a. outermost; utmost; farthest; most remote; at the widest limit
She fainted, and was restored with extreme difficulty.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 7 My own agitation and anguish was extreme during the whole trial.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 8 Exhaustion succeeded to the extreme fatigue both of body and of mind which I had endured.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 9 n. small, smooth, flat surface, as on a bone or tooth; side; a smooth surface
In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a bloody deed.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE This last facet of Vida's thought was the one which, after a year, was most often turned to the light.
n. anything that contributes causally to a result; element; variable
The Negro as a political factor can be controlled.
And yet this new factor must surely arrest his attention and renew his interest.
The Hound of the Baskervilles By A. Conan DoyleContext Highlight In Chapter 10. Extract from the Diary of Dr. Watson We have this Beppo as a common factor, both in Kennington and in Kensington, so that is worth a ten-mile drive.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SIX NAPOLEONS a. given with strong assurance; firm in adherence to promises or in observance of duty
And in return you will enjoy all the privileges of a faithful wife without fulfilling her duties.
Exactly what he had been in my eyes then, he was in my eyes still; just as simply faithful, and as simply right.
It was not because I was faithful, but because Joe was faithful, that I never ran away and went for a soldier or a sailor.
n. shortage of food; starvation
All deaths are bad enough but there is none so bad as famine.
The very rats, which here and there lay putrefying in its rottenness, were hideous with famine.
They apprehended my breaking loose; that my diet would be very expensive, and might cause a famine.
Gulliver's Travels(V1) By Jonathan SwiftContext Highlight In PART 1: CHAPTER II. n. food and drink; diet; transportation charge; a paying passenger
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 Amy, who was fond of delicate fare, took a heaping spoonful, choked, hid her face in her napkin, and left the table precipitately.
She was too tired, sometimes, even to smile, John grew dyspeptic after a course of dainty dishes and ungratefully demanded plain fare.
a. capable of arousing and holding the attention
It seemed to her like a fascinating sort of play.
The robin was evidently in a fascinating, bold mood.
His appearance, changed by his civilian dress, was as fascinating to her as though she were some young girl in love.
a. causing death; leading to failure or disaster
Estella, dearest Estella, do not let Miss Havisham lead you into this fatal step.
I have seen it, Herbert, and dreamed of it, ever since the fatal night of his arrival.
I dared not ask the fatal question, but I was known, and the officer guessed the cause of my visit.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 8 n. an achievement that requires great courage, skill, or strength; accomplishment
This particular feat of the shark seems all but miraculous.
Tis but to help strike a fin; no wondrous feat for Starbuck.
They had learned retreating under Old Joe, who had made it as great a feat of strategy as advancing.
a. lacking vigor, force, or effectiveness; faint; frail
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 He laughed heartily at my feeble portrait of that gentleman, and said he was a man to know, and he must know him.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 28. Mr. MICAWBER'S GAUNTLET Her once active limbs were so stiff and feeble that Jo took her for a daily airing about the house in her strong arms.
a. apt; suitably expressed; well chosen
The felicitous idea occurred to me a morning or two later when I woke, that the best step I could take towards making myself uncommon was to get out of Biddy everything she knew.
First they took out the soil to make bricks, and then they filled it up again with garbage, which seemed to Jurgis and Ona a felicitous arrangement, characteristic of an enterprising country like America.
While this scene was going on at the tavern, Sam and Andy, in a state of high felicitation, pursued their way home.
a. fierce; savage; wild; indicating cruelty
He drank again, and became more ferocious.
THEY used to come at all hours, and some of them were quite ferocious.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 11. I BEGIN LIFE ON MY OWN ACCOUNT, AND DON'T LIK... Villefort pronounced these last words with a feverish rage, which gave a ferocious eloquence to his words.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 99. The Law. n. shuttle; transport by boat or aircraft
I was away below the ferry now.
They crossed the Minnesota River in a rowboat ferry.
MY nearest way to Yarmouth, in coming back from these long walks, was by a ferry.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 22. SOME OLD SCENES, AND SOME NEW PEOPLE n. any substance used to make soil more fertile
Of course Jurgis had made his home a miniature fertilizer mill a minute after entering.
Worst of any, however, were the fertilizer men, and those who served in the cooking rooms.
The building had to be left open, and when the wind blew Durham and Company lost a great deal of fertilizer.
a. offering fun and gaiety; joyous; celebratory
They were driving on their way to dinner with a friend in the most festive state of mind.
They gave up trying to be festive; they began to talk naturally, as they did at their shops and homes.
His own, at the moment, lent it a festive readiness of welcome that might well, in a disenchanted eye, have turned to paint and facility.
n. slender, elongated, threadlike object or structure; material to make paper or cloth
All the clothing that was to be had in the stores was made of cotton and shoddy, which is made by tearing old clothes to pieces and weaving the fiber again.
