n. pale yellowish color; wine made in the Canary Islands; canary bird; quick and lively dance
She was looking at the canary yellow festoons left over from the Coronation.
Georgiana would chatter nonsense to her canary bird by the hour, and take no notice of me.
One could go to the cigar factory and chat with the old German who raised canaries for sale, and look at his stuffed birds.
n. human being that eats human flesh; anything that devours its own kind
Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian.
For all his tattooings he was on the whole a clean, comely looking cannibal.
A cannibal of a craft, tricking herself forth in the chased bones of her enemies.
a. having the ability required for a specific task
It was a body capable of enormous leverage--a cruel body.
These sublime and magnificent scenes afforded me the greatest consolation that I was capable of receiving.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 10 Michaelis was astonished; they had been neighbors for four years and Wilson had never seemed faintly capable of such a statement.
n. mental or physical ability; ability to accommodate
To the best of my judgement, no capacity of astonishment was left in me.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 26. I FALL INTO CAPTIVITY Anna said what came to her lips, and marveled, hearing herself, at her own capacity for lying.
And now, in the evening, Mr. Wickfield, Agnes, and I, went to have tea with him in his private capacity.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 16. I AM A NEW BOY IN MORE SENSES THAN ONE n. prisoner taken by force; one kept in power of another; one charmed or subdued by beauty, excellence, or affection
Of this the captive seemed conscious.
The Last of the Mohicans By James Fenimore CooperContext Highlight In CHAPTER 23 But nothing happened; there seemed to be no angels or fairies interested in this luckless captive.
Again, the dreaded Sunday comes round, and I file into the old pew first, like a guarded captive brought to a condemned service.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 4. I FALL INTO DISGRACE n. prison; confinement; state of being a prisoner
The very madness of the Abbe Faria, gone mad in prison, condemned him to perpetual captivity.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 14. The Two Prisoners. Here a lonely heart broke, and a worn spirit went to its rest, after thirty-seven years of solitary captivity.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn By Mark TwainContext Highlight In CHAPTER XXXVIII. The spirit fluttered for a moment on the threshold of its little prison, and, unconscious of captivity, took wing.
n. freight carried by a ship, an aircraft, or another vehicle
I put my cows and sheep into my coat-pockets, and got on board with all my little cargo of provisions.
Gulliver's Travels(V1) By Jonathan SwiftContext Highlight In PART 1: CHAPTER VIII. Asked me questions about the vessel, the time she left Marseilles, the course she had taken, and what was her cargo.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 1. Marseilles—The Arrival. They turned the bowsprit towards Sardinia, where they intended to take in a cargo, which was to replace what had been discharged.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 22. The Smugglers. v. stop; terminate; put an end to; discontinue
And now my wanderings began which are to cease but with life.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 24 Devil, cease; and do not poison the air with these sounds of malice.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 20 With such a reward for her tears, the child was too wise to cease crying.
n. a widely known person; the state of being well known
The two or three men who had tried to take advantage of her in a deal acquired celebrity by their defeat.
Tom and Daisy stared, with that peculiarly unreal feeling that accompanies the recognition of a hitherto ghostly celebrity of the movies.
These are two celebrated ones.
n. formal act or set of acts performed as prescribed by ritual or custom
When he came, my aunt performed the ceremony of introduction.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 14. MY AUNT MAKES UP HER MIND ABOUT ME And without farther ceremony, she turned away and walked to the instrument.
Nothing special happened at the ceremony of benediction with the holy picture.
v. utter with a melodious voice; celebrate in song; make melody with the voice
In his eyes was a desire to chant a paean.
As the immediate effect, however, gradually passed away, a low murmur of voices commenced a sort of chant in honor of the dead.
The Last of the Mohicans By James Fenimore CooperContext Highlight In CHAPTER 33 Even David was not reluctant to lend his ears to the tones of voices so sweet; and long ere the chant was ended, his gaze announced that his soul was enthralled.
The Last of the Mohicans By James Fenimore CooperContext Highlight In CHAPTER 33 a. divided into squares; diversified in color; marked by great changes or shifts in fortune
She caught sight of a little green table, blotched with the checkered sunlight that filtered through the quivering leaves overhead.
