n. small, showy ornament of little value; child's plaything or toy
Unless the shining bauble Uncas has just lifted from the ground should prove one.
The Last of the Mohicans By James Fenimore CooperContext Highlight In CHAPTER 18 In the division of the baubles the cunning Huron discovered no less art than in their selection.
The Last of the Mohicans By James Fenimore CooperContext Highlight In CHAPTER 28 My fool's cap was a casque, and my bauble a truncheon.
v. dress up or decorate with showy things
The smallest, the most fragrant blossoms bedecked the girls.
The appearance of the Knight Templar was also changed; and, though less studiously bedecked with ornament, his dress was as rich, and his appearance far more commanding, than that of his companion.
n. a state of extreme confusion and disorder; pejorative terms for an insane asylum
v. make less visible or unclear
v. act as a friend to someone by offering help or support
At first the young man appeared about to befriend me.
Franz is not expected to return home for a year to come, I am told; in that time many favorable and unforeseen chances may befriend us.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 51. Pyramus and Thisbe. But no such recollection befriended her.
a. having been delayed; done or sent too late
She had insisted that in the belated quest of these work-stained women was an aspiration which ought to stir her tears.
Holmes made no further allusion to the matter that day, though he sat lost in thought for a long time after our belated dinner.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE THREE STUDENTS But at this point one or two belated passengers from the last station forced their way into the carriage, and Lily had to retreat to her seat.
v. contradict; give a false impression
Therein you belie the natur of an Indian.
The Last of the Mohicans By James Fenimore CooperContext Highlight In CHAPTER 22 However, a warm savory steam from the kitchen served to belie the apparently cheerless prospect before us.
An hour later when the conversation began to lag, Gerald, with a guile that belied the wide innocence of his bright blue eyes, proposed a game.
n. gift giver; person who gives people or institutions with financial help
He was my benefactor, and all my desire was to carry out his wishes in every particular.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In II. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NORWOOD BUILDER Unfortunately, the negotiation failed, and when he returned to defend his benefactor, he was dead.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 86. The Trial. I therefore told him my small story, and laid stress on my being forbidden to inquire who my benefactor was.
a. helpful; tending to promote physical well-being
I was encompassed by a cloud which no beneficial influence could penetrate.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 9 In the first place, he must make such an agreement for tithes as may be beneficial to himself and not offensive to his patron.
They poured a little rum down his throat, and this remedy which had before been so beneficial to him, produced the same effect as formerly.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 23. The Island of Monte Cristo. a. generous in providing aid to others; charitable
The Doctor nodded his benevolent head.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 45. MR. DICK FULFILS MY AUNT'S PREDICTIONS I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 10 Their benevolent disposition often made them enter the cottages of the poor.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 1 v. deprive and make desolate, especially by death
I longed to be his; I panted to return: it was not too late; I could yet spare him the bitter pang of bereavement.
It was a great augmentation of my uneasiness to be bereaved, at this eventful crisis, of the inestimable services of Miss Mills.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 41. DORA'S AUNTS He was decorously clad in black, his linen frilly and starched, and his manner was all that custom demanded from an old friend paying a call of sympathy on one bereaved.
v. spread or daub a surface; smear or cover with a greasy or sticky substance
v. cause oneself to consider something; consider or ponder something carefully
I wonder whether those jolly lads bethink them of what they are dancing over.
Moby Dick By Herman MelvilleContext Highlight In CHAPTER 40. Midnight, Forecastle. They seemed suddenly to bethink themselves of their weapons, and at once commenced firing.
But, bethinking himself that this would not help matters, he stopped short in the middle of a sentence, and merely sighed.
v. become of; happen especially as if by fate
Whatever betides, whatever new ties you may form, whatever changes may come between us, I shall always look to you, and love you, as I do now, and have always done.
v. become engaged to marry; promise to marry
But the girl did not care for the man as a girl ought to care for her betrothed husband.
Grimms' Fairy Tales By The Brothers GrimmContext Highlight In THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM When the prince and the princess had gone, Levin went up to his betrothed and took her hand.
His first betrothed heard of this, and fretted so much about his faithfulness that she nearly died.
Grimms' Fairy Tales By The Brothers GrimmContext Highlight In THE TWELVE HUNTSMEN n. two surfaces meeting at an angle different from 90 degrees
n. large group; a group of animals or birds, especially larks or quail
In addition, bevies of belles from the country districts, where all remaining men were under sixteen or over sixty, descended upon the town.
"That's a fine bevy, Ma'm," said Gerald gallantly, reining his horse alongside the carriage.
n. a quarrel about petty points
They were gentle, quiet spoken, reserved people and not given to even the amiable bickering that characterized most Atlanta families.
