"Break off" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... anciently-opened mine, said to be of silver, and which had until lately been covered with rubbish. We groped through it, and found vaults and excavations and a deep pit of water. C—-n got some Indians to break off pieces of stone for him, which were put into a sack and sent home for examination. We were so tired of our walk down this steep and mountainous path, that on our return, I mounted a horse with a man's saddle, belonging to one of the servants, and contrived to ...
— Life in Mexico • Frances Calderon De La Barca
... Ernest, the lawyer, the orator? Ho, ho! Ah, but it's rather hard to break off a match in ...
— Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land, Complete • Charles M. Skinner
... house at the moment, gave Simon Slade an opportunity to break off a conversation that was not, I could see, altogether agreeable. As he left me, I arose and stepped into the bar-room. Frank, the landlord's son, was behind the bar. He had grown considerably in the year—and from a rather delicate, innocent-looking boy, to ...
— Ten Nights in a Bar Room • T. S. Arthur
... must be tested the same way, and the sugar must leave the pipe clean; dip it again into cold water; when off the pipe break off a piece with your teeth; if it snaps clean in your teeth, pour your sugar ...
— The Candy Maker's Guide - A Collection of Choice Recipes for Sugar Boiling • Fletcher Manufacturing Company
... the truth of the case, to the end that all such foes to the rights of British America may be publicly known and universally contemned as the enemies of American liberty, and that every person may henceforth break off all dealings ...
— The Black Phalanx - African American soldiers in the War of Independence, the - War of 1812, and the Civil War • Joseph T. Wilson
... clerum—a mistake, not arising from any conceit of his learning, or wish to display it, but from the same absence of mind which induced an excellent divine, when preaching before a party of criminals condemned to death, to break off by promising the wretches, who were to suffer next morning, "the rest of the discourse at the first proper opportunity." But all the neighbourhood acknowledged Mr. Cargill's serious and devout discharge of his ministerial duties; and the poorer parishioners ...
— St. Ronan's Well • Sir Walter Scott
... centred; and as a river is swollen by divers rills, and tributary streams, so all the thoughts and passions of his soul hurried with a pure and rapid tide to mingle and be lost in one. But illness, and the long looking at death, and above all, the Christian's hope, enable us one by one to break off the dearest ties, and to renounce whatever we most love on earth. And so my young friend in good time emerged from the cloud which obscured his prospects, and saw clearly beyond the vale. It is not long since, being well assured that his fate ...
— The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, February 1844 - Volume 23, Number 2 • Various
... Mr. Payne's edition, there has been a scramble to secure it, and it is no longer to be had for love or money. The fact is, it fills a void, the world has been waiting for this chef d'aeuvre, and all lovers of the Arabian Nights wonder how they have got on without it. We must break off from remarks to give some idea of the originality of the style, of the incomparable way in which the very essence and life of the East is breathed into simple, straightforward Anglo-Saxon English. In certain of Captain Burton's books he borrows words from all languages, there are not enough ...
— Supplemental Nights, Volume 6 • Richard F. Burton
... farther from the village, which of a sudden seemed a very safe and desirable place, with its snug store, its blazing fires, and its warm beds. The sea tossed them like a cork, coating their paddles and the decks of the canoe with ice, which they were at great pains to break off. It wet them in spite of their precautions, and its salt breath searched out their marrow, regardless of their unceasing labors; and these labors were in truth unceasing, for fifty miles of open water lay before them; fifty miles, which meant twelve hours of steady paddling. Gradually, imperceptibly, ...
— The Silver Horde • Rex Beach
... proposed marriage. He had also held many long conversations with the Regent and with Granvelle. In all these interviews he had uniformly used one language: his future wife was to "live as a Catholic," and if that point were not conceded, he would break off the negotiations. He did not pretend that she was to abjure her Protestant faith. The Duchess, in describing to Philip the conditions, as sketched to her by the Prince, stated expressly that Augustus of Saxony was to consent that ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley
... of men who have tried to find in vain how and when a relationship becomes an entanglement. He ought to break off now, and the riddle was just why he should feel this compunction in breaking off now. He had disappointed her, and he ought not to have disappointed her; that was the essential feeling. He had never realized before as he realized ...
— Soul of a Bishop • H. G. Wells
... time for our spread; Squad Nine has come not merely with camp delicacies, but with cakes and candies from home! So I will break off this gloomy epistle with, ...
— At Plattsburg • Allen French
... this is the sublimest thought of all! I can never finish the noble task; therefore, so sure as this task is my destiny, I can never cease to work, and consequently never cease to be. What men call death cannot break off this task, which is never-ending; consequently no periodis set to my being, and I am eternal. I lift my head boldly to the threatening mountain peaks, and to the roaring cataract, and to the storm-clouds swimming in the fire-sea overhead ...
— Hyperion • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
... be believed, and they fasten themselves like leeches upon men. Young men about to make rich marriages are their favorite victims. These generally yield to them, not caring to risk a scandal which might break off the whole affair. If a young man refuses one of them on such occasions, she goes boldly to the lady he is to marry, and declares herself the innocent and wronged victim of the aforesaid young man. This is her revenge, and the majority of ...
— Lights and Shadows of New York Life - or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City • James D. McCabe
... his feet, and exposed his huge form to view. He was a remarkable fine specimen of his kind, for they are the largest as well as the ugliest of the deer tribe. For an instant he paused, shook himself violently, and holding down his head, put up his fore-leg to break off that, which evidently maddened him with pain. He then stood up erect, with his head high in the air, and laid his horns back on his neck, and, giving a snort of terror, prepared to save his ...
— Nature and Human Nature • Thomas Chandler Haliburton
... no difficulty about that!" exclaimed Rachel; but at this moment she saw the Myrtlewood pony carriage coming to the door, and remembering that she had undertaken to drive out Ermine Williams in it, she was obliged to break off the conversation, with an eager entreaty that Mr. Mauleverer would draw up an account of his plan, and bring it to her the next day, when she would give her opinion on it, ...
