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noun
Question  n.  
1.
The act of asking; interrogation; inquiry; as, to examine by question and answer.
2.
Discussion; debate; hence, objection; dispute; doubt; as, the story is true beyond question; he obeyed without question. "There arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying." "It is to be to question, whether it be lawful for Christian princes to make an invasive war simply for the propagation of the faith."
3.
Examination with reference to a decisive result; investigation; specifically, a judicial or official investigation; also, examination under torture. "He that was in question for the robbery. Shak. The Scottish privy council had power to put state prisoners to the question."
4.
That which is asked; inquiry; interrogatory; query. "But this question asked Puts me in doubt. Lives there who loves his pain?"
5.
Hence, a subject of investigation, examination, or debate; theme of inquiry; matter to be inquired into; as, a delicate or doubtful question.
6.
Talk; conversation; speech; speech. (Obs.)
In question, in debate; in the course of examination or discussion; as, the matter or point in question.
Leading question. See under Leading.
Out of question, unquestionably. "Out of question, 't is Maria's hand."
Out of the question. See under Out.
Past question, beyond question; certainly; undoubtedly; unquestionably.
Previous question, a question put to a parliamentary assembly upon the motion of a member, in order to ascertain whether it is the will of the body to vote at once, without further debate, on the subject under consideration. Note: The form of the question is: "Shall the main question be now put?" If the vote is in the affirmative, the matter before the body must be voted upon as it then stands, without further general debate or the submission of new amendments. In the House of Representatives of the United States, and generally in America, a negative decision operates to keep the business before the body as if the motion had not been made; but in the English Parliament, it operates to postpone consideration for the day, and until the subject may be again introduced. In American practice, the object of the motion is to hasten action, and it is made by a friend of the measure. In English practice, the object is to get rid of the subject for the time being, and the motion is made with a purpose of voting against it.
To beg the question. See under Beg.
To the question, to the point in dispute; to the real matter under debate.
Synonyms: Point; topic; subject.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Question" Quotes from Famous Books



... of the year 1796 the West India colonists had offered no objection to the scheme of raising five new black regiments, but, in 1797, when the question of providing for them was brought before the various Legislatures, the plan met with the most determined opposition. When, on the 17th of January, Governor Ricketts communicated it to the House of Assembly ...
— The History of the First West India Regiment • A. B. Ellis

... changed since the evening before; and it was this very suggestion that the girl had tossed lightly aside—tossed without rudeness or malice, but with a firmness, a finality, which appeared to settle the question forever. The acknowledged daughter of Mr. Jonathan Gay was determined that she should continue to be known merely as the granddaughter of his overseer. Kesiah's overtures, had been—well, not exactly repulsed, but certainly ignored; her advice had melted to thin air as soon as it was spoken. ...
— The Miller Of Old Church • Ellen Glasgow

... been intended to cheer, but Fred's answer proved that a discussion of the merits of the question was not likely to have a good effect on the men, whose spirits were evidently very much cast down, so he changed ...
— The World of Ice • R.M. Ballantyne

... state of the question will not be lost sight of. The first question is on the motion of the gentleman from Missouri, to amend the proposition of my colleague. On that I rise to a point of order. The motion of the gentleman from Missouri is a distinct proposition, and inconsistent ...
— A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention • Lucius Eugene Chittenden

... by petals are all thus, as it were, laid up beforehand in the tissues of the plant, ready to be brought out at a moment's notice. And all flowers, as we know, easily sport a little in color. But the question is, Do their changes tend to follow any regular and definite order? Is there any reason to believe that the modification runs from any one color toward any other? Apparently there is. The general conclusion to be set forth in this work is ...
— Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 1 • Charles Dudley Warner

... chair—discontentedly. He rose suddenly and stood above her, a domineering bulk obliterating nearly everything else. In response to his demand she said, pale and composed, that she was not "reasonable"; she omitted the "yet" included in his question. Pleydon frowned. However, ...
— Linda Condon • Joseph Hergesheimer

... woman of great beauty and charm, for she seems to have attracted round her a little coterie of clever young men and poets, to whom she could lend money or accord praise as suited the moment. Whether Cicero himself had once come within reach of her attractions, and perhaps suffered by them, is an open question, and depends chiefly on statements of Plutarch which may (as has been said above) have no better foundation than the gossip of society. But we know how two typical young men of the time, Caelius and Catullus, flew into the candle and were singed; we know how fiercely ...
— Social life at Rome in the Age of Cicero • W. Warde Fowler

... wrings one promise from the Moor, to the effect that he will communicate with the lady in question, and stating the whole case, ...
— Miss Caprice • St. George Rathborne

... DARRELL.—"One word, one question. You have made EASE a philosophy and a system; no man ever did so with more felicitous grace: nor, in following pleasure, have you parted company with conscience and shame. A fine gentleman ever, in honour as in elegance. Well, ...
— What Will He Do With It, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... watching?' she interrupted, rising to her feet, and looking anxiously into his face. But he spoke not in reply. His head was turned towards the door of the tent. He seemed to be listening for some expected sound. It was evident that he had not heard her question. She followed the direction of his eyes. The sight of the great city, half brightened, half darkened, as its myriad buildings reflected the light of the sun, or retained the shadows of the clouds, brought back to her remembrance her last night's petition for her father's safety. She laid her ...
— Antonina • Wilkie Collins

