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noun
Reed  n.  
1.
(Bot.) A name given to many tall and coarse grasses or grasslike plants, and their slender, often jointed, stems, such as the various kinds of bamboo, and especially the common reed of Europe and North America (Phragmites communis).
2.
A musical instrument made of the hollow joint of some plant; a rustic or pastoral pipe. "Arcadian pipe, the pastoral reed Of Hermes."
3.
An arrow, as made of a reed.
4.
Straw prepared for thatching a roof. (Prov. Eng.)
5.
(Mus.)
(a)
A small piece of cane or wood attached to the mouthpiece of certain instruments, and set in vibration by the breath. In the clarinet it is a single fiat reed; in the oboe and bassoon it is double, forming a compressed tube.
(b)
One of the thin pieces of metal, the vibration of which produce the tones of a melodeon, accordeon, harmonium, or seraphine; also attached to certain sets or registers of pipes in an organ.
6.
(Weaving) A frame having parallel flat stripe of metal or reed, between which the warp threads pass, set in the swinging lathe or batten of a loom for beating up the weft; a sley. See Batten.
7.
(Mining) A tube containing the train of powder for igniting the charge in blasting.
8.
(Arch.) Same as Reeding.
Egyptian reed (Bot.), the papyrus.
Free reed (Mus.), a reed whose edges do not overlap the wind passage, used in the harmonium, concertina, etc. It is distinguished from the beating or striking reed of the organ and clarinet.
Meadow reed grass (Bot.), the Glyceria aquatica, a tall grass found in wet places.
Reed babbler. See Reedbird.
Reed bunting (Zool.)
(a)
A European sparrow (Emberiza schoeniclus) which frequents marshy places; called also reed sparrow, ring bunting.
(b)
Reedling.
Reed canary grass (Bot.), a tall wild grass (Phalaris arundinacea).
Reed grass. (Bot.)
(a)
The common reed. See Reed, 1.
(b)
A plant of the genus Sparganium; bur reed. See under Bur.
Reed organ (Mus.), an organ in which the wind acts on a set of free reeds, as the harmonium, melodeon, concertina, etc.
Reed pipe (Mus.), a pipe of an organ furnished with a reed.
Reed sparrow. (Zool.) See Reed bunting, above.
Reed stop (Mus.), a set of pipes in an organ furnished with reeds.
Reed warbler. (Zool.)
(a)
A small European warbler (Acrocephalus streperus); called also reed wren.
(b)
Any one of several species of Indian and Australian warblers of the genera Acrocephalus, Calamoherpe, and Arundinax. They are excellent singers.
Sea-sand reed (Bot.), a kind of coarse grass (Ammophila arundinacea). See Beach grass, under Beach.
Wood reed grass (Bot.), a tall, elegant grass (Cinna arundinacea), common in moist woods.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Reed" Quotes from Famous Books



... entrance to the pass a mountaineer named Reed met them. It was he who had brought the news of the latest exploit by Slade and Skelly, but he had returned quickly to warn some friends of his in the foothills and was back again in time to meet the soldiers. He was a long thin man of middle age, riding a large black mule. An immense ...
— The Tree of Appomattox • Joseph A. Altsheler

... Mercury which treat of astrology: the first on the order of the planets, the second on the risings of the sun and moon, and the two last on the rising and aspect of the stars. Then comes the sacred author, with feathers on his head (like Kneph) and a book in his hand, together with ink, and a reed to write with, (as is still the practice among the Arabs). He must be versed in hieroglyphics, must understand the description of the universe, the course of the sun, moon, stars, and planets, be acquainted with the division of Egypt into thirty-six nomes, with the course of the Nile, ...
— The Ruins • C. F. [Constantin Francois de] Volney

... beaver, the musquash or muskrat, and called by the Indians the beaver's "little brother," is also a house-builder and engineer of no mean abilities. He is at home throughout the greater part of North America, and, like the beaver, frequents the regions of slowly flowing streams and large, reed-bordered ponds. Here he mingles in groups of his own kin, and together they build houses, work and play, dive and swim, with almost as much skill ...
— The Human Side of Animals • Royal Dixon

... sing. As he sang, the copper-bearing mountains, the massive rocks and ledges, trembled, the hills re-echoed, and the very ocean heaved with rapture. The boaster stood speechless, seeing his sledge transformed into reed grass and willows, his beautiful steed changed to a statue, his dog to a block of stone, and he himself fast sinking in a quicksand. Then comprehending his folly, he begged his tormentor to free him. Each precious gift he offered for a ransom was refused, until he named his beautiful ...
— National Epics • Kate Milner Rabb

... mine for these four comrades. Reed and Pete, Hadley and John Mac were their camp names, and I always think of them together. These four made a real cavalry man of me. It may be the mark of old age upon me now, for even to-day the handsome automobile and the great railway engine can command my admiration and ...
— The Price of the Prairie - A Story of Kansas • Margaret Hill McCarter

... I was one day on the terrace of our prison with three other comrades, trying, to pass away the time, how far we could leap with our chains, we being alone, for all the other Christians had gone out to work, I chanced to raise my eyes, and from one of these little closed windows I saw a reed appear with a cloth attached to the end of it, and it kept waving to and fro, and moving as if making signs to us to come and take it. We watched it, and one of those who were with me went and stood under the reed ...
— Don Quixote • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

... undergrowth were cocooned in another sort of vine of a delicate cobwebby texture—they call it the "supplejack," I think. Tree ferns everywhere—a stem fifteen feet high, with a graceful chalice of fern-fronds sprouting from its top—a lovely forest ornament. And there was a ten-foot reed with a flowing suit of what looked like yellow hair hanging from its upper end. I do not know its name, but if there is such a thing as a scalp-plant, this is it. A romantic gorge, with a brook flowing in its ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... not aught from mine array. Thou art my guest—I pledged my word As far as Coilantogle ford; 265 Nor would I call a clansman's brand For aid against one valiant hand, Though on our strife lay every vale Rent by the Saxon from the Gael. So move we on—I only meant 270 To show the reed on which you leant, Deeming this path you might pursue Without a pass from Roderick Dhu." They moved—I said Fitz-James was brave, As ever knight that belted glaive; 275 Yet dare not say, that now his blood Kept on its wont and tempered flood, As, following Roderick's stride, he drew ...
— Lady of the Lake • Sir Walter Scott

