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Stir   Listen
verb
Stir  v. i.  
1.
To move; to change one's position. "I had not power to stir or strive, But felt that I was still alive."
2.
To be in motion; to be active or bustling; to exert or busy one's self. "All are not fit with them to stir and toil." "The friends of the unfortunate exile, far from resenting his unjust suspicions, were stirring anxiously in his behalf."
3.
To become the object of notice; to be on foot. "They fancy they have a right to talk freely upon everything that stirs or appears."
4.
To rise, or be up, in the morning. (Colloq.)






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Stir" Quotes from Famous Books



... AWAKENED. Voyages like those made by Sir Francis Drake awakened a desire throughout England to learn more about the New World. Until this time even the great discoveries of Columbus and the Cabots had failed to stir the English people to take part in the exploration and settlement of the Americas. The principal reason was because their attention was occupied by the struggle between their monarchs and the popes to decide whether king or pope should govern ...
— Introductory American History • Henry Eldridge Bourne and Elbert Jay Benton

... your arms are wanting—not a dog?" His face was drawn, and he stared at her with fierce hunger smouldering in his eyes. He was hurting himself beyond belief—was he hurting her too? Could anything that he might say touch her, stir her from the calm placidity that sometimes, in contradiction to his own restlessness, was almost more than he could tolerate? She had fulfilled the terms of their bargain faithfully, apparently satisfied with its limitation. ...
— The Shadow of the East • E. M. Hull

... a three-volume novel,—a story of the day, with love, money, fighting, manoeuvring, medicine, religion, adventures by sea and land, and some extraordinary revelations of fact clothed in the garb of fiction. In short, unless I deceive myself, it will make a stir. Please to settle this one way or other, and let me know. I wrote to this effect to Messrs. Harper. Will you be kind enough to place this before them? If they consent, you can ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, December, 1885 • Various

... did not stir. The steam had not fairly taken 'hold' yet; then he raised one immense spiked foot and held ...
— The Huge Hunter - Or, the Steam Man of the Prairies • Edward S. Ellis

... a stir all over the court-room. Here at last was a suggestive admission. The examination was ...
— The Darrow Enigma • Melvin L. Severy

... be easy to catch it, for it seemed very tame. He got off his horse, and climbed up very quietly. He was so close to the green bird that he thought he could lay hands on it, when suddenly the rock opened and he fell into a spacious hall, and became as motionless as a statue; he could neither stir, nor utter a complaint at his deplorable situation. Three hundred knights, who had made the same attempt, were in the same state. To look at each other was the only ...
— The Song of Sixpence - Picture Book • Walter Crane

... is no fear of that," said Fouquet; "whenever I place my coachman and my carriage in any particular spot, nothing but an express order from the king could stir them; and more than that, too, it seems that we are not the only ones who have come so far, for I hear footsteps and the ...
— Ten Years Later • Alexandre Dumas, Pere

... entered her mind. She wondered whether there was anything like an "understanding" between the man she was talking to and the tenant of The Trellis House. If so, she wished with all her heart that Godfrey Radmore had kept away. Why stir up embers they had all thought were dead, if he was going to marry this very pretty but, to her mind, second-rate little woman, as soon as a decent ...
— What Timmy Did • Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes

... "Now, Bill, don't stir up a fuss. I know your wild Western way of giving people 'a piece of your mind,' but Spring Beach society doesn't approve of such methods. What's it all about, Bill? Tell me, ...
— Patty's Butterfly Days • Carolyn Wells

... cooling the intimacy between him and Ronald; but she thought better of it, and said nothing. Ronald had had no part in all the questions connected with John's election, and knew nothing of what Vancouver had done in the matter. It was better on many grounds not to stir up fresh trouble, and so long as Vancouver's stables afforded Ronald an easy and economical means of locomotion from Newport to the house of the woman he loved, the friendship that had sprung up was a positive gain. She could not understand the motives that ...
— An American Politician • F. Marion Crawford

... other hand, they place some small grains, usually of mustard-seed They then stretch themselves flat on their backs, exposed to the dews of night, and the blazing and scorching sun by day. Their vow is, that from this position they will not stir, that they will not move nor turn, nor eat nor drink, till the seeds planted on their lips begin to sprout. This usually takes place on the third or fourth day. After this they arise, and then think ...
— Dr. Scudder's Tales for Little Readers, About the Heathen. • Dr. John Scudder

... 15th of September, 17—, an unusual stir was observable in our village. The people were gathered in little groups in the streets, with earnest and awe-stricken countenances; and even the little children had ceased their play, and, clinging to their mothers, looked up as if wondering ...
— Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume VI • Various

... eager stir of excitement and of attention throughout the whole court, for the policeman had stepped down out of the witness-box, and one of the women witnesses was being conducted to ...
— The Lodger • Marie Belloc Lowndes

... "Ripley, stir yourself!" ordered Dick. "Can you take hold of this rope, and keep hold of it" Can you climb across the thin ice, holding onto the rope and being towed ...
— The High School Freshmen - Dick & Co.'s First Year Pranks and Sports • H. Irving Hancock

... stir behind the partition and a sound of chairs scraping the floor. Patsy slid out the door and flew down the stairs at the imminent danger of breaking her neck. James was seated in the ...
— Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work • Edith Van Dyne

... to invade any of this country but she was developing into a strong military power and rather than have trouble, the other nations acquiesced. Once intrenched, she started her usual interference. The prize mischief-maker of the universe, she began to stir up trouble in every quarter. She embroiled the French at Agadir and got into a snarl with Portugal ...
— An African Adventure • Isaac F. Marcosson

