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Captive   Listen
noun
Captive  n.  
1.
A prisoner taken by force or stratagem, esp., by an enemy, in war; one kept in bondage or in the power of another. "Then, when I am thy captive, talk of chains."
2.
One charmed or subdued by beaty, excellence, or affection; one who is captivated.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Captive" Quotes from Famous Books



... graceful appearance, well made. I saw some who had scars of wounds in their bodies, and I made signs to them (to ask) what that was, and they showed me how people came there from other islands which lay around, and tried to take them captive and they defended themselves. And I believed, and I (still) believe, that they came there from the mainland ...
— The Life of Christopher Columbus from his own Letters and Journals • Edward Everett Hale

... close to them, or dreaming of danger. As long as we continued in the wider part of the river we had no fear of being detected. However, as our object was to obtain information, I resolved to land near the first house we could see on the shore. My plan was then to surround it, keep all the inmates captive, carry them up the river with us, and land them again on our return, so as to prevent them from giving notice of our expedition, much in the same way that we had done on our march to Hampton. The darkness, ...
— Hurricane Hurry • W.H.G. Kingston

... one, who dream of a day when the Mephistophelean dynasty is to be overthrown,—when the sappers and miners of the great army of human progress are to besiege him in his strong-holds, and to lead him captive in eternal bondage. Of all the guides who lead that mighty host, none rank above the Faust of whom tradition tells such wondrous tales. Not the bewigged and motley personage Gounod has sung, not the impassioned lover Goethe drew, but the great genius who first taught mankind ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 103, May, 1866 • Various

... surrender. And Andros, knowing himself to be helpless, yielded, though not without some "stomachful reluctances." The proud Governor's rule was at an end. He was taken prisoner, and through the streets where he had ridden in splendour he was now led a captive. Then the colonies set about restoring their governments as they had been before Sir ...
— This Country Of Ours • H. E. Marshall Author: Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall

... the largest of any, built at the expense of the captive King of France; as it stands higher, so it greatly excels the two former in splendour and elegance; it has one hundred and forty-eight paces in length, and ninety-seven in breadth; in the middle of it is a fountain of very clear water, brought under ground, at an excessive expense, from the distance ...
— Travels in England and Fragmenta Regalia • Paul Hentzner and Sir Robert Naunton

... a majority, sometimes real, sometimes pretended, captive itself, compels a captive king to issue as royal edicts, at third hand, the polluted nonsense of their most licentious and giddy coffee-houses. It is notorious that all their measures are decided before they are debated. Amidst assassination, massacre, and confiscation, perpetrated or meditated, ...
— The World's Greatest Books—Volume 14—Philosophy and Economics • Various

... tried all her words of endearment to coax the little creature to eat some of the good things that had been provided so liberally for his entertainment, he remained sullen and motionless at the bottom of the cage. A captive is no less a captive in a cage with gilded bars, and with dainties to eat, than if rusted iron shut him in, and kept him from enjoying his freedom. It is for dear liberty that he pines, and is sad, even in the midst ...
— Lady Mary and her Nurse • Catharine Parr Traill

... British and French fleets, and thousands of sailors lined the decks to cheer the plucky Dewey as it wended its way to its anchorage, accompanied by the destroyer Farragut, the latter towing the captive German submarine. ...
— The Brighton Boys with the Submarine Fleet • James R. Driscoll

... with the buck to find more water, for it was evident that our present supply was insufficient. We felt pretty certain from the way the tribe had left that another well existed close by; the question was, would our captive show it? He started in great glee and at a great pace, carrying behind him, like a "back-board," a light stick. This will be found to open the lungs and make a long walk less fatiguing, except for the strain on the arms. Occasionally he would stop and ...
— Spinifex and Sand - Five Years' Pioneering and Exploration in Western Australia • David W Carnegie

... to use the phrase of to-day, the world before him where to choose a home; sometimes a deserter from the British or French military forces, according to the faction which the shifting Cherokees affected at the time; more than once a captive, spared for some whim, set at liberty, free to go where he would—all deliberately and of choice cast their lot among the Cherokees; lived and died with the treacherous race. Whether the wild sylvan life had some peculiarly irresistible ...
— The Frontiersmen • Charles Egbert Craddock

... prepared dinners, at which our reverend orator asked a blessing, with more fervor than is commonly observed in our Cossack clergymen; and we fell to, with a zest and hilarity rarely to be found among a large collection of prisoners. If, like the captive Jews on the Euphrates, we had hung our harps upon the willows of the Medway, we took them down on this joyous occasion. We felt the spirit of freedom glow within us; and we anticipated the day when we should celebrate our ...
— A Journal of a Young Man of Massachusetts, 2nd ed. • Benjamin Waterhouse

... their countrymen refused to ransom them. That they were very numerous, is proved by what Polybius says, that this business cost the Achaeans one hundred talents,[1] though they had fixed the price to be paid for each captive, to the owner, so low as five hundred denarii.[2] For, at that rate, there were one thousand two hundred in Achaia. Calculate now, in proportion to this, how many were ...
— History of Rome, Vol III • Titus Livius

