Free TranslationFree Translation
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Demur   Listen
verb
Demur  v. t.  
1.
To suspend judgment concerning; to doubt of or hesitate about. (Obs.) "The latter I demur, for in their looks Much reason, and in their actions, oft appears."
2.
To cause delay to; to put off. (Obs.) "He demands a fee, And then demurs me with a vain delay."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |





"Demur" Quotes from Famous Books



... demur one sweet voice after another arose; then a man gained courage, and chimed in with a full harmonious bass; then a rich sad alto made itself heard, as it wandered in and out between the voices of the men and women; ...
— Prose Idylls • Charles Kingsley

... there was a demur about my drawing the dog—whether from fear of bewitching the animal or not, I cannot say; but instead of producing the pet—a beautifully-formed cream-coloured dog—a common black one was brought in, which I tied in front of Miengo, and then drew both ...
— The Discovery of the Source of the Nile • John Hanning Speke

... experience and character equal to the line you would undertake; and it never can enter into any body's head that you were to give your time or any part of your attention gratis, because you had a share in the theatre. I have spoke on this subject both to Garrick and Leasy, and you will find no demur on any side to your gaining a certain income from the theatre—greater, I think, than you could make out of it—and in this the theatre will be acting only for its own advantage. At the same time you may always make leisure for a few select scholars, whose interest may also serve the greater ...
— Memoirs of the Life of the Rt. Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan V1 • Thomas Moore

... life did not demur. She was so worn out that she was really glad to go to bed. After a good night's rest she was much better, but she continued ...
— A Little Florida Lady • Dorothy C. Paine

... I could find sureties). They went to a justice at Elstow, one Mr. Crumpton, to desire him to take bond for my appearing at quarter session. At first he told them he would; but afterwards he made a demur at the business, and desired first to see my mittimus, which ran to this purpose: That I went about to several conventicles in this country, to the great disparagement of the government of the Church of England, etc. When he had seen it, he said there might be something more against me ...
— The World's Greatest Books, Vol IX. • Edited by Arthur Mee and J.A. Hammerton

... face it. It is only a question of with whom I shall do so. Shall it be with the man I have instinctively loved from the first moment I saw him, better than all others on earth, or shall it be with some lesser? If my heart is willing, why should yours demur to it?" ...
— The Woman Who Did • Grant Allen

... 12, 1540. He agrees to get to work not later than the first of September next, and to stay in the city till the work is done. Nor must he undertake other work under a penalty of 100 scudi, which he is to pay in such case without demur or defence. The procurators agree to pay for every picture, with its frame, according to the design furnished to him, and they also promise to provide lodgings for himself and his family without any expense to ...
— Intarsia and Marquetry • F. Hamilton Jackson

... that time, one of the best streets in Portsmouth, as Mr Vanslyperken well knew. This assured him of her respectability. He very gallantly offered his arm which, after a little demur, was accepted, and Mr Vanslyperken conveyed her to her house. Of course she could do no less than ask him to walk up, and Mr Vanslyperken, who had never been in anything approaching to good society, was in astonishment at ...
— Snarleyyow • Captain Frederick Marryat

... his mention of the "St. Christopher" of the doges' palace as "the only known fresco of Titian," forgetting the celebrated one in the Scuola del Santo at Padua, of which he has spoken in a previous volume. He occasionally makes an assertion to which many will demur; as, for instance, that "The real glory of the Italian towns consists not in their churches, but in their palaces." The best refutation of this paradox is in his own pages. Most people will be startled, too, by hearing of "the want ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science - Vol. XVII, No. 102. June, 1876. • Various

... You demur? Do you not see that the demon, by the mere fact of having produced physical consequences, would have become himself a physical agent, a member of physical Nature, and therefore to be explained, he and his doings, by physical laws? If you do not see that ...
— Health and Education • Charles Kingsley

... in it very trying to her fortitude. With the dawning of brighter days in spring she could not but think of the Forest with fresh longing, and she watched each morning's post for the arrival of that invitation to Fairfield which Lady Latimer had promised to send. At length it came, and after brief demur received a favorable answer. The squire had a mortified consciousness that his granddaughter's life was not very cheerful, and, though he did not refuse her wish, he was unable to grant it heartily. However, ...
— The Vicissitudes of Bessie Fairfax • Harriet Parr

... People are no more fictitious now than at any other time. There was always, and there will be always, a certain amount of false pretension in life which you may, if you like, call acting. And to this I demur in toto, and assert that as every age has its peculiar stamp of military glory, or money-seeking, or religious fervour, or dissipation, or scientific discovery, or unprofitable trifling, so the mark of our own time will be found to be its thorough ...
— Cornelius O'Dowd Upon Men And Women And Other Things In General - Originally Published In Blackwood's Magazine - 1864 • Charles Lever

