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Conform   Listen
verb
Conform  v. i.  
1.
To be in accord or harmony; to comply; to be obedient; to submit; with to or with. "A rule to which experience must conform."
2.
(Eng. Eccl. Hist.) To comply with the usages of the Established Church; to be a conformist. "About two thousand ministers whose consciences did not suffer them to conform were driven from their benefices in a day."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Conform" Quotes from Famous Books



... ordered the grand secretary to proceed with incorporation under the laws of the state of Iowa.[235] The certificate of incorporation, however, was not issued until the laws of the union were made to conform to the insurance laws of the state. These changes were only unimportant ones, such as the change of the name of the Insurance Department to "Mutual Benefit Department," and in no way affected the intent of any ...
— Beneficiary Features of American Trade Unions • James B. Kennedy

... those insulated masses, and those that had intervened between the corresponding mountains, have been carried away by the natural operation of the rivers, is not only the most easy to conceive, but is also, so far as those operations are concerned, conform to every appearance upon the surface of the globe. It is not necessary to go to South America, and the rivers of the Cordeliers, for examples to illustrate that which every one may see performed almost ...
— Theory of the Earth, Volume 2 (of 4) • James Hutton

... says he likes what he has seen of him, and well observes, that a young officer, who has lived a gay life in the army, must have great power over his own habits, and something uncommon in his character, to be both willing and able thus suddenly and completely to change his mode of life, and to conform to all the restraints and disagreeable circumstances of his ...
— Tales and Novels, Vol. VII - Patronage • Maria Edgeworth

... on those congregations which consent, and continue to consent, to be represented in that General Body." According to the ninth article, "the obligation under which congregations consent to place themselves, to conform to the decisions of synods, does not rest on any assumption that synods are infallible, but on the supposition that the decisions have been so guarded by wise constitutional provisions as to create a higher moral ...
— American Lutheranism - Volume 2: The United Lutheran Church (General Synod, General - Council, United Synod in the South) • Friedrich Bente

... church-workers for East London. Besides the deaconesses and probationers thirty-two associates are connected with this home. The associates are ladies who do not intend to become deaconesses, but give as much time as they can to the work. They live with the deaconesses, conform to the rules, and wear the garb, but pay their own expenses. These associates are a highly important part of the working force. They form a valuable tie connecting the sisters with sources of influence and aid that would otherwise be closed to them. Nearly always they are ...
— Deaconesses in Europe - and their Lessons for America • Jane M. Bancroft

... Council, compeared Kenneth Mackenzie of Kintail, who, being commanded by letters and also by writings direct from the Queen's Grace, to exhibit, produce, and present before her Highness Mary Macleod, daughter and heir of the umquwhile William Macleod of Harris, conform to the letters and charges direct thereupon: And declared that James Macdonald had an action depending the Lords of Session against him for deliverance of the said Mary to him, and that therefore he could not gudlie (well) deliver her. Notwithstanding the which the ...
— History Of The Mackenzies • Alexander Mackenzie

... don't conform Precisely to the female norm From dainty foot to charming noddle, But, closely measured, span by span, Seem built upon a private plan Not found in ANNIE KELLERMAN Or ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. CLVIII, January 7, 1920 • Various

... she issued a proclamation in which, whilst making no secret of her wish that everyone would conform to the religion "which all men knew she had of long tyme observed, and ment, God willing, to contynue the same," she deprecated men calling each other heretic or papist, but willed that everyone should follow the religion he thought best until further orders ...
— London and the Kingdom - Volume I • Reginald R. Sharpe

... a careful study of the best styles—those that achieved the greatest and most lasting popularity—will reveal the fact that they are all based upon certain fundamental laws and principles, and that all are good, bad, or indifferent according as they conform to or violate these principles. These essentials having been preserved, the opportunities for the exercise of individual or ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 598, June 18, 1887 • Various

... cultivate, they fix a colony, taking the inhabitants into their society if they are willing to live with them; and where they do that of their own accord, they quickly enter into their method of life and conform to their rules, and this proves a happiness to both nations; for, according to their constitution, such care is taken of the soil that it becomes fruitful enough for both, though it might be otherwise too narrow and barren for any one of ...
— Utopia • Thomas More

... introduction. A knowledge of these laws, even presuming them to be accurately expounded, will no more give a writer the power of felicitous expression than a knowledge of the laws of colour, perspective, and proportion will enable a critic to paint a picture. But all good writing must conform to these laws; all bad writing will be found to violate them. And the utility of the knowledge will be that of a constant monitor, warning the artist of the errors into which he has slipped, or into which he ...
— The Principles of Success in Literature • George Henry Lewes

... Christopher Wren marks an epoch in the history of the English Church which should not be overlooked. For the first time since the Reformation the planning and general features of church edifices were made to conform to the exigencies of the Protestant faith and a simplified ritual. Rarely has such an opportunity for distinction been vouchsafed to any architect as that which fell to the lot of Wren; and he proved himself equal to the task. Fergusson ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, November 1885 • Various

... in which the Enchiridion was henceforth regularly printed during and after Luther's life. (W. 30, 1, 608.) The editions of 1537 reveal several changes in language, especially in the Bible-verses, which are made to conform to Luther's translation. In the edition of 1542 the promise of the Fourth Commandment appears for the first time, and the Table of Duties is expanded. The Bible-verses referring to the relation of congregations to their ...
— Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church • Friedrich Bente

... put my favorite author under my pillow; but often having to sleep on the floor, this volume of Byron served as my pillow. In turn one book after another held me like a captive lover, and I endeavored to conform my life to what I read, no sooner enthralled by one than I found another more enchanting. I formed a taste for reading that has lasted all my life, in which, if there be any education, any mental discipline, is the only consistent part of my ...
— Confessions of Boyhood • John Albee

... princess Buddir al Buddoor's worth; but hopes, nevertheless, that your majesty will accept of it, and make it agreeable to the princess, and with the greater confidence since he has endeavoured to conform to the conditions ...
— The Arabian Nights Entertainments Complete • Anonymous

