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Common   /kˈɑmən/   Listen
Common

adjective
(compar. commoner; superl. commonest)
1.
Belonging to or participated in by a community as a whole; public.  "Common lands are set aside for use by all members of a community"
2.
Having no special distinction or quality; widely known or commonly encountered; average or ordinary or usual.  "A common sailor" , "The common cold" , "A common nuisance" , "Followed common procedure" , "It is common knowledge that she lives alone" , "The common housefly" , "A common brand of soap"
3.
Common to or shared by two or more parties.  Synonym: mutual.  "The mutual interests of management and labor"
4.
Commonly encountered.  Synonym: usual.  "The usual greeting"
5.
Being or characteristic of or appropriate to everyday language.  Synonyms: vernacular, vulgar.  "A vernacular term" , "Vernacular speakers" , "The vulgar tongue of the masses" , "The technical and vulgar names for an animal species"
6.
Of or associated with the great masses of people.  Synonyms: plebeian, unwashed, vulgar.  "Behavior that branded him as common" , "His square plebeian nose" , "A vulgar and objectionable person" , "The unwashed masses"
7.
Of low or inferior quality or value.  Synonym: coarse.  "Produced...the common cloths used by the poorer population"
8.
Lacking refinement or cultivation or taste.  Synonyms: coarse, rough-cut, uncouth, vulgar.  "Behavior that branded him as common" , "An untutored and uncouth human being" , "An uncouth soldier--a real tough guy" , "Appealing to the vulgar taste for violence" , "The vulgar display of the newly rich"
9.
To be expected; standard.



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"Common" Quotes from Famous Books



... the most of those who talk on this subject. If it be answered, the colonization is to be voluntary, they only going who choose to go, we have only to say that that is not the true meaning of the terms, nor what is by common consent understood by it. If merely emigration is intended, and it is made no part of the scheme of emancipation, the case is altered radically. But of ...
— The Future of the Colored Race in America • William Aikman

... badly enough on the miserable food of the camp, but for the other officers. They received parcels regularly, the contents of which were dumped into a common store; and Jim and another "orphan" were made honorary members of the mess, with such genuine heartiness that after the first protests they ceased to worry their hosts with objections, and merely tried to eat ...
— Captain Jim • Mary Grant Bruce

... of breed, of training, of experience and education, provided we could meet and exchange ideas honestly there would be some satisfying point of mental fusion where we would feel our solidarity in the common mystery of life. People complain that wars are caused by and fought over trivial things. Why, of course! For it is only in trivial matters that people differ: in the deep realities they must necessarily be at one. Now ...
— Where the Blue Begins • Christopher Morley

... "These things have grown common to him," replied Morny quietly; "but don't look only at the trees on the banks. Cast your eyes down sometimes into ...
— The Ocean Cat's Paw - The Story of a Strange Cruise • George Manville Fenn

... dissolution of organised society, and the destruction of man's home on the surface of the globe, were none of them violently contrary to our present experience, but only the extension of present facts. The presentiment of death was common; there were felt to be many things which threatened the existence of society; and as our globe was a ball of fire, at any moment the pent-up forces which surge and boil beneath our feet might be poured out ("Pall Mall Gazette," December ...
— Collected Essays, Volume V - Science and Christian Tradition: Essays • T. H. Huxley

... don't say 'flats' to Margaret Taylour," exclaimed Mrs. Ess Kay, marshalling me into the mammoth skeleton. "Over here, only common people live in flats; our ...
— Lady Betty Across the Water • Charles Norris Williamson and Alice Muriel Williamson

... waited on by a large deputation of Karens, bringing with them in a covered basket, the mysterious volume, wrapped in fold after fold of muslin; on removing which it proved to be an Oxford edition of the Common Prayer Book in the English language! With the greatest simplicity they asked Mr. B. if this book contained the doctrines of the new religion, and if so, requested to be taught its contents. Mr. ...
— Lives of the Three Mrs. Judsons • Arabella W. Stuart

... we have formerly seen in conjunction with others, and which we do not conceive to have any property that is not common to many, will not be regarded by us for so long, as an object which we conceive to have some property ...
— Ethica Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata - Part I: Concerning God • Benedict de Spinoza

... when imprisonment is a part of the punishment if a trial by jury is not waived the magistrate, not less than three days nor more than five days before the time fixed for trial, shall certify to the clerk of the court of common pleas of the county that such prosecution is pending before him. ...
— Mining Laws of Ohio, 1921 • Anonymous

... name you expect. The Lazy A didn't make me rich, I can tell you that. It just barely helped to tide things over. You've got a home here, and you can come and go as you please. What you ain't got," he added bitterly, "is common gratitude." ...
— Jean of the Lazy A • B. M. Bower

... a question. He had heard the Master's reply to Thomas. Philip was slow and dull, loyal-hearted, a man of practical common-sense, but without imagination, unable to understand anything spiritual, anything but bare, cold, material facts. The words of Jesus about knowing and seeing the Father caught his ear. That was just what he wanted,—to see the Father. So in ...
— Personal Friendships of Jesus • J. R. Miller

