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Improvement   /ɪmprˈuvmənt/   Listen
Improvement

noun
1.
A change for the better; progress in development.  Synonyms: advance, betterment.
2.
The act of improving something.
3.
A condition superior to an earlier condition.  Synonym: melioration.



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"Improvement" Quotes from Famous Books



... inhabitants of Southern and Central Africa, from whence our slaves are drawn, the Feejeean, the Caffrarian, the New-Zealander, and the Hottentot, are stamped by nature with the unmistakable character of unmitigated barbarism, and absolute antagonism to civilization; and their improvement when brought in contact with civilization is so slow as almost to escape detection. Indeed it is doubtful whether the arts of European and American civilization have succeeded in so fascinating the African race among us as to warrant the expectation ...
— The Right of American Slavery • True Worthy Hoit

... was accompanied by Mr. Hamlyn (the Public Service Improvement Engineer) to mark sites for the Department of Agriculture. Mr. Jarrott, the manager, took us to a dry well sunk to a depth of 80 feet. I could not feel any indication of water there, but a few hundred yards away, on rising ground, I located two streams crossing ...
— Reminiscences of Queensland - 1862-1869 • William Henry Corfield

... should make books in a new and quick method grew dim in his mind, and other ways of living seemed better and happier. But then again, at such times it would perhaps happen that his uncle would send for him to his own cell, and would make him read to him that he might see his improvement, and would praise him for his progress, and encourage him to go on; so that Hans' very heart would glow within him, and fresh zeal and courage come to him again, and he would go back to his work refreshed, and ...
— The Young Emigrants; Madelaine Tube; The Boy and the Book; and - Crystal Palace • Susan Anne Livingston Ridley Sedgwick

... had beheld since quitting the last hut near the Mohawk. After issuing a few orders, the captain drew his wife's arm through his own, and hurried up the ascent, with an eagerness that was almost boyish, to show her what had been done towards the improvement of the "Knoll." There is a pleasure in diving into a virgin forest and commencing the labours of civilization, that has no exact parallel in any other human occupation. That of building, or of laying out grounds, has certainly some resemblance to it, but it is a resemblance ...
— Wyandotte • James Fenimore Cooper

... other occasions, let me find that you exhibit the firmness which I have been proud to ascribe to you. Let me hear that you are seriously engaged in some useful pursuit. Let me see the progressive improvement of your mind, and it will console me for all the evils ...
— Memoirs of Aaron Burr, Complete • Matthew L. Davis

... to lay down several advantages, that do most assuredly attend a due improvement in the ...
— The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D. D., Volume IV: - Swift's Writings on Religion and the Church, Volume II • Jonathan Swift

... direction than in any other part of its extent. His education had been imperfect and desultory; but neither the busy scenes in which he had been engaged, nor the pleasures of youth, nor the precarious state of his own circumstances, had diverted him from the task of mental improvement.—"And this then is the Roman Wall," he said, scrambling up to a height which commanded the course of that celebrated work of antiquity. "What a people! whose labours, even at this extremity of their empire, comprehended such space, and were executed upon ...
— Guy Mannering • Sir Walter Scott

... irrigation, however, it was made to produce the finest meadow grass, sold annually by public auction for from L.4 to L.6 per acre; and sometimes it yielded a second, and even a third crop. The great secret of this improvement was, that the then proprietor gave his steward, who was likewise his relation, a permanent interest in his outlay, by letting him the land on lease for ever. In consequence of his doing so, the very worst land, judging by the surface, ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 433 - Volume 17, New Series, April 17, 1852 • Various

... about for any possible course which offered the least improvement on the existing state of things, and could find none. She imagined how all those Budmouth ones who should learn what had become of her would say, "Look at the girl for whom nobody was good enough!" To Eustacia the situation seemed such ...
— The Return of the Native • Thomas Hardy

... the past year has been the terrible extravagance which prevails. My post, as you know, is at the court end of the city, and I see all the fashionable vices and follies. It is a marvel to me how so many of these immortal creatures, with such opportunities for usefulness, self-improvement and genuine happiness can be content to go round and round in one narrow circle of unprofitable and unsatisfactory pursuits. I do my best to warn them; Sunday after Sunday I chime in their ears the beautiful ...
— Kitty's Class Day And Other Stories • Louisa M. Alcott

... were sharing the general improvement," answered McPhearson. "The old system of the balance with its accompanying weights and chains had passed, and the pendulum, now becoming less of a puzzle, was coming into vogue. Makers had, however, been convinced by this time ...
— Christopher and the Clockmakers • Sara Ware Bassett

... nowadays were often surprised in their sanctums by committees of three from some pestiferous unwomanly club or other, and they had not come, alackaday, to have their handkerchiefs picked up with courtly speeches, graced with an apt quotation from "Maud." The Civic Improvement League, with a woman president, was taking a continuous interest in matters of playgrounds and parks, clean streets and city planning. The Society for Social Progress, almost exclusively feminine, was continuously astir about pure milk and factory laws, ...
— V. V.'s Eyes • Henry Sydnor Harrison