He was polite and disinterested and she missed his interest, perverse though it had been, missed the old days of bickering and retort.
Forgetful of the store and the mills, she spent her time on the lot, arguing with carpenters, bickering with masons, harrying the contractor.
n. a right or privilege that you are entitled to at birth; personal characteristics that are inherited at birth
Colours and beauties so far subdued were, at least, the birthright of all.
Return of the Native By Thomas HardyContext Highlight In BOOK 1: 1 A Face on Which Time Makes but Little Impression Evidently, I thought, this tendency had increased till Industry had gradually lost its birthright in the sky.
A few slight indications of a rather petted and capricious manner, which I observed in the Beauty, were manifestly considered, by Traddles and his wife, as her birthright and natural endowment.
v. cut in half or cut in two
It was quite open to the heath on each side, and bisected that vast dark surface like the parting-line on a head of black hair, diminishing and bending away on the furthest horizon.
Return of the Native By Thomas HardyContext Highlight In BOOK 1: 2 Humanity Appears upon the Scene, Hand in Hand with Trouble n. someone who gossips indiscreetly
ad. in a joyous manner; in a happy or carefree manner
Replacing the fences the Yankees had so blithely burned was a long hard task.
She wondered how he could jest so blithely with a rope about his neck and her pitiful circumstances before him.
There was a long pause, while a blackbird sung blithely on the willow by the river, and the tall grass rustled in the wind.
a. extremely alarming; causing terror or horror
a. rough and stormy; loud, noisy, and lacking in restraint or discipline
The wind began to get boisterous.
There are boisterous couples, who tear wildly about the room, knocking every one out of their way.
It was one of those not infrequent days of an English June which are as wet and boisterous as November.
Return of the Native By Thomas HardyContext Highlight In BOOK 3: 6 Yeobright Goes, and the Breach Is Complete v. support or prop up with or as if with a long narrow pillow or cushion
The bed had a spring mattress, and a special sort of bolster and silk pillowcases on the little pillows.
In Ashley and his love lay strength upon which to lay her weakness, courage to bolster her fear, ease for her sorrow.
Sitting on her three-cornered chair she swayed, with her dark pigtails hanging, and her body like a bolster in its faded dressing-gown.
n. pompous or pretentious talk or writing
He found that he could look back upon the brass and bombast of his earlier gospels and see them truly.
Sometimes, he was a very comfortable person to live with, for all his unfortunate habit of not permitting anyone in his presence to act a lie, palm off a pretense or indulge in bombast.
n. the kinship relation between a male offspring and the siblings; the feeling that men should treat one another like brothers
He felt the subtle battle brotherhood more potent even than the cause for which they were fighting.
It had stupefied all blessed impulses, and awakened into vivid life the whole brotherhood of bad ones.
The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel HawthorneContext Highlight In XX.THE MINISTER IN A MAZE Though I do stick firmly to the belief in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man and the leadership of Jesus.
v. support physically; prop up; support something or someone by supplying evidence
I think I was glad to know it; I think I was glad to have my better impulses thus buttressed and guarded by the terrors of the scaffold.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde By Robert Louis StevensonContext Highlight In CHAPTER HENRY JEKYLL'S FULL STATEMENT OF THE CASE The access to the upper apartments in the tower which consist in all of four stories, is given by stairs which are carried up through the external buttresses.
a. emotionally hardened; unfeeling; toughened
He gave up his life for her, and she was callous to him.
She was callous, cold and callous to all that he did for her.
She did not know why this should be, for he was such an unpredictable, callous person.
a. related to dogs; dog-like; affecting or derived from dogs
Indeed, its snow-white muzzle proclaimed that it had already exceeded the usual term of canine existence.
A Study In Scarlet By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In PART I: CHAPTER VII. LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS It cost some exercise of the white truncheon, well seconded by the exertions of the domestics, to silence this canine clamour.
n. feature that helps to identify, tell apart, or describe recognizably; a distinguishing mark or trait
She knew that characteristic in her husband, and liked it.
Mystery and secrecy have long been his principal characteristic, have long replaced unlimited confidence.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 49. I AM INVOLVED IN MYSTERY It was a characteristic feature in this repentance, that I was fain to ask what these two men had done, to be there at all.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 61. I AM SHOWN TWO INTERESTING PENITENTS n. the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions
This is the way in which you Northerns understand chemistry, madame.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 52. Toxicology. Waldman, a fellow professor, would lecture upon chemistry the alternate days that he omitted.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 3 He began to experiment, and got a clever young fellow, who had proved brilliant in chemistry, to help him.
n. situation; condition; detail accompanying or surrounding an event
Every circumstance belonging to him was interesting.
