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Refrain   /rɪfrˈeɪn/   Listen
Refrain

verb
(past & past part. refrained; pres. part. refraining)
1.
Resist doing something.  Synonym: forbear.  "She could not forbear weeping"
2.
Choose not to consume.  Synonyms: abstain, desist.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Refrain" Quotes from Famous Books



... excitement when I confronted Vallington on the forward deck. If it was, his was not less so, and there was a lively prospect of a "family quarrel." With my strong consciousness that I had done right, or, at least, intended to do right, so far as our expedition was concerned, I could have afforded to refrain from heated expressions; and it would have been better if I had done so. It is no reason, because one person gets mad, that another should. It is more dignified, manly, and Christian for one always to control his ...
— Breaking Away - or The Fortunes of a Student • Oliver Optic

... down in a nearby chair. "All right, so I refrain from doing any more damage than I have to. ...
— What The Left Hand Was Doing • Gordon Randall Garrett

... midnight, o'er Judea's plain Was heard a song unknown before; The echoes of that sweet refrain Are reaching earth's ...
— From Jest to Earnest • E. P. Roe

... souvenirs of a month's vacation in the Adirondacks. While this was being done downstairs Helen busied herself in the library and bedroom, getting ready the things for his comfort—his dressing-gown, his slippers, his pipe. She detested pipes, as do most women, but she could not refrain from giving this pipe a furtive kiss, as she laid it lovingly on the table within easy reach of the arm-chair. The maids, changed since he went away, were laboriously instructed in what they should and should not do, what towels should be put in the luxurious ...
— The Mask - A Story of Love and Adventure • Arthur Hornblow

... were clad will ever be a mystery, save to the poor woman who strung the limp rags together and Him who watched the noble patience and sacrifice of a daily heroism. Of her own unsatisfied cravings, and the dense motherly horrors that sometimes brooded over her while she nursed these infants, let me refrain from speaking, since if as vividly depicted as they were real, you, Madam, could not endure to read of them. Her poor, unintelligent mind clung tenaciously to the controverted aphorism, "Where God sends mouths he sends food ...
— Ginx's Baby • Edward Jenkins

... moment the big boy got up, shoved the little creature to the farthest corner of his desk and giving Alice a parting scowl, went forward to recite his lesson. Notwithstanding her desire to befriend the feathered captive she soon became interested in the class and could scarcely refrain from laughing outright at the answer to the teacher's question, "What ...
— Dickey Downy - The Autobiography of a Bird • Virginia Sharpe Patterson

... comes; that or nothing. neutrality, indifference; indecision &c. (irresolution) 605; arbitrariness. coercion (compulsion) 744. V. be neutral &c. adj.; have no choice, have no election; waive, not vote; abstain from voting, refrain from voting; leave undecided; "make a virtue of necessity" [Two Gentlemen]. Adj. neutral, neuter; indifferent, uninterested; undecided &c. (irresolute) 605. Adv. either &c. (choice) 609. Phr. who cares? what difference does ...
— Roget's Thesaurus

... refrain from smiling at this comical expression of yoking the coach; but her face soon became serious, and she said, with a sigh, "I hope in God this is no further act of violence against his angel of a daughter. ...
— The Black Baronet; or, The Chronicles Of Ballytrain - The Works of William Carleton, Volume One • William Carleton

... had I ever made of myself? Nothing, and I was already on the decline. Ah, because the refrain recalled the past, it seemed to me as if it were all over with me, and I had not lived. And I had a longing for ...
— The Inferno • Henri Barbusse

... country. The glory of Great Britain depends as much on the heroes she has produced, as on her wealth, her influence, and her possessions; and the true patriot and honourable man, if he cannot add to their lustre, will at least refrain from any premeditated act which may dim their fame, and diminish that high estimation of them which expedience, nationality, and gratitude ...
— The Life of Nelson, Vol. II. (of 2) - The Embodiment of the Sea Power of Great Britain • A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan

... uneasy as he was, could scarce refrain from laughter; but he was himself in a hurry to be gone, and without more delay produced the money. "You will find the sum, I trust, correct," he observed; "and let me ask you ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 5 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson

... way I advise you to treat people's offences, except the very desperate cases: and you should honor even beyond the deserts of the deed whatever they do rightly. In this way you can best make them refrain from baser conduct by kindliness and cause them to aim at what is better by liberality. Have no dread that either money or other means of rewarding those who do well will ever fail you. I think those deserving of good treatment will prove far fewer than the rewards, since you are lord ...
— Dio's Rome, Vol. 4 • Cassius Dio