The red road lay checkered in shade and sun glare beneath the over-arching trees and the many hooves kicked up little red clouds of dust.
Higher up, the lane showed thickening tufts of fern and of the creeping glossy verdure of shaded slopes; trees began to overhang it, and the shade deepened to the checkered dusk of a beech-grove.
v. harbor; treasure; treat with affection and tenderness; hold dear
Love and cherish your sisters.
The interest you cherish is lawless and unconsecrated.
This is the reason why most dyspeptic religionists cherish such melancholy notions about their hereafters.
n. boundary line of a circle, figure, area, or object
It stood prominent six feet, and could not be less than sixteen in circumference.
A circle of a few hundred feet in circumference was drawn, and each of the party took a segment for his portion.
The Last of the Mohicans By James Fenimore CooperContext Highlight In CHAPTER 21 At the head there was a great iron wheel, about twenty feet in circumference, with rings here and there along its edge.
a. of or relating to nonmilitary life
To make matters worse, a vague distrust of those in high places had begun to creep over the civilian population.
His appearance, changed by his civilian dress, was as fascinating to her as though she were some young girl in love.
The commandants of the Yankee troops in the various cities had complete power, even the power of life and death, over the civilian population, and they used that power.
a. having the quality of being viscous or adhesive; soft and sticky; glutinous; damp and adhesive
His face was of a clammy pallor.
Her hand, with palm clammy with perspiration, slid into his.
Sweat broke out on Scarlett with clammy dampness, whenever this thought entered her mind.
v. declare unavailable, as for security reasons; arrange or order by classes or categories
He was fond of talking about Shakespeare, Raphael, Beethoven, of the significance of new schools of poetry and music, all of which were classified by him with very conspicuous consistency.
She knew that Gerty Farish admired her blindly, and therefore supposed that she inspired the same sentiments in Grace Stepney, whom she classified as a Gerty Farish without the saving traits of youth and enthusiasm.
v. occur at the same time as; correspond
I could not be happy with a man whose taste did not in every point coincide with my own.
His plans were suddenly brought to a head by his knowledge that Sir Charles was about to leave the Hall on the advice of Dr. Mortimer, with whose opinion he himself pretended to coincide.
The Hound of the Baskervilles By A. Conan DoyleContext Highlight In Chapter 15. A Retrospection Still, the coincidence of our being together on the coach, was sufficiently strange to fill me with a dread that some other coincidence might at any moment connect me, in his hearing, with my name.
a. of extraordinary size; huge; gigantic
A long, lingering, colossal sigh followed, and his heart broke.
The building had a huge entry, and was altogether of colossal dimensions.
Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever.
v. have a beginning or origin; originate; start; begin
He has a remarkable head-voice, and will commence as a chorister.
He then told me that he would commence his narrative the next day when I should be at leisure.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Letter 4 We accordingly determined to commence our journey towards the north at the expiration of another month.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 19 v. commit, entrust, or give in charge for care or preservation; recommend as worthy of confidence or regard
But I commend the idea to your mind.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ABBEY GRANGE This motto, however, they did not commend to farmer customers who had had crop failures.
To that Providence, my sons, I hereby commend you, and I counsel you by way of caution to forbear from crossing the moor in those dark hours when the powers of evil are exalted.
The Hound of the Baskervilles By A. Conan DoyleContext Highlight In Chapter 2. The Curse of the Baskervilles v. force; coerce; necessitate or pressure by force
I would rather not have gone into this question at present, but you compel me.
Return of the Native By Thomas HardyContext Highlight In BOOK 4: 1 The Rencounter by the Pool Mattie was her relation, not his: there were no means by which he could compel her to keep the girl under her roof.
Edmond, my friend, do not compel me to tarnish that noble and pure image reflected incessantly on the mirror of my heart.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 89. A Nocturnal Interview. a. engaging in a contest; being in the state of competition, often unintentionally
But for a woman to leave the protection of her home and venture out into the rough world of men, competing with them in business, rubbing shoulders with them, being exposed to insult and gossip.
There had always been friends, neighbors, the competent hands of willing slaves.