... fully into the question; pointed out the injustice, the inexpediency, the folly of the motion; prophesied defeat on one side of the water, and ruin and punishment on the other. He said, among other things, "The reason why the colonies objected to taxes by Parliament for revenue was, ...
— The Loyalists of America and Their Times, Vol. 1 of 2 - From 1620-1816 • Egerton Ryerson

... I think of was not a routine morning. On routine mornings the Tamperer rises at ten minutes to seven, the alarm clock being set for 6:45: which allows five minutes for drowsy head. The day in question was early February when snow lay white and powdery on the ground, and the 6 o'clock train from Marathon had to be caught. There is an express for Philadelphia that leaves the Pennsylvania Station at 7:30 and ...
— Shandygaff • Christopher Morley

... other birds of prey. The sharp-shinned hawk rarely attacks full-grown poultry, but preys heavily on young chickens and song birds. In fact, it is known to eat nearly fifty species of our most useful birds. There is no question that these birds are a serious pest and should be destroyed, but they should not be confused with other members of the family which are among the best friends that a farmer has in keeping his farm clear of ...
— Checking the Waste - A Study in Conservation • Mary Huston Gregory

... absolute denial of God is only formal and not real. The qualities of God are admitted, and affirmed to be real; and it is a mere change of name to call the possessor of those qualities, Nature, and not God. The real question is, whether such Qualities exist, as we call God; and not, by what particular name we shall designate the Qualities. One man may call the sum total of these Qualities, Nature; another, Heaven; a third, Universe, a fourth, Matter; a fifth, Spirit; a sixth, ...
— Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry • Albert Pike

... off at the top by time and exposure; but enough of both has been preserved till this time by constant submergence in the water and in the unusually moist soil above it to betray without any serious question the nature of the materials used and the mode of their employment. One of the corner-posts was a black birch and the bark on it is in a good state of preservation at and below the ...
— The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 5 • Various

... meant by blowing us sky-high?" asked Tom. But this question was not answered, for at that moment Mrs. Rover came into the room, and the course of the conversation had to be changed,—the lads not wishing to worry her ...
— The Rover Boys in the Air - From College Campus to the Clouds • Edward Stratemeyer

... eighteen months ago, and as for the buffalo horns, they were nearly my death, and were the end of a servant of mine to whom I was much attached. I gave them to Sir Henry when he left Natal some months ago;" and Mr. Quatermain sighed and turned to answer a question from the lady whom he had taken down to dinner, and who, needless to say, was also employed in trying to pump him ...
— Hunter Quatermain's Story • H. Rider Haggard

... No, he hadn't thought of that! Whenever he had wanted anything, he had ordered it, and had let the bill go to his father; whenever he had wanted money, he had sent to his father for it, and had got it. Dawson's question made the reality of his position—moneyless, resourceless, friendless—burst over him like a waterspout. Dawson saw and understood; but it was not his cue to lessen that sense ...
— The Second Generation • David Graham Phillips

... the country. He has built up a fortune by his business and he is no more ready to hurl his life's work to the winds and come to Boston to live than you are to toss aside your own business and move to Pittsburgh. And by the way, speaking of business, Mr. Cabot, if it does not seem an impertinent question, what ...
— The Story of Glass • Sara Ware Bassett

... with Scipio's reformation of his army, before almost ruined by pleasures and luxury. It is stated, too, that he encountered and vanquished an enemy in single combat, in his general's sight. In consequence of all this he had several honors conferred upon him; and once when at an entertainment a question arose about commanders, and one of the company (whether really desirous to know, or only in complaisance) asked Scipio where the Romans, after him, should obtain such another general, Scipio, gently ...
— Plutarch's Lives • A.H. Clough

... of the country, at the present time, convicts are required to perform some kind of useful labor. That is one point of the prison question that is, doubtless, forever settled. All prison men agree that the convict must perform some kind of work. Labor to the prisoners means health of body and mind. Solitary confinement means the reverse. But what kind of labor the prisoner ...
— The Twin Hells • John N. Reynolds

... consulted as a motive, nothing leaves so striking a recollection on the minds of strangers, or so strongly disposes them to inquire the name of the proprietor of a spot, as an elegant proof of attention to their convenience, like the one in question. ...
— Itinerary of Provence and the Rhone - Made During the Year 1819 • John Hughes

... that I did, when the fourth child had come, was to get into the country, and so far as to render a going backward and forward to London, at short intervals, quite out of the question. Thus was health, the greatest of all things, provided for, as far as I was able to make the provision. Next, my being always at home was secured as far as possible; always with them to set an example of early rising, ...
— Advice to Young Men • William Cobbett

... Romish priest, Father Checkley, upon whose guilty head the Lord be merciful! Bestow not a thought upon it. My anxiety, together with that of your mother, is to see you now, as speedily as may be, wedded to Ranulph, and then that idle question is set at rest for ever; and therefore, even if such a thing were to occur as that Lady Rookwood should not yield her consent to your marriage, as that consent is totally unnecessary, we must go through the ...
— Rookwood • William Harrison Ainsworth

... the Army and the committee. Although Fahy was prepared to postpone a decision on the quota while negotiations continued, he was unwilling to budge on the assignments issue. As the committee had repeatedly emphasized, the question of open, integrated assignment of trained Negroes was at the heart of its program. Without it the opening of Army schools and military occupational specialties would be meaningless and the intent ...
— Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940-1965 • Morris J. MacGregor Jr.

