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Stroking   /strˈoʊkɪŋ/   Listen
Stroking

noun
1.
A light touch with the hands.  Synonym: stroke.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Stroking" Quotes from Famous Books



... again in her pantry, glanced out of the window and saw him disappear into the stables. At first she had gone with him when he wandered about like this, touching and feeling all his possessions. In the cattle-stalls, it might be, stroking and patting, getting himself covered with hairs, and chattering away in childish glee. "Look, Merle—this cow is mine, child! Dagros her name is—and she's mine. We have forty of them—and they're all mine. And that ...
— The Great Hunger • Johan Bojer

... feet, long-leggedly statuesque, and strode toward the antechamber on his right, whence presently he returned with a woman on his arm, he stroking her hand as it rested on his. He introduced Sextus and Norbanus; the others knew her; Galen greeted her with a wrinkled grin that seemed to ...
— Caesar Dies • Talbot Mundy

... the opportunity will not arise. "I'll implement the automatic layout stuff in my copious free time." 2. [Archly] Time reserved for bogus or otherwise idiotic tasks, such as implementation of {chrome}, or the stroking of {suit}s. "I'll get back to him on that feature in ...
— THE JARGON FILE, VERSION 2.9.10

... kissed him, we notice, and the kiss was demanded by her and refused by him: and Clerk Sanders is only disturbed in his grave because he has not got back his troth-plight. The method of giving this back—the stroking of a wand—we have had before in The Brown Girl (First Series, pp. 60-62, ...
— Ballads of Mystery and Miracle and Fyttes of Mirth - Popular Ballads of the Olden Times - Second Series • Frank Sidgwick

... whim to insist came over the father, and, half-coaxingly and half-forcibly, he held her up to the image, stroking its white cheek to ...
— The Worshipper of the Image • Richard Le Gallienne

... his strong, wholesome face and would really have liked to know more about him, but like many a person we meet on the journey of life, as ships on some wide sea, signal briefly to each other and then pass out of sight, so I never saw or heard of him afterward. He stood a moment stroking the baby's curly head, and then with a murmured "God bless the little lad," he passed on to his own seat. I felt instinctively that all this sentiment would be exceedingly distasteful to Mr. Winthrop, and was amused at the look of relief ...
— Medoline Selwyn's Work • Mrs. J. J. Colter

... Wagtail would do, I think," said Wee, stroking the cat, who rubbed against her, purring ...
— Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag VI - An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving, Etc. • Louisa M. Alcott

... pride, blunted by habit; while to him, who regards the accidental dispositions of society as paramount laws, he might have presented the image of dogged turbulence and discontent, healthfully repressed by the hand of power. A heavy sigh struggled from the chest of the old man, and, stroking down the few hairs which time had left him, he lifted his cap from the pavement, ...
— The Bravo • J. Fenimore Cooper

... and pretended to catch one, and to lead it along. "Now, Arthur, you must act the monkey," I exclaimed. On this he began frisking about, putting out his hand behind to represent a tail, while I pretended to be soothing him by stroking him on the head and back, and thus inducing him to ...
— On the Banks of the Amazon • W.H.G. Kingston

... "Hm!" Moyese was stroking his bare chin with a crookt forefinger. "I suppose if I were the story-book villain, I'd say 'yes, you must teach 'em to be honest'; but I don't. Fact is, Mr. Missionary, if you go into the ethics of things, you're ...
— The Freebooters of the Wilderness • Agnes C. Laut

... parents to show it to any one: but the woman continued to urge her by all means to show it to her. So then perceiving that the woman earnestly desired to see it, the nurse showed her the child. Then the woman stroking the head of the child said that she should be the fairest of all the women in Sparta; and from that day her aspect was changed. Afterwards when she came to the age for marriage, she was married to Agetos the son of Alkeides, this friend ...
— The History Of Herodotus - Volume 2 (of 2) • Herodotus

... pattern of "combed marble" desired, since the various colors—red, yellow, blue, white, etc., have adhered to the surface of the book-edges. The serrated and diversified effect of most comb-marbling is due to stroking the comb in waved lines over the surface. The spotted effect so much admired in other forms, is produced by throwing the colors on with a brush, at the fancy of the skilled workman, or artist, as you may call him. Marbled paper is made ...
— A Book for All Readers • Ainsworth Rand Spofford

... is said that stroking with Her thin fingers, many a kid She had slaughtered, many a huge ...
— Atta Troll • Heinrich Heine

... "I had no idea you were so grand as to have sauces up here: why we hardly ever use them." "Well, mum," replied Salter, bashfully, and stroking his long black beard to gain time to select the grandest words he could think of, "it is hardly to be regarded in the light of happetite, that there bottle, it is more in the nature of remedies." Then, seeing that I still looked mystified, he added, ...
— Station Amusements • Lady Barker

... hand on him. But the swift hand that slaughters Is mine; mine is the praise! Bless ye this day of days! [The LEADER tries to speak, but is not able; AGAVE begins gently stroking the head.] ...
— Hippolytus/The Bacchae • Euripides

... the same effect as before. His blood warmed again, and he pressed her to his side, stroking her hair and ...
— New Grub Street • George Gissing