... The ultimate end of science, as well as its initial impulse, is the regulation of human conduct. To make right action possible and prevalent is the function of science. The "world as it is" is the province of science. In proportion as our actions conform to the conditions of the world as it is, do we find the world beautiful, glorious, divine. The truth of the "world as it is" must be the ultimate inspiration of art, poetry, and religion. The world as men have agreed to say it is, is quite another matter. ...
— The Story of the Innumerable Company, and Other Sketches • David Starr Jordan

... show how far we shall shade the lower portion of the paper. Our mask being the size of the foreground negative, it is now only necessary to hold it at the proper distance from the lens to have its edge conform to the sky-line when enlarged. But this would leave a sharp line if held exactly at that point, so using the pencil marks on the margin as a guide, we slowly raise and lower the mask very slightly and just sufficient to cause an agreeable blending of the sky into nothing. The proper exposure ...
— Bromide Printing and Enlarging • John A. Tennant

... that which had happened. He, seeing the king's trouble and confusion of mind, said, "O king, trouble and distress thyself no more. We are not without hope that the prince will yet change for the better: nay, I know for very certain that he will speedily renounce the teaching of this deceiver, and conform to thy will." ...
— Barlaam and Ioasaph • St. John of Damascus

... your valuable qualities. Well, I shall write to the abbe; I shall hold him responsible for his protege's misconduct, and I shall soon know all about this assassination. Only I warn you, that when I reside in a country, I conform to all its code, and I have no wish to put myself within the compass of the French laws ...
— The Count of Monte Cristo • Alexandre Dumas, Pere

... the States did not conform their views to its requirements, then, by the fifth section of the article of amendment, Congress was authorized to enforce it by suitable legislation. We doubt very much whether any action of a State not directed by way ...
— Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence - The Best Speeches Delivered by the Negro from the days of - Slavery to the Present Time • Various

... above all a man and every inch a king—brimful of human vices, foibles, and humours, and endowed with those high qualities of genius which enabled him to mould events and men by his unscrupulous and audacious determination to conform to the spirit of his times which no man better understood than himself, had ever been in such close relations with the Netherlands as to seem in some ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley

... ministers of the gospel and priests in the English-speaking world. They have certain religious functions to perform in certain set ways, outside of which they never venture to stray. The Russian priest is merely expected to conform to certain observances and to perform the rites and ceremonies prescribed by the Church. He rarely preaches or exhorts, and neither has nor seeks to have a moral control over his flock. Marriage among the priests is not prohibited but is limited, ...
— The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki - Campaigning in North Russia 1918-1919 • Joel R. Moore

... article; the next would aver I was the rankest dub that ever came down the pike. They said I'd imitated people, people I'd never read, people I'd never heard of, people I never dreamt existed. I was accused of imitating over twenty different writers. Then the pedants got after me, said I didn't conform to academic formulas, advised me to steep myself in tradition. They talked about form, about classic style and so on. As if it matters so long as you get down the thing itself so that folks can see it, and feel it go right home to their hearts. I can ...
— The Trail of '98 - A Northland Romance • Robert W. Service

... the actions of individuals, this power above the citizens, this government, must possess functions of three kinds. First, legislative power, or power to declare the rules of conduct to which the citizen must conform; second, judicial power, or power to interpret and declare the true meaning of these rules, and to apply them to the particular cases that may arise; and third, the executive power, or power to carry ...
— Government and Administration of the United States • Westel W. Willoughby and William F. Willoughby

... finally proposed that where the Reformation had not become established, the edict of Worms should be rigorously enforced; and that "in those where the people had deviated from it, and where they could not conform to it without danger of revolt, they should at least effect no new reform, they should touch upon no controverted point, they should not oppose the celebration of the mass, they should permit no Roman Catholic to ...
— The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan • Ellen G. White

... between our own resultant and conflicting thoughts, with no furtive finger of desire to tip the balance; and to act upon that judgment without flinching. We fear the final and irretrievable calamity: we fear to make ourselves conspicuous, we conform to standard, we bear ourselves meekly in that station whereunto it hath pleased Heaven to call us; the herd instinct survives four-footedness. For, we note the strange but not the familiar; our thinking is to right reason what peat is to coal; the ...
— Copper Streak Trail • Eugene Manlove Rhodes

... entered into by the royal authority have the most complete legal validity and perfection, independent of any other sanction. The Parliament, it is true, is sometimes seen employing itself in altering the existing laws to conform them to the stipulations in a new treaty; and this may have possibly given birth to the imagination, that its co-operation was necessary to the obligatory efficacy of the treaty. But this parliamentary interposition proceeds from ...
— The Federalist Papers • Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison

... dignity: "I am not acquainted with the customs of other courts, and am not concerned to know what they are. I am responsible for this court, and I cannot conscientiously allow my judgment to be warped and my judicial liberty hampered by trying to conform to the caprices of other courts, ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... shall we do? thought the distressed farmers. We can not live in such persecution. We will have to go away. Give up? Indeed, no! We shall not belie our consciences for any man. Since God is behind us, we will not conform. And, under opposition and injustice, Puritan lips set themselves rigid, Puritan hearts closed against the persecutors, strong reaction from the beautiful ceremonies and graceful living that could hide such unbrotherliness became almost worship of unloveliness ...
— Ten Great Events in History • James Johonnot

... define the standard of orthodox faith, and to force his subjects to embrace the royal theology. The Catholic faith was to hold good only so far as the Supreme Head willed; the "King's doctrine" became the rule to which "our Church of England," as Henry styled it, was henceforth to conform; and "unity and concord in opinion" were to ...
— Henry VIII. • A. F. Pollard

... relation to these laws almost in the words of Mr. Combe. "Since all these, and similar facts," he says, "are unchangeable, constant, and regular, there result for man as many true laws to which he must conform, with the express clause of a penalty attached to their infraction, or of a benefit attached to their observance; so that if a man shall pretend to see well in the dark, if he acts in opposition to the course of the seasons ...
— Modern Atheism under its forms of Pantheism, Materialism, Secularism, Development, and Natural Laws • James Buchanan

