep; therefore he wished to prolong his midday nap in order to see again her whom he had ...
— The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai • Anonymous

... relentlessly destroyed; vast hotels, like barracks, and rows of high, square-windowed dwelling-houses, thrust themselves forward to conceal the hated antiquities of the great cities of France and Italy. Gay promenades, with fountains and statues, prolong themselves along the quays once dedicated to commerce; ball-rooms and theaters rise upon the dust of desecrated chapels, and thrust into darkness the humility of domestic life. And when the formal street, in all its pride of perfumery and confectionery, has successfully ...
— On the Old Road Vol. 1 (of 2) - A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays and Articles on Art and Literature • John Ruskin

... existence. Lover, bard, soldier, statist, he has obtained in each of his careers only doubts and dissatisfaction. Twelve months added to a long life by the generosity of his admirers, each of whom surrenders a fragment of his own life to prolong that of the saint, bring him no clearer illumination—still all is vanity and vexation of spirit. Only at the last, when by some unexpected chance, a final opportunity of surveying the past and anticipating the future is granted him, all has become clear. Instead of trying to solve the riddle ...
— Robert Browning • Edward Dowden

... his own fantastic thought, he again glanced swiftly at the hunchback, who he noticed was playing with his coffee, evidently to prolong ...
— Astounding Stories of Super-Science February 1930 • Various

... severe or alarming attack, and all she wanted was to be let alone; but there was enough of sore throat and other symptoms to prolong the quarantine, and Lady Adela could no longer be excluded from giving her aid. She went to and fro between the patients, and comforted each with regard to the other, telling the one how her husband's strength was returning, and keeping the other tranquil by the assurance that what his wife most ...
— That Stick • Charlotte M. Yonge

... to prolong my stay among you, but this must depend upon the way in which my body stands the struggle; my stomach is somewhat weak, and I am not without some fear; I shall, therefore, be much obliged to you if you will let me see the ...
— En Route • J.-K. (Joris-Karl) Huysmans

... It is not worth while. A trifle, just a trifle—Christmas, you know—must do the proper thing!" He mumbled vaguely the while he collected his hat and gloves, the aloofness in Claire's attitude making it impossible to prolong the interview; but as he held out his hand in farewell, his self-possession returned. He ...
— The Independence of Claire • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey

... a relief to him to have a pretext for not detaining her. His natural impulse would have been to declare that he didn't want any drugs, and would be all right in no time; and his acquiescence showed her how profoundly he felt the uselessness of their trying to prolong their talk. His face was now no more than a white blur in the dusk, but she felt its indistinctness as a veil drawn over aching intensities of expression. "He knows...he knows..." she said to herself, and wondered whether the truth had been revealed ...
— The Reef • Edith Wharton

... above-mentioned conditions the authority of the Government is becoming more and more weakened, and that thus the danger arises of the people losing all respect and reverence for lawful authority, and falling into a condition of lawlessness. And that to prolong the war can only lead to hastening the ruin of the people, and making it clear to them that the only authority in the country is that ...
— Three Years' War • Christiaan Rudolf de Wet

... there was of strange, terrible clangor—bleak, dark, yet of a lurid fire—that seemed to prolong itself through all the uproar, like a note of doom, cutting its way to the heart as the call of the last archangel. Yes, I felt myself alone, lost in a boundless desert, beyond the abodes of man; and this was a call of terror-stern, savage, ...
— Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands V2 • Harriet Beecher Stowe

... which it may be well to consider. Useful work may be hindered owing to, first, the time and attention required for the meetings and discussions of the various councils, and the risk that clever and fluent talkers may prolong debate and generate friction and may perhaps exercise an undue influence. Probably this will not be found a serious danger. Experience over a considerable district shows that those who are chosen by the Trade Unions to represent them are usually clear-headed ...
— Rebuilding Britain - A Survey Of Problems Of Reconstruction After The World War • Alfred Hopkinson

... he asserted in the most positive manner that it is healthful, and tends to prolong life; "as we are constantly proving." He afterward gave me a file of the Shaker, a monthly paper, in which the deaths in all the societies are recorded; and I judge from its reports that the death rate is low, and the people mostly long-lived. [Footnote: In nine numbers of ...
— The Communistic Societies of the United States • Charles Nordhoff