... tiresome; of course you are to be just as good friends with Edward as you are with me: sit down, Edward. He is telling us the most delicious stories. He is the dearest Cousin George in the world," she added, stroking his hand which she still ...
— Saxe Holm's Stories • Helen Hunt Jackson

... So he read through the treatises of the transcendentalists, and Aristotle's /de Anima/, and explored the Platonic heights of the /Phaedo/, and wove into a single fabric the whole exact truth on all its sides. Then wrapping his threadbare cloak about him, and stroking down the end of his beard, he proffered the solution:—If there exists at all a nature of the soul—for of this I am not sure—it is certainly either mortal or immortal, of solid nature or immaterial; however, when you cross Acheron, there you shall know the certainty ...
— Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology • J. W. Mackail

... a process of kneading, stroking, and rubbing, with the fingers and palms of the hands, applied to the body as a whole or to locally affected parts, to allay pain, promote circulation, and restore nervous and vital energy; it was practised in very early times in China and ...
— The Nuttall Encyclopaedia - Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge • Edited by Rev. James Wood

... much spoilt child," she said, stroking the thick hair, for his head still lay on her knee. "Ah! and loved far more than he believes, and yet he is very disobedient. Why not stay as we are? Why not sacrifice to me the desires that hurt me? ...
— The Thirteen • Honore de Balzac

... so he did," said Mr. Tiffany, stroking his chin, "I remember perfectly: it was very ...
— Chanticleer - A Thanksgiving Story of the Peabody Family • Cornelius Mathews

... model had stirred an old doubt in Jane's heart. She watched her husband keenly. Was he thinking of that old dream? Would he go back to it? the long dull pain of those dead years creeping through her brain. He looked up from the boy, stroking his gray beard,—his eyes, ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 12, No. 74, December, 1863 • Various

... naturally enough, to such a conclusion. To these may be added, a circumstance which puzzled them exceedingly, our having no women with us; together with our quiet conduct and unwarlike appearance. It was ridiculous enough to see them stroking the sides, and patting the bellies of the sailors, (who were certainly much improved in the sleekness of their looks during our short stay in the island), and telling them, partly by signs, and partly by words, ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16 • Robert Kerr

... drink. Ought I let a man rule the household who is perfectly ready to sell his belongings and wife and children and even himself for brandy?" The pastor had nothing to say to that, but stood there stroking his chin. The bailiff agrees with me, and says, "My dear woman, pay no attention to the pastor. It's in the wedding-service, to be sure, that you must honor and obey your husband, but it's in your lease, which is more ...
— Comedies • Ludvig Holberg

... on those men without provocation?" Tom asked, aside, of Jim Ferrers, who stood stroking his rifle barrel ...
— The Young Engineers in Nevada • H. Irving Hancock

... if he were some spectre, some vengeance which he had expected, and which did not astonish him. He stood erect, cold and still, as Yanski advanced toward him; while Angelo Valla remained in the doorway, mechanically stroking his smoothly shaven chin. ...
— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet

... the bonde, astounded, and stroking his white beard in some embarrassment. "I never knew of this! It is true that in the hot days of youth, mischief is often done unwittingly. But why trouble yourself with these memories, Lovisa? If it be any comfort,—believe ...
— Thelma • Marie Corelli

... down, and was standing with her back to him. Taking up a pair of long, black gloves, she began to draw one over her hand. She did not look up at his words, but went on stroking ...
— Maurice Guest • Henry Handel Richardson

... smiling and stroking her tyrant's shaven cheek, "why distress ourselves, we can always refuse him, ...
— The Amateur Gentleman • Jeffery Farnol et al

... would sometimes growl out low remarks to Finn about the Old Country, about Tara, and the house beside the Sussex Downs; and Finn understood practically every word he said on those occasions. And then the Master might wind up by stroking his head in a heavy, lingering way that Finn ...
— Finn The Wolfhound • A. J. Dawson

... apparently; she seemed content with Rags and with his company. Sometimes she drew away and looked at him long and dubiously, and this cut Rags to the heart, and he felt guilty, and unreasonably anxious until she smiled reassuringly again and ran back into his arms, nestling her face against his and stroking his rough chin ...
— Gallegher and Other Stories • Richard Harding Davis

... was as ready as his officer, and he finished off by shaking and beating the fir-needles off his poshtin, and stroking his very short hair down first with one hand and then with the other, so as to look as respectable and smart as he could when going on ...
— Fix Bay'nets - The Regiment in the Hills • George Manville Fenn

... hear tell," he said, stroking his beard, for fear of having discomposed it, "that the Squire were under compulsion to go a bit westward again to-morrow. And when he cometh back he would be glad to find us had managed the job without him. No fear of the weather breaking ...
— Springhaven - A Tale of the Great War • R. D. Blackmore

... Curly Locks back," said Katy, fondly stroking Johnnie's hair, the night after the travellers' return. "And you'll never go away from us ...
— Nine Little Goslings • Susan Coolidge

... sat by the bedside gently stroking his big blue-veined hand, Gordon dozed in sleep and Ruth crept out into the wild night ...
— The One Woman • Thomas Dixon