... appearance, and they have only one of the essential qualities of identity, VIZ, INVARIABLENESS. That I may avoid all ambiguity and confusion on this head, I shall observe, that I here account for the opinions and belief of the vulgar with regard to the existence of body; and therefore must entirely conform myself to their manner of thinking and of expressing themselves. Now we have already observd, that however philosophers may distinguish betwixt the objects and perceptions of the senses; which they suppose co-existent and resembling; yet this is a distinction, which ...
— A Treatise of Human Nature • David Hume

... not be unfortunate that Randolph should have elected to write more pastorali, but to censure the individual work because it is not of a type to which its author never had the remotest intention of making it conform, and to which except for something like a miracle it was impossible that it should even approach, is the acme of critical fatuity. Judged in accordance with the intention of the author the Amyntas is no inconsiderable achievement for a young writer, and compared with other works belonging to the ...
— Pastoral Poetry and Pastoral Drama - A Literary Inquiry, with Special Reference to the Pre-Restoration - Stage in England • Walter W. Greg

... been suffered to be carried off or concealed, and will expect a particular account of all things of that nature. Lastly, he expects a positive answer, before two o'clock in the morning, otherwise he will think himself obliged to take measures conform. ...
— The Jacobite Rebellions (1689-1746) - (Bell's Scottish History Source Books.) • James Pringle Thomson

... of nations; in the midst of our eagerness to achieve greater prosperity and in our constant wrestle as citizens to form part of the public administration, he it is who points out the path of our social and political life, and has to dictate the laws which should conform to our customs as well as those which should be necessary to determine its evolution. He it is who, standing in the prow, with gaze fixed on the distant horizon, steers the ship through the paths which guide nations to the haven of ...
— Latin America and the United States - Addresses by Elihu Root • Elihu Root

... from these sterner aspects of thy face Spare me and mine, nor let us need the wrath Of the mad unchained elements to teach Who rules them. Be it ours to meditate, In these calm shades, thy milder majesty, And to the beautiful order of thy works Learn to conform the order ...
— Selections From American Poetry • Various

... expend, its wealth? Those who have their country's truest prosperity at heart may well sigh for the return of the vanished ideal of Solomon's days; and those who would make the most of themselves must in some measure seek to conform their own ...
— Expositions Of Holy Scripture - Volume I: St. Luke, Chaps. I to XII • Alexander Maclaren

... friends, and turn them against us; perhaps ruin our rather fair prospect in Kentucky." Very considerately he said: "Allow me, therefore, to ask that you will, as of your own motion, modify that paragraph so as to conform to" the Act of August 6. Fremont replied, in substance, that the President might do this, but that he himself would not! Thereupon Mr. Lincoln, instead of removing the insubordinate and insolent general, behaved in his usual passionless way, and merely issued an order that Fremont's proclamation ...
— Abraham Lincoln, Vol. II • John T. Morse

... all to Ferragut's taste. Marching in line like a soldier, and having to conform to the speed of these miserable little boats irritated him greatly, and it made him still more wrathful to find himself obliged to obey the Commodore of a convoy who frequently was nobody but an ...
— Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) - A Novel • Vicente Blasco Ibanez

... undertakings upon such an assumption; we have never before, as far as I know, deliberately disregarded every principle of economy in money and time; we have never before in national projects attempted to conform to merely theoretical ideas, but we have always adhered to practical, hard common-sense notions of what is best ...
— The American Type of Isthmian Canal - Speech by Hon. John Fairfield Dryden in the Senate of the - United States, June 14, 1906 • John Fairfield Dryden

... and must go forth among strangers—I know not where. I was but a little girl when you gave me a home. I have grown up in an atmosphere of love, and I have felt very grateful to you for all you have done for me. I have tried to conform to your wishes, and I would obey you in all else—but I cannot marry Curtis; I think I would rather die. Let me still live with you as I have done. I do not care for any part of your money—leave it all to him, ...
— Adrift in New York - Tom and Florence Braving the World • Horatio Alger

... to suppose that the comic touches are all new, though they may have been a little amplified in the later version. Once more, it is false argument to evolve the idea of a chanson from Roland only, and then to insist that all chansons shall conform to it. ...
— The Flourishing of Romance and the Rise of Allegory - (Periods of European Literature, vol. II) • George Saintsbury

... flow from the philosophical theory of the indefinite perfectibility of man, or how strong an influence it exercises even on men who, living entirely for the purposes of action and not of thought, seem to conform their actions to it, without knowing anything about it. I accost an American sailor, and I inquire why the ships of his country are built so as to last but for a short time; he answers without hesitation that the art of navigation is every day making such ...
— Democracy In America, Volume 2 (of 2) • Alexis de Tocqueville

... passing multitude, concerning which he made many enquiries; and when he was told that in this place, where people of many different nations were assembled, every one wore the habit of his country, he desired that he might conform to the custom, and appear in that of Otaheite. South-Sea cloth was therefore sent for from the ship, and he equipped himself with great expedition and dexterity. The people who had seen Otouron, the Indian, who had been brought hither by M. Bougainville, enquired whether Tupia was not the same person: ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 13 • Robert Kerr

... persons would not meet with constant employment in teaching, and especially where teachers in Sabbath schools are needed. Persons desirous of such a field, of humble, yet useful labor, should come here with the fixed purpose to mix with, and conform to the usages of the Western population, to avoid fastidiousness, and to submit to the plain, frank, social, and hospitable manners of ...
— A New Guide for Emigrants to the West • J. M. Peck

... a great emporium, some twelve miles inland. This curious arrangement, so different from what one would expect, confronts one in China with the regularity of a natural law: Canton, Shanghai, Foochow, and Tientsin, all conform to it. The small city stands at the anchorage for heavy shipping; but the great city, renouncing this advantage, is located some distance inland, to be safe from sea-robbers and ...
— The Awakening of China • W.A.P. Martin