... interposed to receive the descending blade, which fell on the staff of a half-pike and severed it as though it had been a reed. Nothing daunted by the defenceless state in which he found himself, Scipio made his way to the front of Wilder, where, with a body divested to the waist of every garment, and empty handed, he fought with his brawny arms, like one who despised the cuts, ...
— The Red Rover • James Fenimore Cooper

... him that with all speed he would find him a sea-bride from among the Nereids of golden distaffs, having persuaded thereto Poseidon, their kinsman by his marriage, who from Aigai to the famous Dorian Isthmus cometh oftentimes, where happy troops with the reed-flute's noise welcome the god, and in bold strength ...
— The Extant Odes of Pindar • Pindar

... of the country. But the Romans were not interested in "anything foreign" and did not inquire into the origin of these queer figures which covered the walls of the temples and the walls of the palaces and endless reams of flat sheets made out of the papyrus reed. The last of the Egyptian priests who had understood the holy art of making such pictures had died several years before. Egypt deprived of its independence had become a store-house filled with important historical documents which no one could decipher and which were of no ...
— The Story of Mankind • Hendrik van Loon

... by Burghersh's recent death become the most prominent of the courtly prelates. The archbishop was declared to be the sole cause of the king's failures. He had left Edward without funds, and in trusting to him the king had leant on a broken reed. Stratford justified himself in another sermon in which he invited inquiry and demanded trial ...
— The History of England - From the Accession of Henry III. to the Death of Edward III. (1216-1377) • T.F. Tout

... Steinen,[1420] is obviously invented solely for the convenience of males in activity. It is not planned for concealment and does not conceal. By a development of the device it becomes a case, made of leaf, wood, bone, clay, shell, leather, bamboo, cloth, gourd, metal, or reed. It is met with all over the world.[1421] Perhaps its existence in ancient Egypt is proved.[1422] In almost every case, but not always, there is great disinclination to remove it, or part with it, or to be seen without it. The sentiment attaches only to the part which ...
— Folkways - A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals • William Graham Sumner

... did you come in? Ah! you were sitting in the corner behind the books! Only a reed such as you are could squeeze in through that cranny! What is your ...
— The Argonauts • Eliza Orzeszko (AKA Orzeszkowa)

... thought and influence of the low resonance of oo. Sing oo as suggested, and brighten it by the thought, influence, and high placing of E. In this way study all other vowels, influencing them by the high placing of E and the low resonance of oo. The high ring and brightness of the reed sounds of the voice, must be modified and influenced by the color and low resonance of the flute sounds. The flute sounds of the voice must be made more brilliant and free by the influence of the high placing and high resonance of the reed sounds. In this way we ...
— The Renaissance of the Vocal Art • Edmund Myer

... up on end, as it is doing now," said Olaf, "it will be a week before I dare take you over to Gull Island; but I was talking to a man from up the river yesterday, and he says the reed shallows are full of Rails—maybe you'd like to ...
— Citizen Bird • Mabel Osgood Wright and Elliott Coues

... were forced to yield; But though he still retained his skin, He nearly fainted with chagrin, To think that in that bloody tide So many of his rats had died. Fierce anger blazed within his breast; He would not stop to eat or rest; But spurring up his fiery steed, He seized a sharp and trusty reed— Then, wildly shouting, rushed like hail To cut off little mouse-king's tail. The mouse-king's face turned red with passion To see a rat come in such fashion, For he had just that minute said That every thieving rat was dead. The rat was scared, and tried to ...
— Poems for Pale People - A Volume of Verse • Edwin C. Ranck

... your mother, then little Matty Reed; we were at school together in New Haven, and she was my roommate. We were not at all alike, for I was wholly selfish, while she found her greatest pleasure in ministering to others' happiness; but she crossed my path at last, and then ...
— Cousin Maude • Mary J. Holmes

... sun, That is golden— The love of women is like a gazelle that comes to drink— To drink at the water springs— The love of women is like the nargileh, and like the dust of the keef That is mingled with tobacco and with honey. Put the reed between thy lips, O loving man! And draw dreams from the haschish that is the love ...
— The Garden Of Allah • Robert Hichens

... wings Sheds the grateful gifts she brings; Brilliant drops bedeck the mead, Cooling breezes shake the reed; Shake the reed, and curl the stream, Silver'd o'er with Cynthia's beam; Near the checquer'd, lonely grove, Hears, and keeps thy secrets, love. Stella, thither let us stray, Lightly o'er the dewy ...
— Dr. Johnson's Works: Life, Poems, and Tales, Volume 1 - The Works Of Samuel Johnson, Ll.D., In Nine Volumes • Samuel Johnson

... constant communication with him. Born on 3rd July 1819, at Illack, in Austria, Edward Rehatsek was educated at Buda Pesth, and in 1847 proceeded to Bombay, where he settled down as Professor of Latin and mathematics at Wilson College. He retired from his professorship in 1871, and settled in a reed-built native house, not so very much bigger than his prototype's tub, at Khetwadi. Though he had amassed money he kept no servants, but went every morning to the bazaar, and purchased his provisions, which he cooked with his own hand. He lived frugally, and his dress ...
— The Life of Sir Richard Burton • Thomas Wright

... will engage you in it; but being once embarked, all the cords draw; great provisions are then required, more hard and more important. How much easier is it not to enter in than it is to get out? Now we should proceed contrary to the reed, which, at its first springing, produces a long and straight shoot, but afterwards, as if tired and out of breath, it runs into thick and frequent joints and knots, as so many pauses which demonstrate that it has no ...
— The Essays of Montaigne, Complete • Michel de Montaigne