... his cocoanut cup of intoxicating kava, and surveyed the unwonted apparition on the reef long and carefully. "It is nothing," he said at last, in his most deliberate manner, stroking his cheeks and chin contentedly with that plump round hand of his. "It is only the victims; the new victims I promised you. Korong! Korong! They have come ashore with their light from my home in the sun. They have brought fire afresh—holy fire ...
— The Great Taboo • Grant Allen

... a good girl," answered the elder lady, stroking her hand. "Yes, run away and make music! When Philip and I have had enough scandal and frivolity, we will come and find you; and you shall play us a little of that strange person Wagner, who fascinates me, though ...
— A Comedy of Masks - A Novel • Ernest Dowson and Arthur Moore

... and turned round to see him far away still, sitting quietly beneath a giant elm stroking his ...
— Halcyone • Elinor Glyn

... officiously but with great attention stroking into order one or two of Wych Hazel's curls which the riding ...
— Wych Hazel • Susan and Anna Warner

... ceaseless tension, played out with no little fortitude, this moment of unrestraint came as a pure relief to her overwrought nerves; a relief that verged upon ecstasy, since her husband's arm was round her, his hand mechanically stroking her hair. ...
— The Great Amulet • Maud Diver

... and pulled her head down to his, kissing her again and again, stroking her arm, murmuring foolish words that meant nothing and meant everything. It was she who stopped him. "Go and sit down," she said, "and tell me all ...
— Simon Called Peter • Robert Keable

... it?' said the gentleman. 'Then Mark Tapley had not only the great politeness to follow me to this house, but is waiting now, to see me home again. And for that attention, sir,' added Mr Tigg, stroking his moustache, 'I can tell you, that Mark Tapley had better in his infancy have been fed to suffocation by Mrs Tapley, than preserved ...
— Life And Adventures Of Martin Chuzzlewit • Charles Dickens

... Voltaire. But even amidst the delights of the honeymoon, Voltaire's sensitive vanity began to take alarm. A few days after his arrival, he could not help telling his niece that the amiable King had a trick of giving a sly scratch with one hand, while patting and stroking with the other. Soon came hints not the less alarming, because mysterious. "The supper parties are delicious. The King is the life of the company. But—I have operas and comedies, reviews and concerts, my studies and books. But—but—Berlin ...
— Critical and Historical Essays, Volume III (of 3) • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... mastered the word, but even that is more than could be said for Mr. Klinker. Major Brooke stood by the Latrobe heater, reading the evening paper under a flaring gas-light. He habitually came down early to get it before anybody else had a chance. By Miss Miller on the sofa sat Mr. Bylash, stroking the glossy moustache which other ladies before her time had admired intensely. Despite her archness Miss Miller had heard with a pang that Miss Weyland was coming to supper, and her reason was not unconnected with this same Mr. Bylash. In earlier meetings she ...
— Queed • Henry Sydnor Harrison

... be struggled with, for a while. Nettie bore it—how did she bear it? With a little trembling of lip at first; then that passed, and with quiet sorrow she saw and felt the suffering which had broken forth so stormily. True to her office, the little peacemaker tried her healing art. Softly stroking her mother's face and head while she spoke, she said ...
— The Carpenter's Daughter • Anna Bartlett Warner

... my dear!" Vera's hand went up to his face, stroking, caressing. The suppressed misery of his voice was almost more than she could bear. "How ...
— The Obstacle Race • Ethel M. Dell

... Sovrani sprang forward to see for himself if this blessed news was true. He and the Cardinal both, seized with a passionate anxiety, gazed and gazed at the fair beloved face in hope, in fear and longing,—and still Manuel stood beside the couch, stroking the small hand he held with thoughtful care and tenderness. All at once a faint sigh parted the sweet lips,—the bosom heaved with a struggle for breath. Her father fell on his knees, overcome, and hiding his face in his hands sobbed aloud in the intensity of his relief and joy, while the ...
— The Master-Christian • Marie Corelli

... nor spiritual. She uncurled herself, got up, and stood over her companion, stroking her sleek, ...
— The Immortal Moment - The Story of Kitty Tailleur • May Sinclair

... (Berillon's onychophagia), shrugging, corrugating, pulling buttons or twisting garments, strings, etc., twirling pencils, thumbs, rotating, nodding and shaking the head, squinting and winking, swaying, pouting and grimacing, scraping the floor, rubbing hands, stroking, patting, flicking the fingers, wagging, snapping the fingers, muffling, squinting, picking the face, interlacing the fingers, cracking the joints, finger plays, biting and nibbling, trotting the leg, sucking ...
— Youth: Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene • G. Stanley Hall

... Oh, she's never surprised. She always seems to have thought of things about half an hour before they happen. George just begins to get hold of them about half an hour after they've happened. (Considering him, stroking his hair.) After all, there's no reason why George ...
— Mr. Pim Passes By • Alan Alexander Milne

... shout rushed through the window into the chamber, and, out of breath, sat down upon her aunt's lap; Telimena, kissing her and stroking her under the chin, with joy observed the liveliness and charm of the child (for she really loved her ward). But once more she made a solemn face, rose, and walking up and down and across the chamber, and holding her finger on ...
— Pan Tadeusz • Adam Mickiewicz