... A great stir now arose on the hillside, and I saw a large party of the mountaineers returning from their raid against the Turks with every mark of triumph. Presently, a number of them turned in our direction. Many glittering dark eyes rested on our mournful group with curiosity, ...
— The Grateful Indian - And other Stories • W.H.G. Kingston

... Whitsunday, 1870. She had come up during the night, and cast anchor off Castle Garden. It was a beautiful spring morning, and as I looked over the rail at the miles of straight streets, the green heights of Brooklyn, and the stir of ferryboats and pleasure craft on the river, my hopes rose high that somewhere in this teeming hive there would be a place for me. What kind of a place I had myself no clear notion of. I would let that work out as it could. Of course I ...
— The Making of an American • Jacob A. Riis

... may have been partly accounted for by her very obvious pride, the quality that struck the most casual observer at once, but there was also an air of indifference, a look in the eyes that seemed to pique men's curiosity and stir their interest. It was not for lack of opportunity that she was still unmarried, but she had never discovered the man who had virtue and merit sufficient to cover the obvious disadvantages of his ...
— The Wooden Horse • Hugh Walpole

... me childish—weak— When at some thoughtless word the tears will start; You cannot understand how aught you speak Has power to stir the depths of my ...
— Poems of Passion • Ella Wheeler Wilcox

... was ready. He took his place at the table and proceeded to make inquiries as to whether the discharging of the cargo would commence that day. The mate informed him that he did not think there was any intention of doing so, whereupon he replied, "I must go ashore and stir them up." The masters and mates of the other vessels in port would have come in a body to condole with him for the loss of his son, but they knew that he loathed outward signs of soft emotion, and in any case would never allow sentiment, no matter how justifiable, ...
— The Shellback's Progress - In the Nineteenth Century • Walter Runciman

... house, but he did not stir. He would have to put on the mask soon enough, for, of course, she must never suspect, on Buddy's account. The room, which had grown agreeably dark, was suddenly illuminated, and he lurched to his feet to find the girl facing him from the door. She was neither ...
— Flowing Gold • Rex Beach

... Ha, thought I, I was dreading your treachery yesterday; there is nothing more to fear. Besides that he was nearly stone deaf, he could hardly see; and I was sure, if he should be able to move at all, he could not stir a leg without the help of sticks. I was going to roar out to him that we were adrift, but he looked so imbecile that I thought, to what purpose? If there be aught of memory in him, let him sit and chew the cud thereof. He cannot last long; the cold must soon stop ...
— The Frozen Pirate • W. Clark Russell

... time and stir perceiued euidently in the distinction of mans voice, and which makes ...
— The Arte of English Poesie • George Puttenham

... as big as I care to lug—that's certain! Dorey, go and stir down the clo'es in the boilin' suds, and be quick about it, too! Don't ye know better'n to stand starin' at folks like a sick cat?" This, to a little girl, presumably the herald of Joyce's approach, who had been peeping in through the ...
— Joyce's Investments - A Story for Girls • Fannie E. Newberry

... fiction and sentimental poetry stir up a class of readers which no other literature seems to reach, and Hawthorne was soon inundated with letters from unknown, and perhaps unknowable, admirers; but the most remarkable came from a man named Pyncheon, who asserted ...
— The Life and Genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne • Frank Preston Stearns

... of every flower and shrub, of every tree and trembling leaf; in the mechanism of every animal, from man in his godlike attitude, to the smallest microscopic tribes. All organic existences are preserved in being, nurtured, grow and mature, according to certain laws. Even the winds, that stir the petals of the flowers, breathing fragrance and health, and the tornado, that bows the forest and dashes navies, obey established principles. Now, shall there be order all around me, and in my physical frame, in ...
— The Faithful Steward - Or, Systematic Beneficence an Essential of Christian Character • Sereno D. Clark

... fancied he saw a ghost of a blush stir under the even pallor of her skin. She had told him once, in joke, that she never blushed; it was not one of her accomplishments. But for half a second she came perilously near it; and although it enhanced her beauty tenfold, it ...
— Far to Seek - A Romance of England and India • Maud Diver

... they came home, found the priest lying as aforesaid, and they thought to get him away, but do what they could, he would not rise, but said, 'Do not meddle with me, for I lie very well, and will not stir hence before morning, but I pray lay some more cloathes on my feet, and ...
— History of English Humour, Vol. 1 (of 2) - With an Introduction upon Ancient Humour • Alfred Guy Kingan L'Estrange

... scarlet radishes dripping in his hand, he stopped appalled. Robin was at the extreme end of the tunnel, sitting on the ground, laughing and crying and talking extravagant nonsense. Had she really gone mad, at last? Adam put down the bucket, and walked toward her unsteadily. She did not stir, but went on chattering in the same absurd way, until she saw him; then she cried excitedly, "Oh, look! it's kittens, real little tame kittens, though their mother won't come near me yet. She is ...
— The Master-Knot of Human Fate • Ellis Meredith

... German master in his dream Of harmonies that thundered amongst the stars At the creation, ever heard a theme Nobler than "Go down, Moses." Mark its bars, How like a mighty trumpet-call they stir The blood. Such are the notes that men have sung Going to valorous deeds; such tones there were That helped make history when Time ...
— Fifty years & Other Poems • James Weldon Johnson

... was to hasten her away to a warmer climate, but this was forbidden: she must not travel; she is not to stir from the house this winter; the temperature of her room is to be ...
— Charlotte Bronte and Her Circle • Clement K. Shorter

