Free TranslationFree Translation
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

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




Mean   Listen
noun
Mean  n.  
1.
That which is mean, or intermediate, between two extremes of place, time, or number; the middle point or place; middle rate or degree; mediocrity; medium; absence of extremes or excess; moderation; measure. "But to speak in a mean, the virtue of prosperity is temperance; the virtue of adversity is fortitude." "There is a mean in all things." "The extremes we have mentioned, between which the wellinstracted Christian holds the mean, are correlatives."
2.
(Math.) A quantity having an intermediate value between several others, from which it is derived, and of which it expresses the resultant value; usually, unless otherwise specified, it is the simple average, formed by adding the quantities together and dividing by their number, which is called an arithmetical mean. A geometrical mean is the nth root of the product of the n quantities being averaged.
3.
That through which, or by the help of which, an end is attained; something tending to an object desired; intermediate agency or measure; necessary condition or coagent; instrument. "Their virtuous conversation was a mean to work the conversion of the heathen to Christ." "You may be able, by this mean, to review your own scientific acquirements." "Philosophical doubt is not an end, but a mean." Note: In this sense the word is usually employed in the plural form means, and often with a singular attribute or predicate, as if a singular noun. "By this means he had them more at vantage." "What other means is left unto us."
4.
pl. Hence: Resources; property, revenue, or the like, considered as the condition of easy livelihood, or an instrumentality at command for effecting any purpose; disposable force or substance. "Your means are very slender, and your waste is great."
5.
(Mus.) A part, whether alto or tenor, intermediate between the soprano and base; a middle part. (Obs.) "The mean is drowned with your unruly base."
6.
Meantime; meanwhile. (Obs.)
7.
A mediator; a go-between. (Obs.) "He wooeth her by means and by brokage."
By all means, certainly; without fail; as, go, by all means.
By any means, in any way; possibly; at all. "If by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead."
By no means, or By no manner of means, not at all; certainly not; not in any degree. "The wine on this side of the lake is by no means so good as that on the other."






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 |





"Mean" Quotes from Famous Books



... you mean that the people at the fishing had to do so?- No; the people whom they left at home got so little that they could hardly subsist upon it, and they had to try some other means in order to enable ...
— Second Shetland Truck System Report • William Guthrie

... uses the term 'Concan' (Konkan) in a wide sense, so as to cover all the territory between the Western Ghats and the sea, including Malabar in the south. The term is often used in a more restricted sense to mean Bombay and certain other districts, ...
— Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official • William Sleeman

... was dead. Good Cook, I love thee well, and thou shalt have a good pottle of our master's best wine every day, for thou art an old and faithful servant. Also, good Cook, I have ten shillings that I mean to give as a gift to thee. But hatest thou not to see a vile upstart like this Reynold Greenleaf taking it upon him ...
— The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood • Howard Pyle

... at Vannes in 1777; son of a rather mean lawyer, the president of a revolutionary tribunal under the Republic, and a victim of the guillotine subsequent to the ninth Thermidor. His mother died of grief. In 1799 Anne Dumay enlisted in the army of Italy. On the overthrow of ...
— Repertory Of The Comedie Humaine, Complete, A — Z • Anatole Cerfberr and Jules Franois Christophe

... it," returned Richard. "He is very shy, and wouldn't even tell me his last name. But perhaps when he sees that I mean him no harm he'll ...
— Richard Dare's Venture • Edward Stratemeyer

... as if Joe Tonkin had divined his thoughts, for at that moment he pushed close to him and whispered in his ear, "Jim Cuttance didn't mean to rob th' owld man, sur. He only wanted to give he a fright, an' make un pay ...
— Deep Down, a Tale of the Cornish Mines • R.M. Ballantyne

... large proportion of the audience stood up—very informally. Those who did not, did not mean to acknowledge lack of intelligence and sense of decency, but to express emphatic disapproval of Miss Eagerson, Miss ...
— The Forerunner, Volume 1 (1909-1910) • Charlotte Perkins Gilman

... of owning my Opinion, that he is too minute, and particular, and rather labours to oppress us with every Image he cou'd raise, than to refresh and enliven us, with the noblest, and most differing. He is also too unmindful of the Dignity of his Subject, and diminishes it by mean, and contemptible Metaphors. Speaking of the Skies, he says ...
— 'Of Genius', in The Occasional Paper, and Preface to The Creation • Aaron Hill

... "I didn't mean to flayte you, Liza," Robbie said coaxingly. "You're a fair coax when you want something," said Liza, trying to disengage herself from the grasp of Robbie's arm about her waist. He might be an invalid, Liza thought, but he was wonderfully strong, and he was holding her shockingly ...
— The Shadow of a Crime - A Cumbrian Romance • Hall Caine

... was to forbid, to prosecute, to jail—in short, to use the taboo. But experience has shown that the taboo will not solve "moral and social questions"—that nine times out of ten it aggravates the disease. Political action becomes a petty, futile, mean little intrusion when ...
— A Preface to Politics • Walter Lippmann

... perform this act of religion, though evidently exempt from the precept. Being poor herself, she made the offering appointed for the poor: accordingly is this part of the law mentioned by St. Luke,[4] as best agreeing with the meanness of her worldly condition. But her offering, however mean in itself, was made with a perfect heart, which is what God chiefly regards in all that is offered to him. The King of Glory would appear everywhere in the robes of poverty, to point out to us the advantages ...
— The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints - January, February, March • Alban Butler

... good pictures. The artist does not intend to make exact representations of reality but to convey the appearance of reality, and just in so far as he succeeds in conveying that appearance of reality is he successful. This does not mean that good drawing is not necessary in a picture; it merely tells you what constitutes good drawing. If the lines of the human figure are perfect it is almost certain that the figure will be strained, unnatural and without the appearance of life or motion. In a good picture the lines ...
— Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 10 - The Guide • Charles Herbert Sylvester

... one of you! What do you mean; standing there in this storm? Get under the blankets—crouch down at the side of the sleds. I'll go ...
— The Moving Picture Girls Snowbound - Or, The Proof on the Film • Laura Lee Hope

... action, as in "Little Miss Muffet," and "Little Jack Horner." This summary does not differ much from Mr. Walter Taylor Field's conclusions: "The child takes little thought as to what any of these verses mean. There are perhaps four elements in them that appeal to him,—first, the jingle, and with it that peculiar cadence which modern writers of children's poetry strive in vain to imitate; second, the nonsense,—with just enough of sense in it to connect the nonsense with the child's thinkable ...
— Children's Literature - A Textbook of Sources for Teachers and Teacher-Training Classes • Charles Madison Curry

... surprise on this hill. Stairways began on the cobbles of the streets, only to lose themselves in a side wall; a turn on the ramparts would land you straight into the privacy of a St. Michelese interior, with an entire household, perchance, at the mercy of your eye, taken at the mean disadvantage of morning dishabille. As for doors that flew open where you looked to find a bastion; or a school—house that flung all the Michelese voyous over the tops of the ramparts at play-time; or of fishwives that ...
— In and Out of Three Normady Inns • Anna Bowman Dodd