... more, but she resolved to trick him into giving her the happiness she desired. She tried to prolong her kisses, and threw her arms passionately around him, pressing him to her, and pretending a delirium of love she was very far from feeling. She tried every means to make him lose control over himself, but she never ...
— The works of Guy de Maupassant, Vol. 5 (of 8) - Une Vie and Other Stories • Guy de Maupassant 1850-1893

... no more, but the mute pause that followed, while eye met eye, and hand lingered in hand, was not meaningless. The fond lover was not permitted, however, to prolong the entrancing moment, which, as the slightly-returned pressure of the small white hand, closely imprisoned in his own, told him, had not been reluctantly vouchsafed him; for, quickly arousing herself, ...
— The Rangers - [Subtitle: The Tory's Daughter] • D. P. Thompson

... Rebellion. Raids having ominously failed in their design to arouse the lethargic spirits of Northern sympathizers and advocates, to rush to the standard of the misguided South, it was immediately determined to prolong the war, at least, to the date of the next Presidential election, and then through the agencies of secret organization and equipment, seize upon the excitement of the people in a hotly contested election, to force a rebellion against the administration ...
— The Great North-Western Conspiracy In All Its Startling Details • I. Windslow Ayer

... proof that, notwithstanding the machinations of his enemies, and the cruel punishment to which they had led him, loyalty to his sovereign was as deeply rooted and as religious a sentiment in his bosom as devotion to his God. "Thou wilt prolong the King's life; and his years as many generations. He shall abide before God for ever! O prepare mercy and truth which may preserve him." Such was the remarkable prayer of the condemned traitor on his ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley

... this time, all the houses and cornfields, both above and below the British Fort, and among the rest, the houses and stores of Col. McKee,[12] an English trader of great influence among the Indians and which had been invariably exerted to prolong the war, were consumed by fire or otherwise entirely destroyed. On the 27th, the American army returned to its head quarters, laying waste the cornfields and villages on each side of the river for about fifty miles; and [316] this too in the most populous and best improved ...
— Chronicles of Border Warfare • Alexander Scott Withers

... and spirals like screws and fly-wheels, grinds and shrieks like laboring metal. The orchestra is transmuted to steel. Each movement of the ballet correlates the rhythms of machinery with the human rhythms which they prolong and repeat. A dozen mills pulsate at once. Steam escapes; exhausts breathe heavily. The weird orchestral introduction to the second scene has all the oppressive silence of machines immobile at night. And in the hurtling finale the music and the dancers create figure ...
— Musical Portraits - Interpretations of Twenty Modern Composers • Paul Rosenfeld

... dinner so good, the ancient jokes passing around the table all so new and witty to Georgina, hearing them now for the first time. She wished that a storm would come up to keep everybody at the house overnight and thus prolong the festal feeling. She liked this "Company" atmosphere in which everyone seemed to grow expansive of soul and gracious of speech. She loved every relative she ...
— Georgina of the Rainbows • Annie Fellows Johnston

... once more let loose, seeks out its old windings, or overflows musically in unpractised channels. The service which Spenser did to our literature by this exquisite sense of harmony is incalculable. His fine ear, abhorrent of barbarous dissonance, his dainty tongue that loves to prolong the relish of a musical phrase, made possible the transition from the cast-iron stiffness of "Ferrex and Porrex" to the Damascus pliancy of Fletcher and Shakespeare. It was ...
— Among My Books • James Russell Lowell

... as Delahunt did with his innocent victim, deliberately put his hand to his throat, or, rather, to the left side of his neck, and there found beyond all doubt a large welt, or cicatrice, precisely as had been described by Sir Thomas. After the space of about two hours—for Gillespie was anxious to prolong the time as much as possible—he assisted Fenton, now unable to walk without support, and completely paralyzed in his organs of speech, along the short and solitary path to the back gate of the garden.. He opened it, dragged Fenton in like a dog whom he was about to hang, but ...
— The Black Baronet; or, The Chronicles Of Ballytrain - The Works of William Carleton, Volume One • William Carleton