... sight of its winding towards the house, was seized with undefinable terror when he beheld it pause before their walls, and heard the shrill summons at the portal. He rushed into his master's presence, and implored him not to stir,—not to allow any one to give ingress to the enemies the machine might disgorge. "I have heard," said he, "how a town in Italy—I think it was Bologna—was once taken and given to the sword, by incautiously admitting a wooden horse full of the ...
— My Novel, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... unconcern the dinners that have, as it were, been abstracted from the dinner-pails of the poor. I cannot conduct an investigation into the business history of every man who asks me to his house. And even if I know he has been a crook, I cannot afford to stir up an unpleasantness by attempting in my humble way to make him feel sorrow for his misdeeds. If I did I might find myself alone—deserted by the rest of the aristocracy who are concerned less with his morality ...
— The "Goldfish" • Arthur Train

... all right if you don't stir him up," the girl replied with assurance. She walked across the room to her grandmother. "See here, grandma, I'm 'most seventeen now and ...
— One Woman's Life • Robert Herrick

... chair in the corner, the old woman bent double so that he couldn't see her face; but it was she. He stood over her. "She is afraid," he thought. He stealthily took the axe from the noose and struck her one blow, then another on the skull. But strange to say she did not stir, as though she were made of wood. He was frightened, bent down nearer and tried to look at her; but she, too, bent her head lower. He bent right down to the ground and peeped up into her face from below, he peeped and turned cold with horror: the old woman was sitting ...
— Crime and Punishment • Fyodor Dostoyevsky

... words slowly, against his will and his judgment, and in defiance of taste or conduct, looking up as he did so into eyes which from their first glance, over three years before in the woods in North Carolina, had been able to stir him as no other eyes had ever done. And it seemed to him as though in that look all conventions were dropped between them. "You were ...
— Katrine • Elinor Macartney Lane

... that he had come in behalf of certain Frenchmen, whom he named, to warn his hearers against the designs of La Salle, whom he denounced as a partisan and spy of the Iroquois, affirming that he was now on his way to stir up the tribes beyond the Mississippi to join in a war against the Illinois, who, thus assailed from the east and from the west, would be utterly destroyed. There was no hope for them, he added, but in checking ...
— France and England in North America, a Series of Historical Narratives, Part Third • Francis Parkman

... exhibiting none of that marvellous activity characteristic of the Gibbons. Hunger alone seems to stir him to exertion, and when it is stilled, he relapses into repose. When the animal sits, it curves its back and bows its head, so as to look straight down on the ground; sometimes it holds on with ...
— Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature • Thomas H. Huxley

... vegetables daily, had given her a marguerite. This she wore in the breast of her gown, and its sight caused her to reflect that on that never-to-be-forgotten afternoon at Mundesley, when she had walked with Harborne, he, too, had given her a similar flower. Perfumes and flowers always stir our memories of ...
— The White Lie • William Le Queux

... a house of his in Tankersly Park, which he took, and paid 120 l. a year for. When my husband returned, we prepared to go in the spring to this place, but were so confined, that my husband could not stir five miles from home without leave. About February following, my brother Neuce died, at his house at Much Hadham, in Hertfordshire. My sister, Margaret Harrison, desired to go to London, and there we left her: she soon after married Mr. ...
— Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe • Lady Fanshawe

... the death of his father, his two brothers and he claimed the throne. Their pretentions were to be settled by an ordeal. They possessed a small magic drum, and, it being placed on the ground, he who could lift it was to take the crown. His brothers were unable to stir it, though exerting all their strength, but Rumanika raised it with his little finger. This test, however, not satisfying the chiefs, they insisted on Rumanika going through another trial. He was seated ...
— Great African Travellers - From Mungo Park to Livingstone and Stanley • W.H.G. Kingston

... (who lived above an hundred Years ago) in the third Part of his Treatise, pag. 179, speaking of Motetts or Anthems, complains thus:—'But I see not what Passions or Motions it can stir up, being as most Men doe commonlie Sing,—leaving out the Ditty—as it were a Musick made onely for Instruments, which will indeed shew the Nature of the Musick, but never carry the Spirit and (as it were) that lively Soule which the Ditty giveth; but ...
— Observations on the Florid Song - or Sentiments on the Ancient and Modern Singers • Pier Francesco Tosi

... factors in Syria, there would have been no trouble. As to whether Burton was right or wrong in these disputes, the Government seems not to have cared a straw or to have given a moment's thought. Here, they said, is a man who somehow has managed to stir up a wasp's nest, and who may embroil us with Turkey. This condition of affairs must cease. Presently came the crash. On August 16th just as Burton and Tyrwhitt Drake were setting out for a ride ...
— The Life of Sir Richard Burton • Thomas Wright

... time is fix'd; and all our days are number'd; How long, how short, we know not: this we know, Duty requires we calmly wait the summons, Nor dare to stir till Heaven shall give permission. Like sentries that must keep their destined stand, And wait th' appointed hour, till they're relieved, Those only are the brave who keep their ground, And keep it ...
— Many Thoughts of Many Minds - A Treasury of Quotations from the Literature of Every Land and Every Age • Various

... she in her thoughts that the stir and rustle of the congregation issuing from their seats at the conclusion of the service came upon her in the light of a surprise; she had not realised that the service—in which she had been taking a reprehensible perfunctory part—had drawn to its close, ...
— The Splendid Folly • Margaret Pedler