... to me,' returned Falconer. 'If that implies the possession of any secret which is not common property, I fear it also involves a natural doubt whether ...
— Robert Falconer • George MacDonald

... I; and then I knew that he was a fiend. And the father was a fiend. They offered to buy the woman off, to support her and the child. They told me that many English gentlemen had made mistakes like this, and that it was nothing—that it was quite common. Mortimer FitzHugh had never touched me with his lips, and now, when he came to touch me with his hands, I struck him. It was a serpent's house, ...
— The Hunted Woman • James Oliver Curwood

... employs the common people whom he brings upon the stage merely to raise a laugh (as, for instance, the flea-bitten carriers in the inn-yard at Rochester, in Henry IV., Part 1, Act 2, Sc. 1), but occasionally they are scamps as well as fools. They amuse us when ...
— Tolstoy on Shakespeare - A Critical Essay on Shakespeare • Leo Tolstoy

... chamber, talking of one thing or another; among others, he told me of the great factions at Court at this day, even to the sober engaging of great persons, and differences, and making the King cheap and ridiculous. It is about my Lady Harvy's being offended at Doll Common's acting of Sempronia, to imitate her; for which she got my Lord Chamberlain, her kinsman, to imprison Doll: when my Lady Castlemayne made the King to release her, and to order her to act it again, ...
— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys

... "A most common occurrence. Think of the number of your peers who have gone to America for their wives, for no ...
— The Reason Why • Elinor Glyn

... drive proved successful, which we did not expect, or met with failure, which seemed to us almost inevitable. A successful military advance would have united the middle class and the bourgeoisie in their common chauvinistic tendencies, thus isolating the revolutionary proletariat. An unsuccessful drive was likely to demoralize the army completely, to involve a general retreat and the loss of much additional territory, ...
— From October to Brest-Litovsk • Leon Trotzky

... members had no common platform to stand on. There was no voice in that assembly that could say with ...
— The Faith of Our Fathers • James Cardinal Gibbons

... voluntarily accepted the proposal, made your bargain, promised to stick to it, and here after three days you are trying to break out, and are insinuating that the circumstances are too horrible for you to continue bearing it. Surely your reason and common sense must tell you that your behaviour ...
— Man and Maid • Elinor Glyn

... in the future, a reward, which the common world could never comprehend. With his blindness returned all the feelings she had first awakened in St. Amand's solitary heart; again he yearned for her step, again he missed even a moment's absence from ...
— The Pilgrims Of The Rhine • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... common sense, don't go and make such a fool of yourself. You have done it once; was not that enough for you, but you must run your head ...
— East Lynne • Mrs. Henry Wood

... of the cabinet and the nation upon the present resignation of Lord Chatham to those which were evinced upon his dismission from office in 1757, and upon his retirement in 1761, can scarcely be imagined. His dismission in 1757 excited one common cry of enthusiastic admiration towards himself, and of indignation towards his political opponents. The attention, not only of Great Britain, but of the whole of Europe, was attracted by his resignation in 1761; and although the voices of his countrymen were not so universally ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

... system of single-member constituencies. Each candidate on the ticket would canvass a portion of the constituency—which would be no larger than a single-member area—whilst at convenient centres the members of the ticket would appear upon a common platform. The campaign of the Labour Party was more rigidly organized. The leaders nominated a ticket of three candidates, but instead of leaving their supporters free, instructed them to vote for the candidates on the ticket ...
— Proportional Representation - A Study in Methods of Election • John H. Humphreys

... difficulties in East Asia, Russia, and many African nations, as well as the slowdown in US economic growth, cast a shadow over short-term global economic prospects; GWP probably will grow at 3-4% in 2001. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses serious economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. (For specific economic developments in each country ...
— The 2001 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... on the coming days, Shuddering to feel their shadow o'er thee creep; A path, thick-set with changes and decays, Slopes downward to the place of common sleep; And they who walked with thee in life's first stage, Leave one by one thy side, and, waiting near, Thou seest the sad companions of thy age— Dull love of ...
— Poems • William Cullen Bryant

... spirit of the bravest warriors was subdued. The influence of the Prophet, says Mr. Tanner, "was very sensibly and painfully felt by the remotest Ojibbeways of whom I had any knowledge: but it was not the common impression among them, that his doctrines had any tendency to unite them in the accomplishment of any human purpose. For two or three years drunkenness was much less frequent than formerly; war was less thought of; and the entire aspect of things among them was changed by the influence of ...
— Life of Tecumseh, and of His Brother the Prophet - With a Historical Sketch of the Shawanoe Indians • Benjamin Drake

... come, with less pronounced characteristics, and, therefore, more perplexing. The Madrassee will be there, with his spherical turban and his wonderful command of colloquial English; he is supposed to know how to prepare that mysterious luxury, "real Madras curry." Bengal servants are not common in Bombay, fortunately, for they would only add to the perplexity. The larger the series of specimens which you examine, the more difficult it becomes to decide to which of them all you should commit your happiness. "Characters" ...
— Behind the Bungalow • EHA