... term of Five Years, and have cultivated acres thereof, within the said term, and have conformed to the provisions of said Act, shall be entitled to a Grant in fee, under the Great Seal, for the said Land: but should he fail to comply with the conditions of this License and conform to the said Act, he shall forfeit all claim to the ...
— Report by the Governor on a Visit to the Micmac Indians at Bay d'Espoir - Colonial Reports, Miscellaneous. No. 54. Newfoundland • William MacGregor

... might have gone hard with me; for the Turks reckon it as an unpardonable crime for a Christian to assume the Mussulman Garb, and conform outwardly to that religion, without having gone through the Proper Rites. However, as I have said, the French Ambassador was just then in high favour with the Porte. He made interest with the Captain Bashaw, the Kislar Aga, and the Grand Vizier himself. The services I had rendered ...
— The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous, Vol. 3 of 3 • George Augustus Sala

... of either of the two Contracting Parties shall, provided they conform to the laws of the country, be at liberty, with their families, to enter, establish themselves, reside, and remain in any part of the territories of the other. They may hire and occupy houses and warehouses for the purposes of residence and commerce, and may exercise, conformably ...
— Notes on the Diplomatic History of the Jewish Question • Lucien Wolf

... divided and rebel mind, that distrust of a sentiment because our arithmetic has computed the strength and means opposed to our purpose, these[158] have not. Their mind being whole, their eye is as yet unconquered, and when we look in their faces we are disconcerted. Infancy conforms to nobody: all conform to it, so that one babe commonly makes four or five[159] out of the adults who prattle and play to it. So God has armed youth and puberty and manhood no less with its own piquancy and charm, and made it enviable and gracious and its claims not to be put by, if it will stand by itself. Do ...
— Essays • Ralph Waldo Emerson

... it you, though I certainly do not attach much credit to the virtuous refusal of the Whigs to come in under Lady Conyngham's auspices, forasmuch as I should rather believe that if the daughter of the Devil would engage to bring them in, they would even conform to the condition of admitting old Nicholas (not Vansittart) as their colleague and patron. The opinion of the breach between the King and his Ministers being past all mending, seems every day to gain ground, for I hear of it from different quarters. If ...
— Memoirs of the Court of George IV. 1820-1830 (Vol 1) - From the Original Family Documents • Duke of Buckingham and Chandos

... necessary for the instruction and direction of the subjects of the belligerent state, with respect to their intercourse with the foe; it also apprizes neutral nations of the fact, and enables them to conform their conduct to the rights belonging to the ...
— The Laws Of War, Affecting Commerce And Shipping • H. Byerley Thomson

... to rest after my dinner," said the Portuguese. "You must conform to the rules of the house while you're here. ...
— What the Moon Saw: and Other Tales • Hans Christian Andersen

... population of this nature, but it is impossible in the nature of things, to consult the national good without doing what we do not wish to do, to some particular part. Perhaps gentlemen contend against the introduction of the clause, on too slight grounds. If it does not conform with the title of the bill, alter the latter; if it does not conform to the precise terms of the Constitution, amend it. But if it will tend to delay the whole bill, that perhaps will be the best reason for making it the object of a separate one. If this is the sense ...
— The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus • American Anti-Slavery Society

... and frightful persecution immediately commenced. But still some of these governors and magistrates, considering themselves not only the officers of the prince, but the protectors of the people, and the defenders of the laws rather than of the faith, did not blindly conform to those harsh and illegal commands. The Prince of Orange, stadtholder of Holland, Zealand, and Utrecht, and the count of Egmont, governor of Flanders and Artois, permitted no persecutions in those five provinces. But in various places the very people, even when influenced by their ...
— Holland - The History of the Netherlands • Thomas Colley Grattan

... p. 37" in Footnote 1 and "see note pp. 48, 49" in Footnote II have been changed to "See note Q" and "see note CC" respectively to conform to the footnote numbering in ...
— Colonial Records of Virginia • Various

... that the colder perfections of Academic art should always be found in them. They have something of the waywardness and negligence of nature, something of the asymmetreia we admire in the earlier creations of Greek architecture. That Shelley, acute critic and profound student as he was, could conform himself to rule and show himself an artist in the stricter sense, is, however, abundantly proved by "The Cenci" and by "Adonais". The reason why he did not always observe this method will be understood by those who have studied his "Defence of Poetry", and learned ...
— Percy Bysshe Shelley • John Addington Symonds

... this custom had, it is now too well established to be disputed. I shall therefore conform to it in the ...
— The History of the Life of the Late Mr. Jonathan Wild the Great • Henry Fielding

... we carry back the analysis of an organized body as far as we can, we find every part of it made up of masses of nucleated protoplasm of various sizes and shapes. In all essential features these masses conform to the type of protoplasmic matter just described. Such bodies are called cells. In many cells the nucleus is finely granular or reticulated in appearance, and on the threads of the meshwork may be one or more ...
— A Practical Physiology • Albert F. Blaisdell

... been distrusted mainly because they have seemed to exalt mere educational and abstract tests above general business capacity and even special fitness for the particular work in hand. It seems to me that the rules which should be applied to the management of the public service may properly conform in the main to such as regulate the conduct ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 2 (of 2) of Volume 8: Chester A. Arthur • James D. Richardson

... tenacity that is as intense as it is characteristic. His hat is the conventional one adopted by all Chinese immigrants. His clothing likewise, though far from Chinese, is nevertheless entirely un-American. He makes no effort to conform to his surroundings. He seems ...
— Evolution Of The Japanese, Social And Psychic • Sidney L. Gulick

... will say that there is the public good to be considered, and that on that account one must not and ought not to conform to these principles; for the public good one may commit acts of violence and murder. It is better for one man to die than that the whole people perish, you will say like Caiaphas, and you sign the sentence of death of one man, of a second, and a third; you load your gun against this man who is to ...
— The Kingdom of God is within you • Leo Tolstoy

... embassies sent to China, an Indian Brahman called Ch'iao-ch'en-ju (Kaundinya) heard a supernatural voice bidding him go and reign in Fu-nan. He met with a good reception and was elected king. He changed the customs of the country and made them conform to those of India. One of his successors, Jayavarman, sent a coral image of Buddha in 503 to the Emperor Wu-ti (502-550). The inhabitants of Fu-nan are said to make bronze images of the heavenly genii with two or four heads and four or eight arms. Jayavarman ...
— Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3 (of 3) • Charles Eliot

