1 Once there appeared a strange optical effect: when he stood between me and the flame he did not obstruct it, for I could see its ghostly flicker all the same.
2 Occasionally he rose and walked about the battery still with that same smile, trying not to obstruct the soldiers who were loading, hauling the guns, and continually running past him with bags and charges.
3 For the greatness of the undertaking quickly daunts them, and so obstructs their advance they break down at the very outset.
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius By Niccolo MachiavelliContext Highlight In BOOK 1: CHAPTER LV. 4 It was not easy to get to Cayenne; they knew vaguely in which direction to go, but rivers, precipices, robbers, savages, obstructed them all the way.
5 Nothing in this garden obstructed the sacred effort of things towards life; venerable growth reigned there among them.
Les Misérables 4 By Victor HugoContext Highlight In BOOK 3: CHAPTER III—FOLIIS AC FRONDIBUS 6 At the moment when the soldier was sighting Marius, a hand was laid on the muzzle of the gun and obstructed it.
Les Misérables 4 By Victor HugoContext Highlight In BOOK 14: CHAPTER IV—THE BARREL OF POWDER 7 The being who obstructed his destiny was disappearing.
Les Misérables 4 By Victor HugoContext Highlight In BOOK 15: CHAPTER III—WHILE COSETTE AND TOUSSAINT ARE ASLEEP 8 If he were to reach another outlet, he would find it obstructed by a plug or a grating.
Les Misérables 5 By Victor HugoContext Highlight In BOOK 3: CHAPTER VII—ONE SOMETIMES RUNS AGROUND WHEN ONE FANCIES T... 9 The road was so obstructed with carts that it was impossible to get by in a carriage.
10 The infantry passing before him came to a halt without any command being given, apparently obstructed by something in front.
11 I was like a wild beast that had broken the toils, destroying the objects that obstructed me and ranging through the wood with a stag-like swiftness.
12 My sun-bonnet obstructed the view.
13 High above this to the right, and much nearer thitherward than the Quiet Woman Inn, the blurred contour of Rainbarrow obstructed the sky.
Return of the Native By Thomas HardyContext Highlight In BOOK 1: 6 The Figure against the Sky 14 But as in carrying them into effect they become revealed and known, they are at once obstructed by those men whom he has around him, and he, being pliant, is diverted from them.
The Prince By Niccolo MachiavelliContext Highlight In CHAPTER XXIII — HOW FLATTERERS SHOULD BE AVOIDED 15 Half-way up the slope Mattie stumbled against some unseen obstruction and clutched his sleeve to steady herself.