... had fallen to their old unconscious trick of stroking and caressing the thing they held, the one thing that he had given her, that she had not refused. His eyes followed her movements. She looked up and saw the jealous ...
— The Divine Fire • May Sinclair

... sun paused a moment over the edge of the swamp, and the long, low cry of night birds broke sadly on the twilight silence. Zora sat stroking ...
— The Quest of the Silver Fleece - A Novel • W. E. B. Du Bois

... answered in a very stiff and reserved manner. Now the whole absurdity of my conduct was evident to me, and I determined to make amends. Being naturally of a diplomatic turn, I kept quiet for awhile, and then began to make advances to Fanfreluche. The poor animal bore no malice, and I won his heart by stroking his long ears. Then I gave a piece of sugar to the parrot; and having thus effected a practicable breach, took the citadel by storm by pointing out a more commodious way of arranging ...
— The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No II • Various

... shining brass and the few plants blooming at the window. The governor sat down behind a long table littered with papers and drew Katrina to his knee, at the same time motioning Samuel to be seated. Then he spoke, stroking the child's golden curls, his keen eyes growing gentle as they rested ...
— The New Land - Stories of Jews Who Had a Part in the Making of Our Country • Elma Ehrlich Levinger

... on Wayne's shoulder. "That's your gait—keep it up! But," he added, in a lower voice, "me and my revolver are played out." There was a strangeness in the tone that arrested Wayne's attention. "Yes," continued McGee, stroking his beard slowly, "men like me has their day, and revolvers has theirs; the world turns round and the Bar fills up, and this yer river changes its course—and it's all in the day's work. You understand what I mean—you follow me? And if anything should happen to me—not that it's like ...
— The Bell-Ringer of Angel's and Other Stories • Bret Harte

... have you trust to my blindness," said her father, stroking her head, fondly; "I observe everything. I observe, for instance, that you are a grateful little girl, and that you are glad to be of use to those who have been kind to you; and for this I forgive you the ...
— The Parent's Assistant • Maria Edgeworth

... obliged to submit to, and at last, in consequence of your yesterday's half sheet, so pretty at the beginning and at the end, but yet quite beside the question, and found myself engaged in the act of rubbing myself with frenzy, and of stroking myself and of frigging my prick (la pine) until I was exhausted, before I could discharge the merest drop; that was too much for me, and now I desire you like a mad man. If a delicious half sheet does not arrive by the Embassy ...
— The Romance of Lust - A classic Victorian erotic novel • Anonymous

... Man Curry, stroking his beard. "About as dainty as one of them perpetual hay presses! That nigh foreleg of his has been stove up pretty bad too. How he runs on it at ...
— Old Man Curry - Race Track Stories • Charles E. (Charles Emmett) Van Loan

... were born, both boys and girls, came crawling out, black as jet, from behind a curtain at the farther end of the room, which was very long. The father as yet had only inquired after them; but upon sight of them he fell into an ecstasy, kissing one, stroking another, dandling a third, for the eldest was scarce fourteen; but not one of them knew him, for seven years makes a great chasm in young memories. The more I saw of this sport, the stronger impression Patty ...
— Life And Adventures Of Peter Wilkins, Vol. I. (of II.) • Robert Paltock

... And Mr. Ingelow, stroking his mustache meditatively, hushed, and listened to a story the Reverend Mr. Rashleigh ...
— The Unseen Bridgegroom - or, Wedded For a Week • May Agnes Fleming

... "Divorce" three nights before; old Nares rubbed his hands, coughed and described a proud moment, a very proud moment, when he had been taken behind at the Lyceum and presented to Sir Henry Irving. There followed an ingenuous account of his make-up. . . . Eric smiled elastically, stroking his chin and letting his gaze wander round the white panelled walls, the gilt sofa and chairs and the gold and white overmantel—the coming of Dionysus to Europe in a chariot drawn by lions. He realized for the first time how ...
— The Education of Eric Lane • Stephen McKenna

... Mr. Ferrers started slightly. "Why, Pierre, my fine fellow, I ought to know that rough greeting of yours by this time; it is a long time since you have called at the Grange; whom have you brought with you, Pierre?" stroking the dog's noble head. ...
— Wee Wifie • Rosa Nouchette Carey

... hither for, Sir," said Mr. Lovel, (stroking his ruffles, and looking down,) "it would ill become us to determine; but as to we men, doubtless we can have no other view than to ...
— Evelina • Fanny Burney

... way on the boat," said Freddy as, after all his stroking and soothing, Rex only lifted his head and emitted a long, mournful howl. "I went down on the lower deck where the big man had left his dogs, and they played with me fine,—shook paws and wagged their tails ...
— Killykinick • Mary T. Waggaman

... a noise. It was Dr. Sobol arriving. While he was rubbing his cold hands and stroking his wet beard, I had time to notice in the first place that he had a very dull life, and so was pleased to see Ivan Ivanitch and me; and, secondly, that he was a naive and simple-hearted man. He looked at me as though I were very ...
— The Wife and Other Stories • Anton Chekhov