... from the lad's face at the words, as the blossom fades 'neath the blighting touch of frost. What he said was so undutiful from a nephew touching his uncle—particularly when that uncle is a prelate—that I refrain from penning it. ...
— The Suitors of Yvonne • Raphael Sabatini

... suppose, my blood should have been boiling at this treason. I am ashamed to confess that it did nothing of the sort. My mind was mesmerized by this amazing man. I could not refrain from shouting with the rest. Indeed I was a convert, if there can be conversion when the emotions are dominant and there is no assent from the brain. I had a mad desire to be of Laputa's party. Or rather, I ...
— Prester John • John Buchan

... went—may I ask where?" said Elsie, with a shade of pallor on her face; for it seemed as if the man had surprised her with bitter thoughts of his deception in her mind, and she could not refrain from revealing ...
— A Noble Woman • Ann S. Stephens

... you may feel sorry that you could not refrain from inept jesting in a moment like this even. The case is urgent, Albert. Please make up ...
— The Lonely Way—Intermezzo—Countess Mizzie - Three Plays • Arthur Schnitzler

... continued, rather more gently: "I firmly believe that it required greater self-control in that senior-lieutenant to refrain from putting his little finger into his mouth than to lead his men under the heaviest fire against one of those Chinese clay ...
— 'Jena' or 'Sedan'? • Franz Beyerlein

... mine, I could exercise no power over it; nor could our children, after our death, do anything for those wretched slaves, under the present laws of Georgia. All that any one could do, would be to refrain from using the income derived from the estates, and return it to the rightful owners—that is, the earners of it. Had I such a property, I think I would put my slaves at once quietly upon the footing of free ...
— Records of Later Life • Frances Anne Kemble

... nearing their destination. The lights of Lourdes already shone out on the horizon. Then the whole train again sang a canticle—the rhymed story of Bernadette, that endless ballad of six times ten couplets, in which the Angelic Salutation ever returns as a refrain, all besetting and distracting, opening to the human mind the portals of the heaven ...
— The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete - Lourdes, Rome and Paris • Emile Zola

... friendliness of hers that few could resist. Mrs. Merston's lined face softened almost in spite of itself. She got up. But she could not refrain from flinging another acid ...
— The Top of the World • Ethel M. Dell

... have been so kind to your aunt, the only human being, at last, who was left to love her, that she could not refrain from telling you the one passage in her history which is of ...
— Pages from a Journal with Other Papers • Mark Rutherford

... varied voices Chant the sweet refrain, Echo o'er the mountain, Linger on the plain, Thunder in the ocean, Whisper in the shell, Murmur in the breezes, Sighing in ...
— Twilight And Dawn • Caroline Pridham

... insignificant repetition of the truism that ideas are all "in the mind" constituted his total wisdom. To be was to be perceived. That was the great maxim by virtue of which we were asked, if not to refrain from conceiving nature at all, which was perhaps impossible at so late a stage in human development, at least to refrain from regarding our necessary thoughts on nature as true or rational. Intelligence was but a false method of imagination by which God trained us in action and thought; for it was ...
— The Life of Reason • George Santayana

... the lovers, joining hands, sang with great earnestness and vociferation. I fear that a certain defiant tone and Covenanter's swing to its chorus, rather than any devotional quality, caused it speedily to infect the others, who at last joined in the refrain: ...
— Selected Stories • Bret Harte

... fresh beginning, Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain, And, spite of old sorrow and older sinning, And puzzles forecasted, and possible pain, Take heart with the ...
— Thoughts I Met on the Highway • Ralph Waldo Trine

... asked a very weary voice through which courage seemed to live yet, as the tiniest suspicion of a sweet refrain still ...
— Rung Ho! • Talbot Mundy

... deliberate within himself; which the two youths perceiving, refrain to ask further questions, leaving him to continue ...
— Gaspar the Gaucho - A Story of the Gran Chaco • Mayne Reid

... to establish a note circulation, a large number of persons need only do nothing,—they receive the banker's notes in the common course of their business, and they have only not to take those notes to the banker for payment. If the public refrain from taking trouble, a paper circulation is immediately in existence. A paper circulation is begun by the banker, and requires no effort on the part of the public,—on the contrary, it needs an effort of the public to be rid of notes once issued; but deposit ...
— Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol 3 • Various