... for me to make sure that you saw nothing in the place from which that arrow was sent which would help us to locate the author of this accident. The flitting of an escaping figure up or down the opposite gallery, even a stir in the great tapestry confronting you from that far-away wall, might ...
— The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow • Anna Katharine Green

... The only way to keep men from agitating against grievances is to remove the grievances. An unwillingness even to discuss these matters produces only dissatisfaction and gives comfort to the extreme elements in our country which endeavor to stir up disturbances in order to provoke governments to embark upon a course of retaliation and repression. The seed of revolution is repression. The remedy for these things must not be negative in character. It must be constructive. It ...
— State of the Union Addresses of Woodrow Wilson • Woodrow Wilson

... want of ability or integrity; that is, an ignorance of, or a disposition to depart from, the constitution, which is the measure and rule of government & submission, he will point them out, and loudly proclaim them: He will stir up the people, incessantly to complain of such men, till they are either reform'd, or remov'd from that sacred trust, which it is dangerous for them any longer to hold. -Philanthrop may tell us of the hazard "of ...
— The Writings of Samuel Adams, volume II (1770 - 1773) - collected and edited by Harry Alonso Cushing • Samuel Adams

... drink, but seeing that she was sleeping the sleep of the just I decided to help myself, and with that intent essayed to raise myself in bed. But I might as well have attempted to lift the house itself, for when I came to move I discerned, to my consternation, that I was so weak I could scarcely stir hand or foot, much less raise my entire body. In my alarm and distress I unwittingly gave vent to a feeble groan, which, faint as it was, proved sufficient to arouse my attendant, who stirred in her chair, adjusted her turban, ...
— A Middy of the King - A Romance of the Old British Navy • Harry Collingwood

... accomplished was a mere feeling of the other's lines by either force. Hooker vainly endeavored to ascertain Lee's strength at various places in his front. Lee, to good purpose, strove to amuse Hooker by his bustle and stir, to deceive him as to the weakness of his force, and to ...
— The Campaign of Chancellorsville • Theodore A. Dodge

... quick-lime and pour some common water on to it—the commonest water will do. I will stir it a moment, then pour it upon a piece of filtering paper in a funnel, and we shall very quickly have a clear water proceeding to the bottle below, as I have here. I have plenty of this water in another bottle; but, ...
— The Chemical History Of A Candle • Michael Faraday

... was enough for the jaguar. It was the cat again that has stricken down a mouse standing perfectly careless till the unfortunate little animal begins to stir. The fierce beast turned, gathered itself together, and was about to launch itself upon the boatman in one tremendous bound, when simultaneously there was a sharp click from Brazier's gun, but with no further result, for he had drawn the trigger of his rifled barrel in which there was no cartridge, ...
— Rob Harlow's Adventures - A Story of the Grand Chaco • George Manville Fenn

... burdens and go on with the struggle for that culture of the mind and the soul which is the more precious the harder the fight to secure it. I remember copying in a commonplace book some of Carlyle's sonorous passages that stir the blood of the young like a bugle call to arms. Reading them over years after, I am glad to say that they still appealed to me, for it seems to me that the saddest thing in this world is to lose one's youthful enthusiasms. When you can keep these fresh and strong, after years of contact with ...
— Modern English Books of Power • George Hamlin Fitch

... hunt, it must be dull. And lonely! Aren't you scared to death walking along dark lanes without a single lamppost? I should live in terror of tramps and burglars, and never dare to stir out of ...
— A College Girl • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey

... there was an unusual stir among the prisoners. "You are to be exchanged and sent home," said the Rebel officers. They had been told the same thing so many times, and had been always so cruelly deceived, that they did not believe the statement till orders were issued for a portion of them to be ready to march to ...
— Winning His Way • Charles Carleton Coffin

... understand you," said Bob, with more animation than usual. "You mean the rebels would like to stir up trouble on the border and get Obregon into hot water with Uncle Sam in just the same way that Pancho Villa some years ago made trouble between our government and Carranza by his raid on ...
— The Radio Boys on the Mexican Border • Gerald Breckenridge

... productions of those amorous poets, Tibullus, Catullus, Petrarch and Hammond, are elegiac. The subject of their songs is always love, and they seem to understand poetry to be designed for no other purpose than to stir up that passion in ...
— The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor - Vol I, No. 2, February 1810 • Samuel James Arnold

... name Of friend or foe she handles, When merriment directs the game, And midnight dims the candles; I know that Folly's breath is weak And would not stir a feather; But yet I would not have her speak Your ...
— The Home Book of Verse, Vol. 4 (of 4) • Various

... prowl, came to him, and were distinctly seen to gambol around him with as much familiarity and affection as if they considered him quite one of themselves. They only left him on the approach of morning, when movement and stir again arose in the village. This boy did not survive long. He never spoke, nor did a single ray of human intelligence ever shed its refining light over his ...
— Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine • George M. Gould

... day there is bustle and stir. Secret committees meet, rules are formulated, and insidious agents prowl about with an eye to the political training of those who have not yet nailed their colours to any particular mast. Then comes a grand meeting of the Liberal Students' Association, which is ...
— The Firm of Girdlestone • Arthur Conan Doyle

... years Diderot had been steadfast to his quarters on an upper floor in the Rue Taranne, and even now, when the physicians told him that to climb such length of staircase was death to him, he still could not be induced to stir. It would have been easier, his daughter says, to effect a removal from Versailles itself. Grimm at length asked the Empress of Russia to provide a house for her librarian, and when the request was conceded, Diderot, who ...
— Diderot and the Encyclopaedists - Volume II. • John Morley