— The Clever Woman of the Family • Charlotte M. Yonge
... image, may have escaped injury; but such a thing is a curiosity, and to be found in a situation not readily to be observed, or difficult to be reached. The favourite mode of mutilating a statue seems to have been to break off the head. In the church of St. Sulpice there is a tolerably good statue of a Virgin and Child remaining, but of this the Child's head is taken off, and that of the Virgin seems to have met with the same fate, but to have been restored. It is wonderful the industry ...
— Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George the Third, Volume 2 (of 2) - From the Original Family Documents • The Duke of Buckingham
... then, to prove to you that my relations with Vamhidy were purely professional, I will break off all further ...
— The Poor Plutocrats • Maurus Jokai
... destroy. Russia also was displeased with the recognition of the independence of the Spanish colonies. At the Congress of Aix la Chapelle various plans of mediation were proposed, but England refusing to engage to break off all commercial relations with such of the insurgent colonies as should reject the proposals agreed to, the whole project was abandoned. An agreement between the five great powers for the suppression of the slave trade was also proposed ...
— Albert Gallatin - American Statesmen Series, Vol. XIII • John Austin Stevens
... checquers, every alternate square, or in large cross-bars, by carrying on Fig. 2 over the whole surface, but when you choose a large pattern, always count the squares before you cut off your piece, or you may find the pattern break off ...
— Little Folks (July 1884) - A Magazine for the Young • Various
... gold! Every part of it—bolts and beams and pillars, all were gold. In great excitement the second brother climbed down from his wagon and began pulling and wrenching at various parts of the bridge hoping to find some loose pieces which he could break off. At last he succeeded in pulling out four long bolts which were so heavy he could scarcely lift them. After looking about in all directions to make sure that no one saw him, he put them into his wagon ...
— The Laughing Prince - Jugoslav Folk and Fairy Tales • Parker Fillmore
... useless as daggers, Matteo, but I think that with care they will act as saws. Break off a length of ...
— The Lion of Saint Mark - A Story of Venice in the Fourteenth Century • G. A. Henty
... ambitious clan, Thou, James of Bothwell, wert the man, The only man, in whom a foe My woman-mercy would not know; But shall a Monarch's presence brook Injurious blow and haughty look?— What ho! the Captain of our Guard! Give the offender fitting ward.— Break off the sports!'—for tumult rose, And yeomen 'gan to bend their bows, 'Break off the sports!' he said and frowned, 'And bid our horsemen clear ...
— The Lady of the Lake • Sir Walter Scott
... this inadvertency, however, it usually putting a stop to the communications for the time being. In one instance, he took such prompt revenge for this implied admission of equality, as literally to break off short in the discourse, and to order me, in his sharpest key, to go aloft and send some studding-sails on deck, though they all had to be sent aloft again, and set, in the course of the same watch. But offended dignity is seldom ...
— Afloat And Ashore • James Fenimore Cooper
... strong at the ground. Heavy wind puts a great strain on it just at this point. Illustrate by taking a long slat or lath, drive it into the ground firmly, and then, catching it by the top, push it over. It will break off just at the ground. If a little pine tree could be taken up, the pupils would be interested in seeing what long, strong, fibrous roots ...
— Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Nature Study • Ontario Ministry of Education
... the bay behind the hut nearly put an end to the party. Enormous blocks of ice weighing many tons would break off and fall into the sea, the disturbance thus caused giving rise to great waves. One day Marston was outside the hut digging up the frozen seal for lunch with a pick, when a noise "like an artillery barrage" startled him. Looking up he saw that one of these ...
— South! • Sir Ernest Shackleton
... a pleasant and highly pungent flavor that makes it valuable as a salad or garniture. Tear water cress apart with the fingers and put them loosely in a bowl to clean; use cold water; break off the roots, do not use a knife; dress with salt, vinegar, and a little powdered sugar. Some send them to the table without any dressing and eat them ...
— Vaughan's Vegetable Cook Book (4th edition) - How to Cook and Use Rarer Vegetables and Herbs • Anonymous
... only started in that direction to blind us; and that after going a mile or less he will break off the trail and head where he was aiming for last night when he saw our fire, and thought there might be something worth picking up here, or else keep watch of our movements," said Owen, as he pulled the cords tight around the bag that held the waterproof tent, ...
— Canoe Mates in Canada - Three Boys Afloat on the Saskatchewan • St. George Rathborne
... dull and monotonous days he had spent in the Tower of Wolf's Crag, compared with the joviality of his usual life; he felt with great indignation his exclusion from the castle, which he considered as a gross affront, and every mingled feeling led him to break off the union which he had formed with the Master ...
— Bride of Lammermoor • Sir Walter Scott
... you are so well disposed. This night, break off in the utmost secrecy With all the light-arm'd troops—it must appear As came the order from the Duke himself. At Frauenburg's the place of rendezvous; There will Count Gallas ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. III • Kuno Francke (Editor-in-Chief)
... influence on the affairs of mankind, for literature apparently gains ground among them. A library is established in Carolina and some great electrical discoveries were made at Philadelphia...The fear that the American colonies will break off their dependence on England I have always thought chimerical and vain ... They must be dependent, and if they forsake us, or be forsaken by us, must fall into the hands of France.' Literary Magazine, ...
— Life Of Johnson, Vol. 1 • Boswell, Edited by Birkbeck Hill
... had been making good weather of his tale, though forced to break off once or twice by reason of his weakness. But here he came to a dead stop, which at first I set down to the same. But by-and-by I looks up. He was making a curious noise in his throat, and fencing with both hands to push something ...
— Poison Island • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (Q)
... that turning the other cheek also business. He fumbled for the tobacco bag, and as he emptied some tobacco into the pipe, his hand was unsteady, and he spilled a good deal on the floor, and he had to scratch two or three matches on his pants before he could get one that wouldn't break off, or go out. Finally he got the pipe lighted, and he puffed a long time, and looked at himself in the big mirror over the mantel, to see if he was looking his best, ...
— Peck's Uncle Ike and The Red Headed Boy - 1899 • George W. Peck
... to dress her young mistress as usual. Daisy was not soon done with that business on this particular day; she would break off, half dressed, and go to lean out of her window. There was a honey-suckle below the window; its dewy sweet smell came up to her, and the breath of the morning was sweet beside in all the trees and leaves around; the sun shone on the short ...
