n. a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen
Soon after we heard that the poor victim had expressed a desire to see my cousin.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 8 I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would reply to mine.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Letter 2 What had been the study and desire of the wisest men since the creation of the world was now within my grasp.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 4 n. loss of hope; utter hopelessness; complete despondency
But when he entered, misery and despair alone welcomed him.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 1 You have hope, and the world before you, and have no cause for despair.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Letter 4 But I did not feel the inconvenience of the weather; my imagination was busy in scenes of evil and despair.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 7 v. keep back or from; withhold; restrain from proceeding; stay or stop; delay
Selden roused himself to detain her.
I can detain you both, quite concealed, here.
I shall detain you until this evening in the Palais de Justice.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 7. The Examination. a. completely lacking; barren or empty
Villefort watched him with alarm not devoid of admiration.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 12. Father and Son. You thought me then devoid of every proper feeling, I am sure you did.
The rugged eloquence with which he spoke, was not devoid of all effect.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 32. THE BEGINNING OF A LONG JOURNEY n. right-handedness; readiness and grace in physical activity; skill and ease in using the hands; expertness in manual acts
They advanced rapidly and noiselessly, with the confidence and dexterity of practised scouts.
A Study In Scarlet By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In PART II: CHAPTER I. ON THE GREAT ALKALI PLAIN But, he was on his feet directly, and after sponging himself with a great show of dexterity began squaring again.
My remedy was to cut them in pieces with my knife, as they flew in the air, wherein my dexterity was much admired.
Gulliver's Travels(V1) By Jonathan SwiftContext Highlight In PART 2: CHAPTER III. v. be or stand apart; disagree; be unlike; be distinguished
There I must umbly beg leave to differ from you.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 39. WICKFIELD AND HEEP But there are points where St. Clare and I differ.
If you are one of those who want us to consume it, I differ from you.
v. break down; make more concise; convert food into absorbable substances
Scarlett looked at her, her brow wrinkling with the effort to digest the words.
I think of myself as so superior, but I do eat and digest, I do wash my dirty paws and scratch.
No possible way for him to digest that jack-knife, and fully incorporate it into his general bodily system.
v. dwindle; reduce; make smaller or less or to cause to appear so
I watched to see whether it would spread: but no; as it did not diminish, so it did not enlarge.
Nor, in profile, does this wondrous brow diminish; though that way viewed its grandeur does not domineer upon you so.
Perhaps one of those beloved ones he had so often thought of was thinking of him, and striving to diminish the distance that separated them.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 15. Number 34 and Number 27. v. throw out something from one's hand; get rid of
You must discard the word Fancy altogether.
But it is women who are the calm realists once they discard the fetishes of the premarital hunt.
But you have discarded your titles after the example set you by Messrs.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 46. Unlimited Credit. v. relieve of a burden or of contents; unload; pour forth or release; complete or carry out; give off
The more retired we live, the better I shall discharge it.
I solemnly accepted his commission, dear good fellow, and cannot discharge it too completely.
I appealed to one who, in the discharge of what he believed his duty, knew neither mercy nor remorse.
v. stop considering; end employment or service of; discharge; refuse to accept or recognize
It is already known at the Bank that I mean to dismiss Krogstad.
It is a reflection I am unable to dismiss, and it sometimes makes me very uneasy.
From their tongues they did dismiss it; and Catherine, probably, from her thoughts.
v. move or shift from the usual place or position, especially to force to leave a homeland
He waited in order to allow pure air to displace the foul atmosphere, and then went on.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 24. The Secret Cave. He began by moving his bed, and looked around for anything with which he could pierce the wall, penetrate the moist cement, and displace a stone.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 15. Number 34 and Number 27. The reason of her sudden displacement now appeared.
Return of the Native By Thomas HardyContext Highlight In BOOK 1: 2 Humanity Appears upon the Scene, Hand in Hand with Trouble a. unequal; unbalanced; too much or too little in relation to something else
And try to restrain the disproportionate fervour with which you throw yourself into commonplace home pleasures.