... of September the Romeo Primero, the scene of this bloody encounter, entered the port. Lieutenant Mansfield, who, since the day of the conflict, had scarcely been able to stir hand or foot, was promptly conveyed to sick-quarters, and for many days his life was entirely despaired of by his medical attendants. The gallant little crew, all wounded, were also looked after in the best manner which skill and sympathy could suggest; but two were soon beyond the reach of ...
— Our Sailors - Gallant Deeds of the British Navy during Victoria's Reign • W.H.G. Kingston

... his dim way, a kind of mastery in this heavy-booted, homespun-clad, tobacco-chewing, grave-eyed man from the backwoods, and for a long time he felt none of his usual pugnacity. But by and by the craving for freedom began to stir in his breast, and the blood of his hill-roving ancestors thrilled toward the wild pastures. The glances which, from time to time, he cast upon the backwoodsman at the other end of the rope became wary, calculating, and ...
— The Watchers of the Trails - A Book of Animal Life • Charles G. D. Roberts

... background of new leaves the beauty of the quilts is thrown into greater prominence. All the colours of the rainbow can be seen in the many varieties of design, for there is not a line that does not bear a startling "Lone Star of Texas," "Rising Sun," or some equally attractive pattern. Gentle breezes stir the quilts so that their designs and colours gain in beauty as they slowly wave to and fro. When the apple, cherry, and peach trees put on their new spring dresses of delicate blossoms and stand in graceful groups in the background, then the picture ...
— Quilts - Their Story and How to Make Them • Marie D. Webster

... courting,[80] and Nelson remarks that in his experience young and robust persons are subject to recurrent periods of wakefulness at night which they attribute to the action of the full moon. One may perhaps refer also to the tendency of bright moonlight to stir the emotions of the young, especially at puberty, a tendency which in neurotic persons may become ...
— Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1 (of 6) • Havelock Ellis

... famous old wooden highlander which stood for more than a hundred years on guard at a tobacconist's shop in Tottenham Court Road. About the end of 1906 it was announced that the shop was to be demolished, and that the time-worn figure was for sale. The announcement created no small stir, and it was said that the offers for the highlander ran up to a surprising figure. He was bought ultimately by a neighbouring furnishing firm, and now stands on duty not far from his ancient post, though no passer-by can help feeling the incongruity ...
— The Social History of Smoking • G. L. Apperson

... but soon became general among all the sects in that region of country. Indeed, the whole district of country seemed affected by it, and great multitudes united themselves to the different religious parties, which created no small stir and division amongst the people, some crying, 'Lo, here!' and others, 'Lo, there!' Some were contending for the Methodist faith, some for the Presbyterian, and ...
— Jesus the Christ - A Study of the Messiah and His Mission According to Holy - Scriptures Both Ancient and Modern • James Edward Talmage

... "your revered granddam asks of you a righteous thing. Who are you to trifle with those shining worlds that make a beauty of the night and that stir eternity in the soul of man? Who are you to glue your pinpoint of a human eye to yonder machine and play with the stupendous Jupiter and Saturn as a child plays with marbles or with peg-tops? Who are you that thinks those glittering monsters ...
— The Prophet of Berkeley Square • Robert Hichens

... directly requested her consent in form,—[he starts into a warmth of amorous resolution.] but I will this very moment—for I have no asylum from my father's arbitrary design, but my Constantia's arms.—Pray do not stir from hence:—I will return instantly. I know she will submit to your advice—and I am sure you will persuade her to my wish, as my life, my peace, my earthly happiness, depend on ...
— The Man Of The World (1792) • Charles Macklin

... suppose we have no shares 265 In ord'ring you and your affairs; When all your empire and command You have from us at second hand As if a pilot, that appears To sit still only while he steers, 270 And does not make a noise and stir Like ev'ry common mariner, Knew nothing of the card, nor star, And did not guide the man of war; Nor we, because we don't appear 275 In councils, do not govern there; While, like the mighty PRESTER JOHN, Whose person none dares look upon, But is preserv'd ...
— Hudibras • Samuel Butler

... mother could be supposed to undertake. Indeed, as mamma would not leave him, Phyllis was actually going to Calcutta, chaperoned by one of the matrons of the station, to make purchases for both outfits, since Alethea would not stir from under the maternal wing sooner ...
— Beechcroft at Rockstone • Charlotte M. Yonge

... now approached the sick man with the noiseless step of one in full vigor of life, with his delicate white fingers raised from the green quilt the hand that was free, and turning sideways felt the pulse and reflected a moment. The sick man was given something to drink, there was a stir around him, then the people resumed their places and the service continued. During this interval Pierre noticed that Prince Vasili left the chair on which he had been leaning, and—with an air which intimated that he knew what he was about and if others ...
— War and Peace • Leo Tolstoy

... to carry them up to the wigwam," said Charley. "Run ahead, Chris, and stir up the fire so we can see ...
— The Boy Chums in the Forest - or Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades • Wilmer M. Ely

... he sat and stared; where I walked, he walked beside, head stiffly slewed over one shoulder in single-barrelled contemplation of me. He never gave tongue, never closed in for a caress, seldom let me stir a step alone. And, to my amazement, Malachi, who suffered no stranger to live within our gates, saw this gaunt, growing, green-eyed devil wipe him out of my service and company without a whimper. Indeed, one would have said the situation interested him, for he would meet us returning ...
— A Diversity of Creatures • Rudyard Kipling

