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Sword   Listen
noun
Sword  n.  