... rose on the summit of a sea, and then rushed down again into the hollow, the waters hissing and foaming high above her bulwarks, it seemed indeed as if she would never rise again, but must sink down, down, till she reached the depths of the ocean. At this time many gave way, unable to refrain from showing their fear by loud cries. Yet then the voice and look of Master Foxe would reassure them. "Fear not, my friends," he exclaimed; "if ye are Christ's, if ye have not only turned away from the idolatries of Rome, but ...
— The Golden Grasshopper - A story of the days of Sir Thomas Gresham • W.H.G. Kingston

... and tendencies which are beneficial (as, indeed, is mainly true), there is no warrant for assuming that these are either adequate to secure a prosperous community or dependent upon the social arrangements which happen to exist. Let us, therefore, refrain from premature polemics and examine in a spirit of detachment some further aspects of the elaborate, but yet unorganized, cooperation of which so much has been ...
— Supply and Demand • Hubert D. Henderson

... the marshland, and were coming, lowing, along the high path which bordered the dyke. And all the time an undernote of terror, the thunder of the sea rushing in upon the land, came like a deep monotonous refrain to the ...
— The Betrayal • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... although Shakspeare has done a good deal for the stage. James Bromley has seen the Overland line grow up from its ponyicy; and as Fitz-Green Halleck happily observes, none know him BUT TO LIKE HIS STYLE. He was intended for an agent. In his infancy he used to lisp the refrain, ...
— The Complete Works of Artemus Ward, Part 4 • Charles Farrar Browne

... it was great stuff he was writing. "It will go! It will go!" was the refrain that kept, sounding in his ears. Of course it would go. At last he was turning out the thing at which the magazines would jump. The whole story worked out before him in lightning flashes. He broke off ...
— Martin Eden • Jack London

... glass the effect of these rings is most striking, and one can not refrain from emotion on contemplating this marvel, whereby one of the brothers of our terrestrial country is crowned with a golden diadem. Its aspects vary with its perspective relative to the Earth, as may be seen from ...
— Astronomy for Amateurs • Camille Flammarion

... had a brisk movement, accented apparently by the clapping of hands or the beating of a tin pan, but the refrain, "Lord bress de Lamb," was drawn out in a lugubrious ...
— From Sand Hill to Pine • Bret Harte

... necessary for your body is found in some vegetable or animal food; therefore, you should refrain from confining yourself to a very ...
— Evening Round Up - More Good Stuff Like Pep • William Crosbie Hunter

... said that I remembered a sweet voice? O my father! this is it': and Cain trembled exceedingly. The voice was sweet indeed, but it was thin and querulous, 105 like that of a feeble slave in misery, who despairs altogether, yet can not refrain himself from weeping and lamentation. And, behold! Enos glided forward, and creeping softly round the base of the rock, stood before the stranger, and looked up into his face. And the Shape shrieked, and turned round, 110 and Cain beheld him, that his limbs and his face ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Vol I and II • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

... comes to his flock; that taxation may be light; that my nobles shall deal honestly with the people, and not use their position for thievery and depredation; that those whom the State honours by appointing to positions of trust shall content themselves with the recompense lawfully given, and refrain from peculation; that peace and security shall rest on the land; and that bloodthirsty swashbucklers shall not go up and down inciting the people to carnage and rapine under the name of patriotism. This is the task I set myself when I came to the Throne. What ...
— The Strong Arm • Robert Barr

... friends. But, as the average Irish hunting man cares little more for books than he does for bill-collectors, his preference may not be of paramount importance. In any case the Irish ingredients of Irish Stew would be easier to assimilate if Mrs. CONYERS would refrain from trying to spell English as the Irish speak it. If the reader knows Ireland it is unnecessary and merely makes reading a task. If the reader does not know Ireland no amount of phonetic spelling will reproduce a single one of the multitudinous brogues that fill Erin with ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, August 18th, 1920 • Various

... he fastened his on her fair eyes, His Bradamant he called to mind again. Pity and love within his bosom rise At once, and ill he can from tears refrain: And in soft tone he to the damsel cries, (When he has checked his flying courser's rein) "O lady, worthy but that chain to wear, With which Love's ...
— Orlando Furioso • Lodovico Ariosto

