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Take back   /teɪk bæk/   Listen
Take back

verb
1.
Bring back to the point of departure.  Synonyms: bring back, return.
2.
Regain possession of something.  Synonym: repossess.
3.
Resume a relationship with someone after an interruption, as in a wife taking back her husband.
4.
Move text to the previous line; in printing.
5.
Take back what one has said.  Synonyms: swallow, unsay, withdraw.
6.
Cause someone to remember the past.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Take back" Quotes from Famous Books



... brilliant deeds; it is [as] the valiant Cid, the master of two kings. I shall conquer myself, however; not from dread of any censure, but in order that I may not disturb so glorious a love; and even though, to favor me, they should crown him, I will not accept again [lit. take back] a gift which I have given. Since in such a combat his triumph is certain, let us go once more to give him [or, that gift] to Chimene. And thou, who seest the love-arrows with which my heart is pierced; come see me finish as I ...
— The Cid • Pierre Corneille

... whom doubly thou hast conquer'd. I love thy virtue as I love thy person, And I adore thee for the pains it gave me; But as I felt the pains, I'll reap the fruit; I'll shine out in my turn, and show the world Thy great example was not lost upon me. Nay, never shrink; take back the bright example You lately lent; Oh, take it while you may, While I can give it ...
— The Revenge - A Tragedy • Edward Young

... to lift, and give To sight the frowning fates beneath? For error is the life we live, And, oh, our knowledge is but death! Take back the clear and awful mirror, Shut from mine eyes the blood-red glare Thy truth is but a gift of terror When ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. III • Kuno Francke (Editor-in-Chief)

... with a boy, but asking his brother about it, the latter told him that it would be all right, that I was allowed to do as I pleased with the horses. I was seventy miles from home, with a carriage to take back, and Mr. Payne said he did not know that his horse had ever had a collar on. I asked to have him hitched to a farm wagon and we would soon see whether he would work. It was soon evident that the horse had never worn harness before; but he showed ...
— Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete • Ulysses S. Grant

... suppose they care? Call out—cry for help, and tell them that you have half a million dollars in this room, and they will fall on you and strip you of every cent of it, and leave you to walk the beach for work. Now, what are you going to do? Will you give me the money I want to take back where it belongs, or will you call for ...
— The Exiles and Other Stories • Richard Harding Davis

... "Take back thy gift, false girl!" says Mr Pendennis; and then, finally, we come to the particular circumstance which had occasioned so much enthusiasm on ...
— The Newcomes • William Makepeace Thackeray

... it for their advantage to be generous to the commons at a season of danger, when Porsenna came to attack Rome and restore the Tarquins. For the senate, apprehending that the people might choose rather to take back their kings than to support a war, secured their adherence by relieving them of the duty on salt and of all their other burthens; saying that "the poor did enough for the common welfare in rearing their offspring." In return for which indulgence the commons were content ...
— Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius • Niccolo Machiavelli

... talked to the intelligence officer at McChord. It had already been established, through an informer, that the fragments were what Brown and Davidson thought, slag. The classified material on the B-25 was a file of reports the two officers offered to take back to Hamilton and had nothing to do with the Maury Island Mystery, or better, ...
— The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects • Edward Ruppelt

... agreement, and would not take any steps toward the occupation of Oregon. In 1842, Elijah White, a former missionary, came to Washington and so impressed the authorities with the importance of settling Oregon that he was appointed Indian Agent for that country, and told to take back with him as many settlers as he could. Returning to Missouri, he soon gathered a band of 112 persons and with these, the largest number of settlers that had yet started for Oregon, he set off across the plains in the spring of 1842. At the next session of Congress (1842-1843) another effort was ...
— A School History of the United States • John Bach McMaster

... ye—didn't mean to; and now that yer goin' to be Mrs. Brockton, well, I take back all I said, and while I don't think I want to change my position, I wouldn't turn it down for—for that ...
— The Easiest Way - A Story of Metropolitan Life • Eugene Walter and Arthur Hornblow

... my forgiveness?" whispered Eva at last. "Risk it? I'll give myself up if you'll take back some of the things you said to me—last ...
— Dead Men Tell No Tales • E. W. Hornung

... to be able to undo, to hunger and thirst and ache to take back only a short minute of life, to feel sick and blind before the irretrievableness of his own deed, that was still his punishment in ...
— Christopher Hibbault, Roadmaker • Marguerite Bryant