He is small for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES Her Armand was disproportionately young and slight, a handsome youth, perplexed in the extreme.
n. argument; angry altercation; quarrel; verbal controversy; debate
A long dispute followed this declaration; but Mr. Bennet was firm.
I need not say that we were strangers to any species of disunion or dispute.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 2 The question of the possibility of having children had long been a subject of dispute and irritation to her.
v. upset; throw into confusion or disorder
The mails were still disrupted, no one knew where the Confederates were or what the Yankees were up to.
v. melt; liquefy; cause to pass into solution; cause to disappear or vanish
It would take many years for the living blood of the generations to dissolve the vast black clot of bruised blood, deep inside their souls and bodies.
I suffered unspeakable trouble while I considered and reconsidered whether I should at last dissolve that spell of my childhood and tell Joe all the story.
It was mid-April, and one felt that the revelry had reached its climax and that the desultory groups in the square and gardens would soon dissolve and re-form in other scenes.
n. discomfort; cause strain, anxiety, or suffering to
In the midst of my distress, I had no notion of going back.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 13. THE SEQUEL OF MY RESOLUTION Elinor, affected by his relation, and still more by his distress, could not speak.
That individual is in legal possession of the premises, under a distress for rent.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 28. Mr. MICAWBER'S GAUNTLET v. hand out; disseminate; allocate
Several times she appeared suddenly among them, with her hands full of candy, nuts, and oranges, which she would distribute joyfully to them, and then be gone again.
I noticed throughout, that he kept everything under his own hand, and distributed everything himself.
Locksley now proceeded to the distribution of the spoil, which he performed with the most laudable impartiality.
v. provide written evidence; record in detail
I never attested any such document.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 52. I ASSIST AT AN EXPLOSION Giles slit the flap of an apparently business document.
I could not help smiling at the document when I had completed it.
A Study In Scarlet By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In PART I: CHAPTER II. THE SCIENCE OF DEDUCTION v. cultivate; make fit for cultivation, domestic life, and service to humans
All his wishes centered in domestic comfort and the quiet of private life.
Quite as comfortable as we can expect a young mother to be, under these melancholy domestic circumstances.
My life had hitherto been remarkably secluded and domestic, and this had given me invincible repugnance to new countenances.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 3 a. weak-minded; foolishly loving and indulgent
No one except the doting father could see anything beautiful about her, but the neighbors were charitable enough to say that all ugly babies turned out pretty, eventually.
Melanie especially doted on him.
It is out of the idolatrous dotings of the old Egyptians upon broiled ibis and roasted river horse, that you see the mummies of those creatures in their huge bake-houses the pyramids.
a. dull; lacking color; lacking in liveliness, charm, or surprise
Oozing out from every drab wall, she felt a forbidding spirit which she could never conquer.
Rendered complete by drab pantaloons and a buff waistcoat, I thought Mr. Barkis a phenomenon of respectability.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 10. I BECOME NEGLECTED, AND AM PROVIDED FOR Simeon Halliday, a tall, straight, muscular man, in drab coat and pantaloons, and broad-brimmed hat, now entered.
v. wet through and through; soak; put potion down throat of; steep in moisture; wet thoroughly
He cannot be in bed, I thought: those showers would drench him through.
And now a drenching rain poured down and the rising hurricane drove it in sheets along the ground.
Only then he suddenly awoke to the fact that he had been wrong about the weather and the rain was drenching his hay.
n. dry period; aridity; long period of abnormally low rainfall
I then worked the lawn very carefully for signs and traces, but this drought has made everything as hard as iron.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In II. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NORWOOD BUILDER He must have been born in some time of general drought and famine, or upon one of those fast days for which his state is famous.
Moby Dick By Herman MelvilleContext Highlight In CHAPTER 26. Knights and Squires. The drought which Reuben administered was of a sedative and narcotic quality, and secured the patient sound and undisturbed slumbers.
a. dull with sleepiness; showing lack of attention
Here I sit at the desk again, on a drowsy summer afternoon.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 7. MY 'FIRST HALF' AT SALEM HOUSE As she went on talking he listened in a drowsy, interested way.