... than two hundred pilgrims, for the greater part wild Bedouins, going to Mecca. They had a minstrel who sang and played on the darabuka, or earthenware drum, and he was aided by another with a simple nai, or reed-whistle; the same orchestra, in fact, which is in universal use among all red Indians. To these performers the pilgrims listened with indescribable pleasure; and I soon found that they regarded me favorably because I did the same, ...
— The Gypsies • Charles G. Leland

... that in the water sway, The quiet reed kissing the arrowhead, The willows murmuring, all a summer day, "Silence"—sweet word, ...
— The Lonely Dancer and Other Poems • Richard Le Gallienne

... more entertained by this repartee than one would have supposed likely, considering its advanced age and simple character. But in her sisterly affection she took Mr Jonas to task for leaning so very hard upon a broken reed, and said that he must not be so cruel to poor Merry any more, or she (Charity) would positively be obliged to hate him. Mercy, who really had her share of good humour, only retorted with a laugh; and they walked home in consequence without ...
— Life And Adventures Of Martin Chuzzlewit • Charles Dickens

... Platform, to carry this into the State elections, as well as into the national elections. There is to be a nomination of a candidate for Governor, against Mr. Briggs, or whoever may be nominated by the Whigs; and there is to be a nomination of a candidate for Lieutenant-Governor, against Mr. Reed, or whoever may be nominated by the Whigs; and there are to be nominations against the present members of Congress. Now, what is the utility or the necessity of this? We have ten members in the Congress of the United States. ...
— The Great Speeches and Orations of Daniel Webster • Daniel Webster

... to be beheld a novel scene. Smallbones followed in obedience by his former persecutor and his superior, officer; a bag of bones—a reed—a lath—a scarecrow; like a pilot cutter ahead of an Indiaman, followed in his wake by Corporal Van Spitter, weighing twenty stone. How could this be? It was human nature. Smallbones took the lead, because he was the more courageous of the two, and ...
— Snarley-yow - or The Dog Fiend • Frederick Marryat

... I could go it the darkest night ever was. And I can direct you so you can find the way without any trouble. You go down the Neversink about a mile, when you come to Highfall Brook, the first stream that comes down on the right. Follow up it to Jim Reed's shanty, about three miles. Then cross the stream, and on the left bank, pretty well up on the side of the mountain, you will find a wood-road, which was made by a fellow below here who stole some ...
— In the Catskills • John Burroughs

... described by an eye-witness. "I heard from a teacher about some strange custom connected with some of the young girls here, so I asked the chief to take me to the house where they were. The house was about twenty-five feet in length, and stood in a reed and bamboo enclosure, across the entrance to which a bundle of dried grass was suspended to show that it was strictly 'tabu.' Inside the house were three conical structures about seven or eight feet in height, and about ten or twelve feet in circumference at ...
— Balder The Beautiful, Vol. I. • Sir James George Frazer

... can curb them," said Gerhardt, "unless the thinker put a curb on himself. He that can rule his own thoughts is king of himself: he that never attempts it is 'a reed driven with the ...
— One Snowy Night - Long ago at Oxford • Emily Sarah Holt

... into Chinatown from Chatham Square we could see that the district was celebrating its holidays with long ropes of firecrackers, and was feasting to reed discords from the pipes of its most famous musicians, and was gay with the hanging out of many sunflags, red with an eighteen-rayed white sun in the blue union. Both the new tong truce and the anniversary were more ...
— The Dream Doctor • Arthur B. Reeve

... it is With murch pleaser that i rite to You to let You no i reed Your letter & Was glad to hear from you all so i excepts all you Said that you wood do for me so i am a Painter and Carter to So i am willing to learn in neything in works kind So mr. —— i thank You for Your kindes for all of Your aid so i am a Barber to so i am a good farmer to al all kind ...
— The Journal of Negro History, Volume 4, 1919 • Various

... large enough to enable us to kindle a fire. The principal stream ran with great rapidity, and its banks and neighbourhood, as far as we could see, were covered with wood, encreasing us within a margin or bank. Vast spaces of country clear of timber were under water, and covered with the common reed [Note: Arundo phragmites. Linn.], which grew to the height of six or seven feet above the surface. The course and distance by the river was estimated to be from twenty-seven to thirty miles, on a ...
— Journals of Two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales • John Oxley

... Bill, which was a joint resolution of both houses, was also brought up in the House of Representatives, but nothing was done with it. Speaker Reed was careful that it should not be brought to a vote, for it is understood that the President will not take any decided steps in Cuban matters until Mr. Calhoun returns from Havana, and he is able to learn the true ...
— The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 31, June 10, 1897 - A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls • Various

... left. And the figure spoke to the patesi, but he did not understand the meaning of the words. Then it seemed to Gudea that the sun rose from the earth and he beheld a woman holding in her hand a pure reed, and she carried also a tablet on which was a star of the heavens, and she seemed to take counsel with herself. And while Gudea was gazing he seemed to see a second man who was like a warrior; ...
— History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, And Assyria In The Light Of Recent Discovery • L.W. King and H.R. Hall

... express myself in my present disturbed state! My mind is tossed with a thousand tormenting thoughts, which are lost the moment they are conceived, to make way for others. So long as my body is influenced by the impressions of my mind, how shall I be able to hold the paper, or guide a reed to write." ...
— The Arabian Nights Entertainments Complete • Anonymous

... reed pole, and pushed the boat out into open water. "I know a good place for minnows," said ...
— The Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter • Beatrix Potter

... deep shocks, field after field, between the leafy boundaries of hedge or coppice, thrusting themselves higher and higher till they touched the low sweeping branches of the trees that here and there overshadowed them. Broad streams, bordered with a heavy fringe of reed and sedge, went winding away into a green distance where woodland and meadowland seemed indefinitely prolonged; narrow streamlets, lost to view in the growth that they fostered, disclosed their presence merely by the water-weed that showed in a riband of rank verdure threading ...
— When William Came • Saki

... the captain five dinars, walked on a little way till the decrees of Destiny brought them among the gardens, and they came to a place swept and sprinkled, with benches along the walls and hanging jars filled with water.[FN41] Overhead was a trellis of reed-work and canes shading the whole length of the avenue, and at the upper end was a garden gate, but this was locked. "By Allah," quoth Nur al-Din to the damsel, "right pleasant is this place!"; and she ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 2 • Richard F. Burton