... tranquillity in their souls, they that have subdued their wrath, obtain a high reward by means of their numerous sacrifices. That reward, however, is unattainable by men that are wicked in their deeds, overwhelmed by covetousness, mean and disreputable with souls unblessed and impure. Therefore, must thou know, O Brahmana that this reward which is obtained by persons having their souls under control and which is unobtainable by ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 • Kisari Mohan Ganguli

... prospect of this may of itself lead to a peaceful conclusion through the intervention of some one of the great powers. War seems a glorious thing to those who have not known its horrors; to experience it is quite another thing. In any event it would mean to many loss of fathers or brothers, destruction of property, paralysis of business—and all for what? That some point might be attained, some pride gratified, some enemy humbled—results as easily accomplished by arbitration the great blessing ...
— The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 2, No. 11, March 17, 1898 - A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls • Various

... a periscope, under normal conditions, at a pretty good distance; which does not mean that that periscope is at once going to be blown out of the water. Hitting a piece of 4-inch pipe at any distance is not easy; the pipe moving and the ship moving does not make ...
— The U-boat hunters • James B. Connolly

... over and it should not be prolonged work should be given which would tend to call out the best feelings, restore self-respect, and act as a sort of cordial to remove lowering and depression. To explain by a homely instance what we mean, we will mention an incident that occurred to one of us when building the Woking prison in 1866. A convict undergoing sentence there, of the labouring class, was found to be of an exceptionally dogged and dull nature. Nothing pleased him; he was disgusted with the ...
— Prisoners Their Own Warders - A Record of the Convict Prison at Singapore in the Straits - Settlements Established 1825 • J. F. A. McNair

... into the final dark. In the roar of the wind, declared Payne, Last Bull, out there in the night, listened to the trampling of all those vanished droves. And though the other keepers insisted to each other, quite privately, that their chief talked a lot of nonsense about "that there mean-tempered old buffalo," they nevertheless came gradually to look upon Last Bull with a kind of awe, and to regard ...
— Kings in Exile • Sir Charles George Douglas Roberts

... at him," said the station-master, straightening himself up in time to observe the glance. "He never kept time yet, and don't mean to begin. Breaks ...
— Shining Ferry • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... courtier; Lord C. presented himself easy, unembarrassed, like a gentleman!" These are the stories one has to recall about the prince and king—kindness to a housemaid, generosity to a groom, criticism on a bow. There are no better stories about him: they are mean and trivial, and they characterize him. The great war of empires and giants goes on. Day by day victories are won and lost by the brave. Torn, smoky flags and battered eagles are wrenched from the heroic enemy and laid at his feet; and he sits there on his throne and smiles, and gives ...
— Henry Esmond; The English Humourists; The Four Georges • William Makepeace Thackeray

... mean any offence," he said; "for I can quite understand what your feelings on the subject must be. I, no more than yourself, would tolerate any unwarrantable interference such as you describe. It is just as well that you should have mentioned the matter ...
— The Motor Pirate • George Sidney Paternoster

... readers to do the best work of which he is capable. It is his privilege not only to inform and to entertain the public, but to create better taste and a keener appreciation of good writing. That readers do not demand better writing in their newspapers and magazines does not mean that they are unappreciative of good work. Nor do originality and precision in style necessarily "go over the heads" of the average person. Whenever writers and editors give the public something no better ...
— How To Write Special Feature Articles • Willard Grosvenor Bleyer

... a distance of thirteen miles the mean effect of the new light is very much superior to the mean effect of the old light (perhaps in the ratio of two to one). 2. That at all distances the new light has a prodigious superiority to the old, from ...
— Smeaton and Lighthouses - A Popular Biography, with an Historical Introduction and Sequel • John Smeaton

... Do you think I am blind? And I want to say this while I have a chance—it was uncommon good of you. To take it the way you did, I mean." ...
— Under the Andes • Rex Stout

... (khaitt, singular and plural) and 4 municipalities (krong, singular and plural) : provinces: Banteay Mean Chey, Batdambang, Kampong Cham, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Spoe, Kampong Thum, Kampot, Kandal, Koh Kong, Kracheh, Mondol Kiri, Otdar Mean Chey, Pouthisat, Preah Vihear, Prey Veng, Rotanakir, Siem Reab, Stoeng Treng, Svay Rieng, Takao : municipalities: ...
— The 2005 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency

... 'Twas a low, mean house, with little accommodation for man or beast, being, indeed, as much farmhouse as hostel, with naught but the flaming sign to tell me I might wade through the muck and litter to the door ...
— Sir Ludar - A Story of the Days of the Great Queen Bess • Talbot Baines Reed

... In the mean time the irregular dealers began to descend upon him, as well as amateurs to whom he had mentioned his wish for a horse, and his premises at certain hours of the morning presented the effect of a horse-fair, or say rather a museum of equine bricabrac. At first he blushed at the spectacle, ...
— Buying a Horse • William Dean Howells

... distressed by the enemy; and this tax, too, was the most unjust and partial that can be conceived, unless we except that, by which we have since raised much more from the people, without giving so much to the public; I mean the laws for impressing, &c., which placed the greatest burden of the war upon the shoulders of a particular order of men in particular ...
— The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. XI • Various

... generous. We both are passers-by. It is too soon for us to judge each other in the full. I must be sure—oh, I must be sure of myself. Can you understand? I must be sure of myself, and I am not sure now. You do not know how much there is at stake, you can not possibly know what it would mean to me if I were to discover that our adventure had no real significance in the end. I know it sounds strange and mysterious, or you would not look so puzzled. But unless I can be sure of one thing—one vital ...
— The Prince of Graustark • George Barr McCutcheon

... committed him to the tower for not violating his oath. The most sacred obligation of morality and religion they voted criminal, when it happened to stand in competition with their assumed privileges. Their next step was the act of a mob, and not of a parliament; I mean the expunging of the recognisance entered at Guildhall. We have heard of such violence committed by the French King; and it seems much better calculated for the latitude of Paris than of London. The people of this kingdom ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

... princes therefore, king William, queen Mary, and queen Anne, did not take the crown by hereditary right or descent, but by way of donation or purchase, as the lawyers call it; by which they mean any method of acquiring an estate otherwise than by descent. The new settlement did not merely consist in excluding king James, and the person pretended to be prince of Wales, and then suffering the crown ...
— Commentaries on the Laws of England - Book the First • William Blackstone

... I do not mean to assert that this great painter is acquainted with the geological laws and facts he has thus illustrated; I am not aware whether he be or not; I merely wish to demonstrate, in points admitting of demonstration, that intense observation of, ...
— Modern Painters Volume I (of V) • John Ruskin

... tell; I am in a great labyrinth, from which I must work my way out alone. Nevertheless, my friend, keep near me." Unconsciously she pressed his arm. He started, and turned his head away. The next moment he added, in a somewhat constrained voice, "I mean—let me have your friendship—your silent comforting—your prayers-Yes! thus far I believe. I can say, 'Pray God for me,' doubting not that He will hear—you, at least, if not me. Therefore, let me go on ...
— Olive - A Novel • Dinah Maria Craik, (AKA Dinah Maria Mulock)

... at me bent before her. "That I wish you to do your best, unhampered by me, does not mean that I wish you success," she said, with her head high, and she went to Onanguisse, and curtsied her adieus. Her last words were with Father Nouvel, and she hid her eyes for a moment, while he ...
— Montlivet • Alice Prescott Smith