... saddle. A man caught the reins of her panting, foam-flecked pony, and she was down on the ground beside the dog, while the others gathered about her. She had made the dog lie down. She was stroking him. ...
— Frank of Freedom Hill • Samuel A. Derieux

... tired of stroking her soft fur and admiring her dainty white paws, which were now as spotless as snow. The children romped all day with this new playmate, who seemed to enjoy the sport quite ...
— New National Fourth Reader • Charles J. Barnes and J. Marshall Hawkes

... passed, and the fevered brow Of a bearded man, she is stroking now, As through delirium and pain He cries as a little child, again. And the mother answered, with loving stroke Of her careworn hand, as she softly spoke: "Hush, hush, my child, that troubled cry; What evil can harm thee, ...
— Mountain idylls, and Other Poems • Alfred Castner King

... their turn crowded against him and laughed at the tops of their voices whenever he stooped to whisper certain details in their ears. Old Bosc had never budged an inch—he was totally indifferent. That sort of thing no longer interested him now. He was stroking a great tortoise-shell cat which was lying curled up on the bench. He did so quite beautifully and ended by taking her in his arms with the tender good nature becoming a worn-out monarch. The cat arched its back and then, after a ...
— Nana, The Miller's Daughter, Captain Burle, Death of Olivier Becaille • Emile Zola

... young couple left their seats the room shook with applause. Everybody was delighted. The Princess took Esperance by both hands, gazing at her, stroking the tapering fingers that were still vibrating with the fever of the music. Esperance was so pale that the Princess led her into another room and made her sit down, praising her marvellous execution and striving to quiet the little heart she could feel ...
— The Idol of Paris • Sarah Bernhardt

... old and had too hard a life to wish for it over again. But the day would come when nothing would be too good for thee, my child." The old woman leaned over, stroking her grandson's dark hair. "The Fairy of the Woods gave me a scale from the snake's skin and the Fairy of the Water a small white feather from her crown. They are hidden in a box under some rags. Open the box and thou wilt find the scale ...
— The Camp Fire Girls in the Outside World • Margaret Vandercook

... the house of Friedwald, was richly emblazoned upon the housings of his courser. Whence had he come? The attendants and equerries had not seen him in the camp. Only the taciturn armorer of Friedwald looked complacently after him, stroking his great beard, as one well satisfied. As this late-comer approached the scene of strife the flanks of the guard were wavering ...
— Under the Rose • Frederic Stewart Isham

... Charlie?" said Walter, gently stroking his light hair. "Never be afraid to tell me anything. You've done ...
— St. Winifred's - The World of School • Frederic W. Farrar

... girl seemed to yield herself, and slipped inertly from her grasp till kneeling down she laid her head in the motherly lap and sobbed. Miss Rowly kept stroking her hair in silence. Presently the girl looked up, and with a pang the aunt saw that her eyes were dry. In ...
— The Man • Bram Stoker

... yet, only mine eyes Are putting out their lights. Me thinks I feel Death's icy fingers stroking down my face. And now I'm in a ...
— The Noble Spanish Soldier • Thomas Dekker

... later Sweyn of the long legs felt a small hand caressing his foot, and looking down, met the upturned eyes of his little cousin Rol. Lying on his back, still softly patting and stroking the young man's foot, the child was quiet and happy for a good while. He watched the movement of the strong deft hands, and the shifting of the bright tools. Now and then, minute chips of wood, puffed ...
— The Were-Wolf • Clemence Housman

... MacCann went briskly to and fro among the students, talking rapidly, answering rebuffs and leading one after another to the table. In the inner hall the dean of studies stood talking to a young professor, stroking his chin gravely and ...
— A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man • James Joyce

... the Baron, stroking his waistcoat. "As to our portmanteaus and umbrellas, my mind is greatly relieved by the assurances of our friend ...
— Voyages and Travels of Count Funnibos and Baron Stilkin • William H. G. Kingston

... The Seraph whistled, stroking his mustaches. "Between ourselves, Cecil, that fellow is going up no end. The Talent ...
— Under Two Flags • Ouida [Louise de la Ramee]

... body which are not normally erogenous zones in either sex may sometimes lead on to sexual excitement; Hirschsprung, as well as Freud, believes that this is often the case as regards finger-sucking and toe-sucking in infancy. Even stroking the chin, remarks Debreyne, may produce a pollution.[220] Taylor refers to the case of a young woman of 22, who was liable to attacks of choreic movements of the hands which would terminate in alternately pressing the ...
— Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1 (of 6) • Havelock Ellis

... Granny, leaning forward and stroking the soft, shiny hair of the little girl, "your heart is full of love. You would be glad to bring a Christmas to every child; but their heads are so full of what they are going to get that they forget all about anybody else but themselves." Then she sighed ...
— The Children's Book of Christmas Stories • Various

... exposed. One of the rocking-chairs on the porch impeding her way, she was seized by her pursuers, apparently a willing victim, and held prisoner. Two of her captors gripped her bare arms, while the third clutched her by the neck. Thus they stood, the men stroking and kneading her luscious flesh, and she beaming and giggling rapturously. Then one of the men gathered her to him with one arm, pressing ...
— The Rise of David Levinsky • Abraham Cahan