... crowd around Ahmed, and asked what was the matter. "Don't you know Ahmed the Cobbler?" said one of the bystanders, laughing. "He has been inspired and is become an astrologer." A drowning man will catch at a broken reed: the jeweller no sooner heard the sound of the word astrologer than he went up to Ahmed, told him what had happened, and said, "If you understand your art, you must be able to discover the king's ruby. Do so, and I will ...
— Supplemental Nights, Volume 2 • Richard F. Burton

... a herd was grav'n; Of gold and tin the heifers all were wrought: They to the pasture, from the cattle-yard, With gentle lowings, by a babbling stream, Where quiv'ring reed-beds rustled, slowly mov'd. Four golden shepherds walk'd beside the herd, By nine swift dogs attended; then amid The foremost heifers sprang two lions fierce Upon the lordly bull: he, bellowing loud, Was dragg'd along, by dogs and youths pursued. The tough bull's-hide ...
— The Iliad • Homer

... a bloated, cruel face, sodden with drink and inflamed with all fierce and inhuman passions; a strong man, who held the trembling girl by the shoulder as if she were a reed, and gazed into her face with eyes of fiendish triumph; an angry man, who poured out a torrent of furious words, reproaching, threatening, by turns, as he found his victim once more within his grasp, just ...
— Marie • Laura E. Richards

... by the sculptor and his wife, and welcomed as if she were their own child, he had returned to his tent to write once more a dispatch to Rome. But this he could not accomplish, for his friend Lysias paced restlessly up and down by him as he sat, and as often as he put the reed to the papyrus disturbed him with enquiries about the recluse, the sculptor, and their ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... beliefs. At first they are rude representations of the supposed doings of the gods. The Indian rain-maker mounts to the roof of his hut, and rattling vigorously a dry gourd containing pebbles, to represent the thunder, scatters water through a reed on the ground beneath, as he imagines up above in the clouds do the spirits of the storm. Every spring in ancient Delphi was repeated in scenic ceremony the combat of Apollo and the Dragon, the ...
— The Myths of the New World - A Treatise on the Symbolism and Mythology of the Red Race of America • Daniel G. Brinton

... are an interesting class. They are trained at government cost to give massage treatment, and no others are allowed to practice. These blind nurses, male and female, go about the streets in care of an attendant, playing a plaintive tune on a little reed whistle in offer of their services. The treatment is delightful, the sensation is wholly new, and is most restful and invigorating after a ...
— An Ohio Woman in the Philippines • Emily Bronson Conger

... writing were either made of reeds (calami) or of quills (pennae). The quill was introduced after the reed, and largely, though not entirely, superseded it. Other implements of the expert scribe were a pencil, compasses, scissors, an awl, a knife for erasures, a ruler, and a weight ...
— Old English Libraries, The Making, Collection, and Use of Books • Ernest A. Savage

... the Senate on a Special Committee to Look After the Rights of Women, Messrs. Bayard, Morgan and Vest in Opposition—Mr. Hoar Champions the Measure in the Senate, Mr. Reed in the House—Washington Convention—Representative Orth and Senator Saunders on the Woman Suffrage Platform—Hearings Before Select Committees of Senate and House—Reception Given by Mrs. Spofford at the Riggs House—Philadelphia ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume III (of III) • Various

... away into the forest, and a young shepherd went after them to bring them safely back to their mothers. And as he wandered this way and that through the forest, following their light tracks, he came to a little birch tree, bright with new leaves, waving over a little mound of earth. And there was a reed growing in the mound, and that, you know as well as I, is a strange thing, one reed all by itself under a birch tree in the forest. But it was no stranger than the flowers, for there were flowers round it, some red as the sun at dawn and others blue ...
— Old Peter's Russian Tales • Arthur Ransome

... answered, Olalla! The pale saint of my dreams had vanished for ever; and in her place I beheld this maiden on whom God had lavished the richest colours and the most exuberant energies of life, whom He had made active as a deer, slender as a reed, and in whose great eyes He had lighted the torches of the soul. The thrill of her young life, strung like a wild animal's, had entered into me; the force of soul that had looked out from her eyes and conquered mine, mantled about my heart and sprang to my lips ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Volume XXI • Robert Louis Stevenson

... second hurricane was on its way, bringing rain and lightning; it was swifter than the first. Donadieu endeavoured to repeat the same manoeuvre, but he could not turn before the wind struck the boat, the mast bent like a reed; the boat shipped ...
— CELEBRATED CRIMES, COMPLETE - MURAT—1815 • ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE

... writings of De Quincey has just been published by Ticknor, Reed & Fields, of Boston. It contains, with other admirable papers, those "On the Knocking at the Gate, in Macbeth," "Murder considered as one of the Fine Arts," "Joan of Arc," and "Dinners, Real and Reputed." These works of one of the greatest of living authors, have ...
— The International Monthly, Volume 2, No. 4, March, 1851 • Various

... ideas of pleasance the step from this to the solemn beauty of the sacred cradle-song was a mere matter of change of colour and tempo. The key is lowered from B flat to G, the strings are veiled with the tender reed tone of a group of oboe d' amore, the soprano becomes an alto whose notes are, as it were, surrounded with a nimbus by being doubled in the upper octave by a flute; and the aria becomes worthy of its new ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 - "Austria, Lower" to "Bacon" • Various

... the party (I having been posted at a point where the tiger would probably break cover, in case the report should prove false), it appears, blundered carelessly into the place where the animal had been last seen the evening before. Now, this particular spot was full of a long sort of reed that grows in swampy ground, so that the people could not see far before them, and, to make a long story short, it seems that the tiger bided his time, sprang suddenly into the party, and gave one of them a fatal bite in the loins. The moment I heard the three ...
— Gold, Sport, And Coffee Planting In Mysore • Robert H. Elliot