... tale narrated by a newspaper correspondent. It is in every respect true; I knew the parties well, and during that long bitter period of thirteen years it was commonly asked concerning the woman: "Hasn't that hag trapped anybody yet? She'll have to take back old Jabe when he gets out." And she did. For nearly thirteen weary years she struggled nobly against fate: she went after every unmarried man in her part of the country; but "No," said they, "we cannot-indeed we cannot-marry you, after the way you went back on Jabe. It is likely that ...
— The Fiend's Delight • Dod Grile

... Ezekiel's demeanor. Cups of tea were passed round by the lovely Leah, and the secrets of the paper bags were brought to light. Ephraim Phillips talked horses with Sam Levine, and old Hyams quarrelled with Malka over the disposal of the fifteen shillings. Knowing that Hyams was poor, Malka refused to take back the money retendered by him under pretence of a gift to the child. The Cohen, however, was a proud man, and under the eye of Miriam a firm one. Ultimately it was agreed the money should be expended on a Missheberach, for the infant's welfare and the synagogue's. Birds of a feather flock ...
— Children of the Ghetto • I. Zangwill

... had, contrary to preliminary agreement, moved his soldiers twenty-five miles, and placed them in two companies on each side of the place where the treaty was to be made. The first demand of the Modoc chief was, to take back the soldiers, and it was not until a long delay, and a firm refusal on the part of Canby, that the Modoc chief fired the ...
— Buchanan's Journal of Man, April 1887 - Volume 1, Number 3 • Various

... fountains and ye streams, That flood of life, not yours, that swells your front Beyond the natural fulness of your wont. I gave, and I take back as it beseems. And thou dense choking atmosphere on high Disperse thy fog of sighs—for it is mine, And make the glory of the sun to shine Again on my dim eyes.—O, Earth and Sky Give me again the footsteps I have ...
— Emerson and Other Essays • John Jay Chapman

... spoil. The officers were occupied with mutual recriminations and excuses regarding their several shares in the atrocity. Karaiskakes found himself unable to establish order, and had to entreat Sir Richard Church to take back his surrendered authority. ...
— The Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald, Vol. II • Thomas Lord Cochrane

... the deed of sale. There were so many ancient rights and privileges which it was impossible to deal with. Even now there are grave doubts as to the validity of the transaction. When nothing was heard of you, and we all concluded that you were dead, I ventured to take back what I honestly believed to be my own. Owing," he continued slowly, "to my unfortunate affliction, I am obliged to depend for interest in my life upon various hobbies. This little place, queerly enough, has become one of them. I have furnished it, in a way; installed ...
— The Vanished Messenger • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... The shopwoman—you know her, Mrs. Traill—unfolded the paper and read the order. 'Clever dog that, sir,' said she. 'To fetch and carry?' said I, indifferently. 'More than that, sir; you shall see. The order is for two penn'orth of snuff. The dog knows he is to take back fourpence. I will give him a penny short.' So she took the sixpence and gave the dog threepence out of it. The dog shook his head and looked gravely into her face. 'That's all you'll get,' said she. The dog shook his head again, and tapped his paw once on the counter, as much as to ...
— What Will He Do With It, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... innocence, the world does her the justice to believe that she would treat you as Lady Falmouth did, if the poor girl knew the wicked designs you had upon her: I caution you, therefore, against making any farther advances, to a person, too modest to listen to them: I advise you likewise to take back your maid again, in order to silence her scandalous tongue; for she says everywhere, that she is with child, that you are the occasion of her being in that condition, and accuses you of behaving towards ...
— The Memoirs of Count Grammont, Complete • Anthony Hamilton

... shoot?" He was eager. "I'll show ye somethin'. I don't take back seat for ary man. Yu set me up a can. That thar one wouldn't jump ...
— Desert Dust • Edwin L. Sabin

... Pity, let now thy mercy lighten upon me, suffer that I come to Thee this hour, for in Thee is my trust. Take back my life, oh, Father, for, without hope, life is a weary burden, and Death, a boon. But if I needs must live on, give me some sign that I may know. Oh, Lord of Pity, ...
— The Amateur Gentleman • Jeffery Farnol et al

... she answered. "Are you a man of that sort, and so devoid of any courtesy or grace as to take back from me in that fashion, that which you have given? By my faith that is not the way ...
— One Hundred Merrie And Delightsome Stories - Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles • Various

... know. If you do love me now, you must cease to love me. You are a Jewess, and I am a Christian, and we must live apart. You, at least, must live. I wish you would tell the boy that he may take back ...
— Nina Balatka • Anthony Trollope