... the poem. We are on the very verge of the accentual Latin poetry of the Middle Ages, and the affinity is made closer by the free use of initial and terminal assonances, and even of occasional rhyme. The use of stanzas with a recurring refrain was not unexampled; Virgil, following Theocritus and Catullus, had employed the device with singular beauty in the eighth Eclogue; but this is the first known instance of the refrain being added to a poem in stanzas of a fixed and equal length;[11] it is more than halfway ...
— Latin Literature • J. W. Mackail

... Gardner, has had the kindness to revise the manuscript and the proof sheets for publication, for which I cannot refrain ...
— Familiar Letters of Chemistry • Justus Liebig

... refrain from making some movement, with the intention of frightening it away; and was immediately gratified by hearing the slight rustling pass off to one side, as though ...
— The Strange Cabin on Catamount Island • Lawrence J. Leslie

... symbol of a new nation. I was thrilled by the sight of it as if by an electric shock. There it was, outstretched by a bracing northwest wind, flapping defiantly, arousing patriotic emotion. Unable longer to refrain, I went as soon as the lecture was concluded to Professor Minor's residence and told him I was going to enter the military service of Virginia. He sought to dissuade me, but, perceiving that he could ...
— Reminiscences of a Rebel • Wayland Fuller Dunaway

... languor. Her bosom panted: She twined her arms voluptuously round him, drew him towards her, and glewed her lips to his. Ambrosio again raged with desire: The die was thrown: His vows were already broken; He had already committed the crime, and why should He refrain from enjoying its reward? He clasped her to his breast with redoubled ardour. No longer repressed by the sense of shame, He gave a loose to his intemperate appetites. While the fair Wanton put every invention of lust in practice, every refinement in the art of pleasure which might heighten ...
— The Monk; a romance • M. G. Lewis

... the song before, and always with lively delight; for Bessie had a sweet voice,—at least, I thought so. But now, though her voice was still sweet, I found in its melody an indescribable sadness. Sometimes, preoccupied with her work, she sang the refrain very low, very lingeringly; "A long time ago" came out like the saddest cadence of a funeral hymn. She passed into another ballad, this time a really ...
— Jane Eyre - an Autobiography • Charlotte Bronte

... it if I made any,—and for laths for the inside work. I made another list of the locks, hinges, window furniture and other hardware I should need; but for this I cared less, as I need not order them so soon. I could scarcely refrain from showing my plan to my mother, so snug and comfortable did it look already; but I had already determined that the "city house" should be a present to her on her next birthday, and that till then I would keep it a secret from ...
— The Brick Moon, et. al. • Edward Everett Hale

... of the amount and also of the particular kind of food required, provided the appetite is in a healthy condition. If a healthy man refrain from carbonaceous foods for a day or so, he feels a great longing for them, a sign that the body really needs them. It is of immense importance, then, that the appetite should not be accustomed to over-indulgence, for then it is no guide in our selection of ...
— Papers on Health • John Kirk

... far-fetched coincidence, good reader! Well, all we can say is that we could tell you of another—a double—coincidence, which was far more extraordinary than this one, but as it has nothing to do with our tale we refrain from inflicting it ...
— Blown to Bits - or, The Lonely Man of Rakata • Robert Michael Ballantyne

... go, too," said Phronsie, who had been humming a soft refrain to Polly's song, and laying down the snarl carefully in Mamsie's big work-basket she ...
— The Adventures of Joel Pepper • Margaret Sidney

... see that he had moved me, but did not attempt to press his advantage with any new argument, or any varied form of entreaty. He had but scanty and scattered thoughts in his gray head, and in the intervals of those, like the refrain of an old ballad, came in the monotonous burden of his appeal, "If I could only find myself in Ninety-second Street, Philadelphia!" But even his desire of getting home had ceased to be an ardent one (if, indeed, it had not ...
— Our Old Home - A Series of English Sketches • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... as myself. I do not know how I managed to make my limbs carry me upstairs with the others. I did not know what had happened. My brain refused to act. I was conscious of nothing except that a great wheel seemed turning inside my head, tightening all my nerves to such taut agony that I could hardly refrain from ...
— The Hand in the Dark • Arthur J. Rees

... repeated to myself half-consciously, as a sort of refrain, the words in which I had heard Manderson tell his wife that I had induced him to go out. "Marlowe has persuaded me to go for a moonlight run in the car. He is very urgent about it." All at once it struck me that, without meaning to do so, I was ...
— Trent's Last Case - The Woman in Black • E.C. (Edmund Clerihew) Bentley