... the people, and through the people: and by the people I mean through the intelligence of the people. ['Elle est fameuse, Monseigneur l'intelligence de ceux, qui vous ont conseille l'affaire de Ballaarat! surtout in ...
— The Eureka Stockade • Carboni Raffaello

... familiar with in the European apple canker as it appears on the apple trees. I think those who are familiar with the apple canker will notice the resemblance, in at least one or two of these photographs. Now, I don't mean by that that it is the same as the apple canker, but I do want to call your attention to its appearance in these photographs, and at the same time, to tell you something that Mr. Meyer wrote about this ...
— Northern Nut Growers Association, Report of the Proceedings at the Fourth Annual Meeting - Washington D.C. November 18 and 19, 1913 • Various

... of your hand—to think it all out. My work will take me to Englewood to-morrow, and I want you to wait for your answer until I come back, for then I shall have decided one way or the other. But in Englewood the memory of your words will be with me still—oh, did you mean all, quite all you said, and did you say quite all you meant to say—did you? Did you? For indeed it has seemed to me that if you really meant all you said you might have said a little more—just a little more. This is a dreadfully long letter and very badly expressed, ...
— The Definite Object - A Romance of New York • Jeffery Farnol

... fee anything sunny about it—I mean I fail to see anything funny about it," growled Rattleton, prancing fiercely up and down the room. "If you'll tell me where the laugh comes in, I'll snicker, just to ...
— Frank Merriwell's Races • Burt L. Standish

... Fellows,' July, 1827; 'Islanders,' December, 1827. These are our three great plays that are not kept secret. Emily's and my best plays were established the 1st of December, 1827; the others, March, 1828. Best plays mean secret plays; they are very nice ones. All our plays are very strange ones. Their nature I need not write on paper, for I think I shall always remember them. The 'Young Men's' play took its rise from some wooden soldiers Branwell had; 'Our Fellows' from AEsop's Fables; and the 'Islanders' ...
— Emily Bront • A. Mary F. (Agnes Mary Frances) Robinson

... what might, he did not need to be or mean to be so, and there the game must lie; but he had not by any means attained the height of his ambition. He was not yet looked upon as a money prince. He could not rank as yet with the magnates of the East—the serried Sequoias of ...
— The Titan • Theodore Dreiser

... cream of the joke. I tell you, we were all mad enough; and when we got to old Jake Van Couter's, we just rebelled. We all hated Jake, anyhow; and Tom Jones he stood right out in the road, and said Jake was a mean old curmudgeon; and then Pop got hold of Tom before we knew it, and down came ...
— Harper's Young People, March 2, 1880 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various

... said the major quietly, "we have come off to tell you that everything is in a prosperous state as regards the investigation into your innocence—the private investigation I mean, for the authorities happily know nothing of your being here. Captain Ogilvy has made me his confidant in this matter, and from what he tells me I am convinced that you had nothing to do with this robbery. Excuse me if I now add ...
— The Lighthouse • Robert Ballantyne

... not only their inherent meaning; they have their allied meanings. A word may mean one thing by itself. It may mean quite another thing when another word stands beside it; even marks of punctuation give words a curiously different sound and shade. Literature is a mastery, not only of the moods of men, but of the moods of words. Corot takes ...
— The Warriors • Lindsay, Anna Robertson Brown

... considered the matter settled when he uttered those swelling words to Henry of Navarre the day after the massacre: "I mean in future to have one religion in my kingdom. It is the ...
— A Short History of France • Mary Platt Parmele

... importance to object to trifles is naturally to be expected; but that, in other times, such minute records of a Byron will be read with interest, even such critics cannot doubt. To know that Catiline walked with an agitated and uncertain gait is, by no mean judge of human nature, deemed important as an indication of character. But far less significant details will satisfy the idolaters of genius. To be told that Tasso loved malmsey and thought it favourable to poetic ...
— Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 6 (of 6) - With his Letters and Journals • Thomas Moore

... The meaning of it, in short, is nothing less than this, that every one who acts as a reasonable being in the various relations and duties of a scholar is using the basest means to ingratiate himself with the government, and seeking by mean compliances to purchase their honors and favors. At least, I thought this to be true when I was in the government. If times and manners are altered, I am heartily glad of it; but it will not injure you to hear the tales of former times. If a scholar appeared to perform his ...
— A Collection of College Words and Customs • Benjamin Homer Hall

... always thinking of his audience, but the desire to stand well with his readers is often a power in the direction of good. The proprietor who endeavours to be the honest servant of his readers will not go very far wrong. When I say honest servant I mean the man who plays the part of the servant who, though he will do his master's bidding when that bidding is not positively immoral, at the same time is prepared to warn that master, courteously but firmly, against rash or base actions. There is nothing corrupt in such honest service, when rendered ...
— The Adventure of Living • John St. Loe Strachey

... million dollars. And she is at her busiest just now with the season's shopping in full swing. It's the price the stores have to pay for displaying their goods, but we have to do it, and we are at the mercy of the thieves. I don't mean by that the occasional shoplifter who, when she gets caught, confesses, cries, pleads, and begs to return the stolen article. They often get off. It is the regulars who get the two million, those known to the police, whose pictures are, many of them, in the Rogues' ...
— The Dream Doctor • Arthur B. Reeve

... necessary, my good fellow," said Captain Staunton; "your bare word is quite sufficient, for if you intend to be faithful to us you will be so without swearing fidelity; and if you mean to betray us an oath would hardly stop you, I am afraid. But we do not doubt your fidelity in the least; the only thing we have any fear ...
— The Pirate Island - A Story of the South Pacific • Harry Collingwood

... Smeller-out of Wizards, whichever you name yourself," I called in a loud voice, "if you mean that I ...
— Child of Storm • H. Rider Haggard

... at once that what I mean here by 'reading' is the capacity for silent reading, taking a book apart and mastering it; and you will bear in mind the wonder that I preached to you in a previous lecture—that great literature never condescends, that what yonder boy in a corner reads of ...
— On The Art of Reading • Arthur Quiller-Couch

... that age ... a lonely fallen Prometheus, groaning as the vultures tear him'; and with a few such strokes he gives etchings of other celebrities in letters and politics. One may observe with astonishment that the youthful Thackeray, who delighted in suburban chronicles, in mean lives and paltry incidents, has risen by middle age to the rank of an illustrious painter on the broad canvas of history. The annals of literature contain few, if any, other examples of ...
— Studies in Literature and History • Sir Alfred Comyn Lyall

... afternoon, so I cal'lated maybe he hadn't heard about Cap'n Sam's app'intment. And I knew, too, how he does hate the Cap'n; ain't had nothin' but cuss words and such names for him ever since Sam done him out of gettin' the postmaster's job. Pretty mean trick, ...
— Shavings • Joseph C. Lincoln

... meeting that he will personally cite any juror who does not appear? However, I should be glad if you would write me word whether you have heard anything about the return of Antonius; and since you don't mean to come here, dine with me in any case on the 29th. Mind you do this, and take ...
— The Letters of Cicero, Volume 1 - The Whole Extant Correspodence in Chronological Order • Marcus Tullius Cicero