Within five minutes he was dressed and down-stairs, feeling sore and drowsy.
a. expressing, or consisting of, the number two; belonging to two
If the plot lacked lucidity, the dual motif of legs and pie was clear and sure.
In his singular character the dual nature alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally predominated in him.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE n. one that corresponds exactly to another, especially an original; identical copy; facsimile
Yet he is, for all the world, in constitution and habit, a duplicate of my father.
She was the exact duplicate of the other Pharaon, and loaded, as that had been, with cochineal and indigo.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 30. The Fifth of September. It was claimed that same evening, and returned; but in the interval I had taken a moulding of it, and had a duplicate constructed.
A Study In Scarlet By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In PART II: CHAPTER VI. A CONTINUATION OF THE REMINISCENCES OF JOHN W... v. live as a resident; exist in a given place or state
I am glad to dwell upon the earnestness and love with which she lifted up her face to mine, and did so.
When I first saw him I thought him plain, but now his appearance is like that of the gods who dwell in heaven.
No, really, my dear Doctor, you must excuse me if I appear to dwell on this rather, because I feel so very strongly.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 16. I AM A NEW BOY IN MORE SENSES THAN ONE n. satisfaction; pleasure; entertainment; freedom from care
I have been too much at my ease, too happy, too frank.
Her heart was not so much at ease, nor her satisfaction in their amusements so pure.
I continued walking in this manner for some time, endeavouring by bodily exercise to ease the load that weighed upon my mind.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 5 a. thrifty; saving; using the minimum of time or resources necessary for effectiveness
We have got on very economical so fur.
There were no signs of struggle, neither social nor economical struggle.
On his long, gaunt body, he carried no spare flesh, no superfluous beard, his chin having a soft, economical nap to it, like the worn nap of his broad-brimmed hat.
n. decree ,especially issued by a sovereign; official command
Whereupon the emperor his father published an edict, commanding all his subjects, upon great penalties, to break the smaller end of their eggs.
Gulliver's Travels(V1) By Jonathan SwiftContext Highlight In PART 1: CHAPTER IV. Force had been piled on top of force and military edicts in increasing numbers had rendered the civil authority more and more impotent.
But she had a guilty sense of pleasure that the doctors' edict had made impossible any real intimacy between Ashley and his wife.
a. efficient; productive; producing a strong impression or response
But outwardly he began to be effective.
An exit ought always to be effective, Mrs Linde; but that is what I cannot make Nora understand.
They were not the leafy words of an effective life, young with energy and belonging to the tree.
a. effective; acting directly to produce an effect; exhibiting a high ratio of output to input
Yet they seemed to be as efficient as the Sam Clarks.
And in many ways the animal method of doing things was more efficient and saved labour.
And if you are inclined to despise the day of small things, seek some more efficient succour than such as I can offer.
a. marked by complexity and richness of detail; done with care and in minute detail
Zeena, while he spoke, seemed to be following out some elaborate mental calculation.
She knew that his elaborate gallantries and his florid speeches were all done with his tongue in his cheek.
It was that night he sent for me at his dance, and you should have heard the elaborate way he worked up to it.
a. overjoyed; extremely happy and excited
Nevertheless I left that gallery greatly elated.
She was satisfied with her success, but not elated.
My Antonia By Willa CatherContext Highlight In BOOK 4. The Pioneer Woman's Story: I I liked this scheme, and Provis was quite elated by it.
v. raise; give a promotion to or assign to a higher position
His first act was to elevate his torch to a level with my face, squint malignantly, project his under-lip, and turn away.
She felt that he had every thing to elevate him which general attention and deference, and especially the attention of all the young women, could do.
They elevated me from all littleness of feeling, and although they did not remove my grief, they subdued and tranquillized it.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 10 v. avoid cleverly; escape perception of
But she knew a way to elude them.
I had dared and baffled his fury; I must elude his sorrow: I retired to the door.