... Feminine, smiled down at Bellew with an expression of such roguish waggery as said plain as words: "We know!" And Bellew, remembering a certain pair of slender ankles that had revealed themselves in their hurried flight, smiled back at the cavalier, and it was all he could do to refrain ...
— The Money Moon - A Romance • Jeffery Farnol

... of joy, I made a song of pain. Soon Grief drew near, and paused to hear, And sang the sad refrain, Again ...
— Poems of Progress • Ella Wheeler Wilcox

... of such excitement it was impossible for Veronique's friends to refrain from discussing in her presence the progress of the case and the reticence of the criminal. Her health was extremely feeble; but the doctor having advised her going out into the fresh air, she had on one occasion taken her mother's arm and walked as far as ...
— The Village Rector • Honore de Balzac

... blood thrummed in his veins with the ache to crush her to his breast and keep her there against the world and against herself, spite of all the unfathomed things in her which estranged him. But he was strong enough to refrain from even touching her hands. Only his voice he could not stay ...
— Blue Aloes - Stories of South Africa • Cynthia Stockley

... where you will— Do what you will; unquestioned, unobserved, Enjoy, refrain; silence and solitude, The better part which such like spirits choose, We will provide; only be you our master, And we your servants, for a few ...
— The Saint's Tragedy • Charles Kingsley

... become of that poor girl," observed Gascoigne, who could not refrain from mentioning her; "what hurts me most is, that she must think me ...
— Mr. Midshipman Easy • Frederick Marryat

... he was requested to explain what seemed to be a serious inconsistency, as bearing on the question—how can an American citizen wilfully refrain from the high prerogative of exercising his right and duty ...
— Bay State Monthly, Vol. II. No. 5, February, 1885 - A Massachusetts Magazine • Various

... burst forth till I forget To eat my bread. That which I greatly feared Hath come upon me. Not in heedless pride Nor wrapped in arrogance of full content I dwelt amid the tide of prosperous days, And yet this trouble came." With mien unmoved The Temanite reprovingly replied: "Who can refrain longer from words, even though To speak be grief? Thou hast the instructor been Of many, and their model how to act. When trial came upon them, if their knees Bow'd down, thou saidst, "be strong," and they obey'd. But now it toucheth thee and ...
— Man of Uz, and Other Poems • Lydia Howard Sigourney

... manner in which the prince's country estate and mansion at Sandringham, with his care of agricultural improvement, of stock breeding, studs, and other rural concerns, has set an example to landowners, the value of which is already felt. We refrain upon this occasion from speaking of the Princess of Wales, or of the sons and daughters, whose lives, we trust, will be always good and happy. It is on the personal merits and services of the head of their illustrious house, with reference only ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 832, December 12, 1891 • Various

... state the theme which his mind is occupied with, while no such intimation is given in the latter. Occasionally, it is difficult,. not to say impossible, to discover the metaphorical idea in the allusive lines, and then we can only deal with them as a sort of refrain. ...
— The Shih King • James Legge

... in Suffolk comes the news that a water-wagtail has built its nest in a milk-can. We resolutely refrain ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 158, April 28, 1920 • Various

... to discuss now the problem of whether or not marriage could be made happy no matter how it starts, by using common sense, but the deep interest of the whole subject has made my pen already cover too much space and I must refrain in this chapter. ...
— Three Things • Elinor Glyn

... enjoyment of his society. And thus for a great while he secretly enjoyed Aruns's wife, corrupting her, and himself corrupted by her. But when they were both so far gone in their passion that they could neither refrain their lust nor conceal it, the young man seized the woman and openly sought to carry her away. The husband, going to law, and finding himself overpowered by the interest and money of his opponent, left his country, and, hearing of the state ...
— Plutarch's Lives • A.H. Clough

... at length they were persuaded into a pacification, and made the amende honorable by shaking each other by the hand, whereat I was rejoiced, for, as Poet WATT says, "Birds which are in little nests should refrain from falling out." ...
— Baboo Jabberjee, B.A. • F. Anstey