... her son, obtain whatever they ask of the Marquis d'Espard without demur; and if he has not ready money, M. d'Espard draws bills to be paid by the said Mongenod, who has offered to give evidence to that ...
— The Commission in Lunacy • Honore de Balzac

... works. At the same time, however, the obstinate fact remains that we can suggest no other conceivable purpose which the place can have served; and so, until some more likely use can be suggested, we are scarcely entitled to demur to Dr. ...
— The Sea-Kings of Crete • James Baikie

... to this busy, hard-working mother. She was generally sparing of words. Grace, who saw that her mother was bent on her going, made no further demur; but, as she put on her walking-things, she told herself that Archie was only making a virtue of necessity. He was so little eager for her society that he had not sought her himself, but had sent ...
— Not Like Other Girls • Rosa N. Carey

... cannot let the interval pass without a few words. The new interest in your mind, as far is it is spiritual, and the new measures you propose to adopt in your church, so far as I understand them, have my entire sympathy. But I demur to your manner of stating the speculative grounds of this change in your feeling and view. Certainly my mind is, and has been or a long time, running in a direction contrary to your present leanings. I cannot think that human nature is o low and helpless as you seem to think, nor that the gospel ...
— Autobiography and Letters of Orville Dewey, D.D. - Edited by his Daughter • Orville Dewey

... speech unstateable. They will not take my word. If I appeal, They hale me up before a stern Committee, Fellows with brazen faces, hearts of steel, And destitute of manners as of pity. My solemn statement, or my mild demur, To them a subject of fierce scorn and scoff is; An honest citizen feels but a cur When snapped and snarled at by these Jacks-in-Office. They're sure to have the pull of me somehow; Oh! I've read "Handbooks." I've attended Meetings Where angry ratepayers ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 99, July 5, 1890 • Various

... records of the stage. That other player-author may have died young, or faded into obscurity. The term "the only Shake-scene" may be one of those curious coincidences which do occur. The presumption lies rather on the other side. I demur, when Mr. Greenwood courageously struggling for his case says that, even assuming the validity of the surmise that there is an allusion to Shakspere, {143a} "the utmost that we should be entitled to say is that Greene here accuses Player Shakspere ...
— Shakespeare, Bacon and the Great Unknown • Andrew Lang

... but friendship, could have prompted Titus, whenas he might fairly have feigned not to see, unhesitatingly to compass his own death, that he might deliver Gisippus from the cross to which he had of his own motion procured himself to be condemned? What else could have made Titus, without the least demur, so liberal in sharing his most ample patrimony with Gisippus, whom fortune had bereft of his own? What else could have made him so forward to vouchsafe his sister to his friend, albeit he saw him very poor and reduced to the extreme of misery? ...
— The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio • Giovanni Boccaccio

... deliciously naive note of 'Dora' to her venerated father suggests that it is due similarly to demur—with all respect—to the representation given of Mrs. Hemans (pp. 193-4). Three things it must be permitted me to recall: (a) That the 'brevity's sake' hardly condones the fulness of statement of an imagined ...
— The Prose Works of William Wordsworth • William Wordsworth

... might come and fetch you, why I thought I would, and that you would be pleased to see me; that is all my story," finished Allan, exchanging an amused glance with Miss Ruth. They had never met before, and yet they seemed already on excellent terms. All an made no sort of demur when Miss Ruth insisted that we should both have some tea to warm us before we went. I think he felt at home with her ...
— Esther - A Book for Girls • Rosa Nouchette Carey

... Admirers have been presenting him with a Gold Medal of himself, and an Address of Congratulation on his 80th Birthday. I should not have supposed that either Medal or Address would be much to his Taste: but, as more important People than myself joined in the Thing, I did not think it became me to demur. But I shall not the less write him my half-yearly Letter of Good Hopes and Good Wishes. He seems to have been well and happy in our pretty County of ...
— Letters of Edward FitzGerald in Two Volumes - Vol. II • Edward FitzGerald

... pretending to that title." In that manifesto the Brethren assumed that their episcopal orders were on a par with those of the Church of England; and that assumption was accepted, without the slightest demur, not only by the Parliamentary Committee, but by the bench ...
— History of the Moravian Church • J. E. Hutton

... infringes—he that will consult his own interests, and at the same time trample under foot the dearest interests of others, has no right, or title, to the name of a Christian. If the Bible says do this, or abstain from that, the Christian has no right to demur; it matters not how repugnant it may be to the feelings and inclinations of his heart. He must cheerfully and heartily at all times, and under all circumstances, acquiesce in the will of a superior intelligence. He ...
— A Review of Uncle Tom's Cabin - or, An Essay on Slavery • A. Woodward