Yet every now and then one would come straight towards me, setting loose a quivering horror that made me quick to elude him.
v. commence; go on board a boat or airplane; begin a journey
And, to be frank with you, brother, I would not embark with you in this matter, even if I could hope to bring my bark to haven.
Upon this, I told him that whaling was my own design, and informed him of my intention to sail out of Nantucket, as being the most promising port for an adventurous whaleman to embark from.
George, with his wife, children, sister and mother, embarked for Africa, some few weeks after.
v. come into prominence; spring up; appear
By the straits of Sunda, chiefly, vessels bound to China from the west, emerge into the China seas.
And then had been spun between them an early morning thread before the twigs and leaves of real friendship emerge.
It was fifteen minutes after the hour when he saw a form emerge from the snow mist, and sprang toward it with a cry.
v. engage the services of; put to work; apply
The proctors employ the advocates.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 23. I CORROBORATE Mr. DICK, AND CHOOSE A PROFESSI... My dear Dora, unless we learn to do our duty to those whom we employ, they will never learn to do their duty to us.
When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands, I hesitated a long time concerning the manner in which I should employ it.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 4 v. charm by sorcery; get control of by magical words and rites
First you will come to the Sirens who enchant all who come near them.
He said it was all done by enchantment.
Yet it was like a piece of enchantment.
Andersen's Fairy Tales By Hans Christian AndersenContext Highlight In THE SHADOW v. include; surround on all sides; close in
We had three copies typewritten, one of which I enclose.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In II. The Adventure of the Cardboard Box He read the letter through and felt pleased with it, and especially that he had remembered to enclose money: there was not a harsh word, not a reproach in it, nor was there undue indulgence.
Some money was enclosed in this letter also.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 40. THE WANDERER v. threaten; jeopardize; do something that may damage it or destroy it
The emperor, and all his court, came out to meet us; but his great officers would by no means suffer his majesty to endanger his person by mounting on my body.
Yet it is terrible to reflect that the lives of all these men are endangered through me.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 24 Eustacia could not help replying, though conscious that she endangered her dignity thereby.
Return of the Native By Thomas HardyContext Highlight In BOOK 1: 10 A Desperate Attempt at Persuasion v. grant; award; give qualities or abilities to
Readily would she endow this voice with all her treasure if so be tears could be ended.
Madame de Villefort has nothing of her own, and hates me for being so richly endowed.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 51. Pyramus and Thisbe. Such, then, were the splendours with which the gods had endowed the house of king Alcinous.
v. put force upon; force; constrain; compel; put in motion or action by violence
The deliberate woodsman had little occasion to hunt for arguments to enforce his advice.
The Last of the Mohicans By James Fenimore CooperContext Highlight In CHAPTER 25 For three years the Federal government had been trying to impose alien ideas and an alien rule upon Georgia and, with an army to enforce its commands, it had largely succeeded.
The opinions which she felt strongly, she avowed boldly; and Cedric, who could not free himself from his habitual deference to her opinions, felt totally at a loss how to enforce his authority of guardian.
v. occupy exclusively; absorb; acquire most or all of; write or print the final draft of; make large or larger
But self, though it would intrude, could not engross her.
But his cherished scheme only engrossed him the more.
Later on he had been engrossed in other questions, and had simply forgotten the Board of Irrigation.
v. absorb or swallow up as in a gulf; flow over or cover completely
As the high watery walls came rolling in, and, at their highest, tumbled into surf, they looked as if the least would engulf the town.
v. make sure or certain; insure; assure
Nothing can ensure the continuance of love.
Return of the Native By Thomas HardyContext Highlight In BOOK 3: 4 An Hour of Bliss and Many Hours of Sadness One paternal kind precaution he had taken to ensure my having a companion.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 18 It was evident that the report concerning her had spread, and a short pause succeeded, which seemed to ensure that it would now spread farther.
n. malice; ill will; discontent or uneasiness at another's excellence or good fortune, accompanied with hatred
All the men in her circle seemed to admire her and envy me.