... step, against our will Does memory, with pernicious skill, Our captive thoughts enchain, Recalls each joy that treach'rous smiled, And of green griefs and sorrows wild, ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, Number 385. November, 1847. • Various

... of the golden statue, determined to obtain it; and with that view, seized their minister, or, in the allegorical language of the poets, took their eye away from them. He then sent them word, that if they would give him the statue, he would deliver up his captive, and threatened, in case of refusal, to put him to death. Stheno and Euryale consented to this; but Medusa resisting, she was killed by Perseus. Upon his obtaining the statue, which was called the Gorgon, ...
— The Metamorphoses of Ovid - Vol. I, Books I-VII • Publius Ovidius Naso

... on a cheerless island where, against my will, I am kept captive—for how long a time I cannot guess. I was brought here at night, only forty-eight hours ago, and landed from a vessel which almost immediately departed whence it had come, into the darkness. My captors left me to go with the vessel, the chief of them threatening ...
— Us and the Bottleman • Edith Ballinger Price

... accept the doctrine of rewards and doubteth the wisdom of Him that hath Light that surpasseth all knowledge of man, shall be made captive in Doubting Castle, and the three jewels of the faith shall ...
— Buddhist Psalms • Shinran Shonin

... Roman host, the device of Crassus might still have saved him from the triumph of a rebel prince and shameful exposure to the insults of a servile crowd. He thrust his riding whip into the eye of one of his captors. Frenzied with pain, the man buried his dagger in the captive's side.[528] ...
— A History of Rome, Vol 1 - During the late Republic and early Principate • A H.J. Greenidge

... and the schooner was soon threading her way in the darkness down the river, the skipper listening somewhat nervously for the first intimation of his captive's awakening. ...
— Sea Urchins • W. W. Jacobs

... And, in any case, Rogers could not have heard her, for he was listening now to the uproar of the children as they criticised Daddy's ridiculous effusion. A haystack, courted in vain by zephyrs, but finally taken captive by an equinoctial gale, strained nonsense too finely for their sense of what was right and funny. It was the pictures he now drew in the book that woke their laughter. He gave the stack a physiognomy ...
— A Prisoner in Fairyland • Algernon Blackwood

... madness wrought, By danger girt thou fearest naught, Nor heedest, numbered with the dead, What thou shouldst say and leave unsaid. When Fate's tremendous coils enfold The captive in resistless hold, He knows not right from wrong, each sense Numbed ...
— The Ramayana • VALMIKI

... young, so old a widow! And when thou wedd'st, let sorrow haunt thy bed; And be thy wife,—if any be so mad,— More miserable by the life of thee Than thou hast made me by my dear lord's death!" Lo, ere I can repeat this curse again, Within so small a time, my woman's heart Grossly grew captive to his honey words, And prov'd the subject of mine own soul's curse,— Which hitherto hath held my eyes from rest; For never yet one hour in his bed Did I enjoy the golden dew of sleep, But with his timorous dreams was still awak'd. Besides, he hates me for ...
— The Life and Death of King Richard III • William Shakespeare [Collins edition]

... opportunity of studying his works. The cheerfulness of Raphael, the wizardry of Lionardo, and the boldness of Michael Angelo, met in him to form a new style, the originality of which is indisputable, and which takes us captive—not by intellectual power, but by the impulse of emotion. Of his artistic education we know nothing; and when we call him the Ariel of painting, this means that we are compelled to think of him as an elemental spirit, whose bidding ...
— Renaissance in Italy Vol. 3 - The Fine Arts • John Addington Symonds

... the trouble, he seized a large basket in his hand, and set off at a rapid pace towards the fairy Teach-all's garden. It was very seldom that Snap-'em-up ventured to think of foraging in this direction, as he never once succeeded in carrying off a single captive from the enclosure, it was so well fortified and so bravely defended; but on this occasion, being desperately hungry, he felt as bold as a lion, and walked, with outstretched hands, straight towards the fairy Teach-all's dinner-table, taking such prodigious strides that he seemed almost ...
— Junior Classics, V6 • Various

... lightnings burst forth and smote Peirithoos—of the dark prison-house where Theseus lay while many a rolling year went round, until at last the mighty Herakles passed the borders of the shadowy land and set the captive free. ...
— Museum of Antiquity - A Description of Ancient Life • L. W. Yaggy

... bold game Achilles next demands, And calls the wrestlers to the level sands: A massy tripod for the victor lies, Of twice six oxen its reputed price; And next, the loser's spirits to restore, A female captive, valued but at four. Scarce did the chief the vigorous strife prop When tower-like Ajax and Ulysses rose. Amid the ring each nervous rival stands, Embracing rigid with implicit hands. Close lock'd above, their heads and arms are mix'd: Below, their ...
— The Iliad of Homer • Homer

... held one of the captive's arms was panting. He had run at top speed from the house to which he and his mates had borne the ...
— The Landloper - The Romance Of A Man On Foot • Holman Day