The Ford Garage and the Buick Garage, competent one-story brick and cement buildings opposite each other.
v. keep from being seen, found, observed, or discovered; secrete
Beaufort had taken effectual measures to conceal himself, and it was ten months before my father discovered his abode.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 1 Mr. Jaggers had seen me with Estella, and was not likely to have missed the sentiments I had been at no pains to conceal.
During this conversation I had retired to a corner of the prison room, where I could conceal the horrid anguish that possessed me.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 8 v. enclose; reach as an end of reasoning; make final determination ; judge or decide; bring to an end
Pray, my dear, allow me to conclude.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 28. Mr. MICAWBER'S GAUNTLET I must conclude, for I cannot be long from my poor mother.
In the mean time, I here conclude the second part of my unfortunate voyages.
Gulliver's Travels(V1) By Jonathan SwiftContext Highlight In PART 2: CHAPTER VIII. n. ally; form a group or unite
They were admitted by a confederate inside the house.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In IX. The Adventure of The Resident Patient They went a long way, on purpose to find a man who would not be a confederate.
She somehow felt like a confederate in crime, and tried to look severe and disapproving.
v. agree in opinion or sentiment; be of the same mind; accord; concur; allow
We both knew that I had but to propose anything, and he would consent.
His wife hesitated a little, however, in giving her consent to this plan.
They each felt his sorrows, and their own obligations, and Marianne, by general consent, was to be the reward of all.
n. result; relation of a result to its cause; logical conclusion or inference
Perhaps, they became the restless people they were, in consequence.
To her it was but the natural consequence of a strong affection in a young and ardent mind.
I have something of consequence to inform you of, which I was on the point of communicating by paper.
v. be made up or composed; be comprised or contained in
These stairs are a part of the bridge; they consist of three flights.
His household used to consist of an elderly housekeeper, Mrs. Marker, and of a maid, Susan Tarlton.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE GOLDEN PINCE-NEZ I found the mess to consist of indifferent potatoes and strange shreds of rusty meat, mixed and cooked together.
v. cheer from distress or depression; alleviate grief and raise spirits of; relieve; comfort
Come, dearest Victor; you alone can console Elizabeth.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 7 He had said it without thinking, simply to console her.
I will not attempt to console you; but will simply relate the circumstances of the transaction.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 7 a. noticeable; prominent; easy to notice; obvious
In the most conspicuous part of the salon was another portrait.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 41. The Presentation. I had abundant occupation for my thoughts, in every conspicuous landmark on the road.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 19. I LOOK ABOUT ME, AND MAKE A DISCOVERY As usual, the oldest women were the most decorated, and the ugliest the most conspicuous.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 96. The Contract. n. state of being despised or dishonored; disgrace; disobedience to, or open disrespect of
Besides, I had a contempt for the uses of modern natural philosophy.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 3 Her contempt for me was so strong, that it became infectious, and I caught it.
The kindness, the unceasing kindness of Mrs. Jennings, I had repaid with ungrateful contempt.
n. volume; something contained; material, including text and images
They were out in the open at last and Gatsby was content.
My companion will be of the same nature as myself and will be content with the same fare.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 17 So I put them round his neck, and she laid her head down on his shoulder quite content and satisfied.
v. constrict; make smaller; compress or concentrate
The contract was read during a profound silence.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 96. The Contract. They were about to proceed to the reading of the contract, which half Paris assembled was to sign.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 96. The Contract. So now, as an infallible way of making little ease great ease, I began to contract a quantity of debt.
v. provide; bestow a quality on
If each of the board would contribute the same, they could have the books.
I promised to contribute a water-colour drawing: this put her at once into good humour.
On the present occasion, for the better entertainment of their visitor, towards whose amusement he felt himself bound to contribute, he wished to engage them for both.
n. change something into another form; transform
Erik talked of books; flamed like a recent convert to any faith.
Mary was a stewardess, and she tried to convert him on the way over.
That lively cry upon this deadly calm might almost convert a better man.
v. find or declare guilty
My convict never looked at me, except that once.
I had no fear, therefore, that any circumstantial evidence could be brought forward strong enough to convict her.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 7 The other convict was livid to look at, and, in addition to the old bruised left side of his face, seemed to be bruised and torn all over.
n. practice of cooperating; joint operation or action
Some of these places were kept by private persons, some were cooperative.