... prevent chafing or pressure necrosis by contact of the skin with the braces—this may be done by bandaging with cotton. The supportive appliance is kept in position for ten days or two weeks. At the end of this time the brace may be removed and the subject given a chance to walk, and improvement, if any exists, will be evident. When there is manifested an amelioration of the condition, moderate daily exercise and massage of the ...
— Lameness of the Horse - Veterinary Practitioners' Series, No. 1 • John Victor Lacroix

... who was nothing without making some improvement upon the acts of his fellows, made a dash at the officer leading the attacking boat on the starboard side, delivering a thrust with the bar he carried, which passed right through the large mesh of the net, catching the Spaniard ...
— Fitz the Filibuster • George Manville Fenn

... exposed to strong temptation the very functionaries whose loyalty was most essential to the proper working of the administration, but its dangers were out weighed by such important advantages that we cannot but regard it as a very real improvement on the haphazard methods of the past. In the first place, it opened up a larger recruiting-ground for the army, and, in a measure, guaranteed it against that premature exhaustion which had already led more ...
— History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 7 (of 12) • G. Maspero

... the wages of the more stubborn men who refused to make any improvement, lowering the piece-work rate, and by other such methods, he (the writer) succeeded in very materially increasing the output of the machines, in some cases doubling the output, and had been promoted from one gang boss-ship to another until he became the foreman of the shop.... For any right-minded ...
— Making Both Ends Meet • Sue Ainslie Clark and Edith Wyatt

... but often obstructing that House, thwarting it, throwing out its measures,—that this should continue who would maintain? No! the House of Lords must go, and the sole House in England must be the other House, the "House of Representers." But here too there was room for improvement. The House of Commons then sitting was numerically substantial enough, now that it had been Recruited; and no one could look back on the great things which the House had done without gratitude and admiration. But were ...
— The Life of John Milton Vol. 3 1643-1649 • David Masson

... place of Corehouse's. Cranstoun has as much feeling about improvement as other things. Like all new improvers, he is at more expense than is necessary, plants too thick, and trenches where trenching is superfluous. But this is the eagerness of a young artist. Besides the grand lion, the Fall of Clyde, he has ...
— The Journal of Sir Walter Scott - From the Original Manuscript at Abbotsford • Walter Scott

... the Nationalists believing it was just a sort of good-neighbor club, where we could get together and exchange ideas for our own improvement. And when we found out what Lactu and the Division Chiefs were really up to, we tried to quit. As you see, we couldn't. We ...
— The Revolt on Venus • Carey Rockwell

... President should be elected for seven years, and be ineligible afterwards. This term I thought sufficient to enable him, with the concurrence of the Legislature, to carry though and establish any system of improvement he should propose for the general good. But the practice adopted, I think, is better, allowing his continuance for eight years, with a liability to be dropped at half way of the term, making that a period of probation. That his continuance should ...
— Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson - Volume I • Thomas Jefferson

... sure as ever that good will come from it. I am inclined to think that the same kind of thing must be endured before any improvement is made ...
— Orley Farm • Anthony Trollope

... the tight closing of his lips, and quick walk, proved that Alfred's sharp wit was more fatal than Drake's broad fun. Both of the boys rowed sullenly, and we all felt that a storm was brewing. In the final round, when we made the course at our best and timed the performance, so as to notice what improvement we were making, Alfred caught a crab with his oar, in consequence of which the head of Drake's oar hit him sharply in the back. The mortification of a miss stroke is enough to anger a boatman, but coming as it did after the morning's blunder in class, and ...
— Captain Mugford - Our Salt and Fresh Water Tutors • W.H.G. Kingston

... have occasion to recollect at a distance of time the tale of any commodities they are carrying to market, or the like, the country people often assist their memory by tying knots on a string, which is produced when they want to specify the number. The Peruvian quipos were I suppose an improvement upon this simple invention. ...
— The History of Sumatra - Containing An Account Of The Government, Laws, Customs And - Manners Of The Native Inhabitants • William Marsden

... situation with the fleet, had at this time but small scope for active service, Lieutenant Nelson, therefore, ever anxious for professional employ, and ever thirsting for enlarged improvement in experimental seamanship, requested that Captain Locker would favour him with the command of the schooner which was attached as a tender to the frigate. This being readily complied with, he immediately proceeded, in that small vessel, to render himself ...
— The Life of the Right Honourable Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson, Vol. I (of 2) • James Harrison