... answered. "I received a note this morning from a great personage in this country to whom I am under more obligation than any other breathing man, requesting me to refrain from making any further inquiries or assisting any one else to make them in this matter. I can assure you that I was thunderstruck, but the note is in my pocket at ...
— A Maker of History • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... impossible I should make myself heard by any considerable portion of this vast assemblage; but, although I appear before you mainly for the purpose of seeing you, and to let you see rather than hear me, I cannot refrain from saying that I am highly gratified—as much here, indeed, under the circumstances, as I have been anywhere on my route—to witness this noble demonstration—made, not in honor of an individual, but of the man who at this time humbly, but earnestly, represents ...
— The Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln, Complete - Constitutional Edition • Abraham Lincoln

... Even more strikingly than the everyday habit of the priest, the vestments, properly so called, are ornate, grotesque, inconvenient, and, at least ostensibly, comfortless to the point of distress. The priest is at the same time expected to refrain from useful effort and, when before the public eye, to present an impassively disconsolate countenance, very much after the manner of a well-trained domestic servant. The shaven face of the priest is ...
— The Theory of the Leisure Class • Thorstein Veblen

... after a year or two will repeat it. Hasty speech hurts hearer and speaker. In the beginning, think on the end. You tell a man a secret, and he'll betray it for a drink of wine. Mind what you say. Avoid backbiting and flattering; refrain from malice, and bragging. A venomous tongue causes sorrow. When words are said, regret is too late. Mind what you say. Had men thought of this, many things done in England would never have been begun. ...
— Early English Meals and Manners • Various

... wisdom of what you say," replied the Englishman, "but it's hard to refrain from looking when you know a French army and a mass of howling savages are about ...
— The Rulers of the Lakes - A Story of George and Champlain • Joseph A. Altsheler

... sideways on one of the oxen, and he nearly always sang the same song. It was the story of a soldier, who went back to the war after he had learned that the girl he had been engaged to marry had married another man. He used to dwell on the refrain, which finished like this— ...
— Marie Claire • Marguerite Audoux

... tales are told; in fireside visions as tender memories come and go? And who, when listening to the echoes of the chambers of the restless sea when deep calleth unto deep, does not hear amid them some weird and haunting refrain like ...
— The Witchcraft Delusion In Colonial Connecticut (1647-1697) • John M. Taylor

... inch by inch, his shadow just before him, and in spite of his injunction, I could not refrain from following, so as to get a good view of the encounter; and besides, I argued with myself, how could I be ready to help unless I ...
— Mass' George - A Boy's Adventures in the Old Savannah • George Manville Fenn

... tempest, pray refrain From leveling this church again. Now in its doom, as so you've willed it, We acquiesce. But you'll ...
— Shapes of Clay • Ambrose Bierce

... love of something else; of which the sea may be the explanation or may be only the symbol. It is also found in a nameless nursery rhyme which is the finest line in English literature and the dumb refrain of all English poems—"Over the ...
— A Short History of England • G. K. Chesterton

... application of which he confessed himself "never very proud as a lawyer," though "as an executive officer, much comforted with it." The phrase caught the popular fancy, came to be applied to slaves generally, and was immortalised in a song, long a favourite among negro children, the refrain of which was "I'se a ...
— Letters To "The Times" Upon War And Neutrality (1881-1920) • Thomas Erskine Holland

... securing their good will by acting toward them in a spirit of just and generous recognition of all their rights. But justice and generosity in a nation, as in an individual, count most when shown not by the weak but by the strong. While ever careful to refrain from wrongdoing others, we must be no less insistent that we are not wronged ourselves. We wish peace, but we wish the peace of justice, the peace of righteousness. We wish it because we think it is right ...
— U.S. Presidential Inaugural Addresses • Various

... The undersigned can not refrain from stating that the necessity of applying for further funds was unexpected by each of them individually, as it is painful to them collectively. There are, however, reasons that in their opinion are incontrovertible which have led to an expenditure ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Tyler - Section 2 (of 3) of Volume 4: John Tyler • Compiled by James D. Richardson

... their marks deeply embedded in her ankles. Then she anointed the wheels with dragon's blood and bade her companions beat her with a severe beating, and set her in a chest and, quoth she, "Cry abroad the Refrain of Unity,[FN413] nor fear from it aught of damage!" Replied they, "How can we beat thee, who be our sovereign lady, Zat al-Dawahi, mother of the King we glory in?" Then said she, "We blame not nor deal reproach to him who goeth to the jakes, and in need ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 2 • Richard F. Burton