... the great sea, in such wise that the pilot star burned well-nigh overhead in the heavens. Here they descried tall islands of glittering rock, white and blue, crowned with minsters and castles and abbeys of glass, but they heard no sound of bells or of men's voices or of the stir of life. ...
— A Child's Book of Saints • William Canton

... arms that had been held toward me fell to her sides. My hand slipped between. There was warm flesh. Yes, it was flesh to my mind. And I sat for moments allowing the illusion to stir a passion in me. I would throw myself on this thing, hold it in my arms, give myself to it. Where was the wrong in that, since it was only myself I ravished—a phantom mocking me behind ...
— Fantazius Mallare - A Mysterious Oath • Ben Hecht

... from the party that was in, Frank would not probably have cared much about the prince. We may be sure that he would not have troubled himself to read a line of that very dull and long pamphlet of which he had to make himself master before he could venture to stir in the matter, had not the road of Opposition been open to him in that direction. But what exertion will not a politician make with the view of getting the point of his lance within the joints of his enemies' harness? Frank made his speech, and made it very well. It was just the case for a lawyer, ...
— The Eustace Diamonds • Anthony Trollope

... conspicuous chiefly for the skill, yes, fancy, with which thematic material of no marked apparent inherent value is treated. The pastorale is fresh and suggestive. The ordinary pastorale is a bore. There is the familiar recipe: take an oboe the size of an egg, stir it with a flute, add a little piano, throw in a handful of muted strings, and let the whole gently simmer in a 9-8 stew-pan. But Mr. Whiting has treated his landscape and animal kingdom with rare discretion. The music gave pleasure; it soothed ...
— Contemporary American Composers • Rupert Hughes

... the other, but, as a matter of precaution, he sought to draw him further away from the theater of action. The Pawnee must have understood, from the signals which had reached him, that an enemy was making a great stir, and that ...
— Footprints in the Forest • Edward Sylvester Ellis

... not stir; he became pale under this terrible threat, but replied with simplicity, "Monsieur, you are wrong in acting against ...
— The Vicomte de Bragelonne - Or Ten Years Later being the completion of "The Three - Musketeers" And "Twenty Years After" • Alexandre Dumas

... his body, It need no longer stir; Truth will but stand the stronger For all who died ...
— American Poetry, 1922 - A Miscellany • Edna St. Vincent Millay

... up the wool obediently, Cousin William picked up himself with difficulty, tossed his book into the deep arm-chair, and stalked without a single word towards the door. Mother watched him with one eye, but the children did not stir a muscle. ...
— The Extra Day • Algernon Blackwood

... usual diligence, but I could see that he was furiously angry. The Spahi ate ravenously. So did the murderer, who more than once, however, seemed to be dropping to sleep over his food. He was apparently dead tired. As the wind was now become very violent I did not feel disposed to stir out again, and I ordered D'oud to bring us three cups of coffee to the Bordj. He cast a vicious look at the Spahi and went out into the darkness. I saw him no more that night. A boy from the Cafe Maure ...
— The Desert Drum - 1905 • Robert Hichens

... his story," said Malinkoff significantly. "By this time you are not only enemies of the Revolution, but you are accredited agents of capitalistic Governments. You have been sent here by your President to stir up the bourgeois to cast down the Government, because of British investments. Mr. Bim will be described as a secret service agent who has been employed to assassinate either Trotsky or Lenin. If you could only tap the official wireless," said Malinkoff, "you ...
— The Book of All-Power • Edgar Wallace

... ever 'gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour's birth, is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long: And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallow'd and ...
— Christmas in Legend and Story - A Book for Boys and Girls • Elva S. Smith

... exalted pulses stir, Regret takes hands with Pride, Regret for that most splendid spur— The Wish Ungratified; With hammering heart that bulk I con, That spread of tail and fin, And sigh, like him of Macedon, With ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, June 24, 1914 • Various

... contumacious town should be put to the sword. The threat, however, could not at once be executed. Toledo's army, debarred from the sack of Haarlem, became mutinous through lack of pay. Until they received the arrears due to them, they refused to stir. Not till August 21 was Don Frederick able to invest Alkmaar with a force of 16,000 men. The garrison consisted of some 1300 burghers with 800 troops thrown into the town by Sonoy, Orange's lieutenant in North Holland. Two desperate assaults were repulsed with heavy loss, and then the ...
— History of Holland • George Edmundson

... purposes, and not desirable for the spiritual interests of the country. By proper arrangements he expected that an annual surplus of L300,000 might be secured. The motion was opposed by Mr. Liddell, who, in moving a direct negative to it, observed that government had been stimulated to stir this "mischievous question, and unsettle men's minds and properties by the clamour of persons hostile to the church." The church of Durham, he said, was the great object of their appetency. It certainly had rich possessions, but then ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

... novelty. It is exciting to land for the first time in France, to be pursued by little boys who say "Souvenir!" and "Good night!" early in the morning. And there is something about getting there at last, after months of weary training, which must stir the most ...
— A Padre in France • George A. Birmingham

... one, Ile be sworne? Ile be sworne, they tooke away a mastie Dogge of mine by commission: now I thinke on't, makes my teares stand in my eyes with griefe, I had rather lost the dearest friend that ever I lay withall in my life be this light; never stir if he fought not with great Sekerson[28] foure hours to one, foremost take up hindmost, and tooke so many loaves from him, that he sterud him presently: So at last the dog cood doe no more then a Beare cood doe, and the beare being ...
— A Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. III • Various