He knew at once that the steel fibers had been washed from their hearts.
n. management of money and credit and banking and investments; subsidizing; fund
Secular and religious education had effaced the throat-grappling instinct, or else firm finance held in check the passions.
Father agreed to finance me for a year and after various delays I came east, permanently, I thought, in the spring of twenty-two.
He talked only of the obvious and tedious aspects; never of his aspirations in finance, nor of the mechanical principles of motors.
n. fixed foundation; established base; region of the air; sky or heavens; the most remote of the celestial spheres
A falling star shone in the dark firmament.
Andersen's Fairy Tales By Hans Christian AndersenContext Highlight In THE SHOES OF FORTUNE Monte Cristo raised his eyes, but he could not see the heavens; there was a stone veil between him and the firmament.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 113. The Past. The distant rims of the world and of the firmament seemed to be a division in time no less than a division in matter.
Return of the Native By Thomas HardyContext Highlight In BOOK 1: 1 A Face on Which Time Makes but Little Impression n. long narrow opening ; long narrow depression in surface
The fissure is about a foot across.
Moby Dick By Herman MelvilleContext Highlight In CHAPTER 75. The Right Whale's Head—Contrasted View. As the blankets yielded before the outward pressure, and the branches settled in the fissure of the rock by their own weight, forming a compact body, Duncan once more breathed freely.
Now the other side presented itself to Lily, the volcanic nether side of the surface over which conjecture and innuendo glide so lightly till the first fissure turns their whisper to a shriek.
a. easily ignited and capable of burning rapidly; inflammable
v. rise and fall in or as if in waves; shift; vary irregularly
She had time to take a fresh survey of her wretchedness, and to fluctuate anew between the impulse to confide in Selden and the dread of destroying his illusions.
Her family had of late been exceedingly fluctuating.
But the Judge had a most discouraging way of fluctuating.
a. easy and graceful in shape; graceful; smooth and unconstrained in movement
I understood her very well, for I had been accustomed to the fluent tongue of Madame Pierrot.
Cousin Tom, though not fluent in speech, had inspired me with that desire by his eloquent description of the place.
She was not very tall, a bit Scottish and short; but she had a certain fluent, down-slipping grace that might have been beauty.
n. most important thing; a fixed reference point; center of interest or activity
Of course it is a nucleus and focus of crime.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE It was the pitiful sight of a man standing in the very focus of sorrow.
Return of the Native By Thomas HardyContext Highlight In BOOK 5: 1 "Wherefore Is Light Given to Him That Is in Misery" It was impossible to believe that she had herself ever been a focus of activities.
n. enemy; one who entertains hatred, grudge; adversary
Your Missis has not been my friend: she has been my foe.
Nay, Henry might stand between me and the intrusion of my foe.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) ShelleyContext Highlight In Chapter 18 Like noiseless nautilus shells, their light prows sped through the sea; but only slowly they neared the foe.
Moby Dick By Herman MelvilleContext Highlight In CHAPTER 133. The Chase—First Day. n. act that violates of the rules of a sport
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. Yes, she was sick of the hospital, the foul smells, the lice, the aching, unwashed bodies.
Then he sent his chariots and horsemen to Agamemnon, and invited him to the feast, but he meant foul play.
n. noisy, disorderly fight or quarrel; disturbance
From the right came the noise of a terrific fracas.
a. having a pleasant or sweet smell; odorous
The fragrant philter which I need.
No pity, procureur; the crime is fragrant.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 80. The Accusation. The little party recovered its equanimity at sight of the fragrant feast.
a. physically weak; easily broken
Perhaps this and her healthy enjoyment of walking and riding had turned him from her to the frail Melanie.
But excessive grief is like a storm at sea, where the frail bark is tossed from the depths to the top of the wave.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 20. The Cemetery of the Chateau D'If. With a thrill she looked up at the frail swaying girl for whom she had never had any feelings but of dislike and contempt.
a. cheating; deceitful; planning or using fraud; given to practice of fraud
Most of them were illegal and fraudulent but they were issued just the same.
They hang, behead, and impale their criminals in the most agreeable possible manner; but some of these, like clever rogues, have contrived to escape human justice, and succeed in their fraudulent enterprises by cunning stratagems.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 52. Toxicology. n. act of executing or performing any duty; assigned duty or activity
Aristocracy is a function, a part of fate.
It is a question of which function you are brought up to and adapted to.
But, two days before the function, a rumor went about Atlanta that Governor Bullock had been invited.
v. combine; blend; become plastic or fluid or liquefied from heat
In this atmosphere, as nerve straining as watching a slow fuse burn toward a barrel of gunpowder, Scarlett came rapidly back to strength.