... new thing however good. To all these Jenner replied, and a very great deal of his valuable time was consumed in arguing with them. But the sect of the anti-vaccinators had arisen, and was to some extent organized. Caricatures, lampoons, scurrilities, vulgarities and misrepresentations, the mean, were scattered on all sides. Nothing was too absurd to be stated or believed—that vaccinated persons had their faces grow like oxen, that they coughed like cows, bellowed like bulls and became hairy on the body. ...
— Popular Science Monthly Volume 86

... a wizard with it. But in spite of that he's a good fellow." (What did "in spite of that" mean—didn't Uncle ...
— Missy • Dana Gatlin

... no air a few miles from the earth. Of course, I do not mean that such a craft would take off from the earth and land on the moon three hours later. There are two things which would interfere with that. One is the fact that the propelling force, the gravity ...
— Astounding Stories of Super-Science February 1930 • Various

... that of one of the oldest and least highly developed orders, the Marsupials. There even occurs a unique order, still lower in the scale of organization—so low, in fact, that it deserves to be regarded as but nascent mammalian: I mean, of course, the Monotremata. As regards Birds, we have the peculiar wingless forms alluded to in a previous chapter (viz. that on Morphology); and, without waiting to go into details, it is notorious that the faunas of Australia and New Zealand are not only highly peculiar, but also suggestively ...
— Darwin, and After Darwin (Vol. 1 and 3, of 3) • George John Romanes

... haven't called. I don't suppose they mean anything by it, but my little girl thinks they do, so I said I would ...
— Revenge! • by Robert Barr

... central point in the room. The temperature should be regulated according to the nature of the disease and the comfort of the patient. In fevers it should be lower, varying from 55 to 60 degrees F., but in bronchial troubles it should be kept about 70 degrees F. The mean temperature should be kept about 60 degrees to 70 degrees. It should be raised or lowered gradually, so that the patient will not be overheated ...
— Mother's Remedies - Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers - of the United States and Canada • T. J. Ritter

... go on being an object of satirical charity. He wouldn't refuse the Hilmer business, but he would put it on the proper basis. He would put a proposition squarely up to Hilmer whereby Hilmer would become a definite partner in the firm—Hilmer, Starratt & Co., to be exact. This would mean not only an opportunity to handle all the Hilmer business itself, but to control other insurance that Hilmer had his finger in. There would be no silent partners, no gratuitous assistance from either clients or wife, ...
— Broken to the Plow • Charles Caldwell Dobie

... not even considered. We mean to get her out of their hands, if possible; but until we see whether she has been really taken to Nantes—of which I have little doubt—which prison she is placed in, and how it is guarded, we can form no plan. If possible, we shall ...
— No Surrender! - A Tale of the Rising in La Vendee • G. A. Henty

... stabbed him to death in your presence: but why, I should like to ask, should the man who betrayed you be less your enemy than mine? 'Ah, but,' I hear some one retort, 'he came of his own accord.' I presume, sir, you mean that had he chanced to be slain by somebody at a distance from your state, that somebody would have won your praise; but now, on the ground that he came back here to work mischief on the top of mischief, 'he ...
— Hellenica • Xenophon

... boy stared wild like a gray gose-hawk, Says, 'What may a' this mean?' 'My boy, you are King Honor's son, And ...
— Ballads of Romance and Chivalry - Popular Ballads of the Olden Times - First Series • Frank Sidgwick

... this, the more determined Philippa was to keep it. She even began to make excuses for it between her sobs. It did not mean to scratch; it was a dear little kitten. She was very fond of it. It should not be sent away. It should stay ...
— Black, White and Gray - A Story of Three Homes • Amy Walton

... gentleman may not wear his heart upon his sleeve. Empires crumble, and hearts break, and we are blessed or damned, as Fate elects; but through it all we find comfort in the reflection that dinner is good, and sleep, too, is excellent. As for the future—eh, well, if it mean little to us, it means a deal to Alison's daughter. Let us ...
— Gallantry - Dizain des Fetes Galantes • James Branch Cabell

... "You mean nobody shall successfully misrepresent you to me? No, Count" (and here the Regent spoke with the earnestness and dignity, which, when he did assume, few wore with a nobler grace)—"no, Count, I make ...
— Devereux, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... a full moment before anybody spoke. Then "What does this mean?" asked Mrs. Davis, in an ...
— Nine Little Goslings • Susan Coolidge

... against the Medes, is represented as making vows [891][Greek: Hestiai Patroiai, kai Dii Patroioi, kai tois allois Theois]. But the Persians, from whom this history is presumed to be borrowed, could not mean by these terms Dii Patrii: for nothing could be more unnecessary than to say of a Persic prince, that the homage, which he payed, was to Persic Deities. It is a thing of course, and to be taken for granted, unless there be particular evidence to the contrary. His vows ...
— A New System; or, an Analysis of Antient Mythology. Volume I. • Jacob Bryant

... from such sham applause, compared to the secret satisfaction which a prig enjoys in his mind in reflecting on a well-contrived and well-executed scheme? Perhaps, indeed, the greater danger is on the prig's side; but then you must remember that the greater honour is so too. When I mention honour, I mean that which is paid them by their gang; for that weak part of the world which is vulgarly called THE WISE see both in a disadvantageous and disgraceful light; and as the prig enjoys (and merits too) the greater degree of honour from his gang, so doth he suffer the less ...
— The History of the Life of the Late Mr. Jonathan Wild the Great • Henry Fielding

... examples will contribute much to the understanding of this most important subject, the grasp of which will mean a great step forward for ...
— Chess Strategy • Edward Lasker

... not mean by stillness, stagnation not yet lazy contentment, but life more deeply thought about, more intensely realized, an activity so concentrated that it is ...
— Great Possessions • David Grayson

... is so comic," he said, "and unlike most great humourists his humour is absolutely unconscious. He was perfectly well aware that I meant to marry you, for I told him that last Christmas, adding that you did not mean to marry me. So since then I think he's got used to you. Used to ...
— Michael • E. F. Benson

... "What d'you mean by it?" he demanded. "Are you the master, or ain't you? A man what can't keep order in his own house ain't fit to be called a man. If my wife was carrying on ...
— Deep Waters, The Entire Collection • W.W. Jacobs

... whalers for crimes, for which, had they been taken Home and tried, they would have been hanged; some few among them, having been too lazy to finish the voyage they had begun, had deserted from their ships, and were then leading a mean and ...
— A Narrative of a Nine Months' Residence in New Zealand in 1827 • Augustus Earle

... America, and the Americans were told they must not cross it. America said, "What is this?" Germany said, "This is our line, beyond which you must not go," and America said, "The place for that line is not the Atlantic, but on the Rhine—and we mean to ...
— Winning a Cause - World War Stories • John Gilbert Thompson and Inez Bigwood

... "I don't mean to say that you swallowed your own head; but you found it just where you didn't expect to find it. ...
— Up The Baltic - Young America in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark • Oliver Optic

... speaking of health of body and mind, I also mean health of soul, which is of the first importance, for I do not believe that a despairing or stupefied state is suitable for leading poor sinners to a Saviour's feet ...
— Elizabeth Fry • Mrs. E. R. Pitman