... mate before he died, and we were again very intimate. My misfortunes had humbled me, and I once more read the Bible with him; and I have, I trust, done so ever since. When he died, I continued second mate for some time, and then was displaced. Since that, I have always been as a common seaman on board of different vessels; but I have been well treated and respected, and I may add, I have not been unhappy, for I felt that property would have only led me into follies, and have made me forget, that in this world we are to live ...
— Masterman Ready • Captain Marryat

... to expect, if you have any common sense left. I don't ask for our connection to continue, because at the pass we have come to it is not possible; it would be like giving the lie to love, and I have too much pride for that. But I do not want you or this woman to make me a laughing-stock; I am not ...
— The Grandee • Armando Palacio Valds

... awakened in the soul. But the historical Jesus must bear some relation to the spiritual Logos. This was the crucial point for the Gnostics. Some settled it in one way, some in another. The essential point common to them all was that to arrive at a true understanding of the Christ-idea, mere historical tradition was not enough, but that it must be sought either in the wisdom of the Mysteries, or in the ...
— Christianity As A Mystical Fact - And The Mysteries of Antiquity • Rudolf Steiner

... proper sum, i.e. what you think right, for Hogg, by all means; and I pray God, keep farms and other absurd temptations likely to beset him out of his way. He has another chance for comfort if he will use common sense with ...
— The Journal of Sir Walter Scott - From the Original Manuscript at Abbotsford • Walter Scott

... be said to hold to the possible standard Common Prayer of 1890 a relation not unlike that of a clay model to the statue which is to be. The material is still in condition to be moulded; the end is not yet. It was in anticipation of this state of things that the friends of revision in 1883 were anxious to carry through the preliminary ...
— A Short History of the Book of Common Prayer • William Reed Huntington

... someway, her husband did not urge her to go and this hurt her worst of all; and she felt lonely and broken-hearted, and so came to see me. That is everything about it, but keep it to yourself, Janet, it isn't for common clash." ...
— A Knight of the Nets • Amelia E. Barr

... mixture of English common law, Italian law, Islamic Sharia, and Somali customary law; accepts ...
— The 2008 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... different constituent elements of the settlement. We have already mentioned how the Subura and the Palatine annually contended for the horse's head; the several Mounts also, and even the several curies (there was as yet no common hearth for the city, but the various hearths of the curies subsisted side by side, although in the same locality) probably felt themselves to be as yet more separated than united; and Rome as a whole was probably rather an aggregate of urban settlements than a single ...
— The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5) • Theodor Mommsen

... could be bought in small ranches, those wishing to settle in the country chose the colony plan. A number of families would contribute to a common sum, with which would be purchased a large piece of land of several thousand acres with its water right. Each man received from this a number of acres in proportion to the amount of money he had invested. The first colony formed was that of Anaheim; ...
— History of California • Helen Elliott Bandini

... to account even hereditary officers of the Crown (such as the Steward, Constable, and Marischal), controlled the King's expenditure (or tried to do so), and denounced the execution of Royal warrants against the Statutes and common form of law. They summarily rejected David's attempt to alter the succession of ...
— A Short History of Scotland • Andrew Lang

... dare God's holy name profane! What's done, alas, is done and past! Matters will take their course at last; By stealth thou dost begin with one, Others will follow him anon; And when a dozen thee have known, Thou'lt common be to all the town. When infamy is newly born, In secret she is brought to light, And the mysterious veil of night O'er head and ears is drawn; The loathsome birth men fain would slay; But soon, full grown, she waxes bold, And though not fairer to behold, With brazen front insults the day: The ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, • Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke

... Pearse and Venner, host and guest, friends to that moment, saw in each other an established rival, a potential foe. Involuntarily they drew apart; and when Dolores returned from the deck she found them spread out like star rays, having nothing in common except a ...
— The Pirate Woman • Aylward Edward Dingle

... Moor, nearly 1,000 feet above the sea. An enormous stretch of moorland spreads itself out towards the west. Near at hand is the precipitous gorge of Upper Newton Dale, backed by Pickering Moor, and beyond are the heights of Northdale Rigg and Rosedale Common, with the blue outlines of Ralph Cross and Danby Head right on ...
— Yorkshire—Coast & Moorland Scenes • Gordon Home

... 3d of King Edward, there being in that act an express exception of such as be charged of commandment, or force, and aid of felony done;" and he hinted that his worship would do well to remember that such were no way replevisable by common writ, ...
— Rob Roy, Complete, Illustrated • Sir Walter Scott

... the place, so that in 1227 upon the vigil of the Assumption, the monks were able to use their church, though it was not till nineteen years later that the monastery was completed, and dedicated in the presence of the King and Queen, Prince Edward and a vast concourse of bishops, nobles, and common folk, by the Bishop of Winchester. Upon that occasion, Prince Edward was seized with illness, and, strange as it may seem, we are told that the Queen remained in the abbey, to nurse him, for three weeks. But the house was always under the royal protection. Edward I. constantly ...
— England of My Heart—Spring • Edward Hutton