... don't cry or I shall take back my invitation! It would never do if you were to larmoyer. If I have offended you by the way I have spoken of Selina I think you are too sensitive. We shouldn't feel more for people than they feel for themselves. She has ...
— A London Life; The Patagonia; The Liar; Mrs. Temperly • Henry James

... cur!" Thode's voice was scarcely recognizable. "Take back your damnable lies or I'll ram them ...
— The Fifth Ace • Douglas Grant

... Castries. He did some exploring in southern Tasmania, but his career was cut short in New Zealand, where, in the Bay of Islands, he was killed and eaten by Maories in 1772.* (* Rochon, Nouveau Voyage a la Mar du Sud, Paris 1783.) One of the objects of the voyage was to take back to Tahiti a native woman, Aontouron, who had been brought to Paris by Bougainville to be shown at the court of Louis XV; but she died ...
— Terre Napoleon - A history of French explorations and projects in Australia • Ernest Scott

... eye on him. "Manuel and Miguel, who sold out to our man, are afraid of her. They were our witnesses. I verily believe they'd take back everything if she got after them. And as for Pedro, he thinks she holds the power of life ...
— The Story of a Mine • Bret Harte

... "this has nothing to do with the check. That was your birthday present. Use it as you like. What I have given I have given and I won't take back even if I have nothing more to do with you from this time forth. I have no objection to your giving away as much money as you can spare to benevolent institutions, but I say that I do object to your wasting your time and your reputation in such low places. It will injure you eventually, it ...
— Lo, Michael! • Grace Livingston Hill

... persecuted showman, losing all patience,—for, indeed, he had particularly prided himself on these figures of Captain Gardner and his horse,—"I see that there is no hope of pleasing you. Pray, sir, do me the favor to take back your money, ...
— Main Street - (From: "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales") • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... a moment that it were so, and that domesticated races, when turned wild, did return to some common condition, I cannot see that this would prove much more than that similar conditions are likely to produce similar results; and that when you take back domesticated animals into what we call natural conditions, you do exactly the same thing as if you carefully undid all the work you had gone through, for the purpose of bringing the animal from its wild to its domesticated state. I do not see anything very wonderful in the fact, if it took ...
— The Conditions Of Existence As Affecting The Perpetuation Of Living Beings • Thomas H. Huxley

... His pardon is a free gift, without money and without price! You have seen the Queen's proclamation, and you believe it, and you know that you may return to your home with perfect safety, provided you take back your grandson, and restore him to his long-bereaved parents. That they will forgive and welcome you I know; for they belong to Christ's flock, and I am well acquainted with them. Now, my friend, let me entreat you to believe God's proclamation, to trust to the ...
— The Trapper's Son • W.H.G. Kingston

... North nor South ain't dreamed of yet. But sho! What am I runnin' on this way fur? That lunkhead, Ike, my nephew, ain't such a lunkhead as he looks. Them that say nothin' ain't never got nothin' to take back, an' don't never make fools o' theirselves. It's time we was back in our blankets sleepin' sound, 'cause we've got another long day o' ...
— The Guns of Bull Run - A Story of the Civil War's Eve • Joseph A. Altsheler

... altering them! a declaration, that, having first falsified those accounts in order to deceive them, and afterwards having told them of this falsification in order to gain credit with them, if they provoke him, he shall take back the money he had carried to their account, and make them his debtors for it! He fairly avows the dominion he has over the Company's accounts; and therefore, when he shall hereafter plead the accounts, we shall ...
— The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. X. (of 12) • Edmund Burke

... crust. Down below— On this scale— There will be everything. Do you notice how different they seem one from another? The story we shall take back!" ...
— The First Men In The Moon • H. G. Wells

... it again then," resumed M. Chapelain. "I was waiting for you to say that I was unable to see M. de Thaller, and that I do not care to face once more the impudence of his valets. You will, therefore, have to take back the fifteen thousand francs he had brought to your father. Place them in his own hands; and don't give them up without ...
— Other People's Money • Emile Gaboriau

... existence. We say to those who would take back their several contributions to that undivided unity which we call the Nation; the bronze is cast; the statue is on its pedestal; you cannot reclaim the brass you flung into the crucible! There are rights, possessions, privileges, policies, relations, duties, acquired, retained, called ...
— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)

... garments which he made did or did not fit. It was the duty of a gentleman to come and allow him to see them on while still in a half-embryo condition. If gentlemen did their duty, he was sure that he could do his. He would take back anything that was not approved without a murmur;—but after that he must decline further transactions. It was, moreover, quite understood that to complain of his materials was so to insult him that he would condescend to make no civil reply. An elderly gentleman from Essex once told him that ...
— Ralph the Heir • Anthony Trollope