I envy you your peace of mind, your clean conscience, your unpolluted memory.
If he had any feeling for his brother at that moment, it was envy for the knowledge the dying man had now that he could not have.
n. outbreak of a contagious disease that spreads rapidly and widely; widely prevalent
A serious epidemic broke out in the school and three of the boys died.
The Hound of the Baskervilles By A. Conan DoyleContext Highlight In Chapter 7. The Stapletons of Merripit House It turned out that the Jeroboam had a malignant epidemic on board, and that Mayhew, her captain, was fearful of infecting the Pequod's company.
Moby Dick By Herman MelvilleContext Highlight In CHAPTER 71. The Jeroboam's Story. n. the imaginary great circle on the earth's surface, everywhere equally distant from the two poles, and dividing the earth's surface into two hemispheres
Be cool at the equator; keep thy blood fluid at the Pole.
The tick escaped from Tom, presently, and crossed the equator.
"An island situated on the other side of the equator, at least two thousand leagues from here," replied the count.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 6. The Deputy Procureur du Roi. v. set up or found; build
It is right to establish a good understanding at the beginning.
Still, we can hypothesize, even if we cannot prove and establish.
As a parent, Kennicott was moved to establish the first child-welfare week held in Gopher Prairie.
v. judge to be probable; form an opinion about; evaluate
Pray make Brooke useful, and draw on me for funds if expenses exceed your estimate.
He was said to own a thousand slaves, and I think this estimate quite within the truth.
But it was in the quality of his admiration that she read his shrewd estimate of her case.
a. forever; being without beginning or end; existing outside of time; infinite
Inflamed by pain, I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 16 But he never justified himself by a hint tending that way, or tried to bend the past out of its eternal shape.
I came into the valley, as the evening sun was shining on the remote heights of snow, that closed it in, like eternal clouds.
a. relating to races; group of people sharing common racial, national, or religious heritage
v. be superior; distinguish oneself
The learning of this people is very defective, consisting only in morality, history, poetry, and mathematics, wherein they must be allowed to excel.
Gulliver's Travels(V1) By Jonathan SwiftContext Highlight In PART 2: CHAPTER VII. However, this confirmed my first opinion, that a people who could so far civilise brute animals, must needs excel in wisdom all the nations of the world.
Gulliver's Travels(V2) By Jonathan SwiftContext Highlight In PART 4: CHAPTER II. Look now at Stubb; a man who from his humorous, deliberate coolness and equanimity in the direst emergencies, was specially qualified to excel in pitchpoling.
n. patch; wide and open extent, as of surface, land, or sky
An unvaried pall of cloud muffled the whole expanse of sky from zenith to horizon.
The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel HawthorneContext Highlight In XII. THE MINISTER'S VIGIL He flapped a drowsy welcoming hand at her from the expanse of quilt and dented pillows.
They shot higher and higher and widened rapidly into a broad expanse of red before her terrified eyes.
n. journey organized for a particular purpose
Yes, I am on an expedition of duty.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 19. I LOOK ABOUT ME, AND MAKE A DISCOVERY This expedition has been the favourite dream of my early years.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Letter 1 On the day before there had been almost a quarrel between Vronsky and Anna over this proposed expedition.
n. interjection; word or phrase having no independent meaning; expression usually of surprise or anger
Strings of expletives he swung lashlike over the backs of his men, and it was evident that his previous efforts had in nowise impaired his resources.
v. sell or transfer abroad; send to another country for sale
made of all swine products exported to countries requiring.
a. widespread; far-reaching; wide
My journeys became more and more extensive and more productive.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 44. The Vendetta. I am sorry to say that my patronage ends with this; and my interest is hardly more extensive.
On the occasion of this domestic little party, I did not repeat my former extensive preparations.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 28. Mr. MICAWBER'S GAUNTLET v. eliminate; eradicate; kill on a large scale; kill man
They mutually exterminated one another.
He had lost in the fierce battle of greed, and so was doomed to be exterminated; and all society was busied to see that he did not escape the sentence.