... Social are accordingly at enmity with every declaration of rights. For from these principles there ensues not the right of the individual, but the omnipotence of the common will, unrestricted by law. Taine comprehended better than Janet the consequences of the ...
— The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens • Georg Jellinek

... you would have wished to visit the little orchard; to see the gentle cow, and the geese feeding on the common beyond; to watch the young ducklings, dipping and ducking and enjoying their watering ...
— Thrilling Stories Of The Ocean • Marmaduke Park

... stockings and smart pumps bespoke luxury, and answered earnestly that she liked it better every day. "You must come and see me," said the curly-haired little girl, whose name was Arline Thayer. "We recite Livy in the same section, so we have something in common to grumble about. Isn't the lesson ...
— Grace Harlowe's First Year at Overton College • Jessie Graham Flower

... then led me up a flight of rickety, wooden steps and into a sepulchral-looking chamber with no other furniture in it save a long, narrow, iron bedstead, a dilapidated washstand, a very unsteady, common deal table, on which was a looking-glass and a collar stud, and a rush-bottomed chair. Setting the candlestick on the dressing-table, and assuring me again that the bed was well aired, my hostess withdrew, observing as she left the room that she would get me a nice breakfast and ...
— Animal Ghosts - Or, Animal Hauntings and the Hereafter • Elliott O'Donnell

... "that about the time when I leave the army as a general, common sense will prevail; and the sword will be done away with, except on ...
— Through Three Campaigns - A Story of Chitral, Tirah and Ashanti • G. A. Henty

... human development. It is a landlocked, Sub-Saharan nation, whose economy centers on subsistence crops, livestock, and some of the world's largest uranium deposits. Drought cycles, desertification, and a 2.9% population growth rate, have undercut the economy. Niger shares a common currency, the CFA franc, and a common central bank, the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), with seven other members of the West African Monetary Union. In December 2000, Niger qualified for enhanced debt relief under the International Monetary Fund program ...
— The 2007 CIA World Factbook • United States

... he remarked, "nothing is more common. We have here in Neuilly a steady average of self-inflicted deaths. Out of a hundred suicides thirty are caused by gambling. The others are due to disappointment in ...
— A Mummer's Tale • Anatole France

... the Meuse, then back to breakfast and then came the lessons: not more than three or four a day. Those who studied drew inspiration from him as the pianists of the Weimar circle did from their Master. In fact, Ysaye's standpoint toward music had a good deal in common with Rubinstein's and he often said he wished he could play the violin as Rubinstein did the piano. Ysaye is an artist who has transcended his own medium—he has become a poet of sound. And unless the one studying with him could ...
— Violin Mastery - Talks with Master Violinists and Teachers • Frederick H. Martens

... wild boar quarrelling rather savagely with his sow; and both had their mouths open and their ears drawn backwards. But this does not appear to be a common action with domestic pigs when quarrelling. Boars fight together by striking upwards with their tusks; and Mr. Bartlett doubts whether they then draw back their ears. Elephants, which in like manner fight with their tusks, do not retract their ears, but, on the contrary, erect them ...
— The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals • Charles Darwin

... the left into the new road. Alice emitted a sigh of relief. There was a sense of luxury—of exclusiveness—in passing over its smooth surface. Morrison and his common hotel, with its blear-eyed windows, were now well out of sight. Presently the camp lay ahead of them—an orderly settlement of trim buildings. Margaret was too excited to do more than gaze ahead of ...
— The Lady of Big Shanty • Frank Berkeley Smith

... and their associates never so much as recognized the existence of the common clay of South Fork, except to warn all intruders to keep off the land and water of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. Their placards still stare sight-seers in the ...
— The Johnstown Horror • James Herbert Walker

... is a very small, very common pig, but nevertheless I had the boys make a special sty for her. The old cock is really too bad. Every time an egg is laid he strikes his bill into it, and, throwing it on the ground, calls his harem to a cannibal feast. Something, either the rats or ...
— The Life of Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson • Nellie Van de Grift Sanchez

... to say something to you which I do hope will not hurt you. I know the common soldier better than you do, boy. Our Canadian soldiers do not like to be rebuked, criticised or even watched too closely. Forgive me ...
— The Sky Pilot in No Man's Land • Ralph Connor

... of regular operations which ensued, several slight skirmishes occurred through the impatience of both armies, which ended with different results; and at last the summer ended, and a truce was agreed to by common consent, and the two armies separated, though the generals were violently inflamed against each other. The king of Parthia, intending to pass the winter at Ctesiphon, returned to his own home, and the Roman ...
— The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus • Ammianus Marcellinus

... such persons; for not having been trained up to obey their conscience, to restrain their passions, and examine their hearts, they will assent to nothing you can say; they will be questioning and arguing about every thing; they have no common ground with you, and when they talk of religion they are like blind persons talking of colours. If you urge how great a gift it is to be at peace with God, or of the arduousness and yet desirableness of perfection, or the beauty of saintliness, or the dangerousness of ...
— Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII (of 8) • John Henry Newman

... highly complex mixture of English common law, Roman-Dutch, Muslim, and customary law; has ...
— The 1990 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency

... or he suspected something more as well—something about his brother Percival which, should it come to light, no phase of their common history would be genial enough to gloss over. It had usually been supposed that Percy's store of comfort against the ills of life was confined to the infallibility of his rifle. He was not sensitive, and ...
— The Tragic Muse • Henry James

... still stands—in a back garden, on a lower level than the road, from which it was masked by houses fronting the causeway. Any one approaching it from the side of the Rue Basse would enter the common vestibule of one of these houses, go down some stone steps, and would then find himself in a courtyard, opposite a fairly good-sized, apparently one-storied cottage, with the tree adorned garden to the right of ...
— Balzac • Frederick Lawton

... exclusive fishing. Their keepers watch like the Austrian guard on the Danube, in a life of perpetual assault and battery. Last Saturday, March 3rd, 1847, one Benjamin Hodgekin, aged fifteen, had the misfortune to wash his feet in the debateable water; the belligerent powers made common cause, and haled the wretch before the Petty Sessions. His mother met me. She lived in service here till she married a man at Marksedge, now dead. This poor boy is an admirable son, the main stay of the family, who must starve if he were imprisoned, and she ...
— Dynevor Terrace (Vol. I) - or, The Clue of Life • Charlotte M. Yonge

... on wit have perforce confined themselves to commenting on the extraordinary complexity of the things denoted by the term without ever succeeding in defining it. There are many ways of being witty, almost as many as there are of being the reverse. How can we detect what they have in common with one another, unless we first determine the general relationship between the witty and the comic? Once, however, this relationship is cleared up, everything is plain sailing. We then find the same connection between the comic and the witty as exists between a regular scene and ...
— Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic • Henri Bergson

... supremacy had never been successfully resisted. He was confident that he would not be interfered with. Secretly, his Uncle Socrates sympathized with him, and relished the thought that his nephew, who so strongly resembled him in mind and person, should be the undisputed boss—to use a word common in political circles—of the school. He discreetly ignored the conflicts which he knew took place, and if any luckless boy, the victim of Jim's brutality, ventured to appeal to him, the boy soon found that he himself was arraigned, and not the one ...
— Hector's Inheritance - or The Boys of Smith Institute • Horatio Alger

... go for company to divertise my cousin in his loneliness." They were left alone. Stanton took no notice of his companion, but as usual seized the first book near him, and began to read. It was a volume in manuscript,—they were then much more common ...
— The Lock and Key Library • Julian Hawthorne, Ed.

... "they make my head ache. What I mean is that a fisherman is nothing like—an attorney or a broker or an architect, for instance; he is more like a miner. Pardon me, Boyd, but look at your clothes." She began to laugh. "Why, you look like a common laborer!" ...
— The Silver Horde • Rex Beach

... attendants testified their satisfaction by loud shouts. Our little Matthias laughed and said: She who has the bean will marry Mr. Michael (kto dostal migdala dostanie Michala) a Polish proverb always repeated upon such occasions. It is also a common saying that when a young girl has it, she will be married before the end of the carnival. God grant that this prophecy may be verified, for then we shall have a ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 2, August, 1863 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy • Various

... busy they were. Eleanor was not asked to join them, and she did not choose to volunteer; she watched them from the house. They were very honestly busy; planting and removing and consulting; in real garden work; yet it was manifest their minds had also much more in common, in matters of greater interest; they stood and talked for long intervals when the flowers were forgotten. They were very near each other, those two, evidently, in regard and mutual confidence and probably mutual admiration also. It was very strange Eleanor should never ...
— The Old Helmet, Volume II • Susan Warner

... Mr. Lindsey. "It's a sure case—and simple when you see it in the light of your knowledge; a case of common personation. But I'm wondering what the connection between the Gilverthwaite and Phillips affair and this Meekin has been—if we ...
— Dead Men's Money • J. S. Fletcher

... some people would like women to assist in making the laws. Introduction to imply condonement. (Aloud.) Well, you see, if you can remember so far back as that, I couldn't, in common politeness, refuse the offer. ...
— The Works of Rudyard Kipling One Volume Edition • Rudyard Kipling

... separated them seemed to widen. At eighteen Kajsa made her debut in society. She was flattered and noticed as the rich heiress, and this homage only confirmed her in the opinion that she was superior to common mortals. ...
— The Waif of the "Cynthia" • Andre Laurie and Jules Verne

... passage. Burned were the barns where the copious harvest already was garnered; Burned were the streets as far as the market; the house of my father, Neighbor to this, was destroyed, and this one also fell with it. Little we managed to save. I sat, that sorrowful night through, Outside the town on the common, to guard the beds and the boxes. Sleep overtook me at last, and when I again was awakened, Feeling the chill of the morning that always descends before sunrise, There were the smoke and the glare, and the walls ...
— Hermann and Dorothea • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

... must happen in the very first case to which it is applied. Is not this the plain result? To resist by force the execution of a law, generally, is treason. Can the courts of the United States take notice of the indulgence of a State to commit treason? The common saying, that a State cannot commit treason herself, is nothing to the purpose. Can she authorize others to do it? If John Fries had produced an act of Pennsylvania, annulling the law of Congress, would it have helped his case? Talk about ...
— The Great Speeches and Orations of Daniel Webster • Daniel Webster