... capable of a scientific explanation. Built in the first place to be as nearly as possible non-conducting, with an impervious "puddled" bottom, the pond is renewed every night to a certain extent by the dew which trickles down each grass and reed stem into the reservoir beneath, and to a much greater extent by the mists which drift over the edge to descend in rain on the Weald. The pools might well be ...
— Seaward Sussex - The South Downs from End to End • Edric Holmes

... appeared; he had doubted and fought against his doubts, and at last had crushed them down. He, too, had been taught to look for God in outward judgments; and when his own experience had shown him his mistake, he knew not where to turn. He had been leaning on a bruised reed, and it had run into his hand and pierced him. But as soon as in the speeches of his friend he saw it all laid down in its weakness and its false conclusions—when he saw the defenders of it wandering further and further from what he knew to be true, growing every moment, as ...
— Short Studies on Great Subjects • James Anthony Froude

... the discipline of the convict ships, were Captain Brown and Dr. Reed, of the Morley: they endeavoured, by precept and example, to inculcate morality. Coercion had been found ineffectual, and the women, when restricted, filled the vessel with clamour and profaneness; but these gentlemen adopted a system of mental influence, and their prisoners, whatever ...
— The History of Tasmania , Volume II (of 2) • John West

... meadows, joined in the joyous epithalamium—the virgin bud timidly put forth its blushes, "the voice of the turtle was heard in the land," and the heart of man dissolved away in tenderness. Oh, sweet Theocritus! had I thine oaten reed, wherewith thou erst did charm the gay Sicilian plains; or, oh, gentle Bion! thy pastoral pipe wherein the happy swains of the Lesbian isle so much delighted, then might I attempt to sing, in soft Bucolic or negligent Idyllium, the rural beauties of the scene; but having nothing, save this jaded ...
— Knickerbocker's History of New York, Complete • Washington Irving

... following page, is the summary of many chapters of 'Modern Painters:' and of the aims kept in view throughout 'Munera Pulveris.' The three kinds of Desert specified—of Reed, Sand, and Rock—should be kept in mind as exhaustively including the states of the earth neglected by man. For instance of a Reed desert, produced merely by his neglect, see Sir Samuel Baker's account of the choking up of ...
— Proserpina, Volume 2 - Studies Of Wayside Flowers • John Ruskin

... before I became acquainted with Murray, he had quarreled at a dinner party with a Mr. Reed, the manager of a coffee plantation. The lie was exchanged, a blow was struck; a challenge was given and accepted on the spot. The next morning the parties met, with their seconds, firmly bent upon shooting each other. There was no flinching on the part of the principals; ...
— Jack in the Forecastle • John Sherburne Sleeper

... I have known it long; Too restless and too strong Within this clay hath been the o'ermastering flame; Swift thought that came and went, Like torrents o'er me sent, Have shaken as a reed my thrilling frame." ...
— Excellent Women • Various

... up clay in wattles of reed and threw it into the breach formed in the mound, in order to give it consistency and prevent its being carried away like the soil. Stopped in this way the Plataeans changed their mode of operation, and ...
— The History of the Peloponnesian War • Thucydides

... sting on this "human face divine," already defaced by the bloody sweat, and to be yet more by the mocking reed, and smiting hand and piercing thorn. The vision of the prophet seven hundred years before becomes a reality—"His visage was so marred more than any man." "But nothing went so close to His heart as ...
— A Life of St. John for the Young • George Ludington Weed

... they are perfect insects. The larva changes to a grub, and greedily devours water-lizards and young fish; after a certain time, which varies according to the species, it rises to the top of the water by crawling up a reed, and remains perfectly motionless, exposed to the rays of the sun; suddenly, the skin covering the head bursts open, and the dragon-fly, spotted with black, blue, and green, takes flight, and loses no time in ...
— Adventures of a Young Naturalist • Lucien Biart

... thy gazefull eyes to feed With sight of that is faire, looke on the frame 30 Of this wyde universe, and therein reed The endlesse kinds of creatures which by name Thou canst not count, much less their natures aime; All which are made with wondrous wise respect, And all with ...
— The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, Volume 5 • Edmund Spenser

... HIS MEN, or Italy with THE OLD OAK CHEST, still it was Transpontus. A botanist could tell it by the plants. The hollyhock was all pervasive, running wild in deserts; the dock was common, and the bending reed; and overshadowing these were poplar, palm, potato tree, and QUERCUS SKELTICA - brave growths. The caves were all embowelled in the Surreyside formation; the soil was all betrodden by the light pump of T. P. Cooke. Skelt, to be sure, had yet another, an oriental string: he held the ...
— Memories and Portraits • Robert Louis Stevenson

... want to know the name of any plant that interests us, and this is important. As in the subjects of Birds, there are many helpful books on Flowers and Ferns. Beginners will find "The Flower Guide," by Chester A. Reed (Doubleday, Page & Co.) to be useful. After a good start has been made, such books as Gray's Manual, or Britton and Brown's Illustrated Flora should ...
— Scouting For Girls, Official Handbook of the Girl Scouts • Girl Scouts

... Canton, have they not written to the missionaries "that there is no tear that they shed that is not red with blood because of this opium?" ("China," by M. Reed, p. 63). Why, then, does China, while she protests against the importation of a drug which a Governor of Canton, himself an opium-smoker, described as a "vile excrementitious substance" ("Barrow's Travels," p. 153), sanction, if not foster, with ...
— An Australian in China - Being the Narrative of a Quiet Journey Across China to Burma • George Ernest Morrison

... o' the great; Thou art past the tyrant's stroke; Care no more to clothe and eat; To thee the reed is as the oak: The sceptre, learning, physic, must All follow this ...
— The Hundred Best English Poems • Various

... [3] Richard Reed, a London alderman, refused to contribute a "benevolence." He was sent to serve as a soldier in the Scotch wars at his own expense, and the general was ordered to "use him in all things according to sharp military ...
— The Leading Facts of English History • D.H. Montgomery