... father-provincial, Fray Bernardo de San Laurencio, had not gone out for the visitation, but that he was sending the father ex-provincial, Fray Juan de San Antonio, as visitor, they were confirmed [in the belief] that the hostile fleet was coming, and began immediately to stir up ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XXXVI, 1649-1666 • Various

... to stir them that morning. On the slope above Hernersfiord stood the royal hall of Hakonstad, the seat of the kings of Sogn; and all about the house, and right down to the water's edge, there was a great bustle and movement of men. From the upland valley at the fiord head, warriors trooped down ...
— Vandrad the Viking - The Feud and the Spell • J. Storer Clouston

... Wisconsin, was to be launched this afternoon, the whole town was out in many-colored array, the band playing. Our boat swept round to a good position, and all was ready but—the Wisconsin, which could not be made to stir. This was quite a disappointment. It would have been ...
— Summer on the Lakes, in 1843 • S.M. Fuller

... rise, where Courtenay would be all-powerful by his name. Wyatt undertook to raise Kent, Sir James Crofts the Severn border, Suffolk and his brothers the midland counties. Forces from these four points were to converge on London, which would then stir for itself. The French Admiral Villegaignon promised to keep a fleet on the seas, and to move from place to place among the western English harbours, wherever his presence would be most useful. Plymouth had been tampered with, ...
— The Reign of Mary Tudor • James Anthony Froude

... the misfortune in which ye yourselves have plunged me: this is the spot where the overflowings of mine eyes shall swell the waters of yon little brook, and my deep and endless sighs shall stir unceasingly the leaves of these mountain trees, in testimony and token of the pain my persecuted heart is suffering. Oh, ye rural deities, whoever ye be that haunt this lone spot, give ear to the complaint of a wretched lover whom long absence and brooding jealousy ...
— Don Quixote • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

... do," said Barry. "I'll not stir while you remain there!" and he threw himself back in the bed, and wrapped ...
— The Kellys and the O'Kellys • Anthony Trollope

... planning a different sphere of activity for them. Such an idle life was not to his mind; he wanted active employment. He reflected incessantly how to stir up the Setch to some bold enterprise, wherein a man could revel as became a warrior. At length he went one day to the ...
— Taras Bulba and Other Tales • Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol

... Illescas," said the man on the grey horse. "And if you will allow me to offer you a cup of coffee, I shall be most pleased. You must excuse me, for I never take anything before midday. I am a recluse, have been for many years and rarely stir abroad. I do not intend to return to the world unless I can bring something with me worth having." A wistful smile twisted a little ...
— Rosinante to the Road Again • John Dos Passos

... mounted to her head, made her glad of his arm up these steps and up the wharf; and she kept it as they climbed the sloping elm-shaded village street to the main thoroughfare, with its brick sidewalks, its shops and awnings, and its cheerful stir and traffic. ...
— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells

... little Bella, as got her dinner by my side, and went out wi' Jeremiah, as well as could be. I cannot take it in; tell me, Kester.' She kept trembling so much in voice and in body, that he saw she could not stir without danger of falling until she was calmed; as it was, her eyes became filmy from time to time, and she drew her breath in great heavy pants, leaning all the while against the ...
— Sylvia's Lovers — Complete • Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

... The hands are bound fast together, and forced backwards over the head, till they rest on the neck. The right foot is then fastened to the right hand, and the left foot to the left hand, and all drawn tight together behind the back, so that the criminal is incapable to stir; and by this torture the neck is dislocated, the joints of the arms start from their sockets, and the thigh bones are disjointed;—in short, the tortured wretch would soon expire without any farther process; yet, in that state, he ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 1 • Robert Kerr

... turmoil and bloodshed for their own family and territorial advantages, and they kept all Europe in turmoil, for two centuries after the Reformation,—in fact, just as long as they could,—in the wars of religion. They did everything they could to stir up the war between Austria and Prussia in 1866, thinking that Austria, a Catholic power, was sure to win; and then everything possible to stir up the war of France against Prussia in 1870 in order to ...
— Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White Volume II • Andrew Dickson White

... his return made little stir, and even when early in the following July he learnt that Bourbotte, his successor at Nantes, had ordered the arrest of Goullin, Bachelier, Grandmaison, and his other friends of the committee, on the score of the drownings and the appropriation of national property ...
— The Historical Nights' Entertainment • Rafael Sabatini

... measure involved them in the fate of the rest; for they were also exiled from Paris, the citizens of which did not fail to extol their conduct with the loudest encomiums, and at the same time to express their resentment against the clergy, who could not stir abroad without being exposed to violence or insult. The example of the parliament of Paris was followed by that of Rouen, which had courage enough to issue orders for apprehending the bishop of Evreux, because ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. - From William and Mary to George II. • Tobias Smollett

... She saw Prescott stir as if he had heard a call, and his eyes half opened. Then he made an effort to move, but she put her hand gently upon his forehead and he sank back to rest. She saw in his half-open eyes a fleeting look of comprehension, gratitude and joy, then the ...
— Before the Dawn - A Story of the Fall of Richmond • Joseph Alexander Altsheler

... ring and the roundhouse whistle would blow, and everybody would come running out. Sometime I'm going to ring the fire-bell myself and stir them all up." ...
— Song of the Lark • Willa Cather

... came a new scholar to the school, and no small stir did her coming make there. For the first nine years of her life, Elsie Ray had been the neglected child of a careless and indolent mother. At her death, Elsie had come to the neighbourhood of Kirklands, to live with her grandfather and her aunt. She thus passed ...
— The Orphans of Glen Elder • Margaret Murray Robertson