... which mild seizures occur at long periods, without mental impairment, the bromides arrest the seizures, either temporarily or permanently, after a short course. In another 25 per cent the bromides lessen the frequency and severity of the fits, this being the common temporary result of their use in all cases ...
— Epilepsy, Hysteria, and Neurasthenia • Isaac G. Briggs

... boy a prisoner, but he is a sick man. Your advertised rewards have been read and laughed at. The men who have him in charge are no common criminals. They mean to secure a fortune in return for young Trent. They know that his father is a millionaire, and his sweetheart an heiress ...
— Against Odds - A Detective Story • Lawrence L. Lynch

... soon as he was fit for employment he offered himself to the London Missionary Society, begging them to send him to the neglected Indians of South America; but this did not suit their plans, and his ardour was slackened by the more common affairs of life. He fell in love and married a young lady named Julia Reade, and his only voyage was in his naval, not his missionary capacity. But his wife's health was exceedingly frail, and after eleven years of marriage she died, ...
— Pioneers and Founders - or, Recent Workers in the Mission field • Charlotte Mary Yonge

... workmen will take a holiday; they prefer a "day's out" or "play." They will not let go or abandon anything, but they "loose" it. They do not tell you to remove, but "be off." They prefer to "pay at twice" in lieu of in two instalments. The use of the word "her" in place of "she" is very common, as well as the curious term "just now," for an indefinite time to come, as "Her'll do it just now," instead of "She will do it soon." In vulgar parlance this book is not your own or our own, but "yourn" or "ourn," or it may be "hisn" or "hern." In pronunciation as well, though perhaps not so ...
— Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham - A History And Guide Arranged Alphabetically • Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell

... men-o'-the-woods and the men-of-the-ice also. There are many things that make for peace. The first an' most important thing iss goot feelin'. Another thing is trade—commerce, barter, or exchange. (I don't see how the Eskimo will translate these words, Tonal', but he will hev to do his best.) Then there iss common sense; and, lastly, there is marriage. Now, I hev said my say, for the time, whatever, and Nazinred will continoo ...
— The Walrus Hunters - A Romance of the Realms of Ice • R.M. Ballantyne

... Summa Theologica, 3a, qu. 23, art. 2, ad. 2: "For He [God the Father] is Christ's father by natural generation; and this is proper to him: whereas He is our Father by a voluntary operation, which is common to Him and to the Son and the Holy Ghost: so that Christ is not the Son of the ...
— Grace, Actual and Habitual • Joseph Pohle

... York made a good demand in New Orleans, and vice versa. The New York market was governed by the Liverpool market, and that in turn by the demand at Manchester. Thus the Old World and the New had a common interest in the production of cotton. While one watched the demand, the other closely ...
— Camp-Fire and Cotton-Field • Thomas W. Knox

... not see vanity." Look also that thou hearest nothing that may stir thee to sin, as unclean words, backbiting, false judgments, great oaths, controversy, striving and other such vices. Also at thy meat, bear thyself orderly, and hold thee in measure, and seek after no dainties, but be pleased with common meats. Consider in speaking, to whom, what, when, how, of whom, and where: and have thyself so orderly that thou beest not like other worldly men, but fulfil the Apostle's words; "Be not conformed to this world, because your ...
— The Form of Perfect Living and Other Prose Treatises • Richard Rolle of Hampole

... gallows, where he died very penitent, but expressing more sorrow on account of the common frailties of life, than the crime for which he suffered. His body was given to his friends, who carried it over to Pathhead in Fife, where it was interred; George Robertson having, as we have seen, rashly attended the funeral ...
— Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 17 • Alexander Leighton

... and instinctively paused at No. 19 York-street, Westminster. It was evening; the lamplighters were running from post to post, but we could still see that the house was a plain house to look at, differing little from its associate dwellings; a common house, a house you would pass without a thought, unless the remembrance of thoughts that had been given to you from within the shelter of those plain, ordinary walls, caused you to reflect; aye, and to thank God, who has left with ...
— The International Monthly, Volume 2, No. 4, March, 1851 • Various

... grape-nuts and pepper alike in a fit of impotent fury. But this morning the dog fed in peace and Carnaby never glanced at him or his basin. Robinette, looking at the boy and remembering where she had seen him last, noticed that he was rather silent, that his cheeks were redder than common, and that under his eyes were lines of fatigue ...
— Robinetta • Kate Douglas Wiggin

... in the evening; but I did not require that; I should have recognized him by the eyes. How strange it is! Those two brothers, so different; Jacques so refined, so distinguished, so noble-minded, and the other, a big, heavy, vulgar lout, common- looking, and a rascal—well, they have the same look in ...
— Stories of Modern French Novels • Julian Hawthorne

... [Joint possession.] Participation.— N. participation; cotenancy[obs3], joint tenancy; occupancy in common, possession in common, tenancy in common; joint stock, common stock; co-partnership, partnership; communion; community of possessions, community of goods; communism, socialism; cooperation &c. 709. snacks, coportion|, picnic, hotchpot[obs3]; co-heirship, co- ...
— Roget's Thesaurus