... grandmother dear," said Molly, softly stroking her grandmother's hand, which she had taken in hers. "She must have ...
— Grandmother Dear - A Book for Boys and Girls • Mrs. Molesworth

... don't," said Mrs. Whitney, stroking lightly the brown hair, with a pang to think how long it would be before she should caress ...
— Five Little Peppers Midway • Margaret Sidney

... pictures that I see is that of my aunt Fan, crouching over the kitchen fire; her skirt and crinoline rolled up round her waist, leaving as sacrifice to custom only her petticoat. Up and down her body sways in rhythmic motion, her hands stroking affectionately her own knees; the while I, with paper knife for sword, or horse of broomstick, stand opposite her, flourishing and declaiming. Sometimes I am a knight and she a wicked ogre. She is slain, growling and ...
— Paul Kelver • Jerome Klapka, AKA Jerome K. Jerome

... joke!" exclaimed Friar Rodriguez, stroking with one hand the afflicted part while with the other he ...
— The Story of the Philippines and Our New Possessions, • Murat Halstead

... three ants told off as foragers are sufficient to provide for the whole nest. We all know how ants keep their herds in the shape of aphides, or ant cows, which supply them with the sweet liquid they exude. I have often observed an ant gently stroking the back of an aphide with its antennae to coax it to give down its sweet fluid, much in the same way as a dairy maid would induce a cow to give down its milk by a gentle manipulation of its udders. Some species, principally the ...
— Scientific American Supplement No. 822 - Volume XXXII, Number 822. Issue Date October 3, 1891 • Various

... Gyp," she cried, almost tearfully, stroking the glossy neck of her resentful friend; "it was, it was, and I know it; but what was I to do, Gyp? You were the only protector I had, and you did bowl him over beautifully; no other horse could have done it so well. It's wicked, but I do hope you hurt him, ...
— In the Midst of Alarms • Robert Barr

... man had been stroking Bobby's head and neck. Now, feeling the collar under the thatch, he slipped it out and brought the brass plate ...
— Greyfriars Bobby • Eleanor Atkinson

... while Little Jim was stroking Mixy, and I had my hand and one foot on the ladder ready to start up, I heard Pop's voice calling from somewhere up in the haymow, and saying to us. "Bill! Are you ...
— Shenanigans at Sugar Creek • Paul Hutchens

... and now and then giving vent to a soft, self-satisfied low. From one of the stalls could be heard the rhythmical squirt of milk against the milking-pail, for David was engaged upon his evening work. On a rickety chair near the hay-loft sat Janet, holding a timid little barn cat in her lap and stroking it nervously. She was speaking in a voice that betrayed ...
— A Williams Anthology - A Collection of the Verse and Prose of Williams College, 1798-1910 • Compiled by Edwin Partridge Lehman and Julian Park

... I could have gone without letting you know? I remember once you had fallen asleep in my arms. The night was light. Your eyes were closed, but I could see through your eyelids. I saw a little girl with black hair. (Fondly stroking her hair.) ...
— Modern Icelandic Plays - Eyvind of the Hills; The Hraun Farm • Jhann Sigurjnsson

... conversation, Martin laughing at nothing at all, and Maggie smiling, and Uncle Mathew stroking his mouth and sharpening his eyes and standing, in his uneasy fashion, first on one leg and then on the other. Maggie realised that her uncle was trying to be most especially pleasant to young Warlock. She wondered why; she also remembered what he had said to her about Martin's father ...
— The Captives • Hugh Walpole

... she said, tenderly, stroking the beautiful head. "I'll make you some tea, which I hope ...
— Minnie's Pet Parrot • Madeline Leslie

... tenderly stroking its back, and smoothing the dog-ears with reverence; I will not use you with despite, old Morocco! and you will yet prove a trusty conductor through many old streets in the old parts of this town; even if you are at fault, now and then, concerning a Riddough's Hotel, ...
— Redburn. His First Voyage • Herman Melville

... "Listen!" said the Risaldar, stroking at his beard. "This woman never did me any wrong—but she is a woman, not a man. I owe her no fealty, and yet—I would not like to see her injured. Were I to agree to thy plan, there would needs be a third ...
— Told in the East • Talbot Mundy

... high-colored old boy, and to judge by the restless black eyes, a real live wire. He looks me over sort of doubtful, stroking the zippy little chin tuft as he does it, but he ends by ...
— Torchy and Vee • Sewell Ford

... thoughtfully stroking his chin. "Then why the devil did they laugh!" he demanded. "Mary Standish didn't laugh. She cried. Just stood an' cried, an' then sat down an' cried, she thought I was that blamed funny! And Keok laughed until she was sick an' had to go ...
— The Alaskan • James Oliver Curwood

... they," answered Maister Glen, stroking his chin, which was gey rough, and had not got a clean since Sunday, having had four days of sheer growth—our meeting, you will observe by this, being on the Thursday afternoon—"'Deed would they.—'Od, I maun speak to ...
— The Life of Mansie Wauch - Tailor in Dalkeith, written by himself • David Macbeth Moir