... I had had my coffee, but I'm not sure it was coffee," Lanfear began, and he consented, with some demur, ...
— Between The Dark And The Daylight • William Dean Howells

... as it was, it was settled we should go to the ball, the last for the season being this night. My own objections about going not being strong enough to combat the ado my mentioning them would have occasioned, I joined in the party, without demur. ...
— The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay Volume 1 • Madame D'Arblay

... London had a hard lot, and went supperless to his open bed. His optic nerves were young and sensitive, and the protracted light so paralysed them that the morning found them closed "in endless night." This was a purely natural result: to admitting it, reason opposes no demur. But we must object, for truth's sake, to the tendency to account for natural consequences by assigning supernatural causes. The moon is no divinity; moonlight is no Divine emanation, with a vindictive ...
— Moon Lore • Timothy Harley

... despite the fools who demur, that barrier be based upon the Rhine, that barrier will fall ...
— The Crimson Tide • Robert W. Chambers

... Lord Mount Severn and his interment, occurred quickly; and to one of them the reader may feel inclined to demur, as believing that it could have no foundation in fact, in the actions of real life, but must be a wild creation of the author's brain. He would be wrong. The author is no more fond of wild creations than the reader. The ...
— East Lynne • Mrs. Henry Wood

... "Nay, Harriet, I demur to that," said her father drolly. "I flatter myself I was a more personable youth than to be likened to Watford with his swollen nose. What like was your ...
— Love and Life • Charlotte M. Yonge

... horses at a price less than that which I expected to get at the fair; be this as it may, the question filled me with embarrassment, and I bitterly repented not having at first been more explicit. Thereupon the magistrate, in the same kind of tone, demanded to see my pocket-book. I knew that to demur would be useless, and produced it, and forthwith amongst two or three country notes, appeared the fourth which I had received from the Horncastle dealer. The agent took it up and examined it with attention. 'Well, is it a genuine note?' said the magistrate. ...
— The Romany Rye - A Sequel to 'Lavengro' • George Borrow

... Mr. Wagg, serving as board of appraisal of his own feat, kept boosting the value. It was evident that he was suspecting that Vaniman, out and free, was in the mood that is characteristic of the common run of humanity: urgent desire is reckless about price; possession proceeds to haggle and demur. ...
— When Egypt Went Broke • Holman Day

... of demur in the humane and crowded court at this; it was just these heart-rendingly painful things which were ...
— The Blotting Book • E. F. Benson

... Impeachment, on the ground that all the States not being represented either in House or Senate, there was no competent branch to impeach and none to try an officer. "If I were the President's counselor," said he, "I would advise him, if you preferred Articles of Impeachment, to demur to your jurisdiction and to that of the Senate, and issue a proclamation giving you and all the world notice that while he held himself impeachable for misdemeanors in office before the Constitutional tribunal, he never would subject the office he holds in trust to the irregular, unconstitutional, ...
— Twenty Years of Congress, Volume 2 (of 2) • James Gillespie Blaine

... to demur against the tribunal which was to try them, since by the privilege of their order they, as Knights of the Golden Fleece, were amenable only to the king himself, the grand master. But this demurrer was ...
— The Works of Frederich Schiller in English • Frederich Schiller

... another place, whose absence from their counsels would long be felt as a very grievous loss. Then he pronounced a eulogy on Plantagenet Palliser, so graceful and well arranged, that even the bitterness of the existing opposition was unable to demur to it. The House was well aware of the nature of the labours which now for some years past had occupied the mind of the noble duke; and the paramount importance which the country attached to their conclusion. The noble duke no doubt was not ...
— Phineas Redux • Anthony Trollope

... may be, we cannot do otherwise than demur to the statement implied in 'Supernatural Religion' [Endnote 198:1], that the references in Irenaeus can only be employed as evidence for the Gnostic usage between the years 185-195 A.D. This is a specimen of a kind of position that is frequently taken up by critics ...
— The Gospels in the Second Century - An Examination of the Critical Part of a Work - Entitled 'Supernatural Religion' • William Sanday

... who injure their neighbor: and accordingly the fainthearted is said not to be evil, because he injures no one, save accidentally, by omitting to do what might be profitable to others. For Gregory says (Pastoral. i) that if "they who demur to do good to their neighbor in preaching be judged strictly, without doubt their guilt is proportionate to the good they might have done ...
— Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) • Thomas Aquinas

... young man;" and it seemed to occur to no one that friends, position, and all had been gained for Eustace by Harold himself. He was requesting permission to take Dora back with us, and it was granted with some demur, because she must be with Mrs. Randal Horsman on her return to town on the Monday; a day's lessons could not be sacrificed, for she was very backward, and had no application; but Harold undertook that she should meet the lady at the ...
— My Young Alcides - A Faded Photograph • Charlotte M. Yonge