— Melbourne House • Elizabeth Wetherell
... had leisure to consider the case more attentively; and it occurred to him that it would be needless cruelty to draw the poor beast's tusks, and therefore he exchanged that too well-known instrument, the dentist's key, for a pair of bone-nippers, with which he proposed merely to break off the points. ...
— The Lieutenant and Commander - Being Autobigraphical Sketches of His Own Career, from - Fragments of Voyages and Travels • Basil Hall
... Egyptian poem' (Plato). But are probabilities for which there is not a tittle of evidence, and which are without any parallel, to be deemed worthy of attention by the critic? How came the poem of Solon to disappear in antiquity? or why did Plato, if the whole narrative was known to him, break off almost ...
— Timaeus • Plato
... to break off, and Gascoyne, without taking notice of the remark, went on in a few hurried sentences to explain as much of his plan as he thought necessary for the guidance ...
— Gascoyne, the Sandal-Wood Trader • R.M. Ballantyne
... at work sending shots at the Spanish gunboat, which was in lively action a short distance away, we became aware of a peculiar whirring noise—a sound like the angry humming of a swarm of hornets. It would rise and fall in volume, then break off short with a sharp crash. Suddenly, while glancing through the port, I saw something strike the surface, sending up a great spurt of water. It was followed by a dull, muffled report which seemed to shake ...
— A Gunner Aboard the "Yankee" • Russell Doubleday
... rebuke, and warn, when God is dishonoured. 'Rule thy own house well, having thy childrenwith others in thy familyin subjection, with all gravity' (1 Tim 3:4). Solomon was so excellent sometimes this way, that he made the eyes of his beholders to dazzle (2 Chron 9:3, 4). 7 But to break off from this general, ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan
... was blunt, he made but slow progress. Even when it was down, he would have to pare off the lower part, so as to make it of the same size as the upper. At length by cutting round and round, he made a notch of sufficient depth to enable him to break off the stem. Shouldering his prize, he walked on to the cave, which he thought would be ...
— The Rival Crusoes • W.H.G. Kingston
... there was only the steep hillside above, and the steep hillside below. To go up was quite impracticable, to go down was destruction! My horse approached the impediment very quietly, and allowed me to break off several of the worst branches, and then scramble by. Miss Blunt's horse came close up to it as though intending to pass quietly, but, instead, wheeled round on the extreme edge of the path in anything but a pleasant fashion, either for the ...
— Twixt France and Spain • E. Ernest Bilbrough
... you think, therefore, it will be easy to force a way through them; but the prickles on their leaves are very sensible obstacles. If you step on these colossal leaves, in the hope that they will bear you, they break off suddenly; and so, instead of getting out, you fall into the arms of the next plant. When, however, at last we had wound our way out of the labyrinth, we found but little to enjoy in the city; tho from the neighboring country we felt it ...
— Seeing Europe with Famous Authors, Vol VIII - Italy and Greece, Part Two • Various
... in comes the Times and eleven strikes (it does) already, and I have to go to Town, and I have no alternative but that this story of the Critic and Poet, 'the Bear and the Fiddle,' should 'begin but break off in the middle'; yet I doubt—nor will you henceforth, I know, say, 'I vex you, I am sure, by this lengthy writing.' Mind that spring is coming, for all this snow; and know me for yours ...
— The Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, Vol. 1 (of 2) 1845-1846 • Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett
... There is no recent occasion to accuse us of anything. But all at once, when we meet here, a kind of gloom pervades the whole community and the Senate Chamber. Gentlemen rise and tell us that they are on the eve of breaking up this Government, that seven or eight States are going to break off their connection with the Government, retire from the Union, and set up a hostile government of their own, and they look imploringly over to us, and say to us: "You can prevent it; we can do nothing to prevent ...
— American Eloquence, Volume III. (of 4) - Studies In American Political History (1897) • Various
... 257. Break off a piece of dodder or "lovevine," twirl it round the head three times and drop it on a bush behind you. If it grows, the lover is true; if ...
— Current Superstitions - Collected from the Oral Tradition of English Speaking Folk • Various
... occurred, however, I must break off at this point and make a slight bend in my yarn here, in order to mention something that happened immediately before, and which, although I did not come to hear of it until afterwards, had to do with bringing the skipper so suddenly down upon us. Something, indeed, ...
— The Island Treasure • John Conroy Hutcheson
... Court of FATHER CHRISTMAS. Shall we describe it? No. But there is everything there which any reasonable person could want, from ices to catapults. And the decorations, done in candy so that you can break off a piece whenever you are ...
— Second Plays • A. A. Milne
... water or food for our wearied horses. The following morning, taking one man and Harry with me, we made a close search down the most promising watercourses and lagoons, but upon riding down even the deepest of them, we invariably found them break off into several insignificant channels, which again subdivided, and in a short distance dissipated the waters, derived from what had appeared the dry bed of a large river, on the absorbing plain; returning in disappointment ...
— Expedition into Central Australia • Charles Sturt
... break off again. As to asking any questions of their aunt, THAT was a thing that never crossed their minds. It was impossible; the subject was so fatally serious! . . . But I believe there was an involuntary peeping about into closets and out-of-the-way ...
— Aunt Judy's Tales • Mrs Alfred Gatty
... not perceive," he said, "how terribly your silence affects me? Oh! mademoiselle, how pitilessly inexorable you would become if you were ever to resolve to break off all acquaintance with any one; and then, too, I think you changeable; in fact—in fact, I dread this deep affection which fills my ...
— Louise de la Valliere • Alexandre Dumas, Pere
... that time the whole negotiation will be at an end." The banquet, however, did come off, and a few more succeeded it; feasts not marked by any great geniality or warmth, except perhaps occasionally warmth of discussion. So sure were the Americans that they were about to break off the negotiations that Mr. Adams began to consider by (p. 086) what route he should return to St. Petersburg; and they declined to renew the tenure of their quarters for more than a few days longer. Like alarms were of frequent occurrence, even almost to ...