... over his face, and was gone again, as he smilingly answered, stroking the cat that purred and ...
— October Vagabonds • Richard Le Gallienne

... said Challenger, puffing out his chest and stroking his beard. "No possible truth! I seem to have heard the words before. And may I ask with what arguments the great and famous Professor Summerlee proceeded to demolish the humble individual who had ventured to express an opinion upon a matter of scientific possibility? ...
— The Poison Belt • Arthur Conan Doyle

... last he managed to win free, crawling out near where a smaller stream joined the river. There he lay panting, face down upon the moss. And there they found him, water dripping from his bedraggled finery, the Ana stroking his muddied hair. Thrala cried out with concern and pillowed his head on her knees while Dandtan examined ...
— The People of the Crater • Andrew North

... you if you will tell me where," said the old man, stroking the cat to quiet her, for she was an old friend of his that had lived with him in the tower ...
— Heidi • Johanna Spyri

... escape, I verily believe, to little Inez," Nan said, laughing, and stroking the head of the waif fondly. "The dear little thing came right inside and found us in the smoke. I was almost out ...
— Nan Sherwood's Winter Holidays • Annie Roe Carr

... will not be able to uncurl it," replied my mother, stroking my head with her gloved hands. "It's a regular wig, and they must never attempt to comb it until it has been well brushed. They could not possibly get the knots out otherwise, and it would hurt her too much. What do you give the ...
— My Double Life - The Memoirs of Sarah Bernhardt • Sarah Bernhardt

... his position, gave me a look of slow but wholly friendly scrutiny over his shoulder, and bade me sit down. I began at once to put the questions I was told to ask him—interrogations (he seemed to believe) satisfactorily answered by slowly and ruminatively stroking the left side of his chin with two long fingers of his right hand, the while he smiled in genial contemplation of a tarred roof beyond the window. Now and then he would give me a mild and drawling word or two, ...
— Beasley's Christmas Party • Booth Tarkington

... champion, that had so lately fled the pit, quelled and abashed, was now recovered to the top of his condition, perked and crested up between Polly's thighs, who was not wanting, on her part, to coax and keep it in good humour, stroking it, with her head down, and receiving even its velvet tip between the lips of not its proper mouth: whether it was to render it more glib and easy of entrance, I could not tell; but it had such an effect, that the young gentleman seemed ...
— Memoirs Of Fanny Hill - A New and Genuine Edition from the Original Text (London, 1749) • John Cleland

... Tavia was stroking Dorothy's head affectionately. The two girls sat on the rustic bench, Dorothy with her head resting upon the ...
— Dorothy Dale • Margaret Penrose

... thing! Wonderful, isn't it, sir, that Science should discover that a black cat is some kind of kin to the aurora borealis? But George says that's what they said, for the aurora borealis is caused by the earth a-rolling around and rubbing the air just as the sparks is caused by stroking ...
— Frictional Electricity - From "The Saturday Evening Post." • Max Adeler

... a little longer," said Amrei; and she kept on stroking the place where her mother had sat. Then, pointing to a white spot on the wall, she said, half in a whisper: "There our cuckoo clock used to hang, and there our father's discharge from the army. And there the hanks of yarn that mother spun used to hang—she could spin even better than Black ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. VIII • Various

... dripping never stops. Underneath my stiffened gown Is the softness of a woman bathing in a marble basin, A basin in the midst of hedges grown So thick, she cannot see her lover hiding. But she guesses he is near, And the sliding of the water Seems the stroking of a dear Hand upon her. What is Summer in a fine brocaded gown! I should like to see it lying in a heap upon the ground. All the pink and silver ...
— The Home Book of Verse, Vol. 2 (of 4) • Various

... of that accursed Basso," said Hymbercourt, stroking his beard. "No villany is too black for him and his ...
— Yolanda: Maid of Burgundy • Charles Major

... laddie? What's the matter?" asked the old man, with concern in his voice, stroking the child's face with a trembling hand. "Has any one been unkind to you? No? Well, that's a good thing! They'd better take care, for happy children are in God's own keeping. And Lasse would be an awkward customer if it came to that. So you were ...
— Pelle the Conqueror, Complete • Martin Andersen Nexo

... engagement he had made to join a number of acquaintances at a whist party. He straightened himself up and cast a glance in the mirror opposite to see if he would "pass muster" in a crowd. "Guess I'm all right," he exclaimed, stroking his fingers through the masses of chestnut curls that clung so ...
— Marguerite Verne • Agatha Armour

... I told her," said Mr. Digson, stroking his black beard. "What'll please you will be sure to please him, I says; and if it don't it ...
— Ship's Company, The Entire Collection • W.W. Jacobs

... very earnestly at her as she spoke, and she put her hand on his forehead, stroking his hair off, while ...
— Louis' School Days - A Story for Boys • E. J. May

... then stretched out his hand to lay hold on him; that he shrieked with fear; and that Jesus put out his hand and lifted him into the reading-desk, and hid him down below. And there Harry lay, feeling so safe, stroking and kissing the feet that had been weary and wounded for him, till, in the growing delight of the thought that he actually held those feet, he came awake and remembered it all. Truly it was a childish dream, but not without its own significance. For surely ...
— David Elginbrod • George MacDonald