In such emergencies, Judy would usually have turned to Lily to fuse the discordant elements; and Miss Bart, assuming that such a service was expected of her, threw herself into it with her accustomed zeal.
It was Selden himself who unwittingly fused the group by arresting the attention of one of its members.
n. angry disturbance; excited state of agitation; needlessly nervous or useless activity; protest; quarrel
Bjornstam did not fuss over her.
I told her the night she fuss let me sleep in her cellar.
You fuss over Carol Kennicott when she has some crazy theory that we all ought to turn anarchists or live on figs and nuts or something.
n. manner of walking or stepping; bearing or carriage while moving; walk; rate of moving
He was soon able to imitate the gait and manner of everyone in the street.
Andersen's Fairy Tales By Hans Christian AndersenContext Highlight In THE SNOW QUEEN Prissy quickened her gait infinitesimally and Scarlett went back into the house.
At that instant Alexey Alexandrovitch did in fact walk into the room with his calm, awkward gait.
a. courtly; lively and spirited; having or displaying great dignity or nobility
asked a gallant troubadour of the fairy queen who.
I was not afraid of the shabby coat, and had no yearnings after gallant greys.
Lynn; and Mary Ingram listened languidly to the gallant speeches of the other.
v. dance and skip about in sport; leap playfully
Everything she did seemed to amuse him, as though she were a gamboling kitten.
The air was dark with Davises, and many Joneses gamboled like a flock of young giraffes.
His watermelon-pink tongue lapped out, his whole body wiggled and his joyful contortions were as ludicrous as the gambolings of a mastiff.
n. entire range; all notes in musical scale
n. any article of clothing, as coat or gown
Twice she put out her hand to take the garment again, and twice she refrained.
The lace- trimmed petticoat beneath was the last garment she possessed that was pretty--and whole.
He bears no letter of infamy wrought into his garment, as thou dost, but I shall read it on his heart.
a. awkward or lacking in social graces; coarse and uncouth
He was a bulky, gauche, noisy, humorous man, with narrow eyes, a rustic complexion, large red hands, and brilliant clothes.
n. exceptional creative ability; unusual mental ability; someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field
Quite an untaught genius, I made the discovery of the line of action for myself.
It takes people a long time to learn the difference between talent and genius, especially ambitious young men and women.
You have a good many little gifts and virtues, but there is no need of parading them, for conceit spoils the finest genius.
a. authentic; sincerely and honestly felt or experienced; real or true
The tone in which the words were said revealed a genuine bad nature.
It was a genuine relief to the whole congregation when the ordeal was over and the benediction pronounced.
She knew that he said that simply to show that family considerations could not prevent him from expressing his genuine opinion.
n. air of compelling charm, romance, and excitement, especially when delusively alluring; magic spell
You always put a kind of glamour over them.
She felt somewhat like a woman who in a moment of passion is betrayed into an act of infidelity, and realizes the significance of the act without being wholly awakened from its glamour.
n. light; brightness; fierce or angry stare
But there was a certain dash and glare about him that caught her.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 64. A LAST RETROSPECT Lifting his eye to its battlements, he cast over them a glare such as I never saw before or since.
In five minutes more the cloud of bewilderment dissolved: I knew quite well that I was in my own bed, and that the red glare was the nursery fire.
n. person with discriminating taste in food and wine
a. proceeding by steps or degrees; advancing, step by step, as in ascent or descent or from one state to another; regularly progressive
Some weeks before their death, they feel a gradual decay; but without pain.
Gulliver's Travels(V2) By Jonathan SwiftContext Highlight In PART 4: CHAPTER IX. That mysterious change is too subtle and too gradual to be measured by dates.
A Study In Scarlet By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In PART II: CHAPTER II. THE FLOWER OF UTAH The slope had always seemed so slight, so gradual, in days when she galloped up it on her fleet-footed mare.
n. group of trees smaller than a forest; orchard
It led through a grove of lindens to a conservatory.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre DumasContext Highlight In Chapter 71. Bread and Salt. Meanwhile the heralds were bringing the holy hecatomb through the city, and the Achaeans gathered under the shady grove of Apollo.
As the sun was going down they came to the sacred grove of Minerva, and there Ulysses sat down and prayed to the mighty daughter of Jove.
v. be unwilling or reluctant to give or admit; be envious; show discontent
Most men were game, and went without a grudge.
He cherished a grudge against Madame Stahl for not making his acquaintance.
But I do grudge him your heart and your dear, hard, unscrupulous, stubborn mind.
n. liquid food made by boiling oatmeal
Hannah says you have had nothing but some gruel since breakfast.