... restitution; and a sum of twelve hundred thousand pounds was instantly procured to answer the most pressing demands, and to allow some space for the mature operations of economy. Among the various schemes for the improvement of the revenue, a new mode was suggested of capitation, or tribute, which would have too much depended on the arbitrary discretion of the assessors. A sufficient list of honest and able agents was instantly produced ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 4 • Edward Gibbon

... from the time when the nave was destroyed. In 1893 a great improvement was made in its appearance by refacing the wall with flint and stone, and otherwise ornamenting the surface, to bring it into uniformity with the porch which was then built at that end of the church. There are now three round-headed recesses ...
— Bell's Cathedrals: The Priory Church of St. Bartholomew-the-Great, Smithfield • George Worley

... interest for the consideration of the State is persons; that property will always follow persons; that the highest end of government is the culture of men; and if men can be educated, the institutions will share their improvement and the moral sentiment will write the ...
— Essays, Second Series • Ralph Waldo Emerson

... backward and forward calling them to task. "Girls," she said, "this is the street. The on-lookers will laugh at you!" But it was only after she had expostulated with them several times that any sign of improvement became at ...
— Hung Lou Meng, Book II • Cao Xueqin

... an instant's hesitation before I pulled up the refractory Venetian blind—the right rope so eager to rise, the left so indifferent to its improvement—an instant's dread. I was afraid "they" would be hopping about even this early in the morning, hopping, hopping—the jerking gait of the mutilated—the little broken waves of a sea of "horizon blue." But they must have been just getting their faces washed at the Salon, ...
— Defenders of Democracy • The Militia of Mercy

... search is evidenced by the success of various systems for the training of memory, will, and other mental traits. Further evidence is found in the efforts of many corporations to maintain schools and classes for the intellectual improvement of their employees. To all such the author offers the work with the hope that it may be useful in directing them toward ...
— How to Use Your Mind • Harry D. Kitson

... character against a relative. The psycho-pathology of the obsession, of which I have an intimate knowledge, has not been determined. A reasonable interpretation is that the main etiological factor is jealousy. She has undergone prolonged psychoanalytic treatment by a skilled psycho-analyst without improvement of the obsession and without revealing a satisfactory explanation of its pathology. To what extent the contents of the dreams have been determined or coloured by culture acquired by this treatment ...
— The Journal of Abnormal Psychology - Volume 10

... their real origin, and to award to everyone, with judicial impartiality, what appeared to him to be a just share of responsibility. Without the passions or the motives of a party politician, he ardently sympathised with the cause of Liberal progress and Conservative improvement, or, as he himself expresses it, with Conservative principles on a Liberal basis. He was equally opposed to the prejudices of the old Tory aristocracy, amongst whom he had been brought up, and to the impetuous desire of change ...
— The Greville Memoirs - A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William - IV, Volume 1 (of 3) • Charles C. F. Greville

... Kenyon, who has trapped all through this section in years gone by, saw two men talking and acting in a strange way. They've been spying on us, too, while we've occupied the old shack close by. They even crept in while we were off yesterday, to steal some plans of an aeroplane improvement which this other scout, Bud ...
— The Boy Scouts of the Flying Squadron • Robert Shaler

... seems to me that we have reached the point where further improvement in nuts for cultivation is to be looked for especially from purposeful hybridizing by man. It should be another of the chief aims of this association to induce self-perpetuating institutions to get together the material necessary for such work. Such ...
— Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Sixth Annual Meeting. Rochester, New York, September 1 and 2, 1915 • Various

... "It might be an improvement to have the gall removed, my dear," remarked Optima, significantly; but Miselle was too busy in watching the skimming to understand the ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 83, September, 1864 • Various

... gentleman, or, in other words, of weaning, waining, or weening him. As for the young gentleman himself, his progress is so rapid, that one may plainly see the astonishment the sun is in of a morning, at the improvement of the ...
— Memoirs of the Life of the Rt. Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan V1 • Thomas Moore

... first acted as our magazine-man for a consideration of two napoleons per month, in advance if possible. This done, the Mukhbir returned into the dock Yhrr, in order to patch up her kettle, which seemed to grow worse under every improvement. We accompanied her, after ordering a hundred camels to be collected; well knowing that as this was the Bairam, 'Id, or "Greater Festival," nothing whatever would be done ...
— The Land of Midian, Vol. 1 • Richard Burton

... not have feared. Alice's improvement was but a last flash of the expiring flame. She grew worse the very day after Harold wrote to me, and did not live three weeks after he brought her into the town, though surrounded by such cares as she had never known before. ...
— My Young Alcides - A Faded Photograph • Charlotte M. Yonge

... always felt a strong impulse to study foreign history and distant nations and customs; he resolved at the early age of seventeen "to absent himself from his fatherland, and from the conversation of friends and relatives," in order to gratify this inclination for self-improvement. After a residence of two years in Lisbon he departed for India in the suite of the Archbishop of Goa, and remained in the East for nearly thirteen years. Diligently examining all the strange phenomena which came under his observation and ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley

... more extract from Mr Gore's interesting brochure: 'Every seaport has a direct interest in the improvement of the character of the seamen who frequent it, and whose example must exercise considerable influence on the rest of the community. To the ship-owners, as well as to their men, the Homes cannot fail of proving in the highest degree ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 453 - Volume 18, New Series, September 4, 1852 • Various

... desires to notify you that your record is unsatisfactory, both in regard to attendance and preparedness in class, and it expects you to show improvement therein or suffer ...
— The Mermaid of Druid Lake and Other Stories • Charles Weathers Bump

... history of their intimacy, of which I saw, indeed, no more than my neighbours. On two points all accounts of it agree: the rapid ageing of the man during this period and the improvement in the poor girl's intellect. Some profess to have remarked an equally vehement heightening of her beauty; but, as my recollection serves me, she had always been a handsome maid; and I set down the transfiguration—if such it was—entirely to the dawn and growth of her ...
— Old Fires and Profitable Ghosts • A. T. Quiller-Couch

... forest, with perfectly green spikes; also, on the branches of Eucalypti, a beautiful orange coloured LORANTH. The soil was rich, yielding, and rather bare of vegetation. Nodules of variegated limestone, or marble, appeared on the surface, showing that the improvement in the soil was owing to a change in the rocks under it. Again emerging on open plains, the country seemed to fall northward, which induced me to ride again in that direction, thinking we might meet with some river either coming from the N. W. or ...
— Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia • Thomas Mitchell

... of getting himself put forward as a third candidate, through whom a way of escape might be found for those who regarded Francis and Charles as Scylla and Charybdis. The combination however of the Crown of England with the Imperial diadem was no improvement in their eyes. Leo did not wish to find himself in Wolsey's grip. The scheme must almost inevitably have been fraught with disaster both to England and the Empire. Wolsey of necessity made himself the instrument of his master's desires; but while ...
— England Under the Tudors • Arthur D. Innes

... for a month, and had been so happy that she had almost given up inveighing against Charlotte. Her conversations, instead of tending always to Jacob Wheeler, now ran Camilla Janeward; and this, folks thought, was an improvement. ...
— Further Chronicles of Avonlea • Lucy Maud Montgomery

... is fundamental for ethics. Food is necessary; without it we cannot live. But the getting of food—however necessary—is a lower end. Knowledge is a necessary end, and a higher one. The practical moral ends, such as the reformation of prisons, the improvement of the dwellings of the poor, are yet higher ends. But above all these is the highest end, that of moral completeness, of perfection, not in one particular but in every particular. Spirituality consists in always keeping in view this supreme end. The spiritually-minded person is one who ...
— The Essentials of Spirituality • Felix Adler

... vol xv. p. 405.) The formula is certainly not applicable to the Sikkim Himalaya; on the contrary, my observations show that the formula employed for Boileau's tables gives at all ordinary elevations so very close an approach to accuracy on the mean of many observations, that no material improvement in its construction ...
— Himalayan Journals (Complete) • J. D. Hooker

... constructing, probably with some view to an emergence of the kind. The natives, upon the occasion of its proposal, evinced their readiness to assist in the execution of a plan so advantageous to the place of their abode, and immediately advanced half the sum which this necessary improvement would cost—namely, thirty thousand rupees—which were subscribed and paid into the treasury in the course ...
— Notes of an Overland Journey Through France and Egypt to Bombay • Miss Emma Roberts

... were independent of labor; and most of them devoted six days of the week to the cultivation of a small farm and its improvement. Children learned early to assist in this labor, and those who were sent to school, almost universally employed the Saturday of each ...
— The Memories of Fifty Years • William H. Sparks

... left them! The stethoscope was almost a novelty in those days. The microscope was never mentioned by any clinical instructor I listened to while a medical student. Nous avons change tout cela is true of every generation in medicine,—changed oftentimes by improvement, sometimes by fashion or the pendulum-swing ...
— Our Hundred Days in Europe • Oliver Wendell Holmes

... clerk, the moderate salary of four hundred dollars, and there was no immediate prospect of any increase. He had already waited over three years, in the hope that one or two hundred dollars per annum would be added to his light income. But, as this much-desired improvement in his condition did not take place, and both he and his lady-love grew impatient of delay, it was settled between them, that, by using strict economy in their expenses, they could get along very well on four ...
— Lizzy Glenn - or, The Trials of a Seamstress • T. S. Arthur

... existed, but also that it was felt to be a scandal if the initiated person failed to exhibit any moral improvement. ...
— Christian Mysticism • William Ralph Inge