... beef ditto, to say nothing of dried apples. I mean to sell everything at a profit and settle ...
— Phemie Frost's Experiences • Ann S. Stephens

... war was declared by the Tsar but the people approved it because they hoped that the defeat of Germany would mean the defeat of the German reactionary influence in Russia, especially about the court, and a closer union with democratic England and France. I was present at the capital at the time that the war broke out and heard the cheers when the Emperor made the declaration. It ...
— The Russian Revolution; The Jugo-Slav Movement • Alexander Petrunkevitch, Samuel Northrup Harper,

... to range along the coast, till we opened the northern point of the isle, without seeing a better anchoring-place than the one we had passed. We therefore tacked, and plied back to it; and, in the mean time, sent away the master in a boat to sound the coast. He returned about five o'clock in the evening; and soon after we came to an anchor in thirty-six fathoms water, before the sandy beach above mentioned. As the master ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 14 • Robert Kerr

... you please, Clarissa," said Austin, with a darkening countenance. "I have told you that your husband and I can never be friends, and I mean it. I don't want to be degraded by any intercession of yours. That's a little too much even for me. It suits my purpose well enough to accept Mr. Granger's commissions; and of course it's very agreeable to see you; but the matter ...
— The Lovels of Arden • M. E. Braddon

... center of trade in our own country, they are yet subjected beyond all this to the effect of whatever measures policy, necessity, or caprice may induce those who control the credits of England to resort to. I mean not to comment upon these measures, present or past, and much less to discourage the prosecution of fair commercial dealing between the two countries, based on reciprocal benefits; but it having now been ...
— Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present • Various

... Sow thinly, that the plants may have room to become stout while yet in the seed-bed, and from the very outset endeavour to impart a hardy constitution by giving air freely whenever the weather is suitable. This does not mean that they are to be subjected to some cutting blast that will cripple the plants beyond redemption, but that no opportunity should be lost of partial or entire exposure whenever the atmosphere is sufficiently genial to benefit them. If a cold frame on ...
— The Culture of Vegetables and Flowers From Seeds and Roots, 16th Edition • Sutton and Sons

... said Rachel, wildly; 'I did not mean to pray. I was not thinking of that; but William Wylder was different; and he did not ...
— Wylder's Hand • J. Sheridan Le Fanu

... Christian idea of the alternative 'perishing.' Then it means the disease running its course. It means the dangers laying hold of the man in peril. It means the withdrawal, or the non-bestowal, of all which is good, whether it be good of holiness or good of happiness. It does not mean, as it seems to me, the cessation of conscious existence, any more than salvation means the bestowal of conscious existence. But he who perishes knows that he has perished, even as he knows the process while he is in the process of perishing. Therefore, we have to ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture: Romans Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V) • Alexander Maclaren

... Madam Sturtevant, "what does this mean?" Something of the girl's panic had seized her, also, though she tried to hide her own ...
— The Brass Bound Box • Evelyn Raymond

... how far Emerson understood or misunderstood Saadi and Firdusi and the Koran. But we need not be disturbed for his learning. It is enough that he makes us recognize that these men were men too, and that their writings mean something not unknowable to us. The East added nothing to Emerson, but gave him a few trappings of speech. The whole of his mysticism is to be found in Nature, written before he knew the sages of the Orient, and it is not improbable that there is some real ...
— Emerson and Other Essays • John Jay Chapman

... by both the representation that 'Jehovah's name is in him,' and by the designation in our text, 'the angel of His presence,' or literally, 'of His face.' For 'name' and 'face' are in so far synonymous that they mean the side of the divine nature which is turned to ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture - Isaiah and Jeremiah • Alexander Maclaren

... going—if this is all I get for helping you. Is it my fault if you don't know your own mind, and say what you don't mean? And if you really want your dearly beloved George back again, there's time yet; he hasn't gone—he's in ...
— The Talking Horse - And Other Tales • F. Anstey

... dastardly outrage," blurted out Jefferson. "It's a damnable conspiracy against one of the most honourable men that ever lived, and I mean to ferret out and expose the authors. I came here to-day to ask ...
— The Lion and The Mouse - A Story Of American Life • Charles Klein

... ma'am, not at all, ma'am, a thousand times obleeged, ma'am,' and continued his sneaking retreat. By this time I had hold of the cape of his overcoat and was plucking it in utter desperation. 'John,' I said, speaking low, 'what in thunder do you mean? This is the best chance we'll ever have.' I was looking at the lady meanwhile in the most imploring manner, and she was regarding me with a kind of a pleasant, amused smile on her face. She saw, I guess, a mighty dirty looking boy, whose nose and face ...
— The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865 • Leander Stillwell

... boy," he continued, "doesn't that temperature reading mean anything to you? Why it hasn't gone up in six miles. Think of ...
— At the Earth's Core • Edgar Rice Burroughs

... sufficiently absorbing, and is not injurious either to his morals, his health, or his fortune. It is no small gain if, in the competition of pleasures, country pleasures take the place of those town pleasures which, in such cases as I have described, usually mean pleasures of vice. ...
— The Map of Life - Conduct and Character • William Edward Hartpole Lecky

... wasn't thinking of that. You couldn't help hearing; but you must have thought it queer,—her being so agitated, I mean." ...
— The Deserter • Charles King

... were both scalpers, and when we decided to let each other alone—in that way, I mean—we built up a pleasant professional acquaintance on the ashes of the ...
— The Motormaniacs • Lloyd Osbourne

... Had we possessed, contemporaneously with the fuci of the Silurians, or the ferns of the carboniferous formation, fossils of higher forms respectively, equally unsubstantial, but which had survived all contingencies, then the absence of mean forms of similar consistency might have been a stumbling-block in our course; but no such phenomena are presented. The blanks in the series are therefore no more than blanks; and when a candid mind further ...
— An Expository Outline of the "Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation" • Anonymous

... opportunity to do more execution in a single talk than in a score of sermons. I once spent an evening in a vain endeavor to bring a man to a decision for Christ. Before I left, he took me up-stairs to the nursery, and showed me his beautiful children in their cribs. I said to him tenderly: "Do you mean that these sweet children shall never have any help from their father to get to Heaven?" He was deeply moved, and in a month that man became an active member of my church. He was glued to me in affection for all the remainder of his useful life. On a cold winter evening I made a call ...
— Recollections of a Long Life - An Autobiography • Theodore Ledyard Cuyler

... realised her mental picture of him: that glorified being with whom she had dwelt so long? She sighed as she recalled her many disillusionments of the past few weeks. Bath House was the world in little. It seemed years since she had left Warkworth Manor. She found that world a somewhat mean and sordid place. She still loved the gaiety and sumptuousness of her new life, for it appealed to inherited instincts. But she had not found a responsive spirit. The young married women were absorbed ...
— The Gorgeous Isle - A Romance; Scene: Nevis, B.W.I. 1842 • Gertrude Atherton

... over. "You don't mean all of that. You'd not have spoke just that way about crowding and staring if you thought well of them that stare. Staring ain't courage; it's trashy curiosity. Now you did not ...
— The Virginian - A Horseman Of The Plains • Owen Wister