... Commodore Decatur sailed into this harbor and sent a message to the Dey of Algiers demanding the release of all Americans then held in captivity, threatening to bombard the city if the prisoners were not set free. The Dey after some demur yielded through fear of bombardment and liberated all the Americans; but sent a message to the Commodore requesting that a tribute in the shape of powder be given him in exchange for the captives. 'If the Dey wants powder, he must take the balls with it,' Decatur bravely replied. After that the merchant ...
— A Trip to the Orient - The Story of a Mediterranean Cruise • Robert Urie Jacob

... they were within Mrs. Goddard's chamber, the woman nervously began to unfasten the young girl's dress, but her fingers trembled so with excitement, showing how wrought up she was, that Edith yielded without further demur, and assisted ...
— The Masked Bridal • Mrs. Georgie Sheldon

... him without demur. I went into my study, ordered some tea, and tried to read. It must have been an hour before the door was opened, ...
— The Great Secret • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... They submitted without demur. The dish-pan sunned in the old place. The towels dried along a line of her own stretching. "John and me don't mean to make you any work," she assured them. They made no work. It seemed there had never been so ...
— The Best Short Stories of 1919 - and the Yearbook of the American Short Story • Various

... the gang began to demur over this summary proceeding, saying that the Federal authorities would deal severely with them if it became known they murdered prisoners in cold blood. Not only this, but Morgan had captured hundreds of Home Guards and paroled them. But if they should execute ...
— Raiding with Morgan • Byron A. Dunn

... at once, thinking it best under the circumstances not to demur at all to anything his strange hosts might choose to ...
— The Great Taboo • Grant Allen

... her well for her trouble, and, after some demur, she consented to accompany me to the spot. We found it without much difficulty, when, dismissing her, I proceeded to examine the place. The 'castle' consisted of an irregular assemblage of cliffs and rocks—one of the latter being quite remarkable for its height as well as for its insulated and ...
— Short-Stories • Various

... jet. Will ye renounce this pact of creatureship? The pattern on the Mount subsists no more, {625} Seemed awhile, then returned to nothingness; But copies, Moses strove to make thereby, Serve still and are replaced as time requires: By these, make newest vessels, reach the type! If ye demur, this judgment on your head, {630} Never to reach the ultimate, angels' law, Indulging every instinct of the soul There where law, life, joy, impulse are one thing! "Such is the burthen of the latest time. I have survived to hear it with my ears, ...
— Introduction to Robert Browning • Hiram Corson

... wares I mingled arms, "Which stir the martial soul. Nor had the youth "Disrob'd him of his virgin dress, when grasp'd "As in his hand the shield and lance he held, "I cry'd'—O, goddess-born! reserv'd for thee "Is Ilium's fate. The mighty Trojan walls "Why to o'erthrow demur'st thou?—Him I seiz'd. "Sent the brave youth, brave actions to atchieve: "And all his actions as my own I claim. "My spear then conquer'd Telephus in fight; "And after heal'd the suppliant vanquish'd ...
— The Metamorphoses of Publius Ovidus Naso in English blank verse Vols. I & II • Ovid

... among other things, as we shall have to note before long, reasonable care in recording and printing his originals. Upon that letter, at any rate, post if not propter, Miss Betham proposed to the philosopher that he should sit to her, and that, with some demur, he promised to do. An appointment was made to that end, and punctually broken. Then came this letter of excuse, which should have been worth many a miniature, being indeed a full-length portrait done by ...
— In a Green Shade - A Country Commentary • Maurice Hewlett

... words beyond the plain statement of facts that he had any right to use—harsh and brutal though they seemed. Seen in the earth-light that had broken on him with that rescuing hail, he had acted the coward and villain. If she thought him so, he had no right to demur. ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol 6, No 5, November 1864 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various

... take up the profession of teaching in Puerto Rico after experiencing the advantages of the Escuela Mann. His father said that he already knew some English, and he proposed that the boy should go about with us and practise it, and after polite demur and insistence the child came with us, to our great pleasure. He bore himself with fit gravity, in his cap and long linen pinafore as he went before us, and we were personally proud of his fine, long face and his serious eyes, dark ...
— Familiar Spanish Travels • W. D. Howells

... did not demur to this statement of the possible consequences of the present situation, but he said that all ...
— The Story of the Great War, Volume I (of 8) - Introductions; Special Articles; Causes of War; Diplomatic and State Papers • Various

... Zaidee made no demur. Willard went and read aloud to his mother. The girl was bathed and rubbed and rolled in a blanket. She felt real drowsy, but the thought haunted her—what if Louie Howe had been taken ill with scarlet fever and they had ...
— The Girls at Mount Morris • Amanda Minnie Douglas