... afraid it was I. I suppose he was too modest, too shy to begin that sort of thing. Yes, I know in my heart it was I. For life must be preserved. It was a question of nothing less. To be able to help him, to follow him, and worship him, and give myself up to him, that or nothing. I believe, too, that that was what I said to him, if I did ...
— Captain Mansana and Mother's Hands • Bjoernstjerne Bjoernson

... carpeted gangway, his sword and spurs slightly jingling and his handsome perfumed head held high. Having looked at Natasha he approached his sister, laid his well gloved hand on the edge of her box, nodded to her, and leaning forward asked a question, with a ...
— War and Peace • Leo Tolstoy

... repugnance in her face, the object of her charity bent over her as she asked the question, and pressed her lips against her cheek. Once more she caught her arm, and covered her eyes with it; and ...
— Dombey and Son • Charles Dickens

... at the successful result of his scheme, and augured from the event the happiest influence to the progress of the arts; nor has his patriotic anticipations been unrewarded; for, without question, so great and so eminent a taste for the fine arts as that which has been diffused throughout the nation, during the reign of George the Third, was never before produced in the life-time of one monarch, ...
— The Life, Studies, And Works Of Benjamin West, Esq. • John Galt

... a lot less than an intellectual giant. A brighter man would have wondered about the source of Hanlon's knowledge of his homicidal plans; and how it happened that Hanlon carried a supply of poison. There had been no indication that either question had occurred to Panek. ...
— Man of Many Minds • E. Everett Evans

... stepped out of the door and was gone into the gathering dusk before Stafford could ask the question that was on the ...
— The Two-Gun Man • Charles Alden Seltzer

... Flora with a look of perplexity, and, having received an interpretation of the question, she smiled as she answered: "I rather think I am half an Abolitionist, Tom. But why do you wish ...
— A Romance of the Republic • Lydia Maria Francis Child

... me of very great importance that women should grasp firmly this truth: the virtue of chastity owes its origin to property. Our minds fall so readily under the spell of such ideas as chastity and purity. There is a mass of real superstition on this question—a belief in a kind of magic in purity. But, indeed, chastity had at first no connection with morals. The sense of ownership has been the seed-plot of our moral code. To it we are indebted for the first germs of the sexual inhibitions ...
— The Truth About Woman • C. Gasquoine Hartley

... local flower-shows until Sir John arrived and in one season beat him out of the field. This, as an essentially generous man, he might have forgiven; but not the loud dogmatic air of patronage with which, on venturing to congratulate his rival and discuss some question of culture, he had been bullied and set right, and generally treated as an ignorant junior. Moreover, he seemed to observe—but he may have been mistaken— that, whatever rose he selected for his buttonhole, ...
— Merry-Garden and Other Stories • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... and instead of temporising with the question, take up in one hand the paper on "cholera spasmodica" just issued, for our guidance, from the College of Physicians by the London Board of Health, and in the other, this case of Martin M'Neal (far from being a singular case this year, in most of the ...
— Letters on the Cholera Morbus. • James Gillkrest

... by a jealousy which probably turned to delight when he saw his master smitten down by the object of that master's love and his own hatred. How he came to recognize in the bride of another man the owner of the name he so often saw hovering on the lips of his master, is a question to be answered by more astute students of the laws of perception than myself. Probably he spent much of his time at the loophole on the stairway, studying his master till he understood his every gesture ...
— The Circular Study • Anna Katharine Green

... because I have met with no serious person who thinks that, even under the Christian revelation, we have too much light, or any degree of assurance which is superfluous. I desire, moreover, that in judging of Christianity, it may be remembered that the question lies between this religion and none: for, if the Christian religion be not credible, no one, with whom we have to do, will support ...
— Evidences of Christianity • William Paley

... a question," Nevill started abruptly. "Suppose this Rembrandt, or any other painting of value and renown, should be stolen from a big dealer's shop. How could the ...
— In Friendship's Guise • Wm. Murray Graydon

... that Luther has left as many divisions and disputes about the doubt of his opinions, and more, than he himself raised upon the Holy Scriptures. Our contest is verbal: I ask what nature is, what pleasure, circle, and substitution are? the question is about words, and is answered accordingly. A stone is a body; but if a man should further urge: "And what is a body?"—"Substance"; "And what is substance?" and so on, he would drive the respondent to the end of ...
— The Essays of Montaigne, Complete • Michel de Montaigne

... one may postpone the question, sooner or later it is necessary to consider the quality of Lady Dorothy Nevill's wit, since all things converge in her to that. But her wit is so difficult to define that it is not surprising that one avoids, as long as possible, coming actually to grips with ...
— Some Diversions of a Man of Letters • Edmund William Gosse

... man of sense will recollect the idolatry that has passed away with them, as with the Parthenon, and he will weigh the gain to a people with the loss sustained by merely men of taste. And, beyond question, men of peace can paint the horrors of war vividly, and deny its necessity, but the man of ordinary understanding will not scruple to say that as war in the elements is sometimes necessary for a healthy atmosphere, so war among ...
— The Rise of Canada, from Barbarism to Wealth and Civilisation - Volume 1 • Charles Roger