— John Quincy Adams - American Statesmen Series • John. T. Morse
... sooner done with this little girl than another cometh up as a flower in my memory and I find I'm compelled to break off. There are too many for me. It is true that the child's beautiful life is a brief one, like that of the angel-insect, and may be told in a paragraph; yet if I were to write only as many of them as there are "Lives" in Plutarch it would still take an entire book—an octavo of at least three ...
— A Traveller in Little Things • W. H. Hudson
... words, she could not have so much power over her eyes as to keep them from betraying a tenderness not inferior to that of her sister; and Natura had the satisfaction of finding he was beloved by both these amiable women, without thinking himself so far attached to either, as not to be able to break off whenever ...
— Life's Progress Through The Passions - Or, The Adventures of Natura • Eliza Fowler Haywood
... sorrow-soothing strain Thou know'st beside, such as exploits record Of Gods and men, the poet's frequent theme; Give them of those a song, and let themselves Their wine drink noiseless; but this mournful strain 430 Break off, unfriendly to my bosom's peace, And which of all hearts nearest touches mine, With such regret my dearest Lord I mourn, Rememb'ring still an husband praised from side To side, and in the very heart of Greece. Then answer thus Telemachus return'd. My mother! wherefore ...
— The Odyssey of Homer • Homer
... gun salute was refused. Admiral Mayo has sent the Mexican Federal commander at Tampico something very much like an ultimatum. Unless a satisfactory apology is made, and the gun salute is fired, the Washington government threatens to break off all diplomatic relations with Mexico and to make reprisals. That is the full extent of the news, so far as it has reached ...
— Dave Darrin at Vera Cruz • H. Irving Hancock
... Duvall rose and moved one pace forward and—raising a hand for silence—began to speak. But he had no more than begun, had progressed no farther than part way of his first smoothly launched sentence, when he was made to break off by an unseemly interruption at the rear. The honorary grand inner guard on duty at the far street door, after a brief and unsuccessful struggle with unseen forces, was observed to be shoved violently aside from his post. Bursting in together there entered ...
— Sundry Accounts • Irvin S. Cobb
... grew impatient. "No, no, strike off bigger pieces. I can't be here all day. Tanka kaksa wo! Break off a ...
— Myths and Legends of the Sioux • Marie L. McLaughlin
... himself under the Secretary's table, and was not discovered till the meeting was well-nigh over. We are sorry to say, he suffered much in person from fists and toes, and two or three principal pages were torn out of his note-book, which occasions his report to break off abruptly. We cannot but consider this behaviour as more particularly illiberal on the part of men who are themselves a kind of gentlemen of the press; and they ought to consider themselves as fortunate that the misused reporter has sought no other vengeance ...
— The Betrothed • Sir Walter Scott
... of mine is worth much. Such a woman few men have bred. Well, I must make the best of her. My son-in-law must be one who will prop up my old age, one to whom, in my need or trouble, I could always go as to a dry log,[*] to break off some of its bark to make a fire to comfort me, not one who treads me into the mire as the buffalo did to Macumazahn. Now I have spoken, and I do not love such talk. Come back with the cattle, and ...
— Child of Storm • H. Rider Haggard
... at once; he doubted if he could break off certain business engagements in England. Then, at a reception, he chanced to meet my niece, and, a little later, decided to undertake the voyage. I am inclined to believe she was the ...
— Wolves of the Sea • Randall Parrish
... Holy Father commissions me to say that all these grievous backslidings on your part shall be freely pardoned if you will,—Firstly,—repudiate all connection with your niece, Angela Sovrani, and hold no further communication with her or her father Prince Sovrani,—Secondly,—that you will break off your acquaintance with the socialist Aubrey Leigh and his companion Sylvie Hermenstein, the renegade from the Church of her fathers,— and Thirdly,—that you will sever yourself at once and forever from the boy you have taken under your protection. This last clause is the most important in ...
— The Master-Christian • Marie Corelli
... with his own affairs in Touraine when news came to him that the marriage was to take place immediately. "If he mourned, it is not marvellous when I myself mourn it for the future result. But the king used all kinds of machinations to break off the alliance.... God suffered two young proud princes to try their strength each at his will, often in ways that would have been incompatible ...
— Charles the Bold - Last Duke Of Burgundy, 1433-1477 • Ruth Putnam
... am afraid it is true that you have not always seemed to be doing right, and papa and mamma forbid our going on as we are. You know I cannot be disobedient. It would not bring a blessing on you. So I must break off, though—' ...
— Chantry House • Charlotte M. Yonge
... patience would become exhausted, and she would flare up, while the neighbor would suddenly break off the discussion and go ...
— The Underworld - The Story of Robert Sinclair, Miner • James C. Welsh
... why would you have me break off with Miss Wyndham, when every one knows I'm engaged to her; and when you know that I wish to ...
— The Kellys and the O'Kellys • Anthony Trollope
... sombre thought. He loved his wife, bitterly angry as he had been with her this evening, and prone as he was to fall under the spell of the fair siren who was now his temptress. He loved his wife, and he wished to insure her peace. He resolved to break off, at once and forever, the foolish flirtation with a shallow coquette which his deep-hearted Sybil had taken so earnestly. How to do this, occupied his thoughts now. He knew that it would be difficult, or impossible to do it, as long as Rosa Blondelle remained in the same ...
— Cruel As The Grave • Mrs. Emma D. E. N. Southworth
... at the wheel, a vessel running before the wind being always more unmanageable than when sailing close-hauled or on a bowline; but this additional sail-power made the ship yaw and break off so continuously that two more hands had to come and help the others in the steering. It was ticklish work; for, if she were once allowed to broach to, one of the pursuing waves would soon leap over the taffrail, and then it would be ...
— The White Squall - A Story of the Sargasso Sea • John Conroy Hutcheson
... "I shall break off my engagement after dinner, so that Douglas can have a good night's rest. I'm afraid he has been brooding on the future a good deal. It will be a ...
— A Wodehouse Miscellany - Articles & Stories • P. G. Wodehouse
... a fence, they break off the straight lateral shoots, of the height required, and plant them closely side by side, in a trench, sufficiently deep to ensure their standing firmly; and it is a curious sight to see a labourer bearing on his shoulder one of these ...