... her brothers, gathering round, Received the vestures, and the mules unbound. She seeks the bridal bower: a matron there The rising fire supplies with busy care, Whose charms in youth her father's heart inflamed, Now worn with age, Eurymedusa named; The captive dame Phaeacian rovers bore, Snatch'd from Epirus, her sweet native shore (A grateful prize), and in her bloom bestow'd On good Alcinous, honor'd as a god; Nurse of Nausicaa from her infant years, And tender ...
— The Odyssey of Homer • Homer, translated by Alexander Pope

... inside the hall, the major glanced down first at the floor and then up to where in a pendent nub a pinprick of light like a captive lightning-bug flickered up and down feebly as the air pumped through the pipe; and out of his chest the major fetched a small sigh. It was a sigh of resignation, but it had loneliness in it too. Well, it was a come-down, after all these peaceful and congenial years spent among the marble-columned, ...
— The Escape of Mr. Trimm - His Plight and other Plights • Irvin S. Cobb

... capture, or set conditions for it. Beyond the limits, the individual might still use force, but his comrades were no longer responsible. The glory to him, if he succeeded, might be all the greater. His control over his captive was absolute. Within the prescribed conditions, "capture" became technical and institutional, and rights grew out of it. The woman had a status which was defined by custom, and was very different from the status of a real captive. Marriage was the institutional ...
— Introduction to the Science of Sociology • Robert E. Park

... and took him prisoner. Instead, then, of going as a guest to the court of France, the Prince was carried as a prisoner to the court of England. When the old King heard the sad news he died, and James, captive though he was, ...
— English Literature For Boys And Girls • H.E. Marshall

... revealed his teeth in a smile of ineffable wickedness. He slipped from the bed, and crouching slightly as if about to spring, he pointed a lean finger at his captive. ...
— The Historical Nights' Entertainment • Rafael Sabatini

... bound and gagged his captive. Dragging him back through the narrow room he made certainty doubly sure by tying him to the base of the neglected ...
— The Lighted Match • Charles Neville Buck

... and upstairs. Maurice was flourishing the key, and executing a war-dance before the captive's door, with a chant alternating of war-whoops, 'Promise not to hurt it, and I'll let you out!' and 'Pity poor ...
— The Young Step-Mother • Charlotte M. Yonge

... reception, Theodosius had completely routed his army, and was already at the gates of Aquilei'a, where the usurper had taken refuge. The garrison, secretly disinclined to the cause of Maximus, made but a faint resistance, the town was taken, and the unfortunate ruler led as a captive into the presence of his conqueror, by whom he was delivered to ...
— Pinnock's Improved Edition of Dr. Goldsmith's History of Rome • Oliver Goldsmith

... calico-painter received every where in refined and intelligent society, while they, with all their airs, long hairs, and shares of impudence, could not enter—they, the creators of Medoras, Magdalens, Our Ladies of Lorette, Brigands' Brides, Madame not In, Captive Knights, Mandoline Players, Grecian Mothers, Love in Repose, Love in Sadness, Moonlight on the Waves, Last Tears, Resignation, Broken Lutes, Dutch Flutes, and ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2, No 3, September, 1862 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy. • Various

... floor in ancient time we should visit the dungeons, dark, gloomy, and dreadful places, where deep silence reigns, only broken by the groans of despairing captives in the miserable cells. In one of these toads and adders were the companions of the captive. Another poor wretch reposed on a bed of sharp flints, while the torture-chamber echoed with the cries of the victims of mediaeval cruelty, who were hanged by their feet and smoked with foul smoke, or hung up by their thumbs, while ...
— English Villages • P. H. Ditchfield

... leader of the Greeks, robs Achilles of his beautiful captive Briseis, and the invulnerable hero, furious at the insult, retires in sullen rage to his ships, forbids his troops to take part in the war, and sulks in anger while battle after battle is fought. Deprived of his mighty aid, the Greeks find the Trojans quite their match, ...
— Historic Tales, vol 10 (of 15) - The Romance of Reality • Charles Morris

... cavalry corporal who escorted him, aged now 89, after 30 years tenure of office, still holds the position of village Postmaster, in the township of Broughton, Beauce. Among the incidents of which my ancient acquaintance seems proud, is that of his having played at cards with General Scott and his captive comrades. ...
— Picturesque Quebec • James MacPherson Le Moine

... him that the white man was not a prisoner, because he walked quite freely. Once he passed ahead of the three Indians, and then he dropped behind. If a captive, he would have walked just behind one warrior and the other two, in Indian file, would have ...
— The Keepers of the Trail - A Story of the Great Woods • Joseph A. Altsheler

... hands all things that are for the profit of His people, both in this world and that which is to come; and all this as the fruit of His faithfulness in doing of His work, as the Mediator of the new covenant (Phil 2:9; Rev 19:6). Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive, Thou hast received gifts—mark, Thou hast received them—for men, even for the worst of men, for the rebellious also; and hath sent forth some, being furnished with these gifts; some, I say, for the work of the ministry, ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... entirely—and what beauty she had to give! And yet she had failed to chain me to her in any way, greatly though she pleased my senses. It is, after all, something in the soul of a woman, in her inner self, that has the power of throwing an anchor into our soul and holding it captive. Mere beauty throws its anchor into the flesh, and after a time the ...
— Five Nights • Victoria Cross