... the figure of his wife; just such a woman as you might look to find the mate of such a man: broad and tall of frame and most scurvily cross-grained of face. It may well be that had he bidden me welcome, she had driven me back into the night; but since he made some demur when I asked for lodging, and protested that in his house was but accommodation too rude to offer my magnificence, the woman thrust him aside, and loudly ...
— The Shame of Motley • Raphael Sabatini

... will come and see her soon. The frost is cruel, and we have both colds. I take Pills again, which battle with your wine & victory hovers doubtful. By the bye, tho' not disinclined to presents I remember our bargain to take a dozen at sale price and must demur. With once again thanks and best loves ...
— The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb (Vol. 6) - Letters 1821-1842 • Charles and Mary Lamb

... enthusiastically. "Of course an allegation of scienter is necessary! In other words you could demur to the indictment ...
— Tutt and Mr. Tutt • Arthur Train

... were all rather astonished, I thought, by the few words I had to say of Father Maher, and especially by his frank and sensible recommendation of the reports in the London Times as the best account I could find of the Luggacurren difficulty. To this they could not demur, but things have got, or are getting, in Ireland, I fear, to a point at which candour, on one side or the other of the burning questions here debated, is regarded with at least as much suspicion as the most deliberate ...
— Ireland Under Coercion (2nd ed.) (2 of 2) (1888) • William Henry Hurlbert

... grew lively. Maggie was inclined to demur. How could she leave the old people and her housekeeping? Mr. and Mrs. Clifford, however, became the strongest advocates of the scheme. They could get along with the servants, they said, and a little outing would do Maggie good. Leonard, who had listened in comparative ...
— Nature's Serial Story • E. P. Roe

... but, really, there is no resolving upon such a thing as matrimony all at once; what with the loss of one's liberty, and what with the ridicule of all one's acquaintance,-I assure you Ma'am you are the first lady who ever made me even demur upon this subject; for, after all, my dear ...
— Evelina • Fanny Burney

... (1727-1805).—Actor and dramatist, b. in Ireland, and ed. at St. Omer, went on the stage, then studied for the Bar, to which he was ultimately admitted after some demur on account of his connection with the stage. His plays were nearly all adaptations. They include The Apprentice (1756), The Spouter, and The Upholsterer. He also wrote an essay on Dr. Johnson, and ...
— A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature • John W. Cousin

... Graven Lake by an old farmer, who wore the costume of the last century,—a red coat, a la Frederic the Great, long waistcoat, and white knee-breeches. He demanded double the lawful fare, which, indeed, was shamefully small; and we paid him without demur. At Vasenden we found our carrioles and harness in good condition, nothing having been abstracted except a ball of twine. Horses were in waiting, apparently belonging to some well-to-do farmer; for the boys were well dressed, and ...
— Northern Travel - Summer and Winter Pictures of Sweden, Denmark and Lapland • Bayard Taylor

... to leave the initiative to the eager twins, but when she made a plan it was generally worth adopting, and the other members of the family agreed to her arrangements without demur. ...
— Prudence Says So • Ethel Hueston

... The girls made no demur, but when they had crossed a portion of the long building Miss Schuyler touched her companion. "I'll wait where I am," she said drily, "you will not ...
— The Cattle-Baron's Daughter • Harold Bindloss

... a seat, there are two, as you see, The red rocker for you and the other for me. Don't demur, for no guests will arrive, I am sure; If they do, why there's room on the bed or ...
— The Song of the Exile—A Canadian Epic • Wilfred S. Skeats

... the result was a firm determination not to put any faith in appearances, but to keep everything on a war footing, scouting carefully so as not to be surprised by an enemy full of cunning and treachery; and though there was some little demur amongst those whose houses and plantations were farthest from the fort, all soon settled down to what resolved itself during the next week into a pleasant kind of ...
— Mass' George - A Boy's Adventures in the Old Savannah • George Manville Fenn

... than be call'd, a child of God," Death whisper'd!—with assenting nod, Its head upon its mother's breast, The Baby bow'd, without demur— Of the kingdom of ...
— Poems of Coleridge • Coleridge, ed Arthur Symons

... the bill Agnes could not demur to the price, although remembering a time when she had taught a district school for one dollar per week and boarded around besides. She thought three dollars far too much. But Guy had commanded, and him she generally obeyed, so she wrote another ...
— Aikenside • Mary J. Holmes

... set apart for us, so we could talk at our ease. I was burning to tell Jose about my father, but first of all we had to come to an understanding with Santiago. This time he made no demur at giving his parole. "In fact," said he gaily, "you have forced my hand, and I have ...
— At the Point of the Sword • Herbert Hayens