... the waiter must know how excited he felt. He ordered coffee and rolls before he opened the envelope; he laid it down on the cloth beside him and stared at it very much as a sentimental girl might stare at her first love-letter, hesitating to open it, wishing to prolong ...
— The Phantom Lover • Ruby M. Ayres

... followed by scores of yelping dogs. On it are two or more dirty lamas with a great barrel from which they ladle out refuse for the dogs, for according to their religious beliefs they accumulate great merit for themselves if they prolong the life of anything, be ...
— Across Mongolian Plains - A Naturalist's Account of China's 'Great Northwest' • Roy Chapman Andrews

... religion which should teach them to act otherwise towards their brethren, no resource must have been left to him but to fly to the most inaccessible fastnesses, to hide in the gloomiest forests and darkest caverns, and to pass the remainder of his miserable life in constant struggles to prolong it, and in ceaseless endeavours to stave off that final consummation which could alone ensure him peace, and safety, and rest. Whether or not the report of the existence of this Last Man was true I cannot say; but, certainly, his story, imaginary or real, suggests numerous reflections, ...
— Discoveries in Australia, Volume 2 • John Lort Stokes

... said; "yet it depends a good deal upon yourself when it will be. Men can die if they wish without committing suicide. Look at the Maori, the Tongan, the Malay. They can also prolong life (not indefinitely, but in a case like yours considerably), if they choose. You can lengthen your days if you do not brood on fatal things —fatal to you; if you do not worry yourself into ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker

... of the silent horn, Now on the gale her voice was borne: 390 "Father!" she cried; the rocks around Loved to prolong the gentle sound. A while she paused, no answer came— "Malcolm, was thine the blast?" the name Less resolutely uttered fell, 395 The echoes could not catch the swell. "A stranger I," the Huntsman said, Advancing from the hazel shade. The maid, alarmed, with hasty ...
— Lady of the Lake • Sir Walter Scott

... too bitterly disappointed, on his side, to attempt to prolong the interview. A deadly sense of weakness was beginning to overpower him. It was the inevitable result of his utter want of care for himself. After a sleepless night, he had taken a long walk before breakfast; and to these demands on his failing reserves of ...
— Heart and Science - A Story of the Present Time • Wilkie Collins

... several delays, they were released; and the law was generally supposed to be wrested in order to prolong their imprisonment. Sir John Elliot, Hollis, and Valentine, were summoned to their trial in the king's bench, for seditious speeches and behavior in parliament; but refusing to answer before an inferior court for their conduct as members of a superior, they were condemned to be imprisoned during ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part E. - From Charles I. to Cromwell • David Hume

... air is trembling With the birds' exultant song, And the blossoms, mutely fragrant, Strive the anthem to prolong— Think you then that their Creator, At the signal of his word, Fills the earth with such sweet music As ...
— Choice Readings for the Home Circle • Anonymous

... in sooth; I'll try the sharpness of my tooth; Instead of poison, I will eat Rabbits, capons, and such meat; And so, as Pythagoras says, With wholesome fare prolong my days. But, sir, will Mistress ...
— A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. IX • Various

... to remind those who grow only a few plants in a garden, and who wish to prolong the season, that several cuttings may be taken from a single head if desired. A portion of the head should be left each time. Occasionally, but not often, a stump will sprout and form a second crop. A method of accelerating the formation of heads, which is practiced in Ireland, may also be ...
— The Cauliflower • A. A. Crozier

... well and receiving shelter and charity from the monasteries. The Provincial and the Prior of this convent of San Pablo and the others have well carried out Your Highness's orders in this respect. All kiss the hands of Your Highness and pray God to prolong the life and Royal state of Your Highness, especially Fray Rodrigo—our companion. I beseech Your Highness, for the service of God, to provide that the relief and freedom which His Majesty granted to the Indians in the island of ...
— Bartholomew de Las Casas; his life, apostolate, and writings • Francis Augustus MacNutt

... became half a blush, half a glow. He stood in her presence brave and bashful: subdued and unobtrusive, yet decided in his purpose and devoted in his ardour. I gathered all this by one view. I did not prolong my observation—time failed me, had inclination served: the night wore late; Ginevra and I ought already to have been in the Rue Fossette. I rose, and bade good-night to my ...
— Villette • Charlotte Bronte