... this fellow," said Mr. Meredith, indicating the still captive and moaning man, "who is a captain of militia, tell the men he was draughting that they were to march, as soon as embodied, to join the ...
— Janice Meredith • Paul Leicester Ford

... castle was also the jailer of their general. While the knight tugged at his chain, lifted up his voice and cried aloud, his troops marched on, their music drowning out his cries. Soon the banners passed from sight, the last straggler disappeared behind the hill and the captive was left alone. The brave knight died in his dungeon, but the story of his heroism lived. What the knight learned in suffering the poets have taught in song. The captive hero has a permanent ...
— The Investment of Influence - A Study of Social Sympathy and Service • Newell Dwight Hillis

... which has elapsed without any intelligence being heard of Park, since his departure from Sansanding in November 1805. This can only be accounted for, by supposing either that he is actually dead or detained in Africa as a captive; and when we consider the nature of the enterprise in which he was engaged, his personal character, and the resistance he was likely to make in case of any hostile attack, we must acknowledge that of the two suppositions, the former is by far ...
— The Journal Of A Mission To The Interior Of Africa, In The Year 1805 • Mungo Park

... so vividly in 'Past and Present,' that I wish to direct my readers' attention. A good many eventful years had passed by since Sampson stood abbot-elect in the court of King Henry; it was from the German prison where Richard was lying captive that the old abbot was returning, sad at heart, to his stately house. His way lay through the little town that sloped quietly down to the abbey walls, along the narrow little street that led to the stately gate-tower, now grey with the waste of ages, but then fresh and white from the builder's ...
— Stray Studies from England and Italy • John Richard Green

... that Pausanias was directing everything there, being well acquainted before with his name and with his lineage, because she had heard it often, she recognised Pausanias and taking hold of his knees she said these words: "O king of Sparta, deliver me thy suppliant from the slavery of the captive: for thou hast also done me service hitherto in destroying these, who have regard neither for demigods nor yet for gods. 87 I am by race of Cos, the daughter of Hegetorides the son of Antagoras; and the Persian took me by force in Cos and kept me a prisoner." He made answer in these ...
— The History Of Herodotus - Volume 2 (of 2) • Herodotus

... street Still he gazed, as if the fourth one In the file he must discover. "He is caught!" so goes the saying In that country, when one's soul is By the wand of love enchanted; Love can never be our captive, We are wholly conquered by him. So beware, my young friend Werner! Joy and sorrow hides the saying: "He is caught!" ...
— The Trumpeter of Saekkingen - A Song from the Upper Rhine. • Joseph Victor von Scheffel

... not us! We be officers—Bow Street officers—wi' a werry dangerous criminal took red 'anded an' a fifty-pound reward good as in our pockets—so 'ere we be, an' 'ere we bide till mornin'. Lay down, you!" Saying which he fetched the wretched captive a buffet that tumbled him into a corner where he lay, his muddy back supported in the angle. And lying thus, it chanced that his eye met mine, a bright eye, very piercing and keen. Now beholding him thus in his helplessness and misery, I will confess that my very natural ...
— Peregrine's Progress • Jeffery Farnol

... strength, and beauty of body, and ferocity of disposition, a tyrant who spared neither man in his ambition nor woman in his lust. [Sidenote: His physical vigour.] His stature was gigantic, his strength and activity such as took captive the imagination of the East. He could, it was believed, outrun the deer; out-eat and out-drink everyone at the banquet; strike down flying game unerringly; tame the wildest steed, and ride 120 miles in a day. Twenty-two nations ...
— The Gracchi Marius and Sulla - Epochs Of Ancient History • A.H. Beesley

... impossible to free her canoe, Marian threw down her paddle angrily. They were all breathless; Dan waited till the canoes rode together quietly. Sylvia had brought an electric lamp which Dan now flashed the length of the captive canoe. It searched the anxious, angry faces of the runaways, and disclosed two suit cases ...
— A Hoosier Chronicle • Meredith Nicholson

... hast held me captive for months," said the Prince, "and wilt thou not let me hold ...
— The Fair Maid of Perth • Sir Walter Scott

... driven, with his companions, from the land. Then the Esquimaux of Dirola's tribe had been attacked by others living farther south. A great battle had been fought and the queen and others were taken prisoners. Dirola had been held captive until the advent of ...
— Through the Air to the North Pole - or The Wonderful Cruise of the Electric Monarch • Roy Rockwood

... seem that the different kinds of almsdeeds are unsuitably enumerated. For we reckon seven corporal almsdeeds, namely, to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to harbor the harborless, to visit the sick, to ransom the captive, to bury the dead; all of which are expressed in the following verse: "To visit, to quench, to feed, to ransom, ...
— Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) • Thomas Aquinas