... only a few pontoon bridges. The canal would be filled with our guns and dead. Very few of our men could escape. There were no troops but ours and the French on the left between us and Calais. Two weeks after the Battle of St. Julien the salient was flattened to conform with sound strategy. ...
— The Red Watch - With the First Canadian Division in Flanders • J. A. Currie

... Imperial Highness that the Emperor was anxious to know her tastes and ways. She told me that she was easily pleased; that her tastes were very simple; that she was able to adapt herself to anything, and would do her best to conform to His Majesty's wishes, her only desire being to please him.... I must say, that during the whole hour of my interview with Her Imperial Highness, she did not once speak of ...
— The Happy Days of the Empress Marie Louise • Imbert De Saint-Amand

... were executed near London (August); nine priests and three laymen were put to death in October, and before the end of the year thirty-one had suffered the terrible punishment reserved for traitors, merely because they refused to conform. The prisons were so full of recusants that new houses were opened for their detention. The government reaped a rich harvest by the heavy fines inflicted on the wealthy Catholics and took pains, besides, to annoy them at every turn by domiciliary visits in ...
— History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance • Rev. James MacCaffrey

... take care of the young people when they go, of course always using money which has come from the churches. It has charge of a group of special schools in the South, and it sets the scholastic standards to which all the church's schools and colleges must conform. Besides looking out for these interests it helps the school to provide courses in the Bible and Christian principles, and it furnishes workers to serve the colleges in caring for the religious life of ...
— John Wesley, Jr. - The Story of an Experiment • Dan B. Brummitt

... understanding; but it is one thing to meditate in the privacy of one's own mind, quite another to publish these constructive processes as an end in themselves, to set up critical "laws" and expect that poets are going to conform to them. ...
— Wagner's Tristan und Isolde • George Ainslie Hight

... references are made to Li Hung Chang. Both were written prior to the death of the distinguished Oriental diplomat, and I have chosen to explain seeming anachronisms, rather than change my narrative to conform with later events. ...
— Said the Observer • Louis J. Stellman

... not possess of himself sufficient power for the security and protection of his people, or that the authority of these popular assemblies was ever to become so absolute, that the prince must always conform himself to it, and could never have any occasion to guard against their practices, as well as against those of his ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part E. - From Charles I. to Cromwell • David Hume

... has been used. While endeavoring to devise intricate and ingenious mechanisms to sink the submersible, we overlook the simplest safeguards for our merchant vessels. To-day, the construction of the average ship is designed to conform to the insurance requirements. This does not mean in any way that the ship is so constructed as to be truly safe. Thousands of vessels that are plying the seas to-day are equipped with bulkheads that are absolutely useless because they do not extend high enough to prevent the ...
— The Journal of Submarine Commander von Forstner • Georg-Guenther von Forstner

... kingdoms, of religious reared (although under a rule) with different principles and mode of life. So different are these that under no consideration can there be the remedy that they will accommodate their way to ours, or we conform to theirs. Some of us appeal to Paul and others to Zefas [i.e., Cephas] [15]—a most lamentable and injurious condition of affairs, and the destruction of this conversion, and of our own peace within and without. In order not to weary ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XX, 1621-1624 • Various

... princes, not the people, had conquered Rome, and to the princes, not the people, were secured the benefits of the victory—the spoils of churches, and the right to worship according to conscience. The people had the right to conform to their ruler's creed, or to depart from his land. Still, as a matter of fact, many of the princes being Reformers, a large mass of the population had acquired the privilege for their own generation and that of their children to practise ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley

... to refer the Biscayan's punishment to the court of his Dulcinea? Being thus reminded by his squire, Don Quixote nobly declared his oath null and void, and commended Sancho Panza for unknowingly having made him conform with the customs ...
— The Story of Don Quixote • Arvid Paulson, Clayton Edwards, and Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

... time after the accession of Elizabeth, the Puritans were permitted to indulge in their peculiarities, without being excluded from the established church; but when Elizabeth felt herself secure, then they were obliged to conform, or suffered imprisonment, fines, and other punishments. The original difficulty was their repugnance to the surplice, and to some few forms of worship, which gradually extended to an opposition to the order of bishops; to the temporal dignities of the church; to the various titles ...
— A Modern History, From the Time of Luther to the Fall of Napoleon - For the Use of Schools and Colleges • John Lord

... privilege by a favorable opinion conceived of the institution, a desire of knowledge, and a sincere wish of being serviceable to his fellow-creatures. Should his petition be granted, he will cheerfully conform to all the ancient established usages and customs of ...
— The Mysteries of Free Masonry - Containing All the Degrees of the Order Conferred in a Master's Lodge • William Morgan

... ignorant, or thoughtless, who is surprised at everything he sees; or wonderfully conceited, who expects everything to conform to his standard of propriety. Clowns and idiots laugh on all occasions; and the common failing of wishing to be thought satirical often runs through whole families in country places, to the great annoyance of their neighbours. To be struck ...
— The Bed-Book of Happiness • Harold Begbie

... the great law to which I have referred—the law that liberty is progress—and conform our policy to the spirit of that great law? or shall we, governed by unreasonable and selfish prejudices, initiate a policy which will make this race our hereditary enemy, a mine beneath instead of a buttress to the edifice which ...
— History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States • Wiliam H. Barnes

... that your H. will make the counting-room conform to regular mid-day dinner and early tea-time. And let us trust that it will not have the same fatal result as with King Louis XII., who is said to have died earlier from changing his dinner-hour in compliment ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 97, November, 1865 • Various

... great towns and cities, drawing up into its embrace the depraved and destitute of all classes; receiving thieves, harlots, paupers, drunkards, prodigals, all alike, on the simple conditions of their being willing to work and to conform to discipline. Drawing up these poor outcasts, reforming them, and creating in them habits of industry, honesty, and truth; teaching them methods by which alike the bread that perishes and that ...
— "In Darkest England and The Way Out" • General William Booth