... had collected many precious possessions, and she and Friedrich had a comfortable home with plenty of furniture and full of all the useless and hideous knicknack which apparently make so many people happy. Only a few remain, for nearly all have "had to go"—the term we know so well to mean that they are now in pawn, and that it will probably never be possible to redeem them. When first we visited them they were living in a basement room where rats made it difficult for them to sleep, and where, ...
— The Better Germany in War Time - Being some Facts towards Fellowship • Harold Picton

... satiety, and the satiety is rather early reached in this same book. One of the chief "persons of distinction" in many ways whom I have ever come across, the late Mr. G. S. Venables—a lawyer of no mean expertness; one of the earliest and one of the greatest of those "gentlemen of the Press" who at the middle of the nineteenth century lifted journalism out of the gutter; a familiar of every kind of the best society, and a person of ...
— A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 - To the Close of the 19th Century • George Saintsbury

... the divisional horse-master, the C.R.E., and the D.A.Q.M.G. were among the officers trying to sort out the muddle; and in front of the Mairie, like a policeman on point duty, stood a perspiring staff captain. "That'll mean the Military Cross at least," grinned Beadle. "Life's ...
— Pushed and the Return Push • George Herbert Fosdike Nichols, (AKA Quex)

... POLLIO was a statesman and orator of marked attainments of this time. He was strongly attached to the old republican institutions, a man of great independence of character, and a poet of no mean merit, as his contemporaries testify. Unfortunately, none of his writings ...
— History of Rome from the Earliest times down to 476 AD • Robert F. Pennell

... the Englishman. "Signora padrona, find out from him; this note is from my sister. What does it mean? Where did he ...
— Where Angels Fear to Tread • E. M. Forster

... is going to be a doubtful fight as it seems to me. Yon Danes know that the country is raised, but yet they have come back, and they mean to fight. Now our levy is raw, and has no discipline, and I doubt it will be as it was at Charnmouth. If that is so, Bridgwater will be no safe place for the lady Alswythe. She must be got hence with ...
— A Thane of Wessex • Charles W. Whistler

... and saw her laugh at her sister, I watched my mother for some days after, and at length said to the governess, who had punished me for something. "Don't tell mamma." "I have nothing to tell about, Walter," she replied, "and don't know what you mean." I began to tell her what was on my mind. "What's the child talking about, you are dreaming, some stupid boy has been putting things into your head, your papa will thrash you, if you talk like that." "Why you came and tickled me," said I. "I tickled you a little when I put your light out," ...
— My Secret Life, Volumes I. to III. - 1888 Edition • Anonymous

... a moment mean to imply that in any particular period of history men were free from the disturbance of their lower passions. Selfishness ever had its share in government and trade. Yet there was a struggle to maintain a balance of forces in society; and our passions cherished ...
— Creative Unity • Rabindranath Tagore

... on my back," she said—"that is, except my wedding outfit. I don't know how I'll ever get my money out of it. I've thought about selling it, but nobody of my size seems to be marrying round here. Even if this thing is a go—I mean even if me and Mr. Long do come to terms—I don't believe I'd feel just right in using it. It would be sort o' like marrying ...
— Dixie Hart • Will N. Harben

... philosophical opinion of the policy of the government. It is as discreditable to the intellect and judgment of a free people to complain of that which is right in itself, and rests upon established principles of right, as to submit without resistance or murmur to usurpation or misgovernment. I do not mean to undervalue the periodical press; but it must always assume something in regard to its readers, and in politics it must assume that the principles of government and the history of national ...
— Thoughts on Educational Topics and Institutions • George S. Boutwell

... have written," continued the little cripple, "three other letters to boys and girls in the hospital, directing them to what I think they're most likely to be laid up with. And I mean to watch the papers hereafter for the 'casualty cases,' so that I can get their names. That will be ...
— Golden Days for Boys and Girls, Vol. XIII, Nov. 28, 1891 • Various

... a share," he was saying; "unless you mean to murder us both in cold blood, it will be worth your while to repeat that offer. We should be dangerous enemies; you had far better make the best of ...
— Raffles - Further Adventures of the Amateur Cracksman • E. W. Hornung

... man who came down from the pass with me, you mean?" she asked, inwardly shamed at ...
— Over the Pass • Frederick Palmer

... of time, and which could never be possessed by a, madman or an incoherent charlatan. It is quite another thing to assert that his doctrines form in themselves a consistent whole, in the sense in which that quality would be ordinarily attributed to a system of philosophy. Does Sir Walter mean to assert that Blake is, in this sense too, 'consistent'? It is a little difficult to discover. Referring, in his Introduction, to Blake's abusive notes on ...
— Books and Characters - French and English • Lytton Strachey

... imputed the changeability of the air to its mobility; a property in which he thought it excelled all other substances, because it is among the rarest or thinnest of the elements. It is, however, said by some, who are disposed to transcendentalize his doctrine, that he did not mean the common atmospheric air, but something more attenuated and warm; and since, in its purest state, it constitutes the most perfect intellect, inferior degrees of reason must be owing to an increase of its density and moisture. Upon such a principle, the whole earth ...
— History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, Volume I (of 2) - Revised Edition • John William Draper

... that morning—to go into and arrange their finery. Almost all the shops or sheds were filled with peasant women, who were anxiously busy about their dresses, careful to get them into the right folds, and in the mean time peeped continually out of the door to see who came past. The number of arriving church-goers increased; men, women, and children, old and young, even infants; for at the Midsummer festival no one stays at home to take care of them, and so of course they must ...
— Pictures of Sweden • Hans Christian Andersen

... the rector, abstractedly, gazing upward at the ceiling—'Oh, marriage ceremony, you mean? Ah, yes, I had forgotten. Certainly. Quite right, Brother Hedge, or Ditch—ha, ha! ...
— City Crimes - or Life in New York and Boston • Greenhorn

... "I mean," said Fitzpatrick bluntly, "that, before your father married your mother in Montreal, he had contracted a previous marriage in the hunting-ground; a marriage amply attested, of which the certificate still exists. That, of ...
— The Wilderness Trail • Frank Williams

... Pepys' frank record of the occasion: "By invitation to my uncle Fenner's, where I found his new wife, a pitiful, old, ugly, ill-bred woman, in a hatt, a midwife. Here were many of his, and as many of her relatives, sorry, mean people; and after choosing our gloves, we all went over to the Three Cranes taverne, and (although the best room of the house) in such a narrow dogg-hole we were crammed, (and I believe we were near forty) that it made me loath my company and victuals; and a sorry, ...
— Inns and Taverns of Old London • Henry C. Shelley

... saying seven Queens were quite enough even for a King to manage. However, when he would take no refusal, but implored her to have pity on him, and promised her everything she could desire, she replied, 'Give me the eyes of your seven wives, and then perhaps I may believe that you mean what you say.' ...
— Tales Of The Punjab • Flora Annie Steel

... know we'll see moose-tracks before we get back to camp!" wound up the young pleader passionately. "I've been working up to it all day. I mean I've felt as if something—something fine—was going to happen, which would make a ripping story for the Manchester fellows when we go home. Do let me have one chance, Cy,—one fair and ...
— Camp and Trail - A Story of the Maine Woods • Isabel Hornibrook

... mean by saying in all things," said the cardinal. Taking the liberty of laughing, I composed a few impromptu verses in which I named all I thought dainty and exquisite. The marchioness applauded, saying that she admired ...
— The Memoires of Casanova, Complete • Jacques Casanova de Seingalt