... "We'll meet and vote the money and then we can sit back and take comfort in thinkin' that there's just the right man at the head of town affairs to economize us back onto Easy Street." He was eager to flatter. "This town understands what kind of a man it wants to keep in office. I take back all I ever said about opposin' ...
— The Skipper and the Skipped - Being the Shore Log of Cap'n Aaron Sproul • Holman Day

... assiduously to her music and drawing. At the end of a year Mr. Hilaire waited upon the Earl with a request to withdraw, as he wanted to go to the Continent. He informed the Earl, however, that Mr. Gualtier was coming back, and would like to get his old situation, if possible. The Earl consented to take back the old teacher; and so, in a few months more, after an absence of about a year and a half, Gualtier resumed his duties at Chetwynde Castle, vice ...
— The Cryptogram - A Novel • James De Mille

... right about advising them to be baptized. We may all perish here before Tommy gets back with help. And if we do, the Chinese with the holy grace of baptism will go to heaven. If we are all saved, then they will take back with them to Hongkong a greater treasure than all the gold of the Goldland to the south. That would be such a fine thing for yon, Peppo! Do you not remember what Father Somazzo said about the saving of a soul—that one precious soul was worth more to God than all the gold and jewels in the ...
— The Shipwreck - A Story for the Young • Joseph Spillman

... children you are, though!" cried the king, laughingly. "The question is about thrones, and you think about your hearts! But come, Kate, you shall still further explain that to me; and we will not take back our word, for we have given it you from a free ...
— Henry VIII And His Court • Louise Muhlbach

... Church of St. Agnes was also very delightful. I tried, but without success, to obtain a relic to take back to my little Mother, Sister Agnes of Jesus. Men refused me, but God Himself came to my aid: a little bit of red marble, from an ancient mosaic dating back to the time of the sweet martyr, fell as my feet. Was ...
— The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire d'une Ame): The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux • Therese Martin (of Lisieux)

... boy; he is a proclaimed rebel. If this kindly offer is refused, and you are both so weak and vain as to resist, the place will be battered down and left in ruins, while the sufferings and slaughter of your people will be at your door. Now, sir, briefly, what message am I to take back to the ...
— The Young Castellan - A Tale of the English Civil War • George Manville Fenn

... could be indueed by no persuasion of Walter's to wind up the big watch, or to take back the canister, or to touch the sugar-tongs and teaspoons. 'No, no, my lad;' was the Captain's invariable reply to any solicitation of the kind, 'I've made that there little property over, jintly.' These words he repeated with great unction and gravity, evidently believing that they had the virtue ...
— Dombey and Son • Charles Dickens

... taken her daughter. Alexey was ready to agree to anything at first. Now it worries him terribly that he should have given his own child away to another man. But he can't take back his word. Karenin came to the funeral. But we tried to prevent his meeting Alexey. For him, for her husband, it was easier, anyway. She had set him free. But my poor son was utterly given up to her. He had thrown up everything, ...
— Anna Karenina • Leo Tolstoy

... that's enough. Eight is all we want to take back with us. Ralph here is boarding and has no use for his share. So he asks you to accept it," called out Bones, as the farmer started to toss the game in the back part of the doctor's buggy. "That's kind o' him, and I'm sure much obliged. We don't get any too much game up here, close as we ...
— The Boys of Columbia High on the Gridiron • Graham B. Forbes

... me because of what she is herself, and not because of what her father was. But there is ample evidence that her father was a noble and an upright man and so recognized by the law and by his fellow-townsmen, and I demand that you take back your words publicly, both of you, and that you, Miss Frazer, take upon yourself publicly the responsibility for starting this whole trouble. I fancy it may be rather unpleasant for you to remain in this college longer unless ...
— Cloudy Jewel • Grace Livingston Hill

... so good. They were certainly trespassing, but they considered that their errand justified the deed. Lenox had brought his hand camera, and hoped to get a snap-shot of the old place to take back to America to show his father. He had ascertained that no picture post cards of it were obtainable in the village. They could see the twisted chimneys rising over the top of a thick grove of trees and shrubs, so they turned their steps in that direction. Over some grassy park-like ...
— A harum-scarum schoolgirl • Angela Brazil

... race, I hear," said Fru Jensen; "but I did not know who won, and I see it is a silver cup. It will be something to take back to England. Your father, Helga, will be glad to hear Herr Hardy is ...
— A Danish Parsonage • John Fulford Vicary