— Anahuac • Edward Burnett Tylor
... be such a beast," exclaimed Myra. "If he dared to blame me, I'd break off my engagement and marry Don Carlos, if ...
— Bandit Love • Juanita Savage
... ships are allowed by the Government here half a leaguer of Arrack a day for ship's use per man; but boats are not suffered to bring the least thing off shore without being first severely searched. As to the town of Batavia, it lies in a bay full of islands, which so break off the Sea, that though the Road is very large, yet it is safe. The Banks of the Canals through the City are paved with stones as far as the Boom, which is shut up every night at nine o'clock, and guarded by Soldiers. All the Streets are very well built and inhabited; fifteen of 'em have ...
— The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous, Vol. 3 of 3 • George Augustus Sala
... signed it in that informal way, with only her first name, if she meant to break off the acquaintance," he argued with himself. And yet the substance of the note was discouraging in the extreme, so that Guilford Duncan was a very apprehensive and unhappy man as he hurried to Barbara's home. He still ...
— A Captain in the Ranks - A Romance of Affairs • George Cary Eggleston
... The reason the better class of men neglect to attend the primaries is this—civilized and refined men spend their evenings in the society of women; they go with them to church meetings, to concerts, to lectures. They do not break off these engagements to go down to some liquor saloon, or other unattractive locality, there, amid the fumes of tobacco and whisky, to find everything already cut and dried beforehand. They try it once or twice and then retire for life disgusted. We ask ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume II • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage
... morning two letters were brought from his house. One was for my father, in which Von Brincken said he felt obliged to break off the engagement. He was suffering from a heart trouble, and a recent medical examination had proved to him that he would be guilty of an unpardonable wrong in marrying a ...
— The Dangerous Age • Karin Michaelis
... I have asked you to make an impossible sacrifice—to break off a most brilliant marriage, to marry me and share the despair, hardships, tortures of a life very different to any you have seen. Well ...
— Robert Orange - Being a Continuation of the History of Robert Orange • John Oliver Hobbes
... others in England and Scotland, I should like to know what family is? I tell you what, Hench. I bet you five to two, that before an hour is over my mother will be here, and down on her knees to me, begging me to break off this engagement." ...
— The Newcomes • William Makepeace Thackeray
... an unpardonable fault which changed the goodwill of the King into mortal enmity. He allowed himself to go so far as to suggest to the King that he should break off his relations with this infamous woman, the source of all the woes which were desolating the kingdom, and when Ta Chi on this account grossly insulted him he struck her with ...
— Myths and Legends of China • E. T. C. Werner
... respect your character, and I revere your office; but if what you have to say relates to me, and not to yourself, let us break off this conversation at once. There are subjects, there are names which I never suffer any human being to allude to before me; and the sacred character which you bear, gives you no right to force them ...
— Ellen Middleton—A Tale • Georgiana Fullerton
... there was a patch of what is known as sweating-stone, [5] with globules of water oozing out, and standing roundly upon it: the globules were not frozen. This stone was exceedingly hard, and defied all our efforts to break off a specimen, but at last we got two small pieces, hard and heavy, and wrapped them in paper; ten weeks after, we found them of course quite dry, and broke them easily, small as they were, with our fingers. The fissure from ...
— Ice-Caves of France and Switzerland • George Forrest Browne
... Why, too much! You can't be too careful! Then, if you break off for a time, you ought to begin all over again. You should "gradually acquire speed"; ...
— Mr. Punch Awheel - The Humours of Motoring and Cycling • J. A. Hammerton
... with slavery of womankind, from Japan down to Ceylon the regular thing. But there is still hope in the woman-heart of the Far East; and the hope is the American woman and her religion. That and that alone will break down prejudices, break off shackles, and tear to bits the traditions ...
— Flash-lights from the Seven Seas • William L. Stidger
... powerful nation, while they steal and murder wherever they can. You may use your sting upon insects, to defend yourself and inspire respect, but if you insert it in a warm-blooded animal, especially a human being, you will die, because it will remain sticking in the skin and will break off. So do not sting warm-blooded creatures except in dire need, and then do it without flinching or fear of death. For it is to our courage as well as our wisdom that we bees owe the universal respect and esteem in which we are held. And now good-by, Maya dear. ...
— The Adventures of Maya the Bee • Waldemar Bonsels
... extravagant. She orders a necklace and ear-rings of the value of [pounds]3000, a petticoat and gown from a fabric which is [pounds]12 a yard, and besets the house with duns. Lovegold gives [pounds]2000 to break off the bargain, and Frederick becomes the ...
— Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama - A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook, Vol. 3 • E. Cobham Brewer
... the world," said the youth to himself every day as the pile of gold grew higher; but, alas for human calculation! he awoke one morning to find his huge mountain of gold one solid mass. The action of the light, heat, and atmosphere had fused them together, and no exertion of his could break off ...
— Allegories of Life • Mrs. J. S. Adams
... am,' replied Miss Petowker, hesitating. 'What do you call it, when Lords break off door-knockers and beat policemen, and play at coaches with other people's money, and ...
— The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby • Charles Dickens
... he proposed to Vera he must break off all correspondence with Lalage. He told himself so, several times, and tried to think out the letter he would write. He would send her a cheque for a fair amount, so that she would have a reserve fund, and then—he ...
— People of Position • Stanley Portal Hyatt
... dare say you are right," said Congreve gladly. "I mean to break off soon. But what I wanted to ask you was: Do you know your way about the ...
— The Tin Box - and What it Contained • Horatio Alger
... at one o'clock that morning, but it was near four before the head of the French column reached the front. "The whole army then marched towards the skirt of the wood in one long column, and as they approached the open space, was to break off into the different columns, as ordered for the attack. But, by the time the first French column had arrived at the open space, the day had fairly broke; when Count D'Estaign, without waiting until the other columns had arrived at their position, placed himself at the head of his ...