... homage of the Welsh chieftains satisfied his ambition; and he consented to swear fealty to Henry, and to pay him the sum of twenty-five thousand marks. The restoration of tranquillity allowed the King to direct his attention to the improvement of his people. He condescended to profit by the labors of his adversaries; and some of the most useful among the provisions of the barons were with other laws enacted by legitimate authority in a parliament at Marlborough. To crown this important work, and to extinguish, if it were possible, ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume VI. • Various

... recently voted to amend the State Constitution so as to permit the issuance of $50,000,000.00 worth of bonds for the improvement of public highways. By the time that this large sum has been apportioned over a period of say ten years, and the road moneys furnished and expended during this time, as federal aid by the federal government, local counties and ...
— Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Sixth Annual Meeting. Rochester, New York, September 1 and 2, 1915 • Various

... little excitement in the club in relation to the Maud. Donald had confidently asserted his belief, weeks before, that she would outsail the Skylark, not as a mere boast, but as a matter of business. His father had made an improvement upon the model of the Sea Foam, which he was reasonably certain would give her the advantage. The young boat-builder had also remedied a slight defect in the arrangement of the centre-board in the Maud, had added ...
— The Yacht Club - or The Young Boat-Builder • Oliver Optic

... a light heart that Pierre slept that night, and joyfully in the morning he put away the last trace of his hated disguise. His little charge showed plainly that she considered the change an improvement. The child told Breboeuf (whom she understood with difficulty) that her name was Edie Howe. At this Breboeuf was surprised, for, as he said to Pierre, there were no Howes at Kenneticook. When the Acadian tried to question Edie more closely, her ...
— The Raid From Beausejour; And How The Carter Boys Lifted The Mortgage • Charles G. D. Roberts

... the gadi—which is the Hindustani equivalent of a throne—was far from being an improvement on his predecessors. He exceeded them in viciousness, though much their inferior in ability. As a rule the Indian reigning princes of today—and especially those educated at the splendid Rajkumar College, or Princes' School—are an honour to their high lineage ...
— The Elephant God • Gordon Casserly

... animal spirits, evidenced to myself by certain apparent symptoms. I averaged about nine and a half miles a day; but ascended on particular days to fifteen or sixteen, and more rarely to twenty-three or twenty-four; a quantity which did not produce fatigue, on the contrary it spread a sense of improvement through almost the whole week that followed; but usually, in the night immediately succeeding to such an exertion, I lost much of my sleep; a privation that, under the circumstances explained, deterred me from trying the experiment ...
— Narrative And Miscellaneous Papers • Thomas De Quincey

... was prepared to accept all that was customary without wincing. My own dinner commenced with some of this soup, which was like hot dishwater with slices of bread thrown into it. The bit of boiled veal that followed was an improvement, although anything but a captivating dish. Goat-cheese, hard and salt, and with a flavour that left no doubt as to the source from which it came, made up the frugal fare. I returned to the chimney-corner and smoked in silence, now peering ...
— Two Summers in Guyenne • Edward Harrison Barker

... volume of the internal trade of the United States during this epoch more than justified the expectations existing at 1830. The improvement of the facilities for communication and transportation, permitted a continually increasing accentuation of a territorial division of labor which fostered the growth of mutual dependence between regions where geographic, social or other conditions led naturally to the predominance of a ...
— Outline of the development of the internal commerce of the United States - 1789-1900 • T.W. van Mettre

... and one of them is this: of course, such strenuous effort of purity will only be the result of such a hope as that, because such a hope will fight against one of the greatest of all the enemies of our efforts after purity. There is nothing that makes a man so down-hearted in his work of self-improvement as the constant and bitter experience that it seems to be all of no use; that he is making so little progress; that with immense pains, like a snail creeping up a wall, he gets up, perhaps, an inch or two, and then all at once he drops down, ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture - Ephesians; Epistles of St. Peter and St. John • Alexander Maclaren

... brought any improvement. Still this fever. If you could see the state of the pretty little body we used to admire so. I will not think of what God may have in store for me. Ice has been ordered to be put to his head. His hair had to be cut off. Poor fair little curls that used to float in the wind as ...
— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet

... the art of moving-picture production during the last few years, and the corresponding improvement in the film-stories shown, the great mass of photoplay patrons are still, as they always were, of the middle class. Better pictures have gradually drawn into the picture theatres a more highly educated type of patron, but very few exhibitors would stay in business if ...
— Writing the Photoplay • J. Berg Esenwein and Arthur Leeds

... thus been a close prisoner for fourteen years at Mary's accession; but Mary released him. It was found, when he returned to society again, that he had employed his solitary hours in cultivating his mind, acquiring knowledge, and availing himself of all the opportunities for improvement which his situation afforded, and that he came forth an intelligent, accomplished, and very agreeable man. The interest which his appearance and manners excited was increased by the sympathy naturally felt for the sufferings that ...
— Queen Elizabeth - Makers of History • Jacob Abbott