... raiders were going to make a stand, but presently their purpose became clear to those in pursuit. The one that Billie had picked for a renegade white dropped from the horse upon which he was riding double and swung up behind the captive. The huddle of men and ponies opened up and was in motion again toward the head of ...
— A Man Four-Square • William MacLeod Raine

... proceeded to ravage the coast of Italy. He sacked Reggio, burnt and massacred elsewhere on the coast without opposition, cast anchor at the mouth of the Tiber and if he had chosen could have sacked Rome and taken the Pope captive. He then returned to ...
— A History of Sea Power • William Oliver Stevens and Allan Westcott

... exhibited the might of his arm in the presence of both hosts, sent forth a loud shout and came out of the Panchala ranks. And beholding him returning (with his captive), the princes began to lay waste Drupada's capital. Addressing them Arjuna said, 'This best of monarchs, Drupada, is a relative of the Kuru heroes. Therefore, O Bhima, slay not his soldiers. Let us only give ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa - Translated into English Prose - Adi Parva (First Parva, or First Book) • Kisari Mohan Ganguli (Translator)

... silk and satin longing for death. Name me another woman who people think is happy, because the devil, who tortures her without ceasing, deceives them all. Where is there another woman who has been so shamelessly robbed of her children? For is not my daughter the captive and concubine of an insane tuft-hunter? Has not my son been taken from me through the baseness that has been practised against his sister, and the lamentable spectacle afforded him by my own powerlessness? Where, I ask high Heaven, is there ...
— The Goose Man • Jacob Wassermann

... concealment, intercepted her escape, shouted to his men who were in waiting behind a wooded point, and while the woman's friends and attendants fled shrieking to the shore, he lifted her into his canoe, paddled away to his double barge a half mile out, placed his lovely captive in a shelter on board, and began the return voyage. The drum could be heard in the village rousing the people, and lights twinkled among the trees, showing that a pursuit was intended. In vain. The dusky Menelaus may have put to sea, but he never ...
— Myths & Legends of our New Possessions & Protectorate • Charles M. Skinner

... seats reserved for them. A national flag was gracefully draped over the platform, and under it hung a lithograph of the Great Emancipator, for it was thus these people thought of him. He had saved the Union, but the Union had never meant anything good to them. He had proclaimed liberty to the captive, which meant all to them; and to them he was and would ever be the ...
— The Wife of his Youth and Other Stories of the Color Line, and - Selected Essays • Charles Waddell Chesnutt

... that the robbers would not be likely to give their captive the opportunity of escaping which he must have had by being alone. I have to reply for the sake of the small critics who read my book, and to whom the publishers are very glad to sell it, that there ...
— The Four Canadian Highwaymen • Joseph Edmund Collins

... Negrillos. To them the question is, whether it is, in the circumstances, expedient and necessary for the Spaniards to attack these ferocious peoples. The fathers consider this war as justifiable; the enemy should be destroyed, and all who are taken captive should be enslaved for a specified time. The Jesuits consider that the first step is to ascertain who are guilty of inciting the outrages which the Zambales have committed against both the Spaniards and their Indian allies—whether all of that people, or only a few; whether ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume VIII (of 55), 1591-1593 • Emma Helen Blair

... people, when they came again to their camp-fires. So they let him live, and he was one of them. But the chief man, because he was stubborn and scorned them, and had killed the son of their king in the fight, they made a slave, and carried him north a captive, till they came to this lake—the ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker

... what had happened. He had drugged her forcibly—she shivered at the remembrance—and had borne her away to this dreadful place during her unconsciousness. Her father was left behind in the fort. He had sanctioned her removal. He had given her, a helpless captive, into this man's keeping. ...
— The Way of an Eagle • Ethel M. Dell

... doubt which was the drunkenest, the officer or the prisoner. We found out afterwards that the officer had conciliated his captive with drink, partly to keep him friendly in case of an attempted rescue, and partly to get him in such a state that running away would be impracticable. And, indeed, there would have been a great race if the prisoner had attempted to escape. The prisoner ...
— Acadia - or, A Month with the Blue Noses • Frederic S. Cozzens

... is likely, also, that a woman, said to be more learned, accomplished, and pleasing, than was usually the case with those of her profession, might have a father, who, with the ardour, the disobedience, the remorse of his heroic master, had been, like him, a crusader and a captive; and in the after solitude of self-inflicted penitence, full of romantic and mournful recollections, fostered in the mind of his daughter, by nature embued with a portion of his own impassioned feelings, every tendency to that wild and poetical turn of thought which qualified her ...
— The Lay of Marie • Matilda Betham

... the experiments performed by myself (and some also by my friend, Dr. Delgado), during the last twelve years, will enable the reader to judge for himself. The experiment has consisted in first applying a captive mosquito to a yellow fever patient, allowing it to introduce its lance and to fill itself with blood; next, after the lapse of two or more days, applying the same mosquito to the skin of a person who is considered susceptible ...
— The Making of Arguments • J. H. Gardiner