Fyodor came from a village at some distance from the one in which Levin had once allotted land to his cooperative association.
The shoemaking and mending, the blacksmithing, cartwrighting, coopering, weaving, and grain-grinding, were all performed by the slaves on the home plantation.
a. gracious; showing warm and friendliness
It was like her cordial voice in my ears.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 34. MY AUNT ASTONISHES ME As when I saw my little darling looking up so naturally to those cordial eyes.
I welcomed my friend, therefore, in the most cordial manner, and we walked towards my college.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 5 n. enclosure for confining livestock; enclosure formed by a circle of wagons for defense against attack during an encampment
The men could not go farther than the barns and corral.
Each withdrew to a far corner of his own corral, and then they made for each other at a gallop.
She got her cattle home, turned them into the corral, and went into the house, into her room behind the kitchen, and shut the door.
My Antonia By Willa CatherContext Highlight In BOOK 4. The Pioneer Woman's Story: III v. destroy metal or alloy gradually, especially by chemical action; be eaten or worn away
Only ragged vestiges of glass remained in its windows, and great sheets of the green facing had fallen away from the corroded metallic framework.
In the middle of it rose two great stones, worn and sharpened at the upper end until they looked like the huge corroding fangs of some monstrous beast.
The Hound of the Baskervilles By A. Conan DoyleContext Highlight In Chapter 8. First Report of Dr. Watson Here I was more in my element, for rising on either side of me were the huge bulks of big machines, all greatly corroded and many broken down, but some still fairly complete.
a. relating to, or characterized by, skill; dexterous; skillful
In the end he deemed it best to be crafty with him, so in this mind he went up to his father, who was bending down and digging about a plant.
When he had thus announced his liberal intention, the crafty chief arose, and gravely spread his presents before the dazzled eyes of his hosts.
The Last of the Mohicans By James Fenimore CooperContext Highlight In CHAPTER 28 I recollect well how indignantly my heart beat, as I saw his crafty face, with the appropriately red light of the fire upon it, preparing for something else.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 25. GOOD AND BAD ANGELS a. of a rich deep red color inclining to purple; bloody
Inside, the crimson room bloomed with light.
Vronsky opened the letter, and flushed crimson.
A crimson flush was glowing on her cheek, that had been long so pale.
The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel HawthorneContext Highlight In XVIII. A FLOOD OF SUNSHINE n. dangerous situation; crucial or decisive point or situation; a turning point
I saw that a crisis was at hand, and it came.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 49. I AM INVOLVED IN MYSTERY That I retired to bed in a most maudlin state of mind, and got up in a crisis of feeble infatuation.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 26. I FALL INTO CAPTIVITY The sergeant and I were in the kitchen when Mrs. Joe stood staring; at which crisis I partially recovered the use of my senses.
a. being in an unrefined or natural state; raw; lacking tact or taste; blunt or offensive
The crude reds and greens and blues of that coloured glass held us there.
But Atlanta was of her own generation, crude with the crudities of youth and as headstrong and impetuous as herself.
Life in the north Georgia county of Clayton was still new and, according to the standards of Augusta, Savannah and Charleston, a little crude.
n. delicately beautiful or charming; exquisite; gratification or pleasure taken in anything
Certainly Torvald does understand how to make a house dainty and attractive.
After a dainty egg and fish dinner, Tom said he wanted to learn to smoke, now.
However, the wolf thought he was in joke, and came one night to get a dainty morsel.
v. moisten; lessen in force or effect
a. neatly dressed; very stylish in dress; lively and alert
He was a dapper young fellow, with a light brown mustache and blue eyes, and a graceful figure.
It was like some strange caricature of the dapper James Wilder whom we had seen the night before.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In V. THE ADVENTURE OF THE PRIORY SCHOOL The moon shone upon him, and I could distinguish the dapper shape and jaunty walk of the naturalist.
The Hound of the Baskervilles By A. Conan DoyleContext Highlight In Chapter 12. Death on the Moor a. fatal; lethal; causing or tending to cause death
I half expected to see him drop down before my face and die of deadly cold.
They little guessed what deadly purport lurked in those self-condemning words.