... of sex by drawing a sharp distinction between "lust" and "love," rejecting the one and accepting the other. It is quite proper to make such a distinction, but the manner in which it is made will by no means usually bear examination. We have to define what we mean by "lust" and what we mean by "love," and this is not easy if they are regarded as mutually exclusive. It is sometimes said that "lust" must be understood as meaning a reckless indulgence of the sexual impulse without regard to other considerations. So ...
— Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 6 (of 6) • Havelock Ellis

... no man ever had a better friend than Judge Long," said the President when they were seated. "'Ves' Long, I mean," he ...
— The Angel of Lonesome Hill • Frederick Landis

... People mean only a partial Reform, because they leave out words expressing the Duke of Richmond's plan and talk only of a Reform; while the Manchester people seem to intimate, by addressing Mr. Paine, as though they ...
— William Pitt and the Great War • John Holland Rose

... mean by 'understanding.' It is better that Walter should go: afterwards I will speak to him." The priest seemed to hesitate before adding, "He loves the boy. By the way, Walter, you might tell us exactly how ...
— Two Sides of the Face - Midwinter Tales • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... a thin-faced gentleman, very neatly dressed? Oh, but it can't be the gentleman I mean, sir! The one I mean has a slow way of speaking, and the hair seems gone on each side ...
— The Adventures of Harry Revel • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... Failure, or at least, before success was attained, a most unnecessary and regrettable loss of blood and life. Now, on my expedition, I do not intend that any blood shall be shed, or that anybody shall lose his life. I have not entered into this matter hastily. I have taken out information, and mean to benefit by other people's mistakes. When I decided to go on with this," he explained, "I read all the books that bear on searches for buried treasure, and I found that in each case the same mistakes were made, and that then, in order to remedy the mistakes, it was invariably necessary ...
— My Buried Treasure • Richard Harding Davis

... weeks material for endless discussion was furnished by the orders, telegrams, and replies which were bandied between Pope and Porter, McClellan and Halleck. A large part of the history of the period consists of the critical analysis and construing of these documents. What did each in fact mean? What did the writer intend it to mean? What did the recipient understand it to 'mean? Did the writer make his meaning sufficiently clear? Was the recipient justified in his interpretation? Historians have discussed these problems ...
— Abraham Lincoln, Vol. II • John T. Morse

... time for one long piercing cry. It was heard by those who were working on the city palisades; but no man could tell the direction whence it came. Presently a search party set out for the thick woods lying a little north of west from the city; but in the mean time the Indians had carried their captives northeastward to the lakes, and were making all speed on the Fundy coast by way of the ...
— Earth's Enigmas - A Volume of Stories • Charles G. D. Roberts

... However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, ...
— Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience • Henry David Thoreau

... himself. Variations of text would be looked for as a matter of course; palaeographical accuracy would be exacted to the minutest turn of a letter. Now, to vary a text so as to furnish a different recension without betraying ignorance or solecism requires scholarship of no mean order, while it is very far from an easy thing to write currently in an archaic and unfamiliar character in such a manner as to deceive experts in palaeography. But the fabricator of these fragments, if fabricated they are, has attempted and accomplished a good deal more than this. He has ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 401, September 8, 1883 • Various

... to make myself look bright and sweet and attractive for you. And now—oh, dear, we are nearly home again. Come in with me now and stay the evening. We shall not be alone together again, I fear—this evening, I mean. But you will be going away so soon now, and I must see as much of you as ...
— The Sign of the Spider • Bertram Mitford

... after-life. It is a great pity that fathers and mothers cannot penetrate that world; but they cannot, and it is only by accident that they can catch some glimpse of what goes on in it. No doubt it will be civilized in time, but it will be very slowly; and in the mean while it is only in some of its milder manners and customs that the boy's ...
— Boy Life - Stories and Readings Selected From The Works of William Dean Howells • William Dean Howells

... except Miss Morgan, who was brown, dull, and resigned, and altogether, as Mrs. Vincy often said, just the sort of person for a governess. Lydgate did not mean to pay many such visits himself. They were a wretched waste of the evenings; and now, when he had talked a little more to Rosamond, he meant to ...
— Middlemarch • George Eliot

... hot weather we've been having of late—I mean cold. Let me see, I did not quite catch your name just now. Thank you so much. Yes, it is a bit close." And a silence falls, neither of us being able to think what ...
— Idle Ideas in 1905 • Jerome K. Jerome

... I didn't mean they weren't," Helen laughed pleasantly; "and I'm sure if they're all like you, ...
— The Secret of the Storm Country • Grace Miller White

... and W. coasts of S. India, the latter skirting the Malabar coast between 30 and 40 m. from the sea, rising to nearly 5000 ft., and exhibiting fine mountain and forest scenery, and the former skirting the E. of the Deccan, of which tableland it here forms the buttress, and has a much lower mean level; the two ranges converge into one a short distance ...
— The Nuttall Encyclopaedia - Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge • Edited by Rev. James Wood

... What could it mean? Were they afraid of its ugly horns? Were they resting themselves before they should make ...
— Popular Adventure Tales • Mayne Reid

... hope to create a pretext for the invasion of India, each ostensibly to rescue that unhappy country from the rapacity of the other. Your Excellencies must surely realize that this is a contingency which the Government of the Kingdom of Afghanistan cannot and will not permit; it would mean nothing short of the national extinction of the Kingdom of Afghanistan, and the enslavement of ...
— Operation R.S.V.P. • Henry Beam Piper

... mean to say you didn't recognize that stout Michu?" exclaimed Violette. "It was he who attacked me; I knew his fist. Besides, they rode the ...
— An Historical Mystery • Honore de Balzac

... devil! what do you mean?" exclaimed Vanslyperken, alarmed. The corporal, perceiving that the lieutenant was frightened, then entered into a detail, that when he had entered the cabin he had seen the devil sitting behind Mr Vanslyperken, looking over his shoulder, and grinning with his great eyes ...
— Snarley-yow - or The Dog Fiend • Frederick Marryat

... the harm? Does not the Lord know when we mean well? Does not He take note of our intentions? Would you, yourself, repulse anyone who paid you a compliment, however clumsily, if you thought he meant to please you by it? No, ...
— The Cathedral • Joris-Karl Huysmans

... while men's minds were excited about the proposed celebration for the dead, two priests suddenly appeared in the streets of the capital. No one had ever seen such old-fashioned and weird-looking specimens of manhood before. They were mean and insignificant in appearance, and the distinctive robes in which they were dressed were so travel-stained and unclean that it was evident they had not been washed ...
— Chinese Folk-Lore Tales • J. Macgowan

... "You mean," said Turnbull, in a voice surprisingly soft and gentle, "that there is something fine about fighting in a place where even the ...
— The Ball and The Cross • G.K. Chesterton

... heretics, taken at Castres, were brought before him, one of whom was unshakable in his belief, the other expressed himself open to conviction. "Burn them both," said the count; "if this fellow mean what he says, the fire will expiate his sins; and, if he lie, he will ...
— In Troubadour-Land - A Ramble in Provence and Languedoc • S. Baring-Gould