... would have accepted this proposition without demur. Just now he had a feeling that Silence was determined to obtain some advantage in the umpire. He knew Greg Carker to be honest from his head to his feet, and therefore he resolved not to yield a point to the proprietor of ...
— Frank Merriwell's Son - A Chip Off the Old Block • Burt L. Standish

... had staked her reputation to do as she had done for him. As his perception grew more keen, he saw with increasing clearness. A man just recovering from serious illness will accept sacrifices from his friends with little or no demur, which in full health he would not willingly permit. Alan could not have saved Lettice from the consequences of her own act, even if he had realized its significance from the first—which he did not. But now he knew that she ...
— Name and Fame - A Novel • Adeline Sergeant

... to one who had long lain captive, pining for liberty. He would follow the poor worn body to its grave rather with thanksgiving than with grief. And realizing so well that this was his inevitable feeling, even as in a smaller degree it had become her own, Dinah agreed without demur to his wish to spare her all the jarring details, the travesty of mourning, that could not fail to strike a false chord ...
— Greatheart • Ethel M. Dell

... make no objection to this singular hospitality; after all, it looks so little like a bed, the matting we are to share, and we sleep in our clothes, as we always do, according to the Nipponese fashion. After all, on a journey in a railway, do not the most estimable ladies stretch themselves without demur by the side of gentlemen ...
— Madame Chrysantheme Complete • Pierre Loti

... Judge himself, in a frenzy of activity, packed the things of his wife and daughters, and protested that nobody could do it better than he, and that nobody could make so many things go into one box as he could. The last was willingly conceded to him, but a little demur arose as to the excellency of the packing. The ladies asserted that he rumpled their dresses; the Judge asserted that there was no danger on that account, that everything would be found remarkably smooth, ...
— The Home • Fredrika Bremer

... Life within the barracks became almost impossible owing to their attacks and the severity of their stings, which set up maddening irritation. We petitioned the authorities to allow us a supply of fly-papers. After considerable demur they acquiesced, but we could not use them, or rather they were used up too rapidly. The evening we received them we decided to attach a few to the ceiling, but before we could fix them in position their ...
— Sixteen Months in Four German Prisons - Wesel, Sennelager, Klingelputz, Ruhleben • Henry Charles Mahoney

... Line 3. I demur very much to your statement in this paragraph. Wilde was too much of a student of Greek to have learned anything about controversy from Whistler. No doubt Whistler was more nimble and more naturally gifted with the power of repartee, but when Wilde indulged ...
— Oscar Wilde, Volume 2 (of 2) - His Life and Confessions • Frank Harris

... would give me leave to please you better. But you transact as gravely with me as a Spaniard; and are losing love, as he does Flanders: you consider and demur, when the monarch is up in ...
— The Works of John Dryden, Vol. 6 (of 18) - Limberham; Oedipus; Troilus and Cressida; The Spanish Friar • John Dryden

... 'Hedzoff, good Hedzoff, seize upon the Prince. Thou'lt find him in his chamber two pair up. But now he dared, with sacrilegious hand, to strike the sacred night-cap of a king—Hedzoff, and floor me with a warming-pan! Away, no more demur, the villain dies! See it be done, or else,—h'm—ha!—h'm! mind shine own eyes!' and followed by the ladies, and lifting up the tails of his dressing-gown, the King entered his ...
— The Rose and the Ring • William Makepeace Thackeray

... September except only when that day fell on a Sunday; still it was better to run no risk. A meeting of the "Bull-dogs" was called for the 27th of August, and at this Jack announced the invitation which had been received from Mr. Brook. A few were inclined to demur at giving up the jollity of the feast, but by this time the majority of the lads had gone heart and soul into the movement for improvement. The progress made had already been so great, the difficulties at first met had been so easily overcome, that they were eager ...
— Facing Death - The Hero of the Vaughan Pit. A Tale of the Coal Mines • G. A. Henty

... on every side to make sure he was not watched. From this hiding-place she observed him, to her great astonishment, ring boldly at the door of a large handsome house. That astonishment was increased to see him admitted without demur by an irreproachable footman, powder, plush, and all complete. Large drops of rain began to fall, and outside London, beyond the limits of our several gas companies, it lightened ...
— M. or N. "Similia similibus curantur." • G.J. Whyte-Melville

... Uncle Jack threw himself upon me, and squeezed out of breath the prudential demur that ...
— The Caxtons, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... English railway. It was already dark when the train reached Leipsic, and in the drizzling rain I wandered round the city ditch and rampart, unknowing where to find a lodging. At length, directed by a stranger to a trade herberge in the Kleine Kirche Hof, after some demur on account of my not belonging to the proper craft, I was admitted to a sort of out-house, paved with red bricks, and allowed a bed for the night. On the morrow I presented a letter of recommendation, ...
— A Tramp's Wallet - stored by an English goldsmith during his wanderings in Germany and France • William Duthie