... with the desperate nimbleness of a hunted thing, but when she attempted to vault to the saddle her limbs failed and she sank clinging to the pommel. Twice she tried and twice the trembling of her limbs held her captive. With the loss of each moment the beat of the hoofs on the trail below became more distinct. The very desperation of her plight kept her clinging to the pommel, incapable of thought, so that when she finally flung herself to the saddle she was surprised to find herself there. To the ...
— Judith Of The Plains • Marie Manning

... I learn from the captive Red Indian woman Shawnawdithit, that the vapour-bath is chiefly used by old people, and ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Vol. 14, Issue 387, August 28, 1829 • Various

... the Witch's Orchard. Frog-eye Fearsome drags the captive Prince and Princess to the Ogre's tower. At Ogre's command Witch brews spell to change ...
— The Rescue of the Princess Winsome - A Fairy Play for Old and Young • Annie Fellows-Johnston and Albion Fellows Bacon

... and light-hearted that he treated even serious matters in a joking way. We are told, that, when he was first admitted to the city council, he acted like a schoolboy, and mischievously let loose a captive quail, which ran in and out among the feet of the councilors, and fluttered about so wildly as to upset the ...
— The Story of the Greeks • H. A. Guerber

... fetters chained I greet thee, too, My tears fast welling forth like Hermon's dew— O bliss could they but drop on holy hills! A croaking bird I turn, when through me thrills Thy desolate state; but when I dream anon, The Lord brings back thy ev'ry captive son— A harp ...
— Jewish Literature and Other Essays • Gustav Karpeles

... conviction, and supported by evidence, began to soothe the restless fever which was wasting Ali, and the gentle caresses and persuasions of Basillisa, the beautiful Christian captive, who had now been his wife for some time, completed ...
— CELEBRATED CRIMES, COMPLETE - ALI PACHA • ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE

... large double hook that was used for executions; and we touched curiously with our fingers the door of the women's prison. It is about four inches thick and is plated with heavy iron bars. In the middle is a little grating that was used to throw in whatever was necessary to prevent the captive from starving. It was this grating which opened instead of the door, which, being the mouth of the most terrible confessions, was one of those that always closed but never opened. In those days there was real hatred. If you hated a person, and he had been kidnapped by surprise or traitorously ...
— Over Strand and Field • Gustave Flaubert

... which is here presented, from the official notarial records kept by Legazpi's chief notary, and transmitted to the home government. Legazpi claims that he has come to make new discoveries for his king, to propagate the Christian religion, and to ransom Christians held captive by the heathen in these regions; and that he had regarded the Philippines as being within the jurisdiction of Spain. If he has been mistaken, he will depart from the islands at once, if Pereira will provide him with two ships. ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803, Volume II, 1521-1569 • Emma Helen Blair

... a somnambulist. I lived, without knowing it, that double mysterious life which makes us doubt whether there are not two beings in us, or whether a strange, unknowable and invisible being does not at such moments, when our soul is in a state of torpor, animate our captive body which obeys this other being, as it does us ourselves, and ...
— The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Vol. 1 (of 8) - Boule de Suif and Other Stories • Guy de Maupassant

... traffic and trade; he had seen the waterworks on the Po, on the Adige, on the Mincio; he had heard how the Velino had been enslaved for the steel foundry of Terni, how the Nerino fed the ironworks of Narni; he had seen the Adda captive at Lodi, and the lakes held in bond at Mantua; he had read of the water drawn from Monte Amiata; and not very many miles off him, in the Abruzzo, was that hapless Fuscino, which had been emptied and dried up by rich meddlers ...
— The Waters of Edera • Louise de la Rame, a.k.a. Ouida

... Why was Barbara held captive in a deserted hermit's hut for days by a "man without a heart" and in the end how was it that she held the ...
— Mistress Anne • Temple Bailey

... doubt this effect was largely due to the fine statues and decorative grouping of the arcaded streets. One monument was so imposing and so unique, that I forgot for a moment my anxiety to find the Boy and hear his news. The huge pile held me captive, staring up at a miniature Nelson column, supported on the backs of four colossal elephants sculptured in grey granite of true elephant-colour. These benevolent mammoths, not content with the duty of bearing a tower of stone with a more than life-sized ...
— The Princess Passes • Alice Muriel Williamson and Charles Norris Williamson

... dull remorse stirred within him. He remembered his wife as she had been five years before, when she had loved him with as much sincerity as her shallow nature would permit, and her charms and beauty had bound him captive by golden chains. There were tears in his eyes as he paced ...
— In Friendship's Guise • Wm. Murray Graydon

... equally slow in receiving impressions and obstinate in retaining them, the prattle of Henry served to nourish in his mind some vague suspicion that his present engagement might only end in his being exposed, like a conquered enemy in a Roman triumph, a captive attendant on the car of a victor who meditated only the satiating his pride at the expense of the vanquished. There was, we repeat it, no real ground whatever for such an apprehension, nor could he be said seriously to entertain such for a moment. Indeed, it was impossible to look at ...
— Bride of Lammermoor • Sir Walter Scott

... note in her voice that impressed the captive and compelled him to silence. He watched his two gaolers in turns. The bloated features and red complexion of Mme. Dugrival formed a striking contrast with her nephew's refined face; but they both wore the same air ...
— The Confessions of Arsene Lupin • Maurice Leblanc