... results. By the time Clinton reached Tarrytown, thirty miles above New York, Burgoyne's army had been put on short rations. With the utmost economy the provisions could not be made to last much beyond the day fixed in Burgoyne's despatch. Foraging was out of the question. Nothing could be learned about Clinton's progress. All between the two British armies was such perilous ground, that several officers had returned unsuccessful, after making heroic ...
— Burgoyne's Invasion of 1777 - With an outline sketch of the American Invasion of Canada, 1775-76. • Samuel Adams Drake

... astute, was an uneducated and simple-minded man. Phaedrus was a myth, and we cannot, therefore, adduce him in point. But Fontaine was called the "Fable-tree," and Gay is just the Fable-tree transplanted from France to England. In so doing we do not question our poet's originality, but merely indicate a certain resemblance in spirit between two originals. An original in Fable-writing Gay certainly was. He has copied, neither in story, spirit, nor moral, any previous writer. His "Fables" are always graceful in literary ...
— The Poetical Works of Addison; Gay's Fables; and Somerville's Chase • Joseph Addison, John Gay, William Sommerville

... call Mr. Gatherer to prove that but you have come forward in order to contradict Mr. Hamilton's report, and the question I asked is, in what way do your books prove that no such orders have been honoured since 1867?-Mr. Gatherer will prove that since 1867 the men have got their wages paid ...
— Second Shetland Truck System Report • William Guthrie

... he devoted the last few moments of the weekly session to an impressive elucidation of the parable of the Prodigal Son, and afterward asked with due solemnity if any one of the "little gleaners" present desired to ask a question. Sissy Jones's ...
— Good Stories from The Ladies Home Journal • Various

... at the scribes and Pharisees asking this question. I think that we should most of us ask the same question now, if we saw the Lord Jesus, or even if we saw any very good or venerable man, going out of his way to eat and drink with publicans and sinners. We should be inclined to say, as the scribes and Pharisees ...
— The Good News of God • Charles Kingsley

... fluently, Yes, yes; did she see that horse there, near the fence? He was a four-year-old, an outlaw, and she would find no one had tried getting on his back since he had been absent. This was the first question he asked on reaching the cabin, where various neighbors were waiting the mail-rider; and, finding he was right, he ...
— Lin McLean • Owen Wister

... St. Claire tried to question her further with regard to herself and her home, but his phraseology was probably at fault, for no satisfactory result was reached beyond the fact that her mother was dead, that her name was Jerry, or Derree, as she called it, and that she had been on a ship ...
— Tracy Park • Mary Jane Holmes

... in a sheepskin jacket harnessing horses, in a temperature 30 deg. below zero. The reward of such a service was possibly about eight American dollars a year. When, on leaving, I gave her about as much as one of our hotel servants would expect for answering a question, the poor girl was overwhelmed with gratitude, and even the stern landlady was so impressed by my generosity that she insisted on lending us a sheepskin for our feet, ...
— Northern Travel - Summer and Winter Pictures of Sweden, Denmark and Lapland • Bayard Taylor

... thou spoil my face at that rate? Sir Tun. For your design to rob me of my daughter, villain. Lord Fop. Rob thee of thy daughter! Now do I begin to believe I am in bed and asleep, and that all this is but a dream. Pr'ythee, old father, wilt thou give me leave to ask thee one question? Sir Tun. I can't tell whether I will or not, till I know what it is. Lord Fop. Why, then, it is, whether thou didst not write to my Lord Foppington, to come down and marry thy daughter? Sir Tun. Yes, marry, did I, and my Lord Foppington is come down, and shall ...
— Scarborough and the Critic • Sheridan

... Princess's Place. Mr Dombey had come to breakfast with the Major, previous to their setting forth on their trip; and the ill-starved Native had already undergone a world of misery arising out of the muffins, while, in connexion with the general question of boiled eggs, life was a burden ...
— Dombey and Son • Charles Dickens

... the first questions usually asked by students of the subject of Reincarnation is: "Where does the soul dwell between incarnations; does it incarnate immediately after death; and what is its final abode or state?" This question, or questions, have been asked from the beginning, and probably will be asked so long as the human mind dwells upon the subject. And many are the answers that have been given to the questioners by the teachers and "authorities" upon the subject. Let us consider ...
— Reincarnation and the Law of Karma - A Study of the Old-New World-Doctrine of Rebirth, and Spiritual Cause and Effect • William Walker Atkinson

... all lively, amusing, and familiar. As soon as the exhibition was over he brought forward the accomplishments of his ape, assuring the public that he divined all the past and the present, but as to the future he had no skill. For each question answered he asked two reals, and for some he made a reduction, just as he happened to feel the pulse of the questioners; and when now and then he came to houses where things that he knew of had happened to the people living ...
— Don Quixote • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

... the character of a smuggler of war material. However, they had never arrested or expelled him, since he was there before my eyes. But how and why did he get so far from the scene of his sea adventure was an interesting question. And I put it to him with most naive indiscretion which did not shock him visibly. He told me that the ship being only stranded, not sunk, the contraband cargo aboard was doubtless in good condition. The French custom-house men were guarding the wreck. ...
— The Arrow of Gold - a story between two notes • Joseph Conrad

... was to be an inquest held on the remains before their removal, and Dr. Woodford, both from his own interest in the question, and as family intelligencer, rode to the castle. Sir Philip longed to go, but it was a cold wet day, and he had threatenings of gout, so that he was persuaded to remain by the fireside. Inquests were then always held where the body lay, and the court ...
— A Reputed Changeling • Charlotte M. Yonge