... the smile gave place to a laugh. Mr Seton found it altogether delightful to be welcomed in so appreciative a fashion, and told himself that it was a treat, indeed, to meet a girl so natural and unaffected. He made no further demur, but when Dreda left the room sat down in a comfortable chair and stretched his long legs towards the fire, smiling to himself with obvious enjoyment of his recollections. It was indeed a grey wintry afternoon, and he was by no means averse to sitting by this cheery ...
— Etheldreda the Ready - A School Story • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey

... little demur at first, but the chief insisted, and after an attempt on the part of the Apaches at fighting their way up had been met by a sharp volley, the whole party, saving the Beaver and one follower, retreated to the rock fortress, where they speedily manned all the points of defence, and waited ...
— The Silver Canyon - A Tale of the Western Plains • George Manville Fenn

... made the same observation. So far, therefore, we are agreed. But even of this I can find no trace in the thin register, where I have always noticed that the pyramids are quite close together. On this point, my assertion is borne out by Dr. Merkel, who insists upon the same thing. I also demur to Madame Seiler's statement that in this register again the vocal ligaments relax at the beginning of the upper division, and I invite the reader to test the matter by reference to the ring-shield aperture. The evidence furnished by this experiment is conclusive, because the vocal ...
— The Mechanism of the Human Voice • Emil Behnke

... had given her but little to do—a few documents to copy, some cipher messages to carry. Then the demands upon her leisure had become more frequent. She found she was expected to make no demur at being sent for miles, and once or twice there had been dreadful midnight excursions to a hut up in ...
— The Hippodrome • Rachel Hayward

... was at a German University all last year." She hurried away, and soon returned with a distinguished-looking young woman whom she introduced as Miss Watson. "She is going up with us," explained Miss Wilson, "to have a cup of cocoa. Oh, yes," as Miss Watson was about to demur, "we have eight cups now. Do you remember the time two years ago when I invited the girls in and forgot that I hadn't dishes enough? Yes; I have the same rooms but they're much nicer. We have so many new things that I'm sure you will not recognize them. Miss Hobart is my roommate. We have gotten ...
— Elizabeth Hobart at Exeter Hall • Jean K. Baird

... of your house as a house of peace and quietness, and of you as a very brave woman." After her husband's arrest, Madame D—— asked for permission to take meals to him, and this was accorded without any demur. One day later the officer just mentioned crossed the street to speak to her. "I want to bring you some good news," he said, "the release of your husband is only a matter ...
— The Better Germany in War Time - Being some Facts towards Fellowship • Harold Picton

... I demur to these propositions. I am of opinion that the testimony of history, no less than the cool observation of that which lies within the personal experience of many of us, ...
— Evolution and Ethics and Other Essays • Thomas H. Huxley

... with equal rapidity. The King of Prussia is innately a bad neighbor, but the English will also always be bad neighbors to France, and the sea has never prevented them from doing her great mischief." We might, firstly, demur to any actions of our statesmen being classed with the treacherous aggressions of Frederick of Prussia, nor did many years of her husband's reign pass over before the greatest of English ministers proposed and concluded a treaty between the two countries, which he fondly and wisely hoped would lay ...
— The Life of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France • Charles Duke Yonge

... easy, that it would be impossible to carry out the work of conversion, or to annul the maternal influence. This audacious dissembler failed not to enlarge on the difficulty and importance of her conquest, and the governor, without further demur, commanded a soldier[8] to bring the unhappy Jewess into his presence. The thunderbolt that rends the airy region, travels not with more fatal celerity than did the ...
— The International Monthly, Volume 5, No. 3, March, 1852 • Various

... column found, Of Lotherengs and those out of Borgoune; Fifty thousand good knights they are, by count; In helmets laced and sarks of iron brown, Strong are their spears, short are the shafts cut down; If the Arrabits demur not, but come out And trust themselves to these, they'll strike them down. Tierris the Duke shall lead them, ...
— The Song of Roland • Anonymous

... seemed rather surprised at the proposal; beyond expressing, however, an ironical regret that the party was to be deprived of Master Guiseppe's entertaining society, he made no demur, and drawing an old letter from his pocket he scribbled in pencil on the inner side of the envelope the required certificate, which he handed over to the Corsican with ...
— Under the Meteor Flag - Log of a Midshipman during the French Revolutionary War • Harry Collingwood

... cavilling. protest; contradiction &c (denial) 536; noncompliance &c (rejection) 764. dissentient, dissenter; non-juror, non-content, nonconformist; sectary, separatist, recusant, schismatic, protestant, heretic. refusal &c 764. V. dissent, demur; call in question &c (doubt) 485; differ in opinion, disagree; say no &c 536; refuse assent, refuse to admit; cavil, protest, raise one's voice against, repudiate; contradict &c (deny) 536. have no notion of, differ toto caelo [Lat.]; revolt at, revolt from the idea. shake the head, ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget

... was accepted without demur as one of themselves by the literary and artistic "set" thronging the cafes and salons they frequented. Gautier and Sue, with Claudin and Mery and Dumas, were those habitues of whom she saw most; and Ferdinand Bac (but nobody else) ...
— The Magnificent Montez - From Courtesan to Convert • Horace Wyndham

... to demur feebly, but Lorelei cut short any further discussion, and, once behind her own locked door, she dressed with feverish haste. Her only desire now was to escape from Fennellcourt and all its guests as quickly as possible. Her thoughts concerning Bob at the moment ...
— The Auction Block • Rex Beach

... an hour later, clad from head to foot in new apparel, offered to assist him. Mullett hesitated, but made no demur; neither did he join in the ecstasies which his new partner displayed at the sight of the profits. Gunn put some more gold into his new pockets, and throwing himself back in a chair, called loudly to George ...
— Lady of the Barge and Others, Entire Collection • W.W. Jacobs

... proposal Miss Jessie, being in the main a very level-headed young lady, in spite of her little superstitions, assented without demur, and the two proceeded to ...
— Earth's Enigmas - A Volume of Stories • Charles G. D. Roberts

... conveyed to trustees for her son, so that Perrault could only touch the income, and not the principal; and as she told everyone that he had been determined upon this being done, I suppose he saw that any demur would excite ...
— Lady Hester, or Ursula's Narrative • Charlotte M. Yonge

... his company; when she willed, and she willed often, she summoned him to her aide. Nor did he now appear reluctant to come at her bidding; self-assertive though he had shown himself to be he obeyed, sans demur, the wave of my lady's little hand. Was it a certain largeness and reserve about him that had awakened her curiosity? From her high social position had she wished merely to test her own power and ...
— Half A Chance • Frederic S. Isham

... represented, at least fourteen millions of taxes out of the seventeen millions, are paid by the unrepresented part; for although copyholds and leaseholds are assessed to the land-tax, the holders are unrepresented. Should then a general demur take place as to the obligation of paying taxes, on the ground of not being represented, it is not the Representatives of Rotten Boroughs, nor Special Juries, that can decide the question. This is one of the possible cases that ought to be foreseen, in order to prevent the inconveniencies ...
— The Writings Of Thomas Paine, Complete - With Index to Volumes I - IV • Thomas Paine

... reason or other, Mr. Lyall seems to demur to my hopeful estimate of Brahmoism. He had expressed his own conviction that Brahmanism, though it might suddenly collapse and vanish, was more likely gradually to spiritualize and centralize its Pantheon, reduce its theology to a compact ...
— Chips from a German Workshop - Volume IV - Essays chiefly on the Science of Language • Max Muller

... Desmond, at his own door, while O'Brien was equally anxious to secure foreign aid against such intolerable encroachments. The policy worked effectually; it brought the succeeding Earl of Desmond to London, an humble suitor for the King's mercy and favour, which were after some demur granted. ...
— A Popular History of Ireland - From the earliest period to the emancipation of the Catholics • Thomas D'Arcy McGee

... this direction was, he made no demur, only a sort of grunt, deep in his coat-collar, and almost before I was in my seat again the wheels were turning, and I saw the arm of my otherwise indistinguishable companion move darkly against the paler square of glass as he closed the carriage door, and shut us up alone together in the ...
— The Other Side of the Door • Lucia Chamberlain

... Give me the goad," he cried, snatching one from a driver. Then to Urban: "Bring the powder, and a bullet, for when the sun goes down thou shalt fire the great gun. Demur not. By the sword of Solomon, there shall be no sleep this night in yon Gabour city, least of all in the ...
— The Prince of India - Or - Why Constantinople Fell - Volume 2 • Lew. Wallace

... to know whom to tip and what to tip him. I know what it is to be the parting guest who has not parted freely enough, and that not from stinginess but the want of a fine instinct on the point. I made no mistake, however, in the case of the clerk, who accepted my pieces of silver without demur, and expressed a hope of seeing the article which I had assured him I was about to write. He has had some years to wait for it, but I flatter myself that these belated pages will occasion more interest than offense if they ever ...
— A Thief in the Night • E. W. Hornung

... should good fellows foemen be? And who would dream that foes they were— Larking and singing so friendly then— A family likeness in every face. But Captain Cloud made sour demur: "Guard! keep your prisoners in the pen, And let none talk with ...
— Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War • Herman Melville



Words linked to "Demur" :   demurral, plead, demurrer, jurisprudence, law



Copyright © 2024 e-Free Translation.com