... thrown round the necks of their fathers by a warlike and haughty aristocracy. We may trace this awakening spirit of independence to a variety of causes, operating in the same direction; to the progressive improvement of society, the gradual diffusion of knowledge, the increasing pressure of taxation, and above all to the numerous and lasting wars by which Europe had lately been convulsed. Necessity had often compelled both the sovereigns and nobles to court the good-will ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 07 • Various

... past has there been so deep an interest manifested by the public generally in the inventions of our bright-minded men and women, and at no time has capital been more readily interested and ready to invest in any practical improvement which can offer a fair chance of monopoly under the ...
— Practical Pointers for Patentees • Franklin Cresee

... us. I like to think of the minister as only one of the congregation set apart by the rest for a particular purpose. A congregation is a number of people associated for their moral and spiritual improvement. And they say to one of their number, Look, brother, we are busy with our daily toils and confused with domestic and worldly cares; we live in confusion and darkness; but we eagerly long for peace and light to cheer and illuminate our life; and we have heard there is a land ...
— The Preacher and His Models - The Yale Lectures on Preaching 1891 • James Stalker

... this very gradually, so as not to lump, into the orange mixture, and cook two or three minutes longer. Remove from the fire, and when cool, spread between the cakes. If the oranges are not very tart, a little lemon juice is an improvement. Meringue the top of the cake with the white of the egg beaten up with the two tablespoonfuls ...
— Science in the Kitchen. • Mrs. E. E. Kellogg

... saucy Patty, "for it will be such an improvement on the sort they used to have. And we'll ...
— Patty's Success • Carolyn Wells

... progressive motion.] Progression. — N. progress, progression, progressiveness; advancing &c. v.; advance, advancement; ongoing; flood, tide, headway; march &c. 266; rise; improvement &c. 658. V. advance; proceed, progress; get on, get along, get over the ground; gain ground; forge ahead; jog on, rub on, wag on; go with the stream; keep one;s course, hold on one's course; go on, move on, come one, get on, ...
— Roget's Thesaurus

... tempted to taste it; but damn me! bad and blood-thirsty as I was, I could not do that. The corpse had been soaking in the wine a full week; I was convinced that the liquid was pretty thoroughly impregnated with the flavor of my scientific improvement; and even my stomach revolted at the idea of drinking wine tainted and reeking with the dead flesh and blood of the man I ...
— Venus in Boston; - A Romance of City Life • George Thompson

... many as five distinct uprisings occurred. Marie de' Medici was forced to relinquish the government, but Louis XIII, on reaching maturity, gave evidence of little executive ability. The king was far more interested in music and hunting than in business of state. No improvement appeared until Cardinal Richelieu assumed the guidance of affairs of state in 1624. Henceforth, the royal power was exercised not so much by Louis XIII as by ...
— A Political and Social History of Modern Europe V.1. • Carlton J. H. Hayes

... recently taken occasion to examine with considerable care the latest publications of the leading book clubs of this country, and to compare them with some of the first issues of these same clubs. The improvement in the later productions over the earlier ones astonished me. There were as good artists, editors, binders, type, paper, ink, and other accessories twenty years ago as we have now, and indeed it is doubtful if our modern printing presses ...
— Book-Lovers, Bibliomaniacs and Book Clubs • Henry H. Harper

... blood-thirsty Spanish inquisition, then across Europe and Asia, to the mines of Nertschinsk, in the ever-frozen Altai. We lost all we had on earth; seemingly we were always beaten; but Portugal and Spain enjoy to-day a constitutional regime that is an improvement on absolutism. France has expelled forever the Bourbons, and universal suffrage, spelt now by the French people, is a progress, is a promise of a great democratic future. Germany has in part conquered free speech and free press. Italy is united, Romanism is falling to pieces, Austria ...
— Diary from March 4, 1861, to November 12, 1862 • Adam Gurowski

... writing. He had discovered remedies for many diseases of the eye, spoken of in the sacred books of Thoth and the writings of a famous old physician of Byblos as incurable, but, knowing that he should be accused of sacrilege by his colleagues, if he ventured on a correction or improvement of the sacred writings, he had entitled his work, "Additional writings on the treatment of diseases of the eye, by the great god Thoth, newly discovered by ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... the satellites of Jupiter, the oval shape of Saturn, the spots in the sun and its turning on its own axis, the inequalities and selenography of the moon, the several phases of Venus and Mercury, the improvement of telescopes, the grinding of glasses for that purpose, the weight of air, the possibility or impossibility of vacuities, and Nature's abhorrence thereof, the Torricellian experiment in quicksilver, the descent of heavy bodies and the degree of acceleration therein, ...
— History of the English People, Volume VI (of 8) - Puritan England, 1642-1660; The Revolution, 1660-1683 • John Richard Green