... rare combination was his union of courage with patience, of firm nonconformity with silent conformity. Compliance is always a question of degree, depending on time, circumstance, and subject. Mr. Mill hit the exact mean, equally distant from timorous caution and self-indulgent violence. He was unrivalled in the difficult art of conciliating as much support as was possible and alienating as little sympathy as possible, for novel ...
— Critical Miscellanies, Vol. 3 (of 3) - Essay 2: The Death of Mr Mill - Essay 3: Mr Mill's Autobiography • John Morley

... interesting constitutional problem had to be faced at the outset: What effect had secession had upon the States guilty of it; was it or was it not an act of state suicide? This question was warmly debated in Congress and out. Although ridiculed in some quarters as a mere metaphysical quibble, it lay at the bottom of men's political thinking on reconstruction, and their views of the proper answer to it ...
— History of the United States, Volume 4 • E. Benjamin Andrews

... ashamed of you!" he cried in an angry tone. "Has the breaking of this jar brought you to such a state as this? Why, anyone would think—I'd swear it was the truth myself were anyone else in question—yes, they would think me an ogre who ate little girls who chanced to break something!" Turning away, he paced the floor with rapid steps backward and forward. The longer he walked, the faster he went, and higher the angry red glowed ...
— Peggy-Alone • Mary Agnes Byrne

... Waite, more to enunciate his own thought than to question the deduction, "what the human consciousness holds as knowledge is little more than belief and speculation, with no basis of ...
— Carmen Ariza • Charles Francis Stocking

... cigarette from a silver box near by. Paul sprang to light it. She inhaled in silence half a dozen puffs. "I'm going to ask you an outrageous question," she said, at last. "In the first place, I'm a severely business woman, and in the next I've got an uncle and a brother with cross-examining instincts, and, though I loathe them—the instincts, I mean—I can't get away from them. We're down on the ...
— The Fortunate Youth • William J. Locke

... told them that was the story Brad was handing out to those who dared question him about ...
— Smugglers' Reef • John Blaine

... did not want the question seriously opened,' he said, 'so I followed your advice and let it alone, and since then she has been charming both to Agnes and me. I feel myself as much of a brute as ever, but I see that the only thing I can do is to ...
— Miss Bretherton • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... cat? I don't quite know what to think. Let us call her, and put the question once more. Do you put it, Johanna. I don't think she could look at you ...
— Mistress and Maid • Dinah Craik (aka: Miss Mulock)

... used to Colonel Lenox at Daubigny's to which no gentleman ought to have submitted. Colonel Lenox went up to the Duke on parade, and asked him publicly whether he had made such an assertion. The Duke of York, without answering his question, coldly ordered him to his post. When parade was over, he took an opportunity of saying publicly in the orderly room before Colonel Lenox, that he desired no protection from his rank as a prince and his station as commanding officer; adding that, when he was off duty, he wore ...
— Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions - Vol. I • Charles Mackay

... of the past few days seemed to be too much for her. Almost before we knew it, before Norton, who had started to ask her a question, could speak, she excused herself and fled from the room, leaving only the indelible impression of loveliness and the appeal for help ...
— The Gold of the Gods • Arthur B. Reeve

... increased again and became as severe as before. None expected to escape. A sudden rush was simultaneously made to endeavor to attain the open-air and fly to a place of safety; but, before the door was reached all stopped short, as by a common impulse, feeling that hope was vain—that it was only a question of death within the building or without, of being buried beneath the sinking roof or crushed by the falling walls. The uproar slowly died away in seeming distance. The earth was still, and oh! the blessed ...
— A Study of Recent Earthquakes • Charles Davison

... was no question in those far-away days of my being asked to meet such a brilliant star; but it amused me often to hear the dull and uninteresting people of some standing in the University, whom Jowett had not favoured ...
— Seen and Unseen • E. Katharine Bates

... my people coming from Aden, immediately after which we should be sent to Mokha. The 17th, Mr Fowler and eighteen more of the company of the Pepper-corn arrived at Zenan from Aden, and were carried before the pacha, who asked them the same question he had done me. Afterwards, Mr Fowler, John Williams, and Robert Mico were sent to keep me company, and all the rest to the common prison with my other men, where they were all put in irons. Their only allowance from the pacha was brown bread and water, and they had all died of hunger ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. VIII. • Robert Kerr

... backyard I was put to a sort of mild ordeal by question. Was I married? Was I an apprentice? Had I ever been refused for either of Her Majesty's Services on account of any physical defect? Was I aware of any such defect as would debar me from service? Had I ever been convicted of any crime or misdemeanour? ...
— Recollections • David Christie Murray

... best American short stories, I had not realized that at the end of my arduous task, which has involved the reading of many hundreds of stories in the English magazines of an entire year, I should find myself asking the simple question: What ...
— The Best British Short Stories of 1922 • Edward J. O'Brien and John Cournos, editors

... greatly excited. He asked Mother every question he could think of, and wished it were Christmas Eve that very minute. Mother told him be should be glad they still had several days before Christmas in ...
— All About Johnnie Jones • Carolyn Verhoeff