... long, dense line of infantry was moving out to the support of the cavalry. Slowly they came at first, then faster and still faster as the men broke into a run. An imposing sight, indeed, and one to stir the blood. The Serbian cavalry, at a command, fell back upon the infantry, which separated into two sections to permit of the cavalry passing through the center. Then ...
— The Boy Allies in the Balkan Campaign - The Struggle to Save a Nation • Clair W. Hayes

... I have now said will not go very far, being confined to this assembly; but I hope it may stir up others of my brethren to exhort their several congregations, after a more effectual manner, to shew their love for their country on this important occasion. And this, I am sure, cannot be called meddling in affairs ...
— The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D. D., Volume IV: - Swift's Writings on Religion and the Church, Volume II • Jonathan Swift

... as others had already concluded, that Crayford's mind was giving way under stress of cold and privation. No hope—literally, no hope now, but in the numbers of the expedition. Officers and men, they all liked Frank. As long as they could stir hand or foot, they would help him on the way—they would see that ...
— The Frozen Deep • Wilkie Collins

... Wingarde did not stir to prevent him. He waited with a sneer on his lips while Archie returned and took ...
— Rosa Mundi and Other Stories • Ethel M. Dell

... spirit, and won her respect. She uses an epithet of respect previously omitted, "Sir,"—perceiving that, though apparently a Jew, he possessed none of that rancorous enmity which characterizes others, and cherished national antipathies. "A soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger." Offences are likely to arise in the present world; but let us rather aim to disarm malignity by conciliation, than strengthen and envenom it by resistance. Soft words may in time operate on hardened hearts, as water continually dropping on the rock ...
— Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. II • Francis Augustus Cox

... Sought a precipitate pathway up through heaven, 5 There fell a silvery-silken veil of light, With quietude and sultriness and slumber, Upon the upturned faces of a thousand Roses that grew in an enchanted garden, Where no wind dared to stir, unless on tiptoe: 10 Fell on the upturned faces of these roses That gave out, in return for the love-light, Their odorous souls in an ecstatic death: Fell on the upturned faces of these roses That smiled and died in this parterre, enchanted 15 By thee, ...
— Selections From Poe • J. Montgomery Gambrill

... hesitated, puzzled at this unusual resolve on the part of the children who liked nothing better than to wander through the big department stores and admire the pretty things; then she replied grimly, "Very well, but don't either one of you stir out of that buggy while I ...
— At the Little Brown House • Ruth Alberta Brown

... Carlyle tells you, imprisoned for a time in coverings of flesh, and a car packed full of real ghosts passing over the earth on their quick journey to the grave ought to stir you. —— ...
— Editorials from the Hearst Newspapers • Arthur Brisbane

... the capture of Fort St. Mark and the occupation of Pensacola in Florida by General Jackson made some stir in the quiet waters of our foreign diplomacy. Uncertain as to whether the act would be disavowed or justified by the American government, Mr. Gallatin explained to the European ministers that the forcible occupation of the Spanish province was an act of self-defence and protection ...
— Albert Gallatin - American Statesmen Series, Vol. XIII • John Austin Stevens

... me, Bruce?" There was pleading in his voice as he took a step toward his son. Bruce did not stir, and Burt added with an effort: "It ain't so easy as you might think for me to beg ...
— The Man from the Bitter Roots • Caroline Lockhart

... whistle, they gagged him with a handkerchief and tied his hands. Six remained to keep the field of battle and disperse the hostile band, now deprived of its chief; the remaining four conveyed Pierre to the little wood, while the robbers, hearing no signal, did not venture to stir. According to agreement, Pierre Buttel was tried by the archers, who promptly transformed themselves into a court of justice, and as he had been taken red-handed, and did not condescend to defend himself, ...
— CELEBRATED CRIMES, COMPLETE - DERUES • ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE

... woman came with Cornelia's cloak and hood. George took them from Arenta's hand and folded the warm circular round Cornelia's slight figure; and then watched her tie her pretty pink hood, managing amid the pleasant stir of leave-taking to whisper some words that sang all night like sweetest music in her heart. It was Rem, however, that gave her his arm and escorted her to her own door; and with this rightful privilege to his guest young Hyde was far too gentlemanly and just to interfere. ...
— The Maid of Maiden Lane • Amelia E. Barr

... days of his banishment, grows quite excited as the waves wash up and undermine their foundations. He picks acquaintance with anybody he comes across, be he peer or peasant—anything to make the time pass a little quicker until he can return to the stir of his business ...
— Lazy Thoughts of a Lazy Girl - Sister of that "Idle Fellow." • Jenny Wren

... a shadow of the corridor, and waited; but there was no more stir at the window. The yellow placard dangled by one fastening; a bit of the veil was visible, nothing else, to tell me of the ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII. No. 3. March 1848 • Various



Words linked to "Stir" :   fire, thrill, flutter, blow, get, damn, disturbance, turn on, affright, invite, stirring, sex, shift, suck, splash, agitation, elate, excite, ado, lift up, repel, stir fry, enliven, horripilate, jerk off, work, vibrate, jack off, disgust, provoke, tickle, pick up, sensation, imprecate, invoke, ruckus, disruption, ruction, conjure, maledict, fuel, shake up, anathemize, animate, put forward, intoxicate, masturbate, displace, enkindle, gross out, hurly burly, impress, stir up, tempt, anathemise, touch, arouse, churn, invigorate, beshrew, hustle, fuck off, wind up, she-bop, affect



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