... experiments may show him that one of the characters he wants, like the blue of the Andalusian fowl, is dependent upon the heterozygous nature of the individual which exhibits it, and if such is the case he will be wise to refrain from any futile attempt at fixing it. If it is essential it must be built up again in each generation, and he will recognise that the most economical way of doing this is to cross the two pure strains so that all the offspring may possess the desired character. The ...
— Mendelism - Third Edition • Reginald Crundall Punnett

... it equally absurd, equally base, to solicit, or to decline, the stroke of fate. This much I have attempted to say; but my strength fails me, and I feel the approach of death. I shall cautiously refrain from any word that may tend to influence your suffrages in the election of an emperor. My choice might be imprudent or injudicious; and if it should not be ratified by the consent of the army, it might be fatal to the person whom I should recommend. I shall only, as a good citizen, ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 2 • Edward Gibbon

... enough of what had been said by Marius to Valerie to understand the business that was afoot for the morrow, and he doubted him that he had not sufficiently injured the Dowager's son to make him refrain from or adjourn his murderous ride across the ...
— St. Martin's Summer • Rafael Sabatini

... conversion placed in the opposite scale, Miss Vaughan's description of her quondam deity would tempt sentimental young women to forgive all his devildom to a being so "superb" in "masculine beauty." I will refrain from spoiling the picture by much of her own minuteness, or by the exclamatory parentheses of her fury against the magnificent gentleman who deceived her. I should like also to omit all reference to the conversation which ensued between ...
— Devil-Worship in France - or The Question of Lucifer • Arthur Edward Waite

... a Frenchman, Claude Tillier, who wrote in the early part of last century a book called Mon Oncle Benjamin, which may be freely translated My Uncle Benjamin. (I read it in the translation.) Eager as I am to be lyrical about it, I shall refrain. I think that I am probably safer with Tillier than with Butler, but I dare not risk it. The thought of your scorn at my previous ignorance of the world-famous Tillier, your amused contempt because I have only just succeeded in borrowing the classic upon which you were brought ...
— Not that it Matters • A. A. Milne

... the cupboard. They could not conceive how their mother could refrain from an offer of tea. But, as it was, she gave the young man a sharp glance and questioned him further. Where had he come from? When had ...
— What Necessity Knows • Lily Dougall

... fortunate chance was well written, well sung, and well done. And they were in excellent spirits as they left the theatre and stood waiting for his small limousine car, she in her pretty furs held close to her throat, humming under her breath a refrain from the delightful finale, he smoking a cigarette and watching the numbers being flashed for the long line of carriages and motors which moved up continually through the ...
— Athalie • Robert W. Chambers

... most severely used. During this cruel operation, Moreau scarce shewed a change of countenance, and did not cease to smoke his segar. The amputation performed, Mr Wylie examined the right leg, and found it in such a state, that he could not refrain from expressing his terror. "I understand you," said Moreau, "you must cut off this one too.—Well, do it quickly.—However, I would rather have died." He wanted to write to his wife; and he wrote to her, with a steady hand, these words:—"MY ...
— Travels in France during the years 1814-1815 • Archibald Alison

... action by laws promoting the improvement of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, the cultivation and encouragement of the mechanic and of the elegant arts, the advancement of literature, and the progress of the sciences, ornamental and profound, to refrain from exercising them for the benefit of the people themselves would be to hide in the earth the talent committed to our charge—would be treachery to the most ...
— A Compilation of Messages and Letters of the Presidents - 2nd section (of 3) of Volume 2: John Quincy Adams • Editor: James D. Richardson

... in the mean time, by slow marches, advanced to Neumark, where Wallenstein made a general review. At the sight of this formidable force, he could not refrain from indulging in a childish boast: "In four days," said he, "it will be shown whether I or the King of Sweden is to be master of the world." Yet, notwithstanding his superiority, he did nothing to fulfil his promise; and even let slip the opportunity of crushing his enemy, ...
— The Works of Frederich Schiller in English • Frederich Schiller

... obedience to this edict, whereas subscription to the former one had been required only from candidates at ordination. The edict required the clergy of both confessions, on pain of dismissal from office and other penalties, to refrain from vituperating each other, from deducing absurd and impious doctrines from each other's dogmas, and imputing them to their opponents. The edict also commanded that the ordinance of baptism should be administered without ...
— Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs - Translated by John Kelly • Paul Gerhardt