— The Life of Francis Marion • William Gilmore Simms
... and trees spring up and grow to perfection within and around it. In the old times, before the splendid service of water of the Lozoya Canal was in common use, the air was so dry as to make one's skin uncomfortable, and one's hair to break off into pieces like tinder under the brush; there was also a constant thickening in the throat, causing slight discomfort, and a penetrating, impalpable dust which nothing ever laid, and which formed ...
— Spanish Life in Town and Country • L. Higgin and Eugene E. Street
... away under my bunk with a broomstick to rouse me up, my cabin being just over the screw shaft. It went for awhile "thump:—thump! thump, thump, thump! Thump:—thump! Thump, thump, thump!" with even regularity; and then would suddenly break off this movement, whizzing away at a great rate, as the "send" of the sea lifted the blades out of the water, buzzing furiously the while like some marine alarum clock running down, or the mainspring ...
— She and I, Volume 2 - A Love Story. A Life History. • John Conroy Hutcheson
... gratitude, he should do his utmost to make his majesty's daughter a queen, as the king had made his own a countess. The king continued to visit her, which gave great uneasiness to the queen, who employed her friends, particularly the priests, to persuade him to break off the correspondence. They remonstrated with him on the guilt of the commerce, and the reproach it would bring on the catholic religion; she, on the contrary, employed the whole force of her ridicule against the priests and their counsels. They, ...
— Dr. Johnson's Works: Life, Poems, and Tales, Volume 1 - The Works Of Samuel Johnson, Ll.D., In Nine Volumes • Samuel Johnson
... Scotland as an emissary of the French Government and as an agent of the Guises, in order to induce James to break off his alliance with England in favour of the old alliance with France, and to restore the Roman Church in the country; but the ministers having become informed of his designs, raised such a storm against him that he was driven to make a public renunciation of Popery, and obliged ...
— Andrew Melville - Famous Scots Series • William Morison
... Job the manuscripts are divided into series, according to whether or not they break off at xl. 28 of the text. The one Series gives Rashi's commentary to the end; the other, on the ground that Rashi's death prevented him from finishing his work, completes the commentary with that of another rabbi, R. Jacob Nazir" (Arsene Darmesteter). Geiger attributes this Supplementary ...
— Rashi • Maurice Liber
... and they met at the foot of the avenue, at the far end of which, on her palace steps, stood the Grand Duchess to make her choice. Now, when Prince Melchior came to the golden road, he thought it would be a sin and a shame were his horse to set hoof on it and scratch it and perchance break off a plate of it; so he turned aside and rode up along the right of it under the chestnuts. Likewise and for the same reason Prince Otto turned aside and rode on the left. But Prince Caspar thought of the lady so ...
— Sir John Constantine • Prosper Paleologus Constantine
... to) could not in addition be annexed and trained to the hereditary art of commanding and obeying—for both of which the country in question has now a classic reputation But here it is expedient to break off my festal discourse and my sprightly Teutonomania for I have already reached my SERIOUS TOPIC, the "European problem," as I understand it, the rearing of a new ...
— Beyond Good and Evil • Friedrich Nietzsche
... Horn and Yellowstone. Everybody had lavish welcome for them, and to Miriam Arnold the month at Fort Cushing had been quite a dream of delight, until there came a strange and sudden missive from her father, bidding her break off a visit that was to have lasted until February, and all relations ...
— Lanier of the Cavalry - or, A Week's Arrest • Charles King
... says it makes his hand quite unsteady when he's shaving in the morning, to hear her always break off at one place." ...
— A Flat Iron for a Farthing - or Some Passages in the Life of an only Son • Juliana Horatia Ewing
... detached from the cliffs and fell, as he spoke, with a tremendous crash upon the ice-belt, along which it rolled for fifty yards. There it would lie all winter, and in spring the mass of ice to which it was attached would probably break off and float away with it to the south, gradually melting until it allowed the rock to sink to the bottom of the sea, or depositing it, perchance, on some distant shore, where such rocks are not wont to lie— there to remain an object of speculation ...
— The World of Ice • R.M. Ballantyne
... warning, she would break off in the middle of a sentence, spring up from her seat and walk away so rapidly and so strangely that I was at my wits' ends to discover whether I had done or said anything to displease or ...
— Maupassant Original Short Stories (180), Complete • Guy de Maupassant
... ascertain whether peace would be made. The Burmese government still entertained the idea, that as soon as the English had received the money and prisoners, they would continue their march, and yet destroy the capital. We knew not but that some circumstance might occur to break off the negotiations; Mr. Judson, therefore strenuously insisted that he would not remain, but go on immediately. The officers were finally prevailed on to consent, hoping much from Mr. Judson's assistance in ...
— Fox's Book of Martyrs - Or A History of the Lives, Sufferings, and Triumphant - Deaths of the Primitive Protestant Martyrs • John Fox
... Him, and to say before his enemies all that I have taught, and strengthened me to resist and repel many temptations and assaults." He closes, with these simple, solemn, and affecting words—"But I must break off, I go to your God and my God. Death is to me as a bed ...
— The Life of James Renwick • Thomas Houston
... Dearest Sis, write and tell me all the news of your two selves. Do you hear anything about Reuben's leaving London? Anything of Lady Elgin? How is Madame Milsand? I will send you the last 'Ath.' I have received, but break off here rather abruptly, in order to let Ba write. Good-bye. God bless you ...
— The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume II • Elizabeth Barrett Browning
... his furrered, weather-beat face, and eyes that was more like the bulb of some pison plant than anything else,—so blue, and dull, and lackin' all human expression. His ear was like a dry knot,—seemed as if 't would break off if you touched it, and his nose wa' n't much better. He wa' n't a man that any child would ever go nigh,—anyhow I couldn't. My father was high-sperited,—too high-sperited for his sitooation, as'll ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 121, November, 1867 • Various
... speaking a boat was seen to leave her side and make for the shore. With a glance at Malcolm to break off his conversation with the sailor and follow him, Ronald strode along the bank towards the spot where the boat would land. Two gentlemen got out and advanced along the quay. As they ...