... through the whole country. The uniformity of our dress among all classes above that of the day labourer, while it has authorised all classes to assume the appearance of gentlemen, has at the same time inspired the wish to conform their manners, and still more their ordinary actions in social intercourse, to their notions of the gentlemanly, the most commonly received attribute of which character is a certain generosity in trifles. On the other hand, ...
— Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit etc. • by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

... in my disposition when she, who is now acting unjustly toward me, speaks favorably of me. And that through no fault of mine this separation has taken place, I call the Gods to witness. But since she considers that it is not befitting her to give way to my mother, and with readiness to conform to her temper, and as on no other terms it is possible for good feeling to exist between them, either my mother must be separated, Phidippus, from me, or else Philumena. Now affection urges me rather to ...
— The Comedies of Terence - Literally Translated into English Prose, with Notes • Publius Terentius Afer, (AKA) Terence

... as a Jew's torn cap. From the gable protruded the edges of a balcony, supported on a row of close-set wooden columns; the columns, which were a great architectural marvel, were solid, though half decayed, and were put up crooked, as in the tower of Pisa; they did not conform to Greek models, for they lacked bases and capitals. On the columns rested semicircular arches, also of wood, in imitation of Gothic art. Above were artistic ornaments, crooked as the arms of Sabbath candlesticks,69 ...
— Pan Tadeusz • Adam Mickiewicz

... "Social Statics" is a plea for the liberty of the individual. That government is best which governs least. The liberty of each, limited only by the liberty of all, is the rule to which society must conform in order to attain the highest development. Governments have no business to scrutinize the life and belief of the individual. Interference should only come where one man interferes with the ...
— Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great Philosophers, Volume 8 • Elbert Hubbard

... a negress possess physical and intellectual qualities which are nearly if not quite the mean of their parents; but the offspring of parents, both of the same race—be it Caucasian, Mongolian, or Indian—frequently conform, intellectually and corporeally, to either of their progenitors. Thus, of the children of a tall, thin, dark man, and a short, fat, fair woman, some will be like their father, and the others will resemble their mother, or, perhaps, all may ...
— The Stock-Feeder's Manual - the chemistry of food in relation to the breeding and - feeding of live stock • Charles Alexander Cameron

... (1918)); to repair viaducts, (Northern Pac. R. Co. v. Minnesota, 208 U.S. 583 (1908)); and to fence its right of way, (Minneapolis & St. L.R. Co. v. Emmons, 149 U.S. 364 (1893)). Though a railroad company owns the right of way along a street, the city may require it to lay tracks to conform to the established grade; to fill in tracks at street intersections; and to remove tracks from a busy street intersection, when the attendant disadvantages and expense are small and the safety of the public appreciably enhanced, (Denver & R.G.R. ...
— The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation • Edward Corwin

... remonstrances, those schemes of dissipation and expense, which the youth and passions of Henry rendered agreeable to him. But Surrey was a more dexterous courtier; and though few had borne a greater share in the frugal politics of the late king, he knew how to conform himself to the humor of his new master; and no one was so forward in promoting that liberality, pleasure, and magnificence, which began to prevail under the young monarch.[**] By this policy, he ingratiated himself with Henry; he made advantage, as well ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part C. - From Henry VII. to Mary • David Hume

... Tennessee in my dream-wreathed yooth, when livestock goes projectin' about permiscus, a party has to build his fences 'bull strong, hawg tight, an' hoss high,' or he takes results. Which Hoskins don't make his fences to conform to this yere rool none; leastwise they ain't hawg tight as is shown by one ...
— Wolfville • Alfred Henry Lewis

... believed, or no true peace can come near the soul, nor the soul be prepared to assoil the assaults of the adversary. Let therefore thy faith, if thou wouldst be a warrior, O thou faint-hearted Christian, be well instructed in this! Then will thy faith do thee a twofold kindness. 1. It will conform thee to the death and resurrection of Christ. And, 2. It will give thee advantage, when thou seest sin strong in thyself, yet to conclude that by Christ thou art dead thereto, and by him alive therefrom. ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... society is voluntary, and the parties can separate when the cost is felt to be greater than the pleasure. Under this advantage of being able soon to separate, even a company of strangers casually assembled will often recognize the claim and conform to the law; with a certain indistinct sentiment partaking of reciprocal gratitude for the disposition which is so accommodating. But the members of the domestic community also have each this same feeling which demands a mutual effort and self-denial ...
— An Essay on the Evils of Popular Ignorance • John Foster

... ordered to give way before the influx of Western modes. Western ideas did not come with them. To change the dress does not change the thoughts, and it does not civilize a man to shave his chin. Though outwardly conforming to the advanced fashions of the West, inwardly the Russians continued to conform to the unprogressive ...
— Historic Tales, Vol. 8 (of 15) - The Romance of Reality • Charles Morris

... wrapp'd in night, Rides on the raven pennons of the storm, Or o'er the field, with purple havoc warm, Lashes her steeds, and sings along the fight; Let her, whom more ferocious strains delight, Disdain the plaintive sonnet's little form, And scorn to its wild cadence to conform, The impetuous tenor of her hardy flight. But me, far lowest of the sylvan train, Who wake the wood-nymphs from the forest shade With wildest song;—me, much behoves thy aid Of mingled melody, to grace my strain, And give it power to please, as ...
— The Poetical Works of Henry Kirke White - With a Memoir by Sir Harris Nicolas • Henry Kirke White

... me,—that will be the surest way to make him either discontented or hypocritical. A young man of his prospects and temper can hardly be expected to chime in with all our sober, old-fashioned habits. You will impose on him—if he is to conform to our hours and notions and quiet set—a thousand irksome restraints; and what will be the consequence? In a year he will be of age, and can throw us off altogether, if he pleases. I know the boy; don't seem to distrust him,—he may be trusted. You place the ...
— Lucretia, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... He was, one may say, a scholar of the old type, forced by circumstances upon the world, but always retaining a sympathy for the scholar's life and temper. Accordingly, his style acquired something of the old elaboration, though the attempt to conform to the canons of a later age renders the structure disagreeably monotonous. His tendency to pomposity is not redeemed by the naivete ...
— Samuel Johnson • Leslie Stephen