... river-bank, greeted by the usual accidents of an African reception; the men shouted, the women rushed screaming under cover, and the children stood howling at the horrible sight. A few paces placed us at the "palace," a heap of huts, surrounded by an old reed-fence. The audience-room was a trifle larger than usual, with low shady eaves, a half-flying roof, and a pair of doorways for the dangerous but indispensable draught; a veteran sofa and a few rickety chairs composed the furniture, and the throne was known by its boarded seat, which would ...
— Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo Volume 2 • Richard F. Burton

... California. As not infrequently occurs in Indian games, there is in this pastime a reflection both of the environment and of the vocations of the people who used it. The drama or theme of the play is the search for a particular reed, which for the purpose of the game is marked in a ...
— Indian Games and Dances with Native Songs • Alice C. Fletcher

... compelled, full of grief she sang. The Hawk, who had seized the prey, {then} said: "You have not sung your best;" and, seizing one of the young ones with his claws, began to devour it. A Fowler approaches from another direction, and stealthily extending his reed,[5] touches the perfidious {creature} with bird-lime, and ...
— The Fables of Phdrus - Literally translated into English prose with notes • Phaedrus

... left the White House, where he passed the greater portion of his time in his office in the second story, smoking a corn-cob pipe with a long reed stem. He was at the commencement of his Presidential term sixty-two years of age, tall, spare, with a high forehead, from which his gray hair was brushed back, a decisive nose, searching, keen eyes, and, when good-natured, an almost ...
— Perley's Reminiscences, Vol. 1-2 - of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis • Benjamin Perley Poore

... no sooner left his mouth than up came a great Swede who was one of the workmen in Lloyd's, and he had Nahum Beals in a grasp as imperturbable as fate. The assassin, even with the strength of his fury of fanaticism, was as a reed in the grasp of this Northern giant. The Swede held him easily, walking him before him in a forced march. He had a hand of Nahum's in each of his, and he compelled Nahum's right hand to retain the hold of the discharged pistol. There was something terrible about the Swede as he drew near, ...
— The Portion of Labor • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

... gone when his eye was attracted by a pale, thin youth in a light-gray suit and Panama hat. He thought nothing of him at first except to remark his clothes, but as he came within short vision Tanner gave a grunt of astonishment and bit through the reed stem ...
— The Harbor of Doubt • Frank Williams

... the Eclipse or Kilgore, the Moore, the Baker & Smith, the Renshaw, the Shackleton, the "Duplex", the Pond & Bradford, the Whittingham, the Bee, the Hazleton or "Common Sense", the Reynolds, the Suplee or Luder, the Babbit, the Reed, the ...
— Steam, Its Generation and Use • Babcock & Wilcox Co.

... the Fox hand wether in Lunnun as indered me of goen two Q. wherefor hif yew plese i ham reddy to cum to re-ersal two nite, in ten minnits hif yew wil lett the kal-boy hof yewer theeter bring me wud—if you kant reed mi riten ax Mister Kroften Kroker wich his a Hanty queerun like yewerself honly hee as bin longer hatit yewers ...
— A Walk from London to Fulham • Thomas Crofton Croker

... given me a measuring reed like a rod, and it was said, Arise, and measure the temple of God, (and the altar,) and those who worship in it. But the court which is without the temple, leave out, and measure it not; for it is given to the Gentiles: ...
— A Brief Commentary on the Apocalypse • Sylvester Bliss

... blue-peaked nose, And white against the cold white sky Shone many a face of those Who o'er the upper reaches swept, On swans and cygnets keeping an eye. Dyers and Vintners, portly, mellow Chasing the birds of the jetty bill Through the reed clusters green and still; And through the osier mazes crept Many a cap-feathered ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 99, August 9, 1890. • Various

... sacred as the golden bridle-bit of the Shah of Persia's horse, and the golden hammer, with which his hoofs are shod. Musical instruments should be like the silver tongs, with which the high-priests tended the Jewish altars—never to be touched by a hand profane. Who would bruise the poorest reed of Pan, though plucked from a beggar's hedge, would insult ...
— Redburn. His First Voyage • Herman Melville

... agitation of his feelings, that he was weak, like other men, and that with whatever hope and confidence and calmness he might contemplate the prospect of distant happiness, its near approach shook him like a reed. Mrs. Pownal presently returned, with a coral necklace in her hand, and ...
— The Lost Hunter - A Tale of Early Times • John Turvill Adams

... replied the young Onondaga in his measured tones. "No man, Indian or white, has been here today. The lilies are undisturbed. Not a reed has been bent. Ducks that have not yet seen us are swimming quietly up the creek, and farther on a stag is drinking at its edge. I can hear ...
— The Hunters of the Hills • Joseph Altsheler

... man drew his long peace pipe from its pouch. It was made of red sandstone, and its stem was a smooth reed. He lighted the pipe from the dying embers and ...
— Two Indian Children of Long Ago • Frances Taylor

... nothing to prevent their severally leading you by the nose; you will follow a dangled bunch of carrots like a donkey; or, better still, you will be water spilt on a table, trained whichever way one chooses with a finger-tip; or again, a reed growing on a river's bank, bending to every breath, however gentle the breeze that shakes it in ...
— Works, V2 • Lucian of Samosata

... Miss Myrtle Reed may always be depended upon to write a story in which poetry, charm, tenderness and humor are combined into a clever and entertaining book. Her characters are delightful and she always displays a quaint humor ...
— The Black Box • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... of the long reed spear, which is apt to be weak and awkward to carry, we would substitute two darts of cornel-wood; (10) the one of which the skilful horseman can let fly, and still ply the one reserved in all directions, forwards, backwards, (11) and obliquely; add to that, these smaller ...
— On Horsemanship • Xenophon

... like the reed-warbler, build in reeds; this seems a very safe plan. Here you see several tall green reeds growing out of the water, and about a foot above the water the bird has made a clever nest, twisting bits of roots and grass together, and lacing them in with ...
— The Children's Book of London • Geraldine Edith Mitton

... 'coming up, if by doing so she could prevent so noble a creature from stooping too low, or save her from ruin.'—One reed to support another! I think I will contrive to bring ...
— Clarissa, Volume 4 (of 9) - History Of A Young Lady • Samuel Richardson