... cursed before God and one ought only do what is contrary to the law as it is said in Rom. 3: "Why not do evil so that there might be more good?" which is what that one divisive spirit of our time was doing. Should one reject St. Paul's word because of such 'offense' or refrain from speaking freely about faith? Gracious, St. Paul and I want to offend like this for we preach so strongly against works, insisting on faith alone for no other reason than to offend people that they might stumble and fall and learn that they are not ...
— An Open Letter on Translating • Gary Mann

... torrent foams, the tumult reigns, And Codrus' prose works up, and Lico's strains. Lo! what from cellars rise, what rush from high, Where speculation roosted near the sky; Letters, essays, sock, buskin, satire, song, And all the garret thunders on the throng! O Pope! I burst; nor can, nor will, refrain; I'll write; let others, in their turn, complain: Truce, truce, ye Vandals! my tormented ear Less dreads a pillory than a pamphleteer; I've heard myself to death; and, plagu'd each hour, Shan't I return the vengeance in my power? For who can write the true absurd like me?—— ...
— The Poetical Works of Edward Young, Volume 2 • Edward Young

... this poem into strophes with a constant refrain is very unusual in the poetry of the Anglo-Saxons, though it is common among their Scandinavian kinsmen. This fact has led some scholars to believe that we have here a translation from the Old Norse. Professor Gummere, however, makes ...
— Old English Poems - Translated into the Original Meter Together with Short Selections from Old English Prose • Various

... am called to participate, justice to the Constitution I am sworn to support, justice to the rights of American citizenship it secures, and to human liberty, now imperiled, require me to go further. Gladly would I refrain speaking of the spirit of this message, of the dangerous doctrines it promulgates, of the inconsistencies and contradictions of its author, of his encroachments upon the constitutional rights of Congress, of his assumption of unwarranted powers, which, ...
— History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States • Wiliam H. Barnes

... contentment as the highest object of pursuit. The wise knowing the instability of youth and beauty, of life and treasure-hoards, of prosperity and the company of the loved ones, never covet them. Therefore, one should refrain from the acquisition of wealth, bearing the pain incident to it. None that is rich free from trouble, and it is for this that the virtuous applaud them that are free from the desire of wealth. And as regards those that pursue wealth for purposes ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 • Kisari Mohan Ganguli

... the accused without a hearing. No constituted power, whether that of king or judge, has yet convicted me of any culpable action. Apart from the courtesy which should be observed between officers of the same rank, you, out of simple justice, should refrain front ...
— International Short Stories: French • Various

... not withstand the witchery of the gentleman's superb tenor voice, with its high culture and feeling; because even into that humdrum refrain he put a pathos and longing which quite ...
— Dorothy's Travels • Evelyn Raymond

... within the category of oldsters, the one with a banjo, and the other handling a broken-down concertina, very wheezy about the gills; with little Tommy Mills, who was only a "midshipmite" still, in every sense of the word, accompanying them with a rattling refrain from a pair of ivory castanets which he had purchased for a paper dollar in a curio ...
— Crown and Anchor - Under the Pen'ant • John Conroy Hutcheson

... where she knew his eyes were staring, through the window and far out across the hills where the shadows deepened and dropped slanting and black across the hollows. Far away a coyote wailed. The wind which swept the hills seemed to her like a refrain of Dan's whistling—the song and the summons ...
— The Untamed • Max Brand

... it, and what can be more convincing proof than the confession of an enemy? I was sorry to hear of the riotous proceedings in Boston. If they knew what an injury they were doing their country in the opinion of foreign nations, they certainly would refrain from them. I assert (because I have proof) that the Federalists in the Northern States have done more injury to their country by their violent opposition measures than even a French alliance could. Their proceedings ...
— Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals - In Two Volumes, Volume I. • Samuel F. B. Morse

... in love with his idea. "The spirit of the Gothic cathedrals," he said, "is the spirit of the sky-scrapers. It is architecture in a mood of flaming ambition. The Freemasons on the building could hardly refrain from jeering at the little priest they had left down below there, performing antiquated puerile mysteries at his altar. He was just their excuse ...
— The Secret Places of the Heart • H. G. Wells



Words linked to "Refrain" :   tra-la-la, save, leave, keep off, chorus, let it go, help oneself, desist, avoid, teetotal, stand by, hold back, help, song, fast, sit out, consume, music, leave alone, spare, act, leave behind, tra-la, vocal



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