Another circumstance strengthened and confirmed these feelings.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 15 The life of my father is in the greatest danger, owing to the dreadful circumstance that I have related.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 16 v. quote; adduce as an instance
Rhett lacked the courage to cite these reasons for employing another nurse.
Grant it, since you cite it; but, say what you will, there is no real dignity in whaling.
You mistake, Fernand; it is not a law, but merely a custom, and, I pray of you, do not cite this custom in your favor.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 3. The Catalans. a. having an outer covering especially of thin metal; wearing or provided with clothing; sometimes used in combination
You are old, unsavoury, and very meanly clad.
But little Pearl was not clad in rustic weeds.
I felt ashamed to appear before my benefactors so clad.
n. noise; loud outcry; expression of discontent or protest
Now the beset him and made clamor.
The forest still bore its burden of clamor.
For a moment, in the great clamor, he was like a proverbial chicken.
n. abnormal fear of being in narrow or enclosed spaces
a. split or divided in two
He gave the word; and still gazing round him, was steadily lowered through the cloven blue air to the deck.
Moby Dick By Herman MelvilleContext Highlight In CHAPTER 135. The Chase.—Third Day. They are for the use of horses, but they are shaped below with a cloven foot of iron, so as to throw pursuers off the track.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In V. THE ADVENTURE OF THE PRIORY SCHOOL n. silky envelope spun by the larvae of many insects to protect pupas and by spiders to protect eggs
a. capable of igniting and burning; easily aroused or excited
Before him rose a grotesque mass of rocks, that resembled nothing so much as a vast fire petrified at the moment of its most fervent combustion.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 21. The Island of Tiboulen. And when the wind was that way, which was often, the house was full of the stench of this sulphurous combustion of the earth's excrement.
n. first existence of anything; act or fact of commencing; rise; origin; beginning; start
This was the commencement of a nervous fever which confined me for several months.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 5 The first time she left her chamber was at the commencement of the following March.
I found several letters, and, among others, one which I discovered from its commencement to be from your father.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 21 n. person authorized by a commission to perform certain duties; member of a commission
Now, for a week, he was commissioner general of Gopher Prairie.
We hope to have, before long, a board of fact, composed of commissioners of fact, who will force the people to be a people of fact, and of nothing but fact.
Why, Ashley Wilkes and his father told Pa just last week that our commissioners in Washington would come to--to--an--amicable agreement with Mr. Lincoln about the Confederacy.
a. feeling dedication and loyalty to a cause, activity, or job; devoted
I felt as if I had committed some great crime, the consciousness of which haunted me.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 19 He was committed to take his trial at the next Sessions, which would come on in a month.
A highly popular murder had been committed, and Mr. Wopsle was imbrued in blood to the eyebrows.
v. put together or compose from materials gathered from several sources
Nor are the most conscientious compilations of Natural History for the benefit of the young and tender, free from the same heinousness of mistake.
Moby Dick By Herman MelvilleContext Highlight In CHAPTER 55. Of the Monstrous Pictures of Whales. 'I am not a bad compiler, Copperfield,' said Traddles, preserving the same air of cheerful confidence in all he said, 'but I have no invention at all; not a particle.'
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 27. TOMMY TRADDLES a. treated with confidence; trusted in; trustworthy; secret
What I have to do as the confidential agent of another, I do.
With nobody present, but our dear and confidential friend Mr. Wickfield, I cannot consent to be put down.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 16. I AM A NEW BOY IN MORE SENSES THAN ONE We are in our private and personal capacities, and we have been engaged in a confidential transaction before to-day.
n. additional proof that something that was believed
It was the day of confirmation.
One of the men nodded in confirmation.
But she knew she looked pretty even before she saw confirmation in his eyes.
a. large destructive fire; burning; large-scale military conflict
The light of that conflagration will fade away; my ashes will be swept into the sea by the winds.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 24 She made a great point of being so near the river, in case of a conflagration; and I suppose really did find some satisfaction in that circumstance.
Her face was brilliant and glowing; but this glow was not one of brightness; it suggested the fearful glow of a conflagration in the midst of a dark night.
a. wishing to do what is right, especially to do one's work or duty well and thoroughly; diligent; responsible; reliable
She is conscientious, and I have no fear of her treating him unkindly.
Mrs. Peniston, who was a conscientious woman, had forwarded them all to Bellomont.
Well, I have not intercepted your confidence, and yet I know all that as well as you, and I have no conscientious scruples.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 94. Maximilian's Avowal. n. having knowledge of ; special awareness or sensitivity:
I felt as if I had committed some great crime, the consciousness of which haunted me.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 19 I fancied that I could detect in his manner a consciousness of this, and a purpose of always holding her in suspense.