... from this painful subject—for painful it has been to me for many years—to a question of intellectual thrift—by which I mean just now thrift of words; thrift of truth; restraint of the tongue; accuracy and modesty ...
— Health and Education • Charles Kingsley

... for their patriotism, and their attachment to liberal principles. Many of these illustrious solicitors have since boasted of having refused it. This is very natural, but is it true? I leave it to their own hearts, their own consciences, to answer the question. ...
— Memoirs of the Private Life, Return, and Reign of Napoleon in 1815, Vol. II • Pierre Antoine Edouard Fleury de Chaboulon

... alertness, a sense of wonder and experiment, adding new interest to her personality. Carnac was conscious of this increased vitality, was impressed and even provoked by it. Somehow he felt—for he had the telepathic mind—that the girl admired and liked Tarboe. He did not stop to question how or why she should like two people so ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker

... themselves are suggestive, but equally so was the behavior of the subject while making the answers. It would have hardly done to ask the person if certain combinations were hard to judge, for the question would serve as a suggestion to him; but it was easy to tell when a combination was difficult without asking questions. When a symmetrical arrangement was given, the subject was usually composed and answered without much hesitation. When an unsymmetrical arrangement was given he often hesitated ...
— Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1 • Various

... asked his question, over the village of Fairport and over the bay and marshes, and far out across the Sound, the great steel bar sent forth a shuddering boom ...
— The Scarlet Car • Richard Harding Davis

... in British Columbia, but Lisle and his two companions had chosen to go by canoe, partly because the question of food is vitally important to men cut off from all source of supply except game, and even that is scarce in places. To transport upon one's back any weight of provisions besides tents, blankets, and other necessaries, through a rugged country is an ...
— The Long Portage • Harold Bindloss

... this a wretched affectation, not to be contented with what fortune has done for them, and sit down quietly with their estates, but they must call their wits in question, and needlessly expose their nakedness to public view? Not considering that they are not to expect the same approbation from sober men, which they have found from their flatterers after the third bottle. If a little glittering ...
— All for Love • John Dryden

... perfectly ready for launching. Her masts and spars and rigging lay under a shed on one side, and it seemed as if it would only be necessary to put her in the water, and get the stores on board, to sail away. But sail where? That was the question. Should I have any satisfaction in sailing away without first looking for Walter? Would our uncle consent to do this? The uncertainty took away some of the satisfaction I ...
— In the Eastern Seas • W.H.G. Kingston

... defiantly at the rivals seated before him. Afraid? Of whom? He felt equal to fighting all those rustics and their innumerable relatives. Afraid! No, Margalida! She need not fear either for herself or for him. He begged her to answer his question. Could he hope? What did she intend ...
— The Dead Command - From the Spanish Los Muertos Mandan • Vicente Blasco Ibanez

... in trouble," I heard always above the roar of the train, above the shrill whistle of the engine, as it rounded a curve, above the thin, drawling voices of my fellow-passengers, disputing a question in politics. "I am in trouble," ran the words. "What trouble? What trouble? What trouble?" I repeated passionately, while my teeth bit into my cigar, and the flame went out. "So George hasn't let her out of his sight for two years, and ...
— The Romance of a Plain Man • Ellen Glasgow

... modern invention, and was composed after the arrival of Franklin in Paris on his eventful mission. At first it was anonymous; but it was attributed sometimes to D'Alembert and sometimes to Turgot. Beyond question, it was not the production of D'Alembert, while it will be found in the Works of Turgot,[14] published after his death, in ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 73, November, 1863 • Various

... of modern beer. You couldn't get them now. My idea is to catch your celebrity young. When a man produces his first play or novel or book of poems I write him an admiring letter. You can't lay it on too thick. Ask him some question on a topic that interests him. It always draws. They are unused to praise and you catch them before the public has spoilt them. I card-index all the replies I get. Of course nine out of ten of the people turn out of no account, but some are sure to come off. You just throw ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, April 7, 1920 • Various

... certain publication had an idea. Its editor made up a list of thirty men and women distinguished in art, religion, literature, commerce, politics, and other lines, and to each he sent a letter or a telegram containing this question: "If you had but forty-eight hours more to live, how would you spend them?" his purpose being to embody the replies in a symposium in a subsequent issue ...
— Best Short Stories • Various

... kind of question of fact, and one often extremely difficult to settle, is that which concerns not a single, uncomplicated fact, but a broad condition of affairs. Examples of such questions are whether woman suffrage has improved political conditions in Colorado and ...
— The Making of Arguments • J. H. Gardiner

... that in the present state of things you ought not to marry, and so far you are judging nobly," said Julius; "but next comes the question—how far it is well to make that day at ...
— The Three Brides • Charlotte M. Yonge

... subordinated its particular measures to the general interests of the Empire. The failure—not solely or even mainly through Irish fault—of an attempt to establish a fixed commercial arrangement between England and Ireland, and a difference between the British and Irish Parliaments on the Imperial question of a regency, strengthened the opinion of the English Government, and for many years before the Union was enacted it was in contemplation. On the two great and pressing questions at issue this policy exercised a powerful influence. The Government obstinately resisted every serious attempt to reform ...
— Historical and Political Essays • William Edward Hartpole Lecky