... the King of Spain. That monarch had told the Duke of Parma to trouble himself but little about the Netherlands so long as he could preserve for him his city of Paris. But it was to lean on a broken reed to expect support from this old, decrepit king, whose object was to dismember the flourishing kingdom of France, and to divide it among as many tyrants as he had sent viceroys to the Indies. The crown was his own birthright. Were it ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley

... was erroneously supposed, by the ingenious Mr. Reed, to be the "first newspaper, published in England;" we are, however, assured by the author of the Life of Ruddiman, that it has no title to so honourable a distinction. Gallo-Belgicus appears to have been rather an Annual Register, or History of its own Times, than a ...
— Character Writings of the 17th Century • Various

... After the death of Thomas B. Reed of Maine, this speech was found in his scrap-book among the masterpieces of sarcasm ...
— A Political History of the State of New York, Volumes 1-3 • DeAlva Stanwood Alexander

... despair, she sat all silent close by Jerrem's side, covering his hands with many a mute caress, yet never daring to lift up her eyes to look into his face without a burst of grief sweeping across to shake her like a reed. Jerrem could eat and drink, but Joan's lips never tasted food. A fever seemed to burn within and fill her with its restless torment: the beatings of her throbbing heart turned her first hot, then cold, as each pulse said the time to part ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. XXVI., December, 1880. • Various

... 'A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench.... He shall not fail nor ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture - Isaiah and Jeremiah • Alexander Maclaren

... the workshop. He had finished a spear point which he held in his hand. Without thinking what he was doing, he slipped the tang into a hollow reed which he picked up from the ground. If it had not been for a hungry wolf, he might have ...
— The Later Cave-Men • Katharine Elizabeth Dopp

... grew the vine of bitter-sweet, What made the path for truant feet, Winter nights would quickly pass, Gazing on the magic glass O'er which the new-world shadows pass; But, in fault of wizard spell, Moderns their tale can only tell In dull words, with a poor reed Breaking at each time of need. But those to whom a hint suffices Mottoes find for all devices, See the knights behind their shields, Through ...
— Summer on the Lakes, in 1843 • S.M. Fuller

... I heard the Reed girls planning to come to-morrow. They didn't dare come to-day. Those girls haven't any sand! ...
— The Climbers - A Play in Four Acts • Clyde Fitch

... and, on arriving, found, of all men in the world, Thomas B. Reed, Speaker of our House of Representatives. Mr. Newel, our minister, took us both for a drive to Scheveningen, and Mr. Reed's conversation was exceedingly interesting; he is well read in history and, apparently, in every field of English ...
— Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White Volume II • Andrew Dickson White

... blackbird, * lark, * yellowhammer, * robin, *wren, * golden-crested wren, * goldfinch, * chaffinch, * *greenfinch, pied wagtail, sparrow, * dunnock (hedge, accentor), missel thrush, starling, rook, jackdaw, *blackcap, * garden warbler, * willow warbler, * chiffchaff, * wood warbler, tree-creeper, * reed bunting, * sedge warbler, coot, water hen, little grebe (dabchick), tufted duck, wood pigeon, stock dove, * turtle dove, peewit, tit (? coal-tit), * cuckoo, * nightjar, * swallow, martin, ...
— Theodore Roosevelt - An Autobiography by Theodore Roosevelt • Theodore Roosevelt

... thought his cousin's house a strange dwelling. Made of coarse grasses and reed stalks, it was round, like a big ball, with a doorway in one side. This queer building was fastened among the reeds a little distance above the ground. And it seemed to Rusty Wren that it must be a damp ...
— The Tale of Rusty Wren • Arthur Scott Bailey

... possible contingencies, which he could not be on the ground to direct, Washington sent his able adjutant-general, Reed,[2] down to aid Cadwalader. This action, too, removed a difficulty which had arisen out of Gates' excusing himself from taking this command on ...
— The Campaign of Trenton 1776-77 • Samuel Adams Drake

... genius. I have ever felt myself a chosen spirit, and I am sure I am destined to become the greatest actress that has yet charmed and captivated the world. Am I not tall, surpassingly beautiful, lithe and supple as a reed—graceful as a lily? But that is not all. In me is reincarnated the spirit of the ancient East, and it is my mission to interpret that spirit to the modern world. I will help you, dear, to realize that same spirit, and then one day, in a grand burst of inspiration ...
— Cleo The Magnificent - The Muse of the Real • Louis Zangwill

... wife! The instant he had looked up into her face, he had forgotten the fiddler; but he remembered him now as he watched the woman, who stood with her back toward him. She was as slim as a reed. Her hair fell to her hips. He drew a deep breath. Unconsciously he clenched his hands. SHE—the fiddler's wife! The thought repeated itself again and again. Jan Thoreau, MURDERER, ...
— Back to God's Country and Other Stories • James Oliver Curwood

... man. All the good cheer fled out of his face; his curly brown beard seemed to stand out about his head like snakes, and the massiveness of his body was reflected in the battle-fury of his face. He needed no blows to rouse him into madness; but with the ax swinging like a reed about him, he came rushing at Brian, a giant come to earth from of old time. His men on the tower set up ...
— Nuala O'Malley • H. Bedford-Jones

... earth, 'twill pierce the heart, At best a broken reed, And oft a spear where hope expires, ...
— Withered Leaves from Memory's Garland • Abigail Stanley Hanna

... show of hesitation the man surrendered the thing, and upon inspection I found it to be a reed of about a foot in length, with a mouthpiece shaped something like that of a whistle, and with four small holes drilled in the length of the tube, whereby an expert performer might produce seven distinct tones; but the tones were not consecutive, and the instrument was ...
— A Middy of the Slave Squadron - A West African Story • Harry Collingwood

... scorns the rule of the venerable (Arahat), of the elect (Ariya), of the virtuous, and follows false doctrine, he bears fruit to his own destruction, like the fruits of the Katthaka reed. ...
— The Dhammapada • Unknown