... fellow's vicious, but he's an extravagant slacker and a fool, which is perhaps as bad. Anyhow, if he can be reformed at all, it's Sadie's business, and I've no doubt she finds it an arduous job. There's no use in an outsider meddling, and your anxiety for his improvement might be misunderstood. In fact, it ...
— The Girl From Keller's - Sadie's Conquest • Harold Bindloss

... house, you will not only feel the satisfaction of accomplishment, you will also want to build another that would be a great improvement on the one just finished. You will be healthily dissatisfied with what you have already done. Very likely you will sell the first house at a profit, and straightway start to put up a better building on another lot. In time you will ...
— Certain Success • Norval A. Hawkins

... of her protector and her friend? Lamenting and upbraiding the absence of her brother? Why should I not haste to find her?—to mingle my tears with hers, to assure her of my safety, and expatiate the involuntary crime of my desertion by devoting all futurity to the task of her consolation and improvement? ...
— Edgar Huntley • Charles Brockden Brown

... such, it was supposed, would have been their lot—that they would only have been dragged forth hereafter, to show to a succeeding generation what "The Early Day" of our Western homes had been. It never entered the anticipations of the most sanguine that the march of improvement and prosperity would, in less than a quarter of a century, have so obliterated the traces of "the first beginning," that a vast and intelligent multitude would be crying out for information in regard to the early ...
— Wau-bun - The Early Day in the Northwest • Juliette Augusta Magill Kinzie

... somewhere about the middle of the tenth century, a date which may be regarded as marking a distinctly new era. The ceaseless work of social organization and improvement, which seems so strong an instinct of the Aryan mind, had been recommenced again and again from under repeated deluges of barbarism. To-day for nearly a thousand years it has progressed uninterrupted, except by disturbances from within; ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 5 • Various

... headlong passions, I made this powerful engine subservient to the supply of my wants, and the gratification of my vanity. I shall not mention how diligently I cultivated this gift, which seemed capable of unlimited improvement; nor detail the various occasions on which it was successfully exerted to lead superstition, conquer avarice, or ...
— Wieland; or The Transformation - An American Tale • Charles Brockden Brown

... inventors are more noticed and excite more wonder, because new things always possess a greater charm than improvements subsequently introduced to perfect them. For if no one ever made a beginning, there would never be any advance or improvement, and the full achievement of marvellous beauty would never be attained. Accordingly Duccio, a much esteemed painter of Siena, is worthy to receive the praise of those who have followed him many years after, ...
— The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors & Architects, Volume 1 (of 8) • Giorgio Vasari

... American Legion recommends to Congress the prompt enactment of a program for internal improvement, having in view the necessity therefor and as an incident the absorption of the surplus labor of the country, giving preference ...
— The Story of The American Legion • George Seay Wheat

... these can only relate events long after they have occurred. And newspaper statements are often unreliable and sometimes wholly false, while many events of real importance are never printed in their columns. You may guess what an improvement is this automatic Record of Events, which is as reliable as Truth itself. Nothing can be altered or falsified, for the vibratory currents convey the actual events to your vision, even ...
— The Master Key - An Electrical Fairy Tale • L. Frank Baum

... 798 Conclusions. Specific and intra-specific selection. Natural selection in the field. Acclimatization. Improvement-selection of sugar-beets by various methods. Rye. Hereditary percentage and centgener power as marks by which intraspecific selection ...
— Species and Varieties, Their Origin by Mutation • Hugo DeVries

... was appointed British member of the international commission at Galatz for the improvement of the navigation of the Sulina mouth of the Danube, in accordance with the Treaty of Paris. During his tenure of this office he accompanied General Sir John Adye to the Crimea to report on the British cemeteries there. On his way back to ...
— Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 6 of 8 • Various

... disadvantages, and we may apply to this order, on this occasion, "si Pergama dextra," etc. But their Troy cannot be defended; irreparable breaches have been made in it. They have improved in learning and knowledge, but this improvement has been general, and as remarkable at least among the laity as among the clergy. Besides which it must be owned that the former have had in this respect a sort of indirect obligation to the latter; for whilst these men have searched into antiquity, have improved criticism, and ...
— Letters to Sir William Windham and Mr. Pope • Lord Bolingbroke

... grand sources of lamentation furnished to the worthy squire, by the improvement of society, and the grievous advancement of knowledge; among which there is none, I believe, that causes him more frequent regret than the unfortunate invention of gunpowder. To this he continually traces the decay of some favourite custom, and, indeed, the general downfall of ...
— Bracebridge Hall • Washington Irving

... Gardens and collections of the society are to be applied annually—first, to the maintenance of the establishment; second, to the payment of six per cent. on the stock; and third, any balance remaining to go to the gradual extension of the collections of the society and the improvement of ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, Volume 11, No. 26, May, 1873 • Various