... Chinese adventurer. It was the spirit of the age. [21] In his sea-wanderings he happened to fall in with a Chinese trading junk returning from Manila with the proceeds of her cargo sold there. This he seized, and the captive crew were constrained to pilot his fleet towards the capital of Luzon. From them he learnt how easily the natives had been plundered by a handful of foreigners—the probable extent of the opposition he might encounter—the defences established—the wealth and resources ...
— The Philippine Islands • John Foreman

... there; and the embassy sent from Manila was not even received by the Japanese. The rebellion in Cagayan will be punished as severely as possible; and Silva will endeavor to improve the condition of affairs in the Moluccas. He recommends that the captive Ternatan king be restored to his own country. The attempt to work the Igorrote gold mines has been abandoned. Silva has sold certain municipal offices, but recommends that hereafter these be conferred on deserving citizens. The export duty on goods sent to Nueva ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume XXII, 1625-29 • Various

... that, separated from the herd, had happened to rush in her direction. Mahomet had been in an awful fright, and was now standing secure behind his mistress. I rode through the grass with the hope of getting a shot, but the animal had disappeared. We returned to the dead tetel and to our captive baboons; but times had changed since we had left them. One had taken advantage of our absence, and, having bitten through his tether, he had escaped; the other had used force instead of cunning, and, in attempting to tear away from confinement, had strangled himself with the slip-knot ...
— The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia • Samuel W. Baker

... toward General Lawton's left and holding ourselves in rear of the First Brigade as a support. On reaching the stream the First Volunteer Cavalry, which was in the lead, crossed the stream with comparatively slight loss and deployed to the right in good order, but at this time a captive balloon was led down the road in which the troops were massed, and finally anchored at the crossing of the stream. The approach and anchoring of this balloon served to indicate the line of approach of the troops and to locate the ...
— The Colored Regulars in the United States Army • T. G. Steward

... weary hour! O aching days that passed Filled with strange fears, each wilder than the last: The soldier's lance,—the fierce centurion's sword,— The crushing wheels that whirl some Roman lord,— The midnight crypt that sucks the captive's breath,— The blistering sun on ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 3, No. 19, May, 1859 • Various

... steal in through my narrow window, they would take new colors, fade or shine, grow dull or gay, and always amaze me with some new effect. These trifling incidents of a solitary life, which escape those preoccupied with outward affairs, make the solace of prisoners. And what was I but the captive of an idea, imprisoned in my system, but sustained also by the prospect of a brilliant future? At each obstacle that I overcame, I seemed to kiss the soft hands of a woman with a fair face, a wealthy, well-dressed woman, who should some day ...
— The Magic Skin • Honore de Balzac

... given in full to set out the amazing fact that in this battle over three thousand were killed while only four hundred were captured, which shows that it must have been in the nature of an indiscriminate massacre; the only captive of any note was the captain, Juan del Rio. Diego de Vera had had enough of the corsairs, and sailed away with the remainder of his force. Of what became of him or of them there is no record, but he must have been a singularly ...
— Sea-Wolves of the Mediterranean • E. Hamilton Currey

... old fellow, afore these foxes will be rafting off to storm your castle," interrupted Hurry, with more of the heat of argument than might be expected from a man who was bound and a captive, and about whom nothing could be called free but his opinions and his tongue. "Your advice has a stout sound, but it will have a fatal tarmination. If you or I was in the house, we might hold out a few days, ...
— The Deerslayer • James Fenimore Cooper

... doubtfully if he hadn't better replace it until he got Ted alone. Also Oliver was forced to curse himself rather admiringly for the large number of unnecessary knots he had used, when he started to unravel his captive. ...
— Young People's Pride • Stephen Vincent Benet

... had that of lecturers. He owned he was in fault, although more sinned against (by the capable Scot) than sinning; but had he steeped his hands in gore, he would still not deserve to be thus dragged at the chariot-wheels of a young man, to sit a captive in the halls of his own leather business, to be entertained with mortifying comments on his whole career—to have his costume examined, his collar pulled up, the presence of his mittens verified, and to be taken out and brought home ...
— The Wrong Box • Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne

... you!" shrieked the voice of the captive, now growing hoarse. "I'll give you in charge the minute I get downstairs! Ugly beast, I'll give you all ...
— The Town Traveller • George Gissing

... regarded as the symbol, being called "Mars" by the Romans.[6] We find frequent mention of it in the Bible. One of the earliest notices of the metal is in connexion with the conquest of Judea by the Philistines. To complete the subjection of the Israelites, their conquerors made captive all the smiths of the land, and carried them away. The Philistines felt that their hold of the country was insecure so long as the inhabitants possessed the means of forging weapons. Hence "there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel; ...
— Industrial Biography - Iron Workers and Tool Makers • Samuel Smiles

... know your haunts: each gnarly bole That guards the waterside, Each tuft of flags and rushes where The river reptiles hide, Each dimpling nook wherein the bass His eager life employs Until he dies—the captive of You sunburnt boys. ...
— Songs, Merry and Sad • John Charles McNeill