... be so, I can easily prove I am a true and loyal subject of the Queen. Let who will come on, two at a time, and take back his lie at the point of my sword." And I put my back up to the wall and cast my cloak back ...
— Sir Ludar - A Story of the Days of the Great Queen Bess • Talbot Baines Reed

... madame, that his annoyance was not without reason!... The police were made fine fools of in this affair.... But afterwards?... Whom did he take back with him to the ...
— Messengers of Evil - Being a Further Account of the Lures and Devices of Fantomas • Pierre Souvestre

... "And you may take back my thanks to the Commandant, and tell him that I hope, within the next few days, to pay ...
— Major Vigoureux • A. T. Quiller-Couch

... of course is anxious to get her brother to take back his wife. They haven't a great deal of money among them, and when Mrs. Holt dies Cecilia's fortune ...
— Kept in the Dark • Anthony Trollope

... she wrote. No word more. Then arose the question of messengers. She went out to find Saunders Mowdiewort; she got him standing at the byre door, looking wistfully about for Meg. "Saunders," she said, "you are to take back this answer instantly to the ...
— The Lilac Sunbonnet • S.R. Crockett

... place where experience is to be gathered. It conditions, regulates, limits, the growth of the Soul; it yields the rough ore which the Soul then takes in hand, and works upon during the devachanic stage, smelting it, forging it, tempering it, into the weapons it will take back with it for its next earth-life. The experienced Soul in Devachan will make for itself a splendid instrument for its next earth-life; the inexperienced one will forge a poor blade enough; but in each case the ...
— Death—and After? • Annie Besant

... when some quarrelsome rake was often pinned to the wainscoat by the sword of his insulted rival. Below, at the door, the Flemish horses and the heavy gilded coach, lighted by flambeaux, are waiting for the noisy gallant, and will take back only ...
— Old and New London - Volume I • Walter Thornbury

... a tour of exploration toward the furthermost nests of boulders. It was there that he found the first signs of vegetation. In and around some of the larger groups of rocks, he found mosses and lichens growing. He collected specimens of them to take back with him. It was out there, far from the ship, that he saw the first ...
— Shepherd of the Planets • Alan Mattox

... receiving the names of the states to which they belonged, he took an account of the captives, distinguishing the number belonging to each people, and sent messengers to their homes, to desire that they would come and take back their respective friends. If ambassadors from any of the states happened to be present, he delivered their countrymen to them in person, and assigned to them the quaestor, Caius Flaminius, the charge of kindly taking care of the rest. Meanwhile, there advanced from ...
— The History of Rome; Books Nine to Twenty-Six • Titus Livius

... either House of Parliament. The fortunes of Charles Stuart were still looking bright in the north, and the King found himself without a Ministry. There was no course open to him but one, and that was to recognize the strength of the Pelhams and their followers, and to take back Newcastle and his {245} brother on any terms the conquerors might be pleased to dictate. The Pelhams came back to what might almost be called absolute power. The King was not likely soon again to trouble ...
— A History of the Four Georges, Volume II (of 4) • Justin McCarthy

... whom David had accompanied to Gerardstown was disappointed in his endeavors to find a load to take back to Tennessee. He therefore took a load to Alexandria, on the Potomac. David decided to remain at Gerardstown until Myers should return. He therefore engaged to work for a man by the name of John Gray, for twenty-five cents ...
— David Crockett: His Life and Adventures • John S. C. Abbott

... on to the pens and wait there," she said to her friends. "Our personal outfit is there already. Daddy sent it over last night But then you would miss a sight that I want you all to take back East with you as a memory. It is something you ...
— Nan Sherwood at Rose Ranch • Annie Roe Carr

... Great kindness of a husband, who consents to take back his wife twice over, spite of her wanton love ...
— The Tales Of The Heptameron, Vol. V. (of V.) • Margaret, Queen Of Navarre

... Philomelus by name, told them that they must now face war or ruin. The district of Delphi had once been theirs, and had been taken from them wrongfully. "Let us assert our lost rights and seize the temple," he said. "The Thebans want it; let us anticipate them and take back our own." ...
— Historic Tales, vol 10 (of 15) - The Romance of Reality • Charles Morris

... American reply that it is impossible now to take back the franchise? But on his own showing the electors merely regard it as an opportunity for extracting "boodle." All that would be impossible, then, is to take away this ancient concession without compensation. The electors must be bought out at the full market-value ...
— Without Prejudice • Israel Zangwill