... in this place to relate the stories of his cruelties in his house at Chelsea,[538] which he himself partially denied, and which at least we may hope were exaggerated. Being obliged to confine myself to specific instances, I choose rather those on which the evidence is not open to question; and which prove against More, not the zealous execution of a cruel law, for which we may not fairly hold him responsible, but a disregard, in the highest degree censurable, of his ...
— The Reign of Henry the Eighth, Volume 1 (of 3) • James Anthony Froude

... recur to the motive by which his will is determined, he will always find this motive is out of his own controul. It is said, that in consequence of an idea to which the mind gives birth, man acts freely if he encounters no obstacle. But the question is, what gives birth to this idea in his brain? has he the power either to prevent it from presenting itself, or from renewing itself in his brain? Does not this idea depend either upon objects that strike him exteriorly and in despite of himself, or upon ...
— The System of Nature, Vol. 1 • Baron D'Holbach

... "his meeting him that worketh righteousness," of "his making us glad by the light of his countenance," and a variety of other equivalent expressions,—I believe we shall see reason to judge much more favourably of such expressions as those now in question, than persons who, themselves strangers to elevated devotion, perhaps converse but little with their Bible, are inclined to do; especially, if they have, as many such persons have, a temper that inclines them to cavil and find ...
— The Life of Col. James Gardiner - Who Was Slain at the Battle of Prestonpans, September 21, 1745 • P. Doddridge

... skill in Astronomie, as many of that nation haue, who by his books written in his owne tongue and Characters, could tell the time of Eclipses both of Sunne and Moone, with the Change and Full, and by iudgement in Astrologie gaue answere to any question demanded. Being asked concerning his opinion in religion, what he thought of God? He made answere that they held no other god but the sun, (to which planet they pray both at the rising and setting) as I haue seene sundry doe in Aleppo: his reason was drawen from the effects which it worketh ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, - and Discoveries of The English Nation, Volume 9 - Asia, Part 2 • Richard Hakluyt

... town yesterday afternoon [October, 1838] to look at the latter pages of 'Oliver Twist' before it was delivered to the booksellers, when I saw the majority of the plates for the first time. With reference to the last one, Rose Maylie and Oliver, without entering into the question of great haste or any other cause which may have led to its being what it is, I am quite sure there can be little difference of opinion between us with respect to the result. May I ask you whether you will object to designing this plate afresh, and doing so at ...
— English Caricaturists and Graphic Humourists of the Nineteenth Century. - How they Illustrated and Interpreted their Times. • Graham Everitt

... which is but seldom heard, out of the question, the lion's ordinary voice seems to be emitted by some being of incalculable immensity. It resembles a series of deep, half-smothered detonations linked together by querulous gruntle. It is difficult to realize that the sound originates from anything ...
— Reminiscences of a South African Pioneer • W. C. Scully

... that question. He did not wait for an answer, but went on moving about all the time; now and then coming up to her, then wandering off restlessly to the other end of ...
— Tales of Unrest • Joseph Conrad

... been woman against woman, she would not have crushed the Roman; but it was not so. It was a woman in conflict with the goddess. Saronia had been powerless to help, and dared not question ...
— Saronia - A Romance of Ancient Ephesus • Richard Short

... medium, yielding pleasure with the least penalty of toil. The members of the most recent school of trout fishers are believers in the floating fly, but it is wrong to assume that there is any burning question in the matter. The best angler is the man who is master of all the legitimate devices for beguiling fish into his landing net, and I am not now concerned with any controversial aspects of the dry-fly question. The spectacle of an angler upon a chalk stream, where this style is to all intents and ...
— Lines in Pleasant Places - Being the Aftermath of an Old Angler • William Senior

... relieved by this question, "I am not Sparkle's keeper; but pray be seated—what is the matter, is it a duel, do you want a second?—I know he ...
— Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II. • Pierce Egan

... insist upon such evidence now? And why should it be considered as any more trustworthy eighteen hundred years ago? We are indeed told that the angels spoke to her; but the speech was very short; the angels simply ask her why she weeps; she answers them as though it were the common question of common people, and then leaves them. This is in itself incredible; but it is not incredible that if Mary looking into the tomb saw two white objects within, she should have drawn back affrighted, and that her imagination, thrown into a fever by her subsequent interview ...
— The Fair Haven • Samuel Butler

... have come to the conclusion that this secret of yours is hardly a government matter, after all, but is a private concern of your own, which of course you have the power of disposing of as you think best. Now, the question is, what price would you ask for it? We might be inclined to take it up, and at least look into it, if we could agree as to terms.' He tried to speak in a cool, careless way, but his eyes were ...
— The Sign of the Four • Arthur Conan Doyle

... The question whether the soul alone is rewarded or the body alone or both has been answered variously. In favor of the soul alone as the subject of reward and punishment it has been urged that reward raises man to the grade of angels, who are pure spirits. How then can the body take ...
— A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy • Isaac Husik

... silent when in the company of others than the children. When she replied to a question it was without timidity, but in few, well-chosen words. Yet her manner did not lack cheerfulness; she impressed no one as being unhappy, and alone with the twins she was often gay enough. She was self-possessed, ...
— A Life's Morning • George Gissing

... had been defiled by the crime which Megacles had committed, and the people felt that they would never be prosperous again until Athens had been purified; but the great question was to find a man holy enough to ...
— The Story of the Greeks • H. A. Guerber