— Bonnie Prince Charlie - A Tale of Fontenoy and Culloden • G. A. Henty
... on the spike should be only sufficiently hard to cause its throat to fit snugly on the rail; a harder blow will often fracture the spike in such a manner as to cause the head in a short time to break off and leave the rail unsupported at that point. Foremen should not allow a spike to be pulled, especially in frosty weather, until it has been first struck a light blow to break the rust and loosen its hold in the wood. The filling ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 794, March 21, 1891 • Various
... train of wicked thoughts was apt to break off at this point, and a remorseful expression cloud her ...
— The Unseen Bridgegroom - or, Wedded For a Week • May Agnes Fleming
... Spendius a Capuan, who had been a slave at Rome, and had fled to the Carthaginians. He was tall and bold. The fear he was under, of falling into the hands of his former master, by whom he was sure to be hanged, (as was the custom,) prompted him to break off the agreement. He was seconded by one Matho,(702) who had been very active in forming the conspiracy. These two represented to the Africans, that the instant after their companions should be discharged and sent home, ...
— The Ancient History of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians, • Charles Rollin
... thought, that I had Christ's aid, I shall be able to break off my habit of self-abuse that had been the curse of my youth. What was my horror and dismay to find that, when the mood came on me next, I went down the same as ever. And after all my suffering and dread and fear of fits! What could I do? Was ...
— Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 4 (of 6) • Havelock Ellis
... gimme denial," Uncle Remus continued after a little pause, "but des ez sho' ez you er settin' dar, w'en Brer B'ar slick'd up en flew down dat rock, he break off he tail right smick-smack-smoove, en mo'n dat, w'en he make his disappear'nce up de big road, Brer ...
— Nights With Uncle Remus - Myths and Legends of the Old Plantation • Joel Chandler Harris
... red clover is much grown for seed, many of the ripe heads are not cut by the mower, since they lie near the ground, and many break off in the curing process. The seed thus becomes so distributed in the ground, that many plants come up and grow amid the grain every season. These may, of course, be grazed or plowed under for the enrichment of the land, as desired. Seed thus buried ...
— Clovers and How to Grow Them • Thomas Shaw
... signing the pledge? I never drank, even without signing." This question has already been asked and answered more than a million of times. Let it be answered once more. For the man suddenly or in any other way to break off from the use of drams, who has indulged in them for a long course of years and until his appetite for them has grown ten or a hundredfold stronger and more craving than any natural appetite can be, requires a most powerful moral ...
— The Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln, Complete - Constitutional Edition • Abraham Lincoln
... might be supposed specially to hold in contempt that of Scotland. As a natural consequence of the alleged injustice meditated towards her father, every means was restored to, and every argument urged to induce Miss Ashton to break off her engagement with Ravenswood, as being scandalous, shameful, and sinful, formed with the mortal enemy of her family, and calculated to add bitterness to the ...
— Bride of Lammermoor • Sir Walter Scott
... and butter together and rub thoroughly. Make hole in center and pour in the molasses in which the soda has been beaten in. Stir all well together, break off enough to roll out; cut, space in pan and ...
— The Suffrage Cook Book • L. O. Kleber
... best in a light warm loam which drains well and does not bake or crust by rain or irrigation. Sprout the tubers in a hot-bed or cold-frame in February and break off the shoots and plant as soon as you are out of danger by frost. Sweet potatoes are more tender than common potatoes. There are places in Contra Costa county where they do well, though some parts of the county do not have enough ...
— One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered • E.J. Wickson
... the bank dropping sharply to the river flowing dizzily beneath him, he went suddenly and unexpectedly blind. Between admiration for himself for ever having gotten there, and despair of ever getting back, lay the present necessity of loosening his hold long enough to break off a branch of the crimson leaves. He tried opening one eye, but the effect was so terrifying that he promptly closed it. He pictured himself, a few moments before, strolling gracefully along the road ...
— Mr. Opp • Alice Hegan Rice
... would make no difference at all; our customers would buy of us just the same, no matter where our garments were made." This firm, I am sure, would find itself mistaken, and, with a great many others, would break off its connection with the sweating-business if the law forced it to make that ...
— White Slaves • Louis A Banks
... beheld two youths enter the hall bearing a golden cup and a spear of mighty size, with blood dropping from its point to the ground. And when all the company saw this they began to weep and lament. But for all that, the man did not break off his discourse with Perceval. And as he did not tell him the meaning of what he saw, he forebore to ask him concerning it. Now the cup that Perceval saw was the Sangreal, and the spear the sacred spear; and afterwards King Pecheur removed with those sacred relics ...
— Bulfinch's Mythology • Thomas Bulfinch
... build and in features. His two great interests were locksmithing, which he had learned as a boy, and running the deer and the boar in the great royal forests, St. Germain, Fontainebleau, Rambouillet. He had all the Bourbon insouciance, and would break off an important discussion of the Council from indifference, incompetence, or impatience, to go off hunting. Worst of all, for an autocrat, he had not in his nature one particle of those qualities that go to make up the man ...
— The French Revolution - A Short History • R. M. Johnston
... sigh completed the sentence. Conyngham stepped out of the doorway, the clank of his spurred heel on the marble pavement causing the sigh to break off in a little scream. He had caught the name of Julia, and hastily concluded that these ladies must be no other than Madame Barenna and her daughter. In the little bamboo grove he found the elder lady lying back in her chair, which creaked ominously, and asking in a faint voice whether ...
— In Kedar's Tents • Henry Seton Merriman
... narrow limits. I appeal to experience. You have tried to cure some trivial habit. You know what a task that has been—how often you thought that you had conquered, and then found that all had to be done over again. How much more is this the case in this greater work! Often the efforts to break off evil habits have the same effect as the struggles of cattle mired in a bog, who sink the deeper for plunging. The sad cry of many a foiled wrestler with his own evil is, 'O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' We do not wish to exaggerate, ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture - Isaiah and Jeremiah • Alexander Maclaren
... the most important. I should like to paint you in the early morning when the day is young and innocent and beautiful—like—like—" He was careful to break off in a most natural seeming embarrassment. "That's a bit thick, but she'll swallow it all right. Gone down? Right!" ...