... down, and around the great House on Wheels; then he touched it in many places, first with the tip-end of one finger, and finally with both hands. If he could only detach a small piece from the house to take back to camp with him as a trophy and as a proof of his daring achievement! But it was too solid, and all made of ...
— Boys and Girls Bookshelf (Vol 2 of 17) - Folk-Lore, Fables, And Fairy Tales • Various

... children gave," The stately dame replied; "The wise, the gentle, and the brave, I nurtured at my side. If envy still your bosom stings, Take back their rims of gold; My sons will melt their ...
— The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Complete • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

... Washington to discredit the contract lately made with the syndicate. It was reported that the terms were concealed, that only ten millions were contracted for, part of which it might be necessary to take back, and that the banking and currency committee had summoned me to explain the contract. So far from being true the contract itself was printed in all the papers and the utmost publicity was given to every ...
— Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet - An Autobiography. • John Sherman

... the big creature quite calmly. 'I am a member of the Fabian Society. I take back the wealth stolen by the capitalist, not by sweeping civil war and revolution, but by reform fitted to the special occasion—here a little and there a little. Do you see that fifth house along the terrace with the flat roof? I'm permeating that ...
— Manalive • G. K. Chesterton

... escape the hands of justice, and remain in those of mercy. And do not wait for the time, for an hour comes when you shall wish and cannot. O sheep, return to your fold; let you be governed by the Shepherd: else the wolf of hell shall devour you! Take back for your guards the servants of God, who love you in truth more than you yourself, and good, mature and discreet counsellors. For the counsel of incarnate demons, with the inordinate fear into which they have thrown you through terror of losing your temporal state—(which ...
— Letters of Catherine Benincasa • Catherine Benincasa

... listening to stories made in Germany for them to take back to the 'Hills' with 'em. The tribes'll know presently how many men we're sending oversea. There've been rumors about Khinjan by the hundred lately. They're cooking something. Can you imagine 'em keeping ...
— King—of the Khyber Rifles • Talbot Mundy

... it's burnt; I don't care for it, only some verse I was trying to set to music for one of the girls. But I'll trouble you to let my papers alone, or I shall take back the advice I gave mother tonight about allowing you to act ...
— Jo's Boys • Louisa May Alcott

... is at present inadvisable, and that the question of our return will soon have to be faced. I absolutely refuse to leave, however, until we have made at least a superficial examination of this country, and are able to take back with us something in ...
— The Lost World • Arthur Conan Doyle

... letter—and even if the object had not been answered, I ought still to thank you. But it is thoroughly answered. Such a letter from such a hand! Sympathy is dear—very dear to me: but the sympathy of a poet, and of such a poet, is the quintessence of sympathy to me! Will you take back my gratitude for it?—agreeing, too, that of all the commerce done in the world, from Tyre to Carthage, the exchange of sympathy for gratitude is the ...
— The Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, Vol. 1 (of 2) 1845-1846 • Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett

... "'Take back your sword; and, when you have thoroughly cleansed it and wiped it of the blood and mire, then raise it to set free the oppressed of ...
— Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland • Olive Schreiner

... we none of us stand still, you know. One rips open a lid sometimes and the wax face rots before one's eyes. Take back your blue envelope; and thank you for thinking of me. It's always the woman of the house ...
— The Return • Walter de la Mare

... as you say," he told her. "But he knows that it is not so. I came for two reasons: because now is not the time to be discriminating in my service to him, and also because I am glad to help him to do right. I will take back what answer you please, Senora, for I came here with no great hopes; but still I am glad I came, ...
— The Second Class Passenger • Perceval Gibbon

... so I have not received your letter to-night. This morning, when walking with the General, we came upon a Frenchman, woman, and boy in the fire zone 600 yds. from the German trenches wheeling two large wheelbarrows full of household goods which they had removed from some local houses to take back to another ruin where they were living, out of shell fire. Of course the stuff was theirs, but these poor things always forget that, besides their own safety, they bring fire on the houses near them, so we had ...
— Letters of Lt.-Col. George Brenton Laurie • George Brenton Laurie

... explain. This land they say belonged to the United States. What reason then, could have induced them to exchange it with the Pottowattomies if it was so valuable? Why not keep it? Or if they found they had made a bad bargain with the Pottowattomies, why not take back their land at a fair proportion of what they gave our nation for it! If this small portion of the land that they took from us for one thousand dollars a year, be worth sixteen thousand dollars a year forever to the Pottowattomies, then the whole tract of country taken from ...
— Autobiography of Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak, or Black Hawk • Black Hawk

... "Take back thy life," said Beltane, "and I pray God that henceforth thou shalt make of it better use, and live to aid thy fellows, so shall they, mayhap, some day come to ...
— Beltane The Smith • Jeffery Farnol