... wire and other evils of civilisation are not likely to interfere to deprive us of our national sport; Hunting men have but to be true to themselves, and avoid doing unnecessary damage, to see the sport carried on in the twentieth century as it has been in the past. If we conform to the unwritten laws of the chase, and pay for the damage we do, there will be no fear of fox-hunting dying out. England will be "Merrie England" still, even in the twentieth century; the glorious pastime, sole relic of the ...
— A Cotswold Village • J. Arthur Gibbs

... obey a higher allegiance. For there has always existed, in the doctrine that guilty man could not be pardoned and taken back into favour until the claims of eternal justice had been satisfied, theoretical recognition of the principle that one must conform to the precepts of abstract morality before one may ethically indulge oneself in the lower moralities ...
— The Unexpurgated Case Against Woman Suffrage • Almroth E. Wright

... different. During trials this is still more frequent. The circumstance of being in court of itself excites most people; the consciousness that one's statement is, or may be, of great significance increases the excitement; and the authoritative character of the official subdues very many people to conform their opinions to his. What wonder then, that however much a man may be convinced of the correctness of his evidence, he may yet fail in the face of the doubting ...
— Robin Hood • J. Walker McSpadden

... Mohl's literal translation of the Persian epic into French, we find that James Atkinson stands very much in the same relation to Firdusi as Pope does to Homer. It would be indeed absurd for an English writer to attempt to conform, in an English version, to the vagaries of Persian idiom, or even to attempt a literal rendering of the Persian trope. The manner of a poet can never be faithfully reproduced in a translation, but all that is really valuable, really affecting, in an epic poem will ...
— Persian Literature, Volume 1,Comprising The Shah Nameh, The - Rubaiyat, The Divan, and The Gulistan • Anonymous

... beautiful; and the due ornamentation of it will depend principally upon its form, but also upon its colour and material. Now, form is the principal thing; every one that has half an eye for art will tell you this—'tis an admitted axiom. Either, then, the shape of the covering should conform to that of the head, or it should not, and we take our ground in support of the latter position. The natural form of the head is determined by the rotundity of the cranium, beautifully modified by the waving curls of the hair—we speak of the abstract ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 57, No. 351, January 1845 • Various

... of August 1794 forbade the use of any other names than those in the register of births. I wished to conform to this law, which very foolishly interfered with old habits. My eldest brother was living, and I therefore designated myself Fauvelet the younger. This annoyed General Bonaparte. "Such change of name ...
— Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, Complete • Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne

... bow her neck to the mediaeval yoke which the Church would impose upon her? Why, oh, why cannot we see the Church's tremendous opportunities for good in this century, and yield to that inevitable mental and moral progression which must sweep her from her foundations, unless she conform to its requirements and join in the movement toward universal emancipation! Our people are taught from childhood to be led; they are willing followers—none more willing in the world! But why lead them into the pit? Why muzzle them with fear, oppress them with threats, ...
— Carmen Ariza • Charles Francis Stocking

... purpose on the part of the company in England and the governments here to make this spirit conform to the principles of honor and justice. In the company's letter of instruction of April 17, 1629, Endicott and his Council were told that "If any of the savages pretend right of inheritance to all or any part of the lands granted in our patent, we pray you to endeavor to purchase their ...
— Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs, Vol. 1 • George Boutwell

... difficulty, and cannot, unless the whole structure of the government is changed from a government by States to something like a despotic central government, with power to control even the municipal regulations of States, and to make them conform to its own despotic will. While there remains such an idea as the right of each State to control its own local affairs,—an idea, by the way, more deeply rooted in the minds of men of all sections of the country than perhaps any one other political idea,—no general assertion of human rights ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 110, December, 1866 - A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics • Various

... the remnants of the tribes at the head of Lake Tenaya and took them to the Fresno reservation, together with their chief, Tenaya. But after a short stay they were allowed to return to the Valley under restrictions. Tenaya promised faithfully to conform to everything required, joyfully left the hot and dry reservation, and with his family returned ...
— The Yosemite • John Muir

... favour of Home Rule. The reading is a strained interpretation of events which are known to every one. The North, once and for all, settled that the matters which lay at the bottom of the Civil War should be settled in the manner which conform to Northern notions of justice and of expediency. The abolition of slavery, and the final disposal of the alleged right to Secession, gave to the North, all the requisite securities against attacks on the unity of the Republic. ...
— England's Case Against Home Rule • Albert Venn Dicey

... supposing that what is good for one person is of course good for everybody else. She was dyspeptic, and insisted that she found her favorite plan exceedingly beneficial in her own case; therefore she was sure so delicate a child as Gracie ought to conform ...
— Grandmother Elsie • Martha Finley

... the country at large. Those who would preserve health in themselves and in the community in which they live, who would reap the greatest benefits of earth, and live out the appointed time, must strictly conform ...
— Twentieth Century Negro Literature - Or, A Cyclopedia of Thought on the Vital Topics Relating - to the American Negro • Various

... reluctantly to conform to this decree: But He added that He hoped soon to obtain that consent which would give him a claim to the renewal of their acquaintance. He then explained to her why the Marquis had not called in person, and made no scruple of confiding to her his Sister's History. He concluded by saying that ...
— The Monk; a romance • M. G. Lewis

... have decided well and righteously." Thus, by her own arguments she succeeds in discovering justice, reason, and common sense, how that there is no cause for hating him; thus she frames the matter to conform with her desire, and by her own efforts she kindles her love, as a bush which only smokes with the flame beneath, until some one blows it or stirs it up. If the damsel should come in now, she would win the quarrel for which she had been so reproached, and by which she ...
— Four Arthurian Romances - "Erec et Enide", "Cliges", "Yvain", and "Lancelot" • Chretien de Troyes

... to which education is bound to conform....Those things which honour forbids are more rigorously forbidden when the laws do not concur in the prohibition, and those it commands are more strongly insisted upon when they happen not to be commanded by law.—Montesquieu, {The Spirit Of ...
— Reflections - Or, Sentences and Moral Maxims • Francois Duc De La Rochefoucauld