The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel HawthorneContext Highlight In XI. THE INTERIOR OF A HEART The distance was nothing, but the power of the sea and wind made the strife deadly.
n. discussion; dispute; discussion involving opposing points
A grand debate at the general assembly of the Houyhnhnms, and how it was determined.
Gulliver's Travels(V2) By Jonathan SwiftContext Highlight In PART 4: CHAPTER IX. But whether I should write this apology, or deliver it in person, was a point of long debate.
In the debate as to whether there should be veal loaf or poached egg on hash, she had no chance to be heretical and oversensitive.
a. falling off as of leaves; falling off or shed at specific season or stage of growth
Brambles, though churlish when handled, are kindly shelter in early winter, being the latest of the deciduous bushes to lose their leaves.
Return of the Native By Thomas HardyContext Highlight In BOOK 2: 7 A Coalition between Beauty and Oddness v. convert code into ordinary language; read with difficulty
First, they can decipher all initial letters into political meanings.
Gulliver's Travels(V2) By Jonathan SwiftContext Highlight In PART 3: CHAPTER VI. An immediate interest kindled within me for the unknown Catherine, and I began forthwith to decipher her faded hieroglyphics.
At first I had neglected them, but now that I was able to decipher the characters in which they were written, I began to study them with diligence.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 15 v. abandon or turn against; cease or change one's loyalty
Certainly there was no physical defect.
I am perfectly convinced by it that Mr. Darcy has no defect.
I fancy, Lizzy, that obstinacy is the real defect of his character, after all.
v. reduce level; lower grade of something
He had listened till he heard Catherine say it would degrade her to marry him, and then he stayed to hear no further.
The capitalist and aristocrat of England cannot feel that as we do, because they do not mingle with the class they degrade as we do.
But Georgia, by its stubborn resistance, had so far escaped this final degradation.
a. being in low spirits; depressed
We went to bed greatly dejected.
I am terribly dejected for about a week or two.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 18. A RETROSPECT I was greatly dejected and distressed, but in an incoherent wholesale sort of way.
v. consider; think about carefully; weigh
Here then, from three impartial witnesses, I had a deliberate statement of the entire case.
But she was a deliberate and joyous spendthrift in her preparations for her first party, the housewarming.
By this curious turn of disposition I have gained the reputation of deliberate heartlessness; how undeserved, I alone can appreciate.
v. raze; destroy; do away with completely; put an end to
The heirs at once gave out the order for the demolishing of Shipley.
Fritchley, a perfect old Georgian mansion, was even now, as Connie passed in the car, being demolished.
The split-rail fence around the kitchen garden had been demolished and the once orderly rows of green plants had suffered the same treatment as those at Tara.
a. thick; crowded closely together; compact
Nor care I now, how dense and grim.
She could see nothing, in fact, but a dense darkness on either side.
It was so thick, and the foliage so dense, that it was quite fatiguing to proceed.
a. reliable; worthy of being depended on; trustworthy
She told herself how good he was, how dependable and understanding.
It was the first time that either of them had found a dependable intellectual companionship.
Beth is the best of little creeters, and a sight of help to me, bein so forehanded and dependable.
v. decrease fullness of; use up or empty out
The luncheon table showed a depleted circle.
The depleted band drew a long breath of relief and gathered itself into a bunch to complete its trip.
By the time the depleted regiment had again reached the first open space they were receiving a fast and merciless fire.
v. lower in spirits; press down
He was silent and I guessed at his unutterable depression.
My habitual mood of humiliation, self-doubt, forlorn depression, fell damp on the embers of my decaying ire.
His heart warmed to Golenishtchev for this remark, and from a state of depression he suddenly passed to ecstasy.
n. one appointed as the substitute of another, and empowered to act for him; substitute in office
And after having assured himself that the prisoner was gone, the deputy procureur hastened to the house of his betrothed.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 7. The Examination. Excitement was at fever beat until the morning papers, two days after, announced that the wounded deputy sheriffs were out of danger.
Villefort hastily quitted the apartment, but reflecting that the sight of the deputy procureur running through the streets would be enough to throw the whole city into confusion, he resumed his ordinary pace.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 9. The Evening of the Betrothal.