— The Incomplete Amorist • E. Nesbit
... most part, sat on their steps, discussing the events of the day, the paucity of news, the doings of the army, the destruction of the Republics and the probability of its easy accomplishment by Christmas (1899). They would break off now and then with a reference to the activity of the searchlight. The searchlight was of powerful calibre and shed a brilliant radiance which, revolving, illuminated the surrounding country. Needless to say, it shone all night; a surprise ...
— The Siege of Kimberley • T. Phelan
... see, I've been trained all my life to carry them. You can't break off a thing like that in an instant. A priest doesn't turn atheist in a night... and this Family Tradition business is like a religion. It gets into your bones. You RESPECT it. You feel it demanding things of you and you can't refuse.... I ...
— Youth Challenges • Clarence B Kelland
... them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and ...
— The Woman's Bible. • Elizabeth Cady Stanton
... difference. He said that he told the things because he knew he was among gentlemen. A great gentleman Mr. Ricker is! And I thought he was so nice!" The tears sprang to her eyes, which flashed again. "I want you to break off with him. Bartley; I don't want you to have anything to do with such a thief! And I shall be proud to tell everybody that you've broken off with him because he was ...
— A Modern Instance • William Dean Howells
... against the target fence which was formed by the close position of their antagonists' shields, and when the Romans, after discharging their javelins without effect, drew their swords, these could neither press on to a closer combat, nor cut off the heads of the spears; and if they did cut or break off any, the shaft, being sharp at the part where it was broken, filled up its place among the points of those which were unbroken, in a kind of palisade. Besides this, the parts of the wall still standing rendered both the flanks of the Macedonians ...
— History of Rome, Vol III • Titus Livius
... interrupted again with great anxiety. "There's one thing you haven't made clear yet: you are still betrothed all the same, aren't you? How can you break off the engagement if she, your betrothed, ...
— The Brothers Karamazov • Fyodor Dostoyevsky
... rock. We climbed the first half of it with comparative ease; after that it was almost vertical, and so thin that we did not dare to cut the footsteps deep enough to make them absolutely safe. There was a constant dread lest out ladder should break off, and we be thrown either down the snow-slope or into the bottom of the crevasse. At last, in order to prevent myself from falling over backwards, I was obliged to thrust my hand into the crack between the ice and the wall, and the spire became so narrow that I could ...
— Little Masterpieces of Science: Explorers • Various
... captains of all vessels which traded with Canton should sign the required bond; and this was unfortunately consented to by Mr. Warner, master of the ship Thomas Coutts. The consequence of this consent was, that Commissioner Lin determined to break off the arrangement concluded, unless the whole British shipping which was re-entering the Bocca Tigris should agree to the same terms: if not, the vessels were again to depart, or be destroyed. Matters now proceeded to extremities; ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan
... natives, who instantly fled, leaving Roper and Calvert pierced with several spears, and severely beaten by their waddies. Several of these spears were barbed, and could not be extracted without difficulty. I had to force one through the arm of Roper, to break off the barb; and to cut another out of the groin of Mr. Calvert. John Murphy had succeeded in getting out of the tent, and concealing himself behind a tree, whence he fired at the natives, and severely wounded one ...
— Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia • Ludwig Leichhardt
... miserable. Who could have dreamed to find in her such a woman of the world! He must break off the hopeless interview. ...
— The Marquis of Lossie • George MacDonald
... off! break off! I hear a footstep not our own approaching this place. Run to your places lest you frighten the traveler whoever it ...
— Dramatic Reader for Lower Grades • Florence Holbrook
... of a secondary wife, she would be, even as a mere servant-girl of ours, far superior than the very legitimate daughter of any family. Who, I wonder, will in the future be so devoid of good fortune as to break off the match; just because he may be inclined to pick and choose between a wife's child and a concubine's child? And who, I would like to know, will be that lucky fellow, who'll snatch her off without any regard to ...
— Hung Lou Meng, Book II • Cao Xueqin
... would break off from the North and set up for themselves. It is not foolish people that say it, ...
— Daisy • Elizabeth Wetherell
... you are, Geert, and how indulgent! For I must have seemed to you very childish, or at least very childlike, first in the episode of fright and then, later, when I asked you to sell the house, but worst of all in what I said about the Prince. I urged you to break off all connection with him, and that would be ridiculous. For after all he is the one man who has to decide our destiny. Mine, too. You don't know how ambitious I am. To tell the truth, it was only out ...
— The German Classics Of The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, Volume 12 • Various
... awaiting his coming to her, in order that he might learn from her own lips what he had already learned from the letter which he had received from her the day before; namely, that she found it necessary for her own peace of mind to break off her ...
— Phyllis of Philistia • Frank Frankfort Moore
... to break off an acquaintance; but for Fanny's sake—as I told my son, if Fanny had done so we should consider it a great disgrace—and Fanny ...
— North and South • Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
... have utterly distorted or stunted its growth. All that he could as yet do for himself was to preserve a certain repose and harmony in the midst of uncertainty and delay; and for this he formed four wise precepts: "To break off customs; to shake off spirits ill disposed; to meditate on youth; to do nothing against one's genius." [Footnote: American Note-Books, Vol. I.] Thus he kept himself fresh and flexible, hopeful, ready for emergency. But that I have not exaggerated the severity ...
— A Study Of Hawthorne • George Parsons Lathrop
... and afterwards it used the stick as a lever to move heavy bodies; and I have myself seen a young orang put a stick into a crevice, slip his hand to the other end, and use it in the proper manner as a lever. The tamed elephants in India are well known to break off branches of trees and use them to drive away the flies; and this same act has been observed in an elephant in a state of nature. (39. The Indian Field, March 4, 1871.) I have seen a young orang, when ...
— The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex • Charles Darwin
... half an hour to find the tools. The rings round their ankles were sufficiently loose to enable the pick to be inserted between them and the leg; thrusting it in as far as it would go under the rivet, it was comparatively easy work to break off the head with the hammer. In ten minutes both were free. Leaving the chains and tools behind them, they made their way out of the cutting and struck across the country, and in an hour entered the forest. It was too dark here to permit them to proceed farther; they lay ...
— Condemned as a Nihilist - A Story of Escape from Siberia • George Alfred Henty |