Hannah had brought me some gruel and dry toast, about, as I supposed, the dinner-hour.
The relief was inseparable from the workhouse and the gruel; and that frightened people.
v. utter or emit low dull rumbling sounds
For myself I do not grumble, for I am one of the lucky ones.
Around him he could hear the grumble of jolted cannon as the scurrying horses were lashed toward the front.
Mr. Dolloby, not without some grumbling, gave ninepence.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 13. THE SEQUEL OF MY RESOLUTION a. free from deceit; sincere; honest
This guileless confectioner was not by any means sober, and had a black eye in the green stage of recovery, which was painted over.
I am glad to think there were two such guileless hearts at Peggotty's marriage as little Em'ly's and mine.
David Copperfield By Charles DickensContext Highlight In CHAPTER 10. I BECOME NEGLECTED, AND AM PROVIDED FOR A glance at Aunt Pitty's plump guileless face, screwed up in a pout, told her that the old lady was as ignorant as she.
n. shelter especially for housing or repairing aircraft
v. breed; emerge from the egg
The hatch, removed from the top of the works, now afforded a wide hearth in front of them.
There, where the water stood at about the height of his waist, he flung away the hatch, and attempted to drag forth the man.
Return of the Native By Thomas HardyContext Highlight In BOOK 5: 9 Sights and Sounds Draw the Wanderers Together Immediately the hammer touched the cheek; the next instant the lower jaw of the mate was stove in his head; he fell on the hatch spouting blood like a whale.
Moby Dick By Herman MelvilleContext Highlight In CHAPTER 54. The Town-Ho's Story. n. refuge; shelter; harbor or anchorage; port
We entered this haven through a wicket-gate, and were disgorged by an introductory passage into a melancholy little square that looked to me like a flat burying-ground.
"I haven't got a horse," said Gatsby.
"I haven't begun insuring yet," he replied.
a. dangerous; reckless; daring; inclined to run risks
The course lay up the ascent, and still continued hazardous and laborious.
The Last of the Mohicans By James Fenimore CooperContext Highlight In CHAPTER 32 He had sold his boats when blockading grew too hazardous, and he was now openly engaged in food speculation.
We went, as usual, to our several fields of labor, but with bosoms highly agitated with thoughts of our truly hazardous undertaking.
a. slightly obscure; unclear, confused, or uncertain
The laboratory got hazy and went dark.
When they set out it was hazy and growing warmer.
The laboratory grew faint and hazy, then fainter and ever fainter.
a. feverish; very busy with activity and confusion; habitual; marking particular habit or condition of body
That evening she did not merely consent to play cribbage with Kennicott; she urged him to play; and she worked up a hectic interest in land-deals and Sam Clark.
The night telegraph-operator at the railroad station was the most melodramatic figure in town: awake at three in the morning, alone in a room hectic with clatter of the telegraph key.
a. grain-eating; plant-eating; feeding only on plants
n. a joint that holds two parts together so that one can swing relative to the other
The hinge burst open, and a number of letters tumbled out.
Return of the Native By Thomas HardyContext Highlight In BOOK 5: 3 Eustacia Dresses Herself on a Black Morning One hinge snapped, then the other, and down came the door with a crash.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In IV. The Adventure of The Stockbroker's Clerk At the same instant the bookcase at which Holmes pointed swung round upon a hinge, and a woman rushed out into the room.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan DoyleContext Highlight In X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE GOLDEN PINCE-NEZ v. walk lame, bearing chiefly on one leg; walk with a hitch or hop, or with crutches; move roughly or irregularly
On with the hobble, on with the limp, since the dance was over.
Not far from them were three hobbled horses.
He hobbled over the grass as fast as he could.
n. a large group or crowd; wandering troop or gang; a moving crowd
He plays like one possessed by a demon, by a whole horde of demons.
He admitted that he had stage fright at the thought of the coming horde.
The hordes of the way-train were not altogether new to Carol.
a. disposed to treat guests with warmth and generosity; receptive
She liked his serene, friendly, and hospitable manner in the country.
His very clothes seemed to partake of the hospitable nature of the wearer.
It looks hospitable, and I want the poor child to have a good time after all her trouble, said Mrs. March, suiting the action to the word.
n. act or practice of one who is hospitable; reception and entertainment of strangers or guests without reward
I thanked him for his hospitality.
Aunt March received them with her usual hospitality.
I said I should be delighted to accept his hospitality.
n. prisoner who is held by one party to insure that another party will meet specified terms
She felt that willy-nilly she was being initiated into the assembly of housekeepers; with the baby for hostage, she would never escape; presently she would be drinking coffee and rocking and talking about diapers.