... agreement (of which he gave Titmouse an alleged copy) by which Titmouse, in consideration of Messrs. Quirk, Gammon, and Snap using their best exertions to put him in possession of the estate, &c. &c., bound himself to conform to their wishes in everything, on pain of their instantly throwing up the whole affair, looking out for another heir at law (!) and issuing execution forthwith against Titmouse for all expenses incurred under his retainer. I ...
— Ten Thousand a-Year. Volume 1. • Samuel Warren

... it should never give the appearance of dictating what listeners should, or should not, hear, it has its own auditioning standards that should satisfy the morals of the most particular. Records must first conform with the very strict code of the Broadcasting Service, after which they are classified as suitable for children's sessions, for general sessions, or only for times when children are assumed not to be listening. The Service can, and does, reject episodes from overseas features, ...
— Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents - The Mazengarb Report (1954) • Oswald Chettle Mazengarb et al.

... parts of the body politic. He is so ready at reasons of State, that he has them, like a lesson, by rote; but as charlatans make diseases fit their medicines, and not their medicines diseases, so he makes all public affairs conform to his own established reason of State, and not his reason, though the case alter ever so much, comply with them. He thinks to obtain a great insight into State affairs by observing only the outside pretences and appearances of things, which are seldom or never true, and may ...
— Character Writings of the 17th Century • Various

... follow truly the properties of mortar, burnt clay and what else he works in, it is no house that he makes, but a rubbish-heap. It will not stand for twelve centuries, to lodge a hundred-and-eighty millions; it will fall straightway. A man must conform himself to Nature's laws, be verily in communion with Nature and the truth of things, or Nature will answer him, No, not at all! Speciosities are specious—ah me!—a Cagliostro, many Cagliostros, ...
— Sacred Books of the East • Various

... what I have most dreaded in this crash is the pain, the anxiety, and the possible discomfort it would bring to you and to Clara. For myself I care nothing. It is a hard trial, but I shall conform to our altered ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 3, No. 18, April, 1859 - [Date last updated: August 7, 2005] • Various

... make, on this extraordinary occasion, what she called her "part." That artist having, unadvisedly, dressed her hair in the fashion, he was compelled, after she had looked at herself in the glass, to do his work over again, and conform to the usual style of his client, which consisted chiefly in never being "done" at all, a method that gave her head a general air of what is vulgarly called "a ...
— The Lesser Bourgeoisie • Honore de Balzac

... convinced that Her Majesty's Government would not favourably entertain a request from British subjects for intervention because the said British subjects are unwilling (as was agreed between this Republic and Her Majesty's Government in the Convention of London) to conform themselves to the laws of the land and to respect the legal institutions and customs of the South African Republic, and because they feel aggrieved that the laws are not altered ...
— A Century of Wrong • F. W. Reitz

... won't complain. To say I was rude to them, would be to say, that I did not think it worth my while to be otherwise. Barbarians! are not we the civilized English, come to teach them manners and fashions? Whoever does not conform, and swear allegiance too, we shall keep ...
— Tales and Novels, Vol. 6 • Maria Edgeworth

... had already made sure of Ferdinand's promise to conform to the plan he had invented, when the old king, at the solicitation of Piero, suddenly drew back. Sforza found out how this change had come about, and learned that it was Piero's influence that had overmastered his own. He could ...
— The Borgias - Celebrated Crimes • Alexandre Dumas, Pere

... treaties. But in its modern form it dates just from the time when States were waking up to the consciousness of sovereignty, and when the horrors of the wars which followed the Reformation showed that even sovereign powers ought to conform to some rules of conduct. It has been the work in its origin of writers and teachers of law, and has been built up more recently by agreement between States. Unlike the law between man and man, which modern states enforce by organized ...
— The Unity of Civilization • Various

... verily believes, that the hat now shown to her, and above referred to, is the hat he took out with him: Depones, That he wore that day a pair of brogues which he had bespoke to be made so as they could fit buckles, and not to be tied with latches, conform to the common use of that country: That these brogues the deponent saw when they were first brought home from Glenshee: Depones, That a gun now exhibited and shown to the deponent, is the gun which her husband, Serjeant Davies, received in a present from Lieutenant Brydon, of the same regiment ...
— Trial of Duncan Terig, alias Clerk, and Alexander Bane Macdonald • Sir Walter Scott

... he altered them to conform, and I went back on the morrow; in fact I went back so often that after a while I became really quite attached to the place. I felt almost like a member of the firm. Between calls from me the cutter worked on those breeches. He cut them up and he cut ...
— Europe Revised • Irvin S. Cobb

... the varied attitudes of attack and defence; no wrestler, no discobolus, no pugilist exhibited the grace, the vigor, or the muscular action of a man; nor were the beauties, the feeling, and the elegance of female forms displayed in stone: all was made to conform to the same invariable model, which confined the human figure to a ...
— Museum of Antiquity - A Description of Ancient Life • L. W. Yaggy

... Emperor, and in his stead to the Elector of Brandenburg, in order that the dukedom of Pomerania be recovered to the Elector, its natural sovereign.[11] According to the compact between the Emperor and the Elector, the official oath of military governors must also conform to this formula, and the commandants of fortresses be taken into the service of the Emperor and the empire. First and foremost is the obedience and fealty they owe ...
— The Youth of the Great Elector • L. Muhlbach

... the New Englander. They are a pathetic lot of pifflers. They have no one to blame but themselves that they are going. Everywhere else the Anglo-Saxon has gone he has insisted that he had the divine right to rule and has kept it. Outsiders have had to conform or get out. But over here he promulgated the Equality idea. Isaac Gezinsky and Hans Hoffman and Pedro Patello are as fit to rule according to the Equality idea as anyone else. It didn't take much over ...
— Still Jim • Honore Willsie Morrow



Words linked to "Conform" :   obey, acclimatize, adapt, acclimate, focus, deviate, conform to, adjust, acclimatise, square, scan



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