... temptations that ever I met with in my life, to question the being of God, and truth of His gospel is the worst, and the worst to be borne; when this temptation comes, it takes away my girdle from me, and removeth the foundation from under me: Oh! I have often thought of that word, Have your ...
— Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners • John Bunyan

... Whenever he beheld my lovely mate; Else gentle Love, subdued by filial dread, Had sent him down among th' untimely dead."— Then, like a man that feels a sudden thought His purpose change, the mingling crowd he sought, And left the question, which a moment hung Scarce half suppress'd upon my faltering tongue. Suspended for a moment, still I stood, With various thoughts oppress'd in musing mood. At length a voice was heard, "The passing day Is yours, but it ...
— The Sonnets, Triumphs, and Other Poems of Petrarch • Petrarch

... had concluded their dealings with me a big man came into the barn, who I found out was the master. The men showed him the baskets and pointed to me, telling the farmer that I was a "dumby and deafy." The big farmer hereupon bawled in my ear the question, "who was I, and where had I come from?" I put on a perfectly stolid look although the drum of my ears was almost split by his roaring. The farmer had a soft heart, however, in his big and burly frame. Leaving the barn, he beckoned me to follow him. This I did. He went ...
— Recollections of Old Liverpool • A Nonagenarian

... Spartans on the island of Sphacteria was a surprise to friend and foe alike; and the severe historian of the Peloponnesian war pauses to record the answer of a Spartan to the jeering question of one of the allies of the Athenians,—a question which implied that the only brave Spartans were those who had been slain. The answer was tipped with Spartan wit; the only thing Spartan, as some one has said, in the whole un-Spartan affair. ...
— The Creed of the Old South 1865-1915 • Basil L. Gildersleeve

... what he calls "natural selection," and how, again, he could suppose that what he was advancing had any but a confirmatory bearing upon Lamarck's position, is incomprehensible, unless the passage in question be taken as a mere slip. That attention has been called to it is plain, for the words "the well-known doctrine of Lamarck" have been changed in later editions into "the well-known doctrine of inherited ...
— Evolution, Old & New - Or, the Theories of Buffon, Dr. Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck, - as compared with that of Charles Darwin • Samuel Butler

... hard telling, Sir Herald. Far had the page to go and he is young. Then too, it is a question whether should he meet with them, these two have a mind to appear. For I know that their journey ...
— In the Court of King Arthur • Samuel Lowe

... But if, in any of the laws which have been ordained, health has been preferred to temperance, or wealth to health and temperate habits, that law must clearly be wrong. Wherefore, also, the legislator ought often to impress upon himself the question—'What do I want?' and 'Do I attain my aim, or do I miss the mark?' In this way, and in this way only, he may acquit himself and free others from ...
— Laws • Plato

... to the conclusion that the case in question was not of a nature to justify any action on the part of our society for the rescue ...
— The Sexual Question - A Scientific, psychological, hygienic and sociological study • August Forel

... well by Nora, but it did not have the desired effect. Trevelyan, who had no command over his own features, frowned, and showed that he was displeased. He hesitated a moment, thinking whether he would ask Nora any question as to this report about her father and mother; but, before he had spoken, his wife was ...
— He Knew He Was Right • Anthony Trollope

... man came to her and led her to the piano, and the first thing Schumann knew the shapely little hands struck into Beethoven's F-minor Sonata and played it through with a firm, sure touch and fine musical feeling. No wonder she had smiled at his question. ...
— The Loves of Great Composers • Gustav Kobb

... The question as to the year in which Egypt was subdued by Cambyses has long divided historians: I still agree with those who place the conquest in ...
— History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 9 (of 12) • G. Maspero

... the course of the animated discussions which this question aroused at the last session of Congress that the policy of diminishing the revenue by reducing taxation commanded the general approval of the members ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 2 (of 2) of Volume 8: Chester A. Arthur • James D. Richardson

... to take care of themselves was so exceedingly wise an expedient. "Cocksure Kippen" had been my nickname in Bermondsey since I had been in the pawnbrokering, just because I had opinions of my own, and did not call on other people to let me know their views of a question upon which I had made up my mind. What did I want with other people's opinions, when I knew my own were ever so much better? But I was a little crestfallen on the present occasion—I will say that. And it was my own fault for going down to Tom's—I will say that too. What did I want ...
— The Idler Magazine, Volume III, March 1893 - An Illustrated Monthly • Various

... owing to the length of time taken up by repeated interruptions, he was unable to finish his argument. In the mean time it had been generally understood that Mr. Webster would, at an early day, take an opportunity of addressing the Senate on the present aspect of the slavery question, on the dangers to the Union of the existing agitation, and on the terms of honorable adjustment. In the expectation of hearing a speech from him on these all-important topics, an immense audience assembled in the Senate-Chamber ...
— The Great Speeches and Orations of Daniel Webster • Daniel Webster

... blood relationship. She described his sudden visit to her rooms on the night of the murder, and his state of great alarm. She declared that he had confessed to her on the previous afternoon that he had been guilty of the murder in question. ...
— Havoc • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... of a marriage between them," answered Mrs. Moran, for she was anxious to put her daughter out of all question. "I should think it would be a very ...
— The Maid of Maiden Lane • Amelia E. Barr

... the question—and as he asked Josephine freed her hands. She tore the cloth from her mouth, but before she could rush forward, through Lang's mottling lips had come ...
— God's Country—And the Woman • James Oliver Curwood



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