... and strange often, but ever with an exquisiteness of music which seemed to his admirer, then and later, supreme, thrilled him to a very passion of delight. Something of the more richly coloured, the more human rhythm of Keats affected him also. Indeed, a line from the Ode to a Nightingale, in common with one of the loveliest passages in "Epipsychidion," haunted him above all others: and again and again in his poems we may encounter vague echoes of those "remote isles" and "perilous seas"—as, for example, in "the dim clustered isles of the blue sea" of "Pauline," and the "some ...
— Life of Robert Browning • William Sharp

... common deal board. There were dents and marks upon it that spoke of constant household work. ...
— The Mermaid - A Love Tale • Lily Dougall

... asked whether seal's flesh does not taste of train oil. It seems to be a common assumption that it does so. This, however, is a mistake; the oil and the taste of it are only present in the layer of blubber, an inch thick, which covers the seal's body like a protective armour. The flesh itself contains no fat; on the other hand, it is ...
— The South Pole, Volumes 1 and 2 • Roald Amundsen

... opened up: "Do you mean there's a danger of anything very bad?" "My dear fellow, you must ask her oculist." "Who in the world is her oculist?" "I haven't a conception. But we mustn't get too excited. My impression would be that she has only to observe a few ordinary rules, to exercise a little common sense." ...
— Embarrassments • Henry James

... behold, at a great distance, he saw a most pleasant mountainous country, beautified with woods, vineyards, fruits of all sorts, flowers also, with springs and fountains, very delectable to behold. [Isa. 33:16,17] Then he asked the name of the country. They said it was Immanuel's Land; and it is as common, said they, as this hill is, to and for all the pilgrims. And when thou comest there from thence, said they, thou mayest see to the gate of the Celestial City, as the shepherds that live there will ...
— The Pilgrim's Progress - From this world to that which is to come. • John Bunyan

... been told they are only common stock," the boy remonstrated gravely, "but you may be right. Howbeit, they are not mine and I ...
— The City of Delight - A Love Drama of the Siege and Fall of Jerusalem • Elizabeth Miller

... the Tyrol. On our return journey we shall spend a couple of days in Munich, and shall be back here by the end of September. Will you allow me to conduct "Alceste" on the 2nd of October?—Sobolewski's "Comala" [Opera by Sobolewski.] is fixed for the 12th. I shall give over to our common friend Lassen (to whom please remember me warmly) the pianoforte rehearsals during ...
— Letters of Franz Liszt, Volume 1, "From Paris to Rome: - Years of Travel as a Virtuoso" • Franz Liszt; Letters assembled by La Mara and translated

... classical taste, and great spirit and beauty in the execution. It appears under the name of Cadwallo, an ancient bard, who probably lived at least one hundred years before the commencement of our common era. The manners of the primitive times seem to be perfectly understood by the author, and are described with the air of a man who was in the utmost degree familiar with them. It is impossible to discover ...
— Imogen - A Pastoral Romance • William Godwin

... and Emmeline's Tangerine orange, which she produced and added to the common store, formed the feast, and they fell to. When they had finished, the remains were put carefully away, and they proceeded ...
— The Blue Lagoon - A Romance • H. de Vere Stacpoole

... be seated as far apart as possible, and, in reality, should never be invited to the same dinner. If this should inadvertently happen, they must remember that common respect for their hostess demands that they recognize one ...
— Social Life - or, The Manners and Customs of Polite Society • Maud C. Cooke

... you make me give a reason for every thing. Well then, I think that it is indelicate in women to leave their proper sphere and descend to the level of men, and this any woman must do in assuming the masculine garb. If I am not mistaken, the common law bears me out, and inflicts a penalty upon such deviations from established usage. None but an inexperienced youth ...
— The Youth of Jefferson - A Chronicle of College Scrapes at Williamsburg, in Virginia, A.D. 1764 • Anonymous

... crushing England, indeed, the Conquest did more than any event that had gone before to build up an English people. All local distinctions, the distinction of Saxon from Mercian, of both from Northumbrian, died away beneath the common pressure of the stranger. The Conquest was hardly over when we see the rise of a new national feeling, of a new patriotism. In his quiet cell at Worcester the monk Florence strives to palliate by excuses of treason or the weakness of ...
— History of the English People, Volume I (of 8) - Early England, 449-1071; Foreign Kings, 1071-1204; The Charter, 1204-1216 • John Richard Green

... for fresh horses, I strode into the common room, and there for some moments I stood discussing the viands with our host. When at last I had resolved that a cold pasty and a bottle of Armagnac would satisfy our wants, I looked about me to take survey of those in the room. One group in a remote corner suddenly riveted ...
— Bardelys the Magnificent • Rafael Sabatini