... my hat and over forty years old," said Millie wonderingly, but when she tried it on and saw the improvement in her appearance she smiled happily. "It's the prettiest hat I ever had and I'll hold it up and take good care of it so it'll last me years. I'm gettin' fixed up for sure once, only my new shoes don't have no squeak in ...
— Amanda - A Daughter of the Mennonites • Anna Balmer Myers

... to make a hundred times better ship, or factory, or surgical operation; but when it comes to this other kind of thing, it appears to have made no improvement at all. Those artists we have named and hundreds of others in past centuries, who made immortal masterpieces, had no intellects enlightened by modern science, nor any of the benefits of modern education and progress. If we may judge at all by results (which is the ...
— Heart and Soul • Victor Mapes (AKA Maveric Post)

... the boat alongside, assisted by the rolling of the ship, to rise and fall twenty-five feet relatively to the height of the ship's deck at each undulation. Ladies are lashed into chairs, and from the ship's yard-arm lowered into the boat. In 1860 some improvement was effected by the construction of an iron pier, about nine hundred feet in length, and twenty feet in height. But a spacious and sheltered harbour is now being provided, by means of piers running out from the shore five hundred yards north and south ...
— The Story of Ida Pfeiffer - and Her Travels in Many Lands • Anonymous

... life Vespasian was simple, putting to shame the luxury and extravagance of the nobles, and causing a marked improvement in the general tone of society. He removed from the Senate many improper members, replacing them by able men, among whom was AGRICOLA. In 70 he put down a formidable rebellion in Gaul; and when his son Titus returned from the capture of Jerusalem, (Footnote: Jerusalem was ...
— History of Rome from the Earliest times down to 476 AD • Robert F. Pennell

... is eternal. It is worth doing. It is worth giving time to. No man can become a saint in his sleep; and to fulfill the condition required demands a certain amount of prayer and meditation and time, just as improvement in any direction, bodily or mental, requires preparation and care. Address yourselves to that one thing; at any cost have this ...
— Addresses • Henry Drummond

... affirm," laughed M. de Bellegarde, "that no man was poor; but your formula strikes me as an improvement. As a general thing, I confess, I don't like successful people, and I find clever men who have made great fortunes very offensive. They tread on my toes; they make me uncomfortable. But as soon as I saw you, I said to myself. 'Ah, there ...
— The American • Henry James

... tired even to speak, or would drag himself as far as the neighboring wood and stretch himself at full length under the trees while she sat by sketching or writing. Bur Brian was satisfied with his improvement when he came down on one of his periodical visits, and set Erica's mind ...
— We Two • Edna Lyall

... the less complicated a business is, the greater the profits to the owners," answered Sibilet. "Besides which, their income is more secure; and in all matters of rural improvement and development that is the main thing, as you will find out. Then, too, Monsieur Gaubertin is the friend and patron of working-men; he pays them well and keeps them always at work; therefore, though their families live on the estates, the woods leased to dealers and ...
— Sons of the Soil • Honore de Balzac

... ocean. His fourth principle of education was that it should continue through life, and should make use of the social instincts. To that end he thought that friends and acquaintances might fitly band together in a systematic endeavor after mutual improvement. The Junto was created as a school of philosophy, morality, and politics; and this purpose it actually served for many years. Some of the questions read at every meeting of the Junto, with a pause after each one, would be ...
— Four American Leaders • Charles William Eliot

... or on the farm—and low-priced, high-volume production means plenty for everyone—is quite simple. The trouble is that the general tendency is to complicate very simple affairs. Take, for an instance, an "improvement." ...
— My Life and Work • Henry Ford

... no improvement in changing the fiscal year. If we are to hold our meetings the first part of September each year it would be better to have our fiscal year ended ...
— Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Thirty-Eighth Annual Meeting • Northern Nut Growers Association

... drawings in water-colors, which is a separate affair from the paintings in oil, I was much better pleased. The late improvement in this branch of art, is, I believe, entirely due to English artists. They have given to their drawings of this class a richness, a force of effect, a depth of shadow and strength of light, and a truth of representation ...
— Letters of a Traveller - Notes of Things Seen in Europe and America • William Cullen Bryant

... A marked improvement has been made in the last five years in combating the evils of child labor. Many states forbid the employment of children under fourteen years of age in factories and mills—but in North and South Carolina, in Georgia and Alabama, children ...
— Home Missions In Action • Edith H. Allen

... Pariwara Island, although abundance of rain had fallen lately, there was no water left in any pool or hole in the rock. Nor although the soil, from the additional moisture, looked darker and richer than during my former visit in September, was there any perceptible improvement in the vegetation. A few fork-tailed red-fronted swallows (Hirundo neoxena) were hawking about, and a large yellow and black butterfly (Papilio epius, common in collections from India and China) was abundant. Many Torres Strait pigeons were observed from the ship to resort nightly to the second ...
— Voyage Of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Vol. 2 (of 2) • John MacGillivray



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