... movements may be caused let us imagine a case that may occur in nature. It is an interesting mechanical study. There is an upright rush or reed growing in the middle of a running stream. The stem of this rush has elasticity naturally; it has a tendency to stand upright; but it bends when there is a current against it. It is easy enough to imagine it bending down stream more or ...
— Steam Steel and Electricity • James W. Steele

... these declarations was written when the baronet was in extreme ill-health, in 1822, and was witnessed by his brother John and three other persons. It was discovered in the possession of a member of the family of Lydia Reed, the plaintiff's nurse. The second paper, which was almost the same in its terms, was discovered in the keeping of an attorney's clerk, who had formerly lived in Bristol. The following is a copy ...
— Celebrated Claimants from Perkin Warbeck to Arthur Orton • Anonymous

... of Johnson, Stevens, and Reed, with Life by Rowe. Printed in large type, one volume ...
— The Swiss Family Robinson; or Adventures in a Desert Island • Johann David Wyss

... comeliness; and when they should see him, there was no beauty that they should desire him.' Meagre were his looks; sharp misery had worn him to the bone. His crown of thorns indicated the sterility of the territories over which he reigned. The reed in his hand, gathered from the banks of the Nile, indicated that it was only the mighty river, by keeping within its banks, and thus withholding its wonted munificence, that placed an unreal sceptre in his gripe. He was nailed ...
— The Freethinker's Text Book, Part II. - Christianity: Its Evidences, Its Origin, Its Morality, Its History • Annie Besant

... ought to go back to his companions and be witness of the contest which might determine whether the princess was to be another's bride, his great love and his utter despair of winning her so oppressed him that he lay as motionless as a broken reed. He scarcely heard the music of the birds, and paid no heed to the murmur of the brook rushing by his feet. The crackling of branches near him barely disturbed him, but when a shadow fell across his eyes he looked up ...
— The Golden Spears - And Other Fairy Tales • Edmund Leamy

... the willowy Serraglio and chase away his peaceful thoughts of Virgil. He remembered how the country people had come out by the bridge and glided away in their boats, and talked of the murder of Donna Aloysia; and how they had, one and all of them, said, going back over the lake water or along the reed-fringed roads, to their farmhouses, that there could be no manner of doubt about it—the lover had been moon-struck and mad with jealousy, and his dagger had found its way to her breast. They had ...
— Wisdom, Wit, and Pathos of Ouida - Selected from the Works of Ouida • Ouida

... is we are not astir much before the village. Almost as soon as I am dressed the shepherd boys and girls are abroad, playing on their reed flutes as they drive the flocks to pasture from the pens to which they were brought at sundown. They go far afield for food if not for water, but evening must see their animals safely secured once more, for if left out overnight the nearest predatory tribesmen ...
— Morocco • S.L. Bensusan

... is particularly fond owing to its proximity to the capital. Yet it is hated by the members of his suite, for it is a terribly gloomy place. It stands in the midst of a dense, dark forest of vast extent, and swarming with game, within a few hundred yards of the reed covered and marshy shores of the Werbellin Lake, and was built by the late King Frederick-William IV. During the last few years of his madness this monarch was frequently taken out to Hubertusstock by his attendants, who hoped that the entire absence ...
— The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Europe: William II, Germany; Francis Joseph, Austria-Hungary, Volume I. (of 2) • Mme. La Marquise de Fontenoy

... city was the one established by William Bradford, printer of the Pennsylvania Journal. It was on the southwest corner of Second and Market Streets, and was named the London coffee house, the second house in Philadelphia to bear that title. The building had stood since 1702, when Charles Reed, later mayor of the city, put it up on land which he bought from Letitia Penn, daughter of William Penn, the founder. Bradford was the first to use the structure for coffee-house purposes, and he tells his reason for entering upon the business in his petition ...
— All About Coffee • William H. Ukers

... doublet and dainty cap. She has been mad, and has come into the presence of a guilty king, and given him rue to wear, and bitter herbs to taste of. She has been innocent, and the black hands of jealousy have crushed her reed-like throat. I have seen her in every age and in every costume. Ordinary women never appeal to one's imagination. They are limited to their century. No glamour ever transfigures them. One knows their minds as easily as one knows their bonnets. One can always find them. There is no mystery ...
— The Picture of Dorian Gray • Oscar Wilde

... and sure enough, what did he see? Running as fleet over the turf as a rabbit, was a child. The little figure was quite black in the moonlight, and Hans could not catch its face: in a moment the hell-dogs were on it. Hans quivered like a windy reed, and the Wild One laughed till the very woods echoed. 'How like you hunting moss-men?' asked the Spirit. Now when Hans found it was only a moss-man, he took heart again, and said in a shaking voice, that 'It is rare good sport in good company;' and then ...
— Vivian Grey • The Earl of Beaconsfield

... pathway for it, Saying to it, "Run in this way!" 15 From the red stone of the quarry With his hand he broke a fragment, Moulded it into a pipe-head, Shaped and fashioned it with figures; From the margin of the river 20 Took a long reed for a pipe-stem, With its dark green leaves upon it, Filled the pipe with bark of willow, With the bark of the red willow; Breathed upon the neighboring forest, 25 Made its great boughs chafe together, Till in flame ...
— The Song of Hiawatha - An Epic Poem • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

... marriage enforces. Man in his wisdom, his rare mental endowments, is little fitted to bear adversity. He bows before the blast, like the sturdy pine which the wintry storm, sweeping past, cracks to its very centre; while woman, as the frail reed, sways to and fro with the fierce gust, then rises again triumphant towards the blackening sky. Her affection, pure and steadfast, her unswerving faith and devotion, sustain man in the hour of darkness, even as the trailing weed supports and binds together the mighty walls of ...
— The Wedding Guest • T.S. Arthur

... offers it to me in mine age. He has chastised to purify, and I go to join the spirits of our lost family. In a little while, my child, you will be alone. I know you too well not to foresee you will be a pilgrim through life. The bruised reed may endure, but it will never rise. You have that within you, Harvey, that will guide you aright; persevere as you have begun, for the duties of life are never to be neglected and"—a noise in the adjoining room interrupted the dying man, and the impatient ...
— The Spy • James Fenimore Cooper



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