... Underneath my stroking hand. Startled eyes of hazel bland Kindling, growing larger, Up thou leanest with a spring, Full of prank and curvetting, Leaping ...
— The Dog's Book of Verse • Various

... of the inn hung ajar as we crossed the star-lit square; Byram entered and stood a moment in the doorway, stroking his chin. "Bong joor the company!" he said, ...
— The Maids of Paradise • Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers

... should have his own way," cried Ehrenthal from a neighboring room, having chanced, during a pause in Rosalie's practice, to hear the last sentence, and now joining his family: "our Bernhard is not like other people, and his way is sure to be a good one. You look pale, my son," stroking his brown curls; "you study too much. Think of your health. The doctor recommended exercise. Will you have a horse, my son Bernhard? I will get the most expensive horse in the town ...
— Debit and Credit - Translated from the German of Gustav Freytag • Gustav Freytag

... likin' for ye, boy, an' a desire to have ye stop with me. But that must not be. I had but one friend. I must not make another to have him murdered, mayhap, before my eyes. Yet," he added in a gentle tone, taking March's hand in his and stroking it, "I feel a likin' for ye, boy, that makes me sad to ...
— The Wild Man of the West - A Tale of the Rocky Mountains • R.M. Ballantyne

... complexion, with green spectacles to hide some deformity of the eye, no whiskers, but a large quantity of beard on the lower chin. The elderly man, whom I took to be the notary public mentioned in the advertisement, read the terms of sale; then the dark auctioneer, stroking his bearded ...
— American Scenes, and Christian Slavery - A Recent Tour of Four Thousand Miles in the United States • Ebenezer Davies

... wrapped about and drew Horace in closer, Skag laid his fingers on the great bronze trunk, gently but firmly stroking—the red eyes focused in his own. For seconds the man and the elephant looked into each other. Suddenly Nut Kut loosed Horace and ...
— Son of Power • Will Levington Comfort and Zamin Ki Dost

... grandfather must borrow. It seemed like a little fortune, and blithe as a singing bird she flitted about the house, now stopping a moment to fondle her pet kitten, while she whispered the good news in its very appreciative ear, and then stroking her grandfather's ...
— Aikenside • Mary J. Holmes

... Mesmer first supposed it to be electricity. Afterwards, about the year 1773, he adopted the belief that it must be ordinary magnetism. So at Vienna, from 1773 to 1775, he employed the practice of stroking diseased parts of the body with magnets. But, in 1776, making a tour in Bavaria and Switzerland, he fell in with the notorious Father Gassner, who had at that time undertaken the cure of the blind prince-bishop of Ratisbon by exorcism. ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, No. 382, October 1847 • Various

... speak of unappreciated poets, Yoomy," said Babbalanja, "Shall I give you a piece of my mind?" "Do," said Mohi, stroking ...
— Mardi: and A Voyage Thither, Vol. I (of 2) • Herman Melville

... replied Leather, thoughtfully, stroking down his hair as he spoke, 'and we 'ave Jack o'Lanthorn in, and we 'ave the Camel in, and there's the little Hirish oss with the sprig tail—Jack-a-Dandy, as I calls him, and the Flyer will be in to-night, he's just out a hairing, as it were, ...
— Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour • R. S. Surtees

... sat beside her, and let her take the reins from his nerveless grasp; and when they got into the shelter of the piece of woods that the road passed through he put up his hands to his face, and broke into sobs. She allowed him to weep on, though she kept saying, "Geo'ge, Geo'ge," softly, and stroking his knee with the hand next him. When his sobbing stopped, she said, "I guess they've had a pleasant visit; but I'm glad we'a together again." He took up her hand and kissed the back of it, and then clutched it hard, ...
— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells

... there is no denying it," remarked the dresser, who was busily stroking out the roses which were to garland Saidie's dress. "It gives me a turn every time I see her go ...
— If Only etc. • Francis Clement Philips and Augustus Harris

... But one of these old Indian fighters sits down after dinner, over a pipe, and relates to you, with quite horrifying coolness, every detail of the death which his rifle and his sure eye dealt to an Indian; and when this one, stroking meantime the head of a little boy who was standing at his knees, described to me how he lay on the grass and took aim at a tall chief who was, in the moonlight, trying to steal a boat from a party of gold-seekers, and how, at ...
— Northern California, Oregon, and the Sandwich Islands • Charles Nordhoff

... by a large dog of her brother's, that she was in no danger from any other intruder. Some of the gentlemen, who were not blessed with much sagacity, followed, to talk to her of the beauty of the dog which she was stroking; but to an eulogium upon its long ears, and even to a quotation from Shakspeare about dewlaps, she listened with so vacant an air, that her followers gave up the point, and successively retired, leaving ...
— Tales and Novels, Vol. VII - Patronage • Maria Edgeworth

... citizens of a nation engaged in fighting for its life," remarked Oro to me, stroking his long beard. "It is interesting, very interesting. Let ...
— When the World Shook - Being an Account of the Great Adventure of Bastin, Bickley and Arbuthnot • H. Rider Haggard



Words linked to "Stroking" :   stroke, caress, touch, touching



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