... afternoon when Pete and John entered the valley. They were heavily laden with packs and explained that up on the cliff other possessions which they had secured had been left with the Indian boy who had come with them and was to take back the burros after they had been relieved ...
— The Go Ahead Boys and Simon's Mine • Ross Kay

... Dark Master," he thought, watching from those same sea-facing battlements where he and Cathbarr had descended, as the two caracks leaped off to the south, "and when I have established myself in some hold, be it never so small, then I shall take back my name again and let the red hand hold what it has gripped. But not until these things have been done, for Brian O'Neill will give fealty to none—no, not even ...
— Nuala O'Malley • H. Bedford-Jones

... show General Terry that the soldiers were all killed. Then General Terry gave me a dispatch. I was very tired and did not want to go, but I had to take this dispatch from General Terry, to Reno at the packtrain. Reno gave me a dispatch to take back to Terry, while they were burying the dead soldiers. Then another dispatch was given me to take to the head command at the steamboat. I felt sorry and depressed that I should ...
— The Vanishing Race • Dr. Joseph Kossuth Dixon

... There, take back your gold! Your hand is cold, like a deceiver's hand! There is no blessing in its charity! Make her your wife, for you have been abused; And you shall mend your fortunes, ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

... that they had determined to free the gates and let in the Council plough. Perley was seen talking to a lot of men on the green last night. I met him myself this morning after breakfast near the gates, and he confessed he had been there already—early. I expect he came to reconnoitre and take back the news. Rather calm, for one of father's own men! But that's the new spirit, Dezzy. We're not going to be allowed to have it all our own way any more. Well, thank goodness, I don't mind. At least, there is something in me that minds. I suppose ...
— Elizabeth's Campaign • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... as a hornet ef I don't get any of ye," he remarked, sadly. "She's paid Sam Cotting fer this courtin' suit, an' he won't take back the gloves on no 'count arter they've been wore; an' thet'll set ma crazy. Miss Patsy, ef yo' think ...
— Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville • Edith Van Dyne

... me to do, if I were to betray my duty for money, I should be the meanest of men. If, on the other hand, I am actuated only by a sincere conviction and an interest in the truth, I may be looked upon as a fool; but I shall always be worthy of the esteem of honorable men. Take back that fortune, madam, which has made an honest man waver for a moment in his conscience. I will do what ...
— Within an Inch of His Life • Emile Gaboriau

... demand a retraction, your note says. I don't like 'demand'—it's such an ugly word, you know; and if you change the letters slightly, it makes a very bad, shocking word, such as is used by profane young men. Then 'retraction' is so hard. For you know I said I was handsome: must I take back that? Then I said that I could not marry the lady we quarrelled about: must I say I can? I can't tell a story, and I assure you on my honor—yes, Mr. Denis! on my sacred word of honor as a gentleman!—that ...
— The Youth of Jefferson - A Chronicle of College Scrapes at Williamsburg, in Virginia, A.D. 1764 • Anonymous

... a multitude of references to the interior Self. For the passage, 'As long as pra/n/a dwells in this body so long surely there is life,' declares that that pra/n/a only which is the intelligent interior Self—and not some particular outward deity—has power to bestow and to take back life. And where the text speaks of the eminence of the pra/n/as as founded on the existence of the pra/n/a, it shows that that pra/n/a is meant which has reference to the Self and is the ...
— The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Sankaracarya - Sacred Books of the East, Volume 1 • George Thibaut

... his efforts. His rye was at last dwindling; he sold heavily at advancing prices now winter was approaching; his losses were diminishing. He had to take back still more of his old employees; he was shipping tar; to-morrow a new cargo ...
— Shallow Soil • Knut Hamsun

... her trembling palms With coinage of the realm. The fairy said: "Take back your alms! My heart they overwhelm. Henceforth at every word shall slip A pearl or ruby from your lip!" And, when the girl got home that night,— She found the fairy's words were right! (I think there are not many girls Whose words are worth their ...
— Grimm Tales Made Gay • Guy Wetmore Carryl

... made her less ashamed of her heartless behaviour that poor Pallant proved finally no great catch. I had forgiven her; I hadn't felt it anything but an escape not to have married a girl who had in her to take back her given word and break a fellow's heart for mere flesh-pots—or the shallow promise, as it pitifully turned out, of flesh-pots. Moreover we had met since then—on the occasion of my former visit to Europe; had looked each other in the eyes, had pretended to be easy friends and had talked ...
— Louisa Pallant • Henry James