... suddenness of his feelings and the extent of the misery, in which they might involve him. After some minutes, she seemed to contend against her grief and to struggle for fortitude to conclude the interview. 'I will not prolong these moments,' said she, 'by a conversation, which can answer no good ...
— The Mysteries of Udolpho • Ann Radcliffe

... friend the sircar, he is scrupulous not to make his parting salaam until his host has given the customary signal. He waits to be dismissed, or rather to receive permission to withdraw. The etiquette supposes that his inclination is to prolong the enjoyment he derives from the society of so agreeable a gentleman; it is, therefore, not until rose-water has been presented to him, or betel-leaf, or sweetmeats, that he will venture to take his sandals ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 110, December, 1866 - A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics • Various

... It is unnecessary to prolong a painful scene. Brutus ran me up steadily from sum to sum, until his owner said at last: 'Well, we won't 'aggle, ...
— The Talking Horse - And Other Tales • F. Anstey

... from any and all its members, and often upon the slightest provocation. Should she fall ill, no physician is consulted and no effort is made to restore her health or to prolong life." "The expression of utter hopelessness, despair, and misery" on such a ...
— Primitive Love and Love-Stories • Henry Theophilus Finck

... minor Andes pour a waste of streams, The marsh of Moxoe scoops the world, and fills (From Bahia's coast to Cochabamba's hills) A thousand leagues of bog; he strives in vain Their floods to centre and their lakes retain; His gulphs o'ercharged their opening sides display, And southern vales prolong the seaward way. Columbus traced, with swift exploring eye, The immense of waves that here exalted lie, The realms that mound the unmeasured magazine, The far blue main, the climes that stretch between. He saw Xaraya's diamond banks ...
— The Columbiad • Joel Barlow

... turtle Bristol's sons delight, 388 Too much o'er bowls of Rack prolong the night. Your turtle-feeder's verse must needs be flat, 393 Though Bristol bloat him with the ...
— The Works of Lord Byron, Vol. 7. - Poetry • George Gordon Byron

... is the privilege of youth and high spirits. There are many anecdotes told of him at this time. On one occasion he swam across the harbour at Halifax, a feat which, in the circumstances, I have heard described with great admiration. On another, a lady giving a ball and wishing to prolong the pleasures of the evening, consulted Lieutenant Yorke as to the best way. She suggested putting back the clocks, but he advanced a step or two on that proposal, and while dancing was going on ...
— Charles Philip Yorke, Fourth Earl of Hardwicke, Vice-Admiral R.N. - A Memoir • Lady Biddulph of Ledbury

... absurdity. Perhaps the fault lay less in its lack of meaning than in his want of insight. It was to the effect that men lived in caves, and were destroyed by the parching rays of the sun, and were destitute of means to prolong their race, until they caught and subjected to their use four women who were swift of foot and slippery as eels. These were the mothers of the race of men. Or again, it was said that a certain king had a huge gourd which contained all the ...
— The Myths of the New World - A Treatise on the Symbolism and Mythology of the Red Race of America • Daniel G. Brinton

... the usual practice of the curia; but it is worth noting that in 1530 Charles V. asserted that it was usual to carry on matters so important as the divorce during vacation (ibid., iv., 6452), and that Clement had repeatedly ordered Campeggio to prolong the suit as much as possible and above all to ...
— Henry VIII. • A. F. Pollard

... of pursuit Must needs prolong his nuptial rights: But if you give your full consent, That Sophos may enjoy his long-wish'd love, And have fair Lelia to his lovely bride, I'll follow Churms whate'er betide; I'll be as swift as is the light-foot roe, And overtake him ere his journey's end, And bring fair ...
— A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. IX • Various

... various circumstances which compel me to prolong my stay in this country. In the first place, Admiral Tromp is here, and he is very useful in aiding me to arrive at a more perfect knowledge of nautical affairs, as, also, the condescension and kindness of my ...
— The Youth of the Great Elector • L. Muhlbach



Words linked to "Prolong" :   keep on, continue, keep, lengthen, spin out, temporise, carry, preserve, uphold, temporize, carry on, retain, bear on, spin



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