... base Cha.n.dâla. Curséd be that god, Or demon foul, through whom a godlike king Has fallen to this degraded state; the lot Of a Švapâka. Ah! most noble prince, My mind is filled with grief, when I recall Thy regal state, thy past magnificence. No kingly ensigns go before thee now, No captive kings, brought down to slavery, Humbly precede thee, casting in the way Their garments, lest the dust should soil thy feet. But now! O king! alas, thyself a slave, Thou livest in this fearful place, begrimed With filth; thy sacred cord concealed, thy hair Tangled ...
— Mârkandeya Purâna, Books VII., VIII. • Rev. B. Hale Wortham

... before a cheerful fire. The widow looked very happy, and, to say truth, she had good reason for being so, for her stalwart son had come home to her safe and sound, and was at that moment sitting by her side talking in a most amazing way about his Flora—referring to her as a sort of captive bird which had now no chance of escaping, saying that he meant to take her to Paris, and Switzerland, and Rome, and in summer to the English Lakes, and ...
— Over the Rocky Mountains - Wandering Will in the Land of the Redskin • R.M. Ballantyne

... though noble Jack had carried the day captive in his audience at the mast, yet more than thirty-six hours elapsed ere anything official was heard of the "liberty" his shipmates so earnestly coveted. Some of the people ...
— White Jacket - or, the World on a Man-of-War • Herman Melville

... not ordered his soldiers to spare the life of Croesus in battle from any sentiment of humanity toward him, but because he wished to have his case reserved for his own decision. When Croesus was brought to him a captive, he ordered him to be put in chains, and carefully guarded. As soon as some degree of order was restored in the city, a large funeral pile was erected, by his directions, in a public square, and Croesus was brought to the spot. Fourteen Lydian young men, the sons, probably, ...
— Cyrus the Great - Makers of History • Jacob Abbott

... in this story sought to revivify that most interesting period, the last days of the Roman Republic. The hero, Lucius Marius, is a young Roman who has a very chequered career, being now a captive in the hands of Spartacus, again an officer on board a vessel detailed for the suppression of the pirates, and anon a captive once more, on a pirate ship. He escapes to Tarsus, is taken prisoner in the war with Mithradates, and detained ...
— Captain Bayley's Heir: - A Tale of the Gold Fields of California • G. A. Henty

... too much depressed to make an exertion for the arrangement of his affairs. He was, therefore, after waiting three weeks in the custody of a sheriff's officer (during which time I had never left him for a single hour, day or night), obliged to submit to the necessity of becoming a captive. ...
— Beaux and Belles of England • Mary Robinson

... set my pistols within easy reach, I laid down and composed myself to slumber. But this I could by no means compass, being fretted of distressful thought and made vain and bitter repining for this ship that had come and sailed, leaving me a captive still, prisoned on this hateful island with this wild creature that methought more daemon than woman. And seeing myself thus mocked of Fortune (in my blind folly) I fell to reviling the God that made me. Howbeit sleep overtook me at last, but an evil slumber haunted by visions of this woman, her ...
— Martin Conisby's Vengeance • Jeffery Farnol

... Tonkin. We were in a little outlying town where there was a garrison, and some engineers who made military observations in a balloon. This was a captive balloon not employed for independent ascensions, and from some of the officers, who were my friends, I procured it for my projected tiger hunt. They were all much interested in my expedition, for if it succeeded there would be a new variety ...
— John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein • Frank R. Stockton

... costly gifts to gain His captive daughter from the victor's chain; Suppliant the venerable father stands, Apollo's awful ensigns grace his hands, By these he begs, and, lowly bending down, Extends the sceptre and ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. in Nine Volumes - Volume the Eighth: The Lives of the Poets, Volume II • Samuel Johnson

... grave had given up one dead to prepare another for the sepulchre. The small lamp sent forth but little light, and the features of his mother, not yet decently arranged, had a scared and frightened look, as if terror, at the oncoming of death, had left her a powerless though unwilling captive. ...
— The Buccaneer - A Tale • Mrs. S. C. Hall

... on the ground in convulsions of fear, and with tears and loud cries implored the mercy which he had never shown. Meer Jaffier hesitated; but his son Meeran, a youth of seventeen, who in feebleness of brain and savageness of nature greatly resemble the wretched captive, was implacable. Surajah Dowlah was led into a secret chamber, to which in a short time the minister of death were sent. In this act the English bore no part and Meer Jaffier understood so much of their feelings that h thought it necessary to apologise to them ...
— Critical and Historical Essays Volume 1 • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... invitations to the enjoyment of sensual love. Every one must be disgusted when Hecuba, in order to induce Agamemnon to punish Polymestor, reminds him of the pleasures which he has enjoyed in the arms of Cassandra, his captive, and, therefore, by the laws of the heroic ages his concubine: she would purchase revenge for a murdered son with the acknowledged and permitted degradation of a living daughter. He was the first to make the unbridled ...
— Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature • August Wilhelm Schlegel



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