... round at the sound of approaching steps, stood suddenly upright, thrusting the more dilapidated boot behind the other, and wondering with what purpose the two girls had sought him. One he recognized as a type common enough throughout the Dominion—kindly, shrewd, somewhat hard-featured and caustic in speech; but the other, who looked down on him with thinly-veiled pity, more resembled the women of birth and education whom he ...
— Thurston of Orchard Valley • Harold Bindloss

... restricted submarine activity to cover the participation of American citizens as aids to the Entente and to expand its war trade. Being simultaneous and couched in the same key, the press outbursts bore every indication of a common inspiration, ...
— The Story of the Great War, Volume VI (of VIII) - History of the European War from Official Sources • Various

... with snowbirds and sparrows,—the latter mainly Canada or tree sparrows, with a sprinkling of the song, and, maybe, one or two other varieties. The birds are all social and gregarious in winter, and seem drawn together by common instinct. Where you find one, you will not only find others of the same kind, but also several different kinds. The regular winter residents go in little bands, like a well-organized pioneer corps,—the jays and woodpeckers ...
— Winter Sunshine • John Burroughs

... money," observed Rackliff wisely, "the fellow who bets on sympathy or loyalty is a chump. I always back my judgment and try to use some common sense about it. I hope you don't think for a fleeting moment that I contemplate finishing my preparatory school education in this stagnant hole. Not for little Herbert. I'd get paresis here in less than a year. I'm pretty sure the governor simply chucked me down here for a term, as sort ...
— Rival Pitchers of Oakdale • Morgan Scott

... not say mad; I told you what I know now to be a fact. Will you give in and let me treat you on sound, common-sense principles, or drive me away to ...
— Witness to the Deed • George Manville Fenn

... knowing daily what He has done for me and is doing now, out in the universe, and what He has made me to do. I also am a God. From the first time I saw the sun I have been one daily. I have performed daily all the homelier miracles and all the common functions of a God. I have breathed the Invisible into my being. Out of the air of heaven I have made flesh. I have taken earth from the earth and burned it within me and made it into prayers and into songs. I have said to my soul "To eat is to sing." I worship all over. I am my own sacrament. ...
— The Voice of the Machines - An Introduction to the Twentieth Century • Gerald Stanley Lee

... world," she said, "Germany, Canada, Australia, suffrage is regarded as a national question," and continued: "If respect for the great and wise who have viewed suffrage as a national matter did not compel us so to regard it, the plain dictates of common sense would do so. We are all ruled by the laws made by Congress, from Maine to California; we must all obey them equally whether we like them or not. We are taxed under them; we travel according to rules ...
— The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume V • Ida Husted Harper

... It is quite a common thing nowadays for ladies to make the offer, and for gentlemen to refuse. Indeed, it was felt to be so inconvenient while it was thought that gentlemen had not the alternative, that some men became afraid of going into society. It is ...
— Phineas Redux • Anthony Trollope

... were the proofs of our project, I did not despair, thanks to the nature of the criminal laws of England, of escaping death; but such were the feebleness and fright of my wretched partner, that I had no doubt of our common downfall if I were compelled to appear before the tribunals in association with that cowardly wretch. To obviate the aggravation of my own misfortunes, which could not have prevented his, I determined to endeavour to get rid ...
— Terre Napoleon - A history of French explorations and projects in Australia • Ernest Scott

... French, has come into such common use that it is quite permissible to pronounce it as ...
— An Introduction to the History of Western Europe • James Harvey Robinson

... "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these, ye did it unto me." "Men and brethren," cried the pastor, stretching out his arms in the earnestness of his appeal, "what shall we do? Shall there be no place in all this city where the least of these may find help in the name of our common Master? Must our brothers perish with cold and hunger because we close the doors of the Saviour's church against them? These young people, led by a deep desire to do God's will, have gone as far as they can alone. Their plan has been carefully studied by good business men and pronounced ...
— That Printer of Udell's • Harold Bell Wright

... sake! You never said so much that was good concerning me, save to introduce some bitter censure, of which your praises were the harbingers. I am honest, and so forth, you would say, but a hot brained brawler, and common sworder or stabber." ...
— The Fair Maid of Perth • Sir Walter Scott

... beard, and thought to himself, "The young of the eagle does not catch flies. I shall never win over this soldier's son to our peaceful handicraft, but he shall not remain on the mountain among these queer sluggards, for there he is being ruined, and yet he is not of a common sort." ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... for a few pence to be given to a child who informs any of the members of the Committee when a family of Gipsies begin to erect their tents on the common, that they may immediately be visited by our Reader. This may be done elsewhere. It may be well, too, to buy a basket, or any other article they may honestly have to dispose of, when opportunity offers; but it is not well to bestow money on them, unless in sickness ...
— The Gipsies' Advocate - or, Observations on the Origin, Character, Manners, and Habits of - The English Gipsies • James Crabb



Words linked to "Common" :   demotic, inferior, funfair, familiar, Central Park, populated area, grassroots, parcel of land, tract, shared, ordinary, urban area, standard, uncommon, parcel, common stock equivalent, piece of land, democratic, average, village green, communal, general, public, frequent, pleasure ground, informal, lowborn, popular, joint, piece of ground, individual, amusement park, everydayness, unrefined



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