... indeed mean mischief. That is why his brow is so cloudy this morning, then. By my faith, if the marquise has the spirit with which folk credit her, he may find that it was easier to win her ...
— The Refugees • Arthur Conan Doyle

... the habit of reading single sentences at a time, then of writing them down, thinking that by making an exact copy of the book, they are playing safe. This is a pernicious practice; it spoils continuity of thought and application. Furthermore, isolated sentences mean little, and fail grossly to represent the real thought of the author. A better way is to read through an entire paragraph or section, then close the book and reproduce in your own words what you have read. Next, take your summary and compare with the original text to see that you ...
— How to Use Your Mind • Harry D. Kitson

... So we mean to roam from flower to flower, over as varied a garden as the imagination can well conceive. There have been brave workers before us in the field, and we shall build upon good foundations. We hope to ...
— Old and New London - Volume I • Walter Thornbury

... "Farrington is a mean rascal!" and Stephen leaped to his feet, his fists clenched and his eyes flashing. "Hasn't he any heart at all? To think of him taking the only cow from a poor family when the husband is sick in bed! What does the ...
— The Fourth Watch • H. A. Cody

... destroying the peace of Europe may be overthrown by the angel whom it has pleased the Almighty, in His goodness, to give us as sovereign! To say nothing of my brothers, this war has deprived me of one of the associations nearest my heart. I mean young Nicholas Rostov, who with his enthusiasm could not bear to remain inactive and has left the university to join the army. I will confess to you, dear Mary, that in spite of his extreme youth his departure for the army was a great grief to me. This young man, of whom I spoke ...
— War and Peace • Leo Tolstoy

... he said to Pelias, 'Why do you look so sad, my uncle? And what did you mean just now when you said that this was a doleful kingdom, and ...
— The Heroes • Charles Kingsley

... or Marion except that Marion was the king's seventh wife. But he hinted at many things and kept me on the trail, always expecting, always watching, and yet every hour was one of mystery. I am in the darkest of it at this instant. What does it all mean? Why are you going to kill ...
— The Courage of Captain Plum • James Oliver Curwood

... In the mean time Fabian, oppressed by sad and anxious thoughts, seated himself at some distance, and appeared to deplore ...
— Wood Rangers - The Trappers of Sonora • Mayne Reid

... those who before were fellow-citizens only, became brothers, connected by a closer bond than before, by mean of a religious fraternity, which, bringing men nearer together united them more strongly: and the weak and the poor could more readily appeal for assistance to the powerful and the wealthy, with whom religious association gave them a ...
— Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry • Albert Pike

... to-morrow! and this is to-day. And sufficient unto the day is the joy thereof. If I ever told anybody what I mean to do to-morrow, it would be spoiled. I'm full of dark secrets that I ...
— Otherwise Phyllis • Meredith Nicholson

... of mine. Yet, as my conviction is perfect in the substantial truth of the doctrines of this discourse, and is not very new, you will see at once that it must appear very important that it be spoken; and I thought I could not pay the nobleness of my friends so mean a compliment as to suppress my opposition to their supposed views, out of fear of offence. I would rather say to them, these things look thus to me, to you otherwise. Let us say our uttermost word, and let the all-pervading truth, as it surely will, judge between us. Either of us would, I ...
— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)

... truth and shame the Devil' is a very pretty sentiment, it need not necessarily mean anything. The Devil, if there be a personal devil—and it has been pointed out, with some show of reason, that an impersonal one could scarcely carry out such enormous contracts—would, in all probability, rather approve than otherwise of indiscriminate truth-telling. ...
— The Eagle's Shadow • James Branch Cabell

... executed was in reality a feat of no mean importance on the part of the higher command. Faced by an overwhelmingly superior force, our badly depleted three divisions had barely escaped being bagged in the net of which the enemy had all but drawn the noose in ...
— The Escape of a Princess Pat • George Pearson

... as a copy of courage, "who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame," and endureth contradiction of sinners against himself, Heb. xii. 2, 3. And this may prove a mean to keep us from wearying and fainting in our minds, as ...
— Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life • John Brown (of Wamphray)

... nickname that was much to the point. It was "Hunkeshnee", which means "Slow", referring to his inability to run fast, or more probably to the fact that he seldom appeared on foot. In their boyish games he was wont to take the part of the "old man", but this does not mean that he was not active and brave. It is told that after a buffalo hunt the boys were enjoying a mimic hunt with the calves that had been left behind. A large calf turned viciously on Sitting Bull, whose pony ...
— Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains • [AKA Ohiyesa], Charles A. Eastman

... if forming a sudden resolution he replied, "When you hear me swear you can begin. And if you don't mean to quit, don't promise. A gentleman ...
— The Foreigner • Ralph Connor

... with age. But we are now advised to take advantage of the difficulties of Germany and abandon honesty in order that we may profit thereby. Discarding treaties is to be unfaithful, grasping for gains is not the way of a gentleman, taking advantage of another's difficulties is to be mean and joining the larger in numbers is cowardice. How can we be a nation, if we throw ...
— The Fight For The Republic in China • Bertram Lenox Putnam Weale

... be five years hence if I don't find a way of saving you alive out of the Devil's own trap. It's not lack of love that's the trouble with marriage—it's marriage itself. And when I say marriage, I don't mean promising to love, honour, and obey, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health till death do you part—that's only human nature to wish and to attempt. And it might be done if it weren't for the ...
— King Arthur's Socks and Other Village Plays • Floyd Dell

... Florence) for thy virtues than for thy lovely wife and happy children, friends, fortunes, or great Duchy of Tuscany. So I account thee, and who doth not so indeed? Abdalonymus was a gardener, and yet by Alexander for his virtues made King of Syria. How much better is it to be born of mean parentage and to excel in worth, to be morally noble, which is preferred before that natural nobility by divines, philosophers, and politicians, to be learned, honest, discreet, well qualified to be fit for any manner of employment ...
— A History of English Literature - Elizabethan Literature • George Saintsbury

... chance in these degenerate days to see any long-pig eaten, but at least I am already the possessor of a duly certified Marquesan calabash, oblong in shape, curiously carved, over a century old, from which has been drunk the blood of two shipmasters. One of those captains was a mean man. He sold a decrepit whale-boat, as good as new what of the fresh white paint, to a Marquesan chief. But no sooner had the captain sailed away than the whale-boat dropped to pieces. It was his fortune, some time afterwards, to be wrecked, of all places, on ...
— The Cruise of the Snark • Jack London



Words linked to "Mean" :   harmonic mean, have in mind, cite, entail, miserly, stingy, norm, plan, base, associate, mean sun, Greenwich Mean Time, contemptible, import, get, connect, symbolize, denote, regression toward the mean, mean distance, imply, vernacular, meanspirited, argot, expected value, arithmetic mean, lingo, specify, refer, expectation, think of, poor, aim, intend, jargon, think, necessitate, golden mean, symbolise, mention, typify, ungenerous, mean time, propose, mingy, hateful, patois, convey, mean solar day, statistics, destine, meaning, stand for, mean deviation from the mean, link up, tight, awful, bring up, designate, cant, purpose, skilled, advert, bastardly, first moment, ignoble, mean solar time, mean deviation



Copyright © 2024 e-Free Translation.com