... ask you to give me your word that you will do so; and I can take back the check if you refuse," said Lady Selina, conceiving it utterly impossible that one of her own ...
— The Kellys and the O'Kellys • Anthony Trollope

... dawning grace is opening on my soul: 280 Come, if thou dar'st, all charming as thou art! Oppose thyself to heaven; dispute my heart; Come, with one glance of those deluding eyes Blot out each bright idea of the skies; Take back that grace, those sorrows, and those tears; Take back my fruitless penitence and prayers; Snatch me, just mounting, from the blest abode; Assist the fiends, and tear me ...
— The Poetical Works Of Alexander Pope, Vol. 1 • Alexander Pope et al

... Philip," said Rose, giving him the purse of gold that the Prince had given her. "Here, take back your money, 't is ...
— Stories by Foreign Authors: German • Various

... wonder," he said, carefully thrusting the clarionet into its green baize bag, "as how you'd like me to go up yonder with you. And it do so happen as how I've got a job to take back to Dan'l Wishing, so I shall pass yours without goin' ...
— White Lilac; or the Queen of the May • Amy Walton

... thy translucent waves, great Thetis, rise! Mother divine, hear, and take back the gift Thou gavest me of valor and renown, And then seek Zeus, but not with loosened zone For dalliance; entreat him to restore Me, Achilles, to the earth, to the black earth, The nourisher of men, not these pale shades, Whose shapes have learned the presage ...
— Poems • Elizabeth Stoddard

... take back all the naughty things you have said about me to your cousin,' she said, very sweetly, ...
— Continental Monthly , Vol IV, Issue VI, December 1863 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy. • Various

... Mr. President, that's plenty of that! I take back everything I said on that head. I'm a wiser man to-day than I was ...
— The Gilded Age, Complete • Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner

... rave! Is this soft tender Bosom to be prest by such a Load of Fool? Damnation on thee—Where got'st thou this coarse Appetite? Take back the Powers, those Charms she's sworn adorn'd me, since a dull, fat-fac'd, noisy, taudry Blockhead, can serve her turn ...
— The Works of Aphra Behn - Volume IV. • Aphra Behn

... the High, taking counsel with himself. He was ashamed of having so utterly forgotten the mischief he had wrought at large. At dawn he had vowed to undo it. Undo it he must. But the task was not a simple one now. If he could say "Behold, I take back my word. I spurn Miss Dobson, and embrace life," it was possible that his example would suffice. But now that he could only say "Behold, I spurn Miss Dobson, and will not die for her, but I am going to commit suicide, all the same," it was clear that his words would carry ...
— Zuleika Dobson - or, An Oxford Love Story • Max Beerbohm

... that he had this marvellous present to take back with him. He felt that it would make all things right, would sweep away all lingering disappointment at their absence and the want ...
— The Call of the Blood • Robert Smythe Hichens

... remember using the word hyena, exactly, though I do think the way you talk about Christmas is dreadful. But I take back the laughing hyena." ...
— The Daughter of the Storage - And Other Things in Prose and Verse • William Dean Howells

... and listened to the confession of the adulterous in thought. Wives who considered themselves slighted or misunderstood came to him to lament over the materiality of their husbands, and he supplied them with a little idealism to take back to their homes. All who were in trouble or despair had recourse to him, and he ordered a trip to Italy for them, with music and painting for diversions and a good ...
— Rene Mauperin • Edmond de Goncourt and Jules de Goncourt

... showed his friend how to use the talismans one by one and handed them to him. The Happy Hunter was very glad to have these two wonderful gems, the Jewel of the Flood Tide and the Jewel of the Ebbing Tide, to take back with him, for he felt that they would preserve him in case of danger from enemies at any time. After thanking his kind host again and again, he prepared to depart. The Sea King and the two Princesses, Tayotama and Tamayori, and all the inmates of the Palace, came out ...
— Japanese Fairy Tales • Yei Theodora Ozaki

... traveled joyfully through remote regions and by strange roads, led on by his zeal for knowledge and seeking to discover in foreign lands novelties in books or in studies which he could take back with him. And this zealous student journeyed to ...
— The Hindu-Arabic Numerals • David Eugene Smith

... art very white and thin, but still alive, old woman," sneered Eddo, adding: "All the thousands of the people yonder thought that long ere this thou wouldst have passed within the Fence. May I take back that ...
— The Ghost Kings • H. Rider Haggard



Words linked to "Take back" :   displace, convey, renounce, move, take, bring, disown, repudiate, remind, relate



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