As soon, however, as the consciousness of all this was forced by continual repetition on Marianne, she could stay no longer.
ad. therefore; as a result or consequence of something; subsequently
Next morning, consequently, we were on the Yarmouth coach, and again travelling over the old ground.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 51. THE BEGINNING OF A LONGER JOURNEY Mrs. Gummidge appeared to be fretting a little, in her old corner; and consequently looked quite natural, too.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 31. A GREATER LOSS She thought he had ceased to love her, she felt close upon despair, and consequently she felt exceptionally alert.
a. worthy of consideration; large in amount, extent, or degree
This address caused a considerable change in the physiognomy of my own auditor.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 23 We resided principally in the latter, and the lives of my parents were passed in considerable seclusion.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 2 It is with considerable difficulty that I remember the original era of my being; all the events of that period appear confused and indistinct.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 11 n. harmonious uniformity or agreement among things or parts
Consistency, my dear Mr. Brocklehurst; I advocate consistency in all things.
Still, for all this immutableness, was there some lack of common consistency about worthy Captain Peleg.
The greatest degree of rational consistency could not have been more engaging, and they talked with mutual satisfaction.
v. make solid; unite or press together into a compact mass; harden or make dense and firm
It was soothing, it was consolidating, this handwork together.
After the battle of Navarino, when the Greek government was consolidated, he asked of King Otho a mining grant for that district, which was given him.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 69. The Inquiry. ad. in a prominent way; in a manner tending to attract attention
She wore a muslin dress, conspicuously white, and a stiff little veil coming to her shoulders.
This puerile feature in a nature which was conspicuously manly had often given rise to comment and conjecture.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In VIII. The Adventure of The Crooked Man Before another month was by, all the working members of his family had union cards, and wore their union buttons conspicuously and with pride.
a. deeply or seriously thoughtful
Her ladyship lapsed into contemplative silence, soothed by the brandy.
For to-day he felt that he had earned opportunities for contemplative repose.
But here he was interrupted by his fair physician, a smile which she could scarce suppress dimpling for an instant a face, whose general expression was that of contemplative melancholy.
a. worthy of contempt; deserving of scorn or disdain; mean
At this moment hope makes me despise their riches, which seem to me contemptible.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 23. The Island of Monte Cristo. I cannot be made unhappy by the fact that a contemptible woman has committed a crime.
However, the king treated him with tenderness, as a well-meaning man, but of a low contemptible understanding.
Gulliver's Travels(V2) By Jonathan SwiftContext Highlight In PART 3: CHAPTER IV. a. continuing in time or space without interruption; extending without break or irregularity
There was a thin, crisp, continuous patter from somewhere in the heart of that crawling bank.
The Hound of the Baskervilles By A. Conan DoyleContext Highlight In Chapter 14. The Hound of the Baskervilles And, as her love for Scarlett and her pride in her were enormous, the chastening process was practically continuous.
There was desperate fighting at New Hope Church, eleven days of continuous fighting, with every Yankee assault bloodily repulsed.
n. goods whose importation or exportation or possession is prohibited by law
Now Mr. Davis had declared limes a contraband article, and solemnly vowed to publicly ferrule the first person who was found breaking the law.
He had scarcely been a week at Leghorn before the hold of his vessel was filled with printed muslins, contraband cottons, English powder, and tobacco on which the excise had forgotten to put its mark.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 22. The Smugglers. a. giving rise or likely to give rise to public disagreement; disputable
I assure you I have no desire to be controversial.
But of all their controversies, none was so bitter as the one that took place over the windmill.
I have had controversies about it with experienced whalemen afloat, and learned naturalists ashore.
a. returning to health after illness or debility
She is tolerably convalescent.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 17. SOMEBODY TURNS UP But there were a few irreverent snickers from convalescent officers when Rhett spoke of bravery.
The young ladies of the town, who were not permitted to nurse for fear they would see sights unfit for virgin eyes, had the convalescent wards in their charge.
ad. in a hearty manner; in a warm and friendly way
They were not welcomed home very cordially by their mother.
He received us cordially, and made friends with Mr. Dick in a moment.
Vronsky got up and, looking cordially at Levin, shook hands with him.
n. an army unit usually consisting of two or more divisions; a body of people associated together
When first he entered the corps, she was ready enough to admire him; but so we all were.
Then farm wagons, ox carts and even private carriages commandeered by the medical corps.
Vronsky and he had gone completely different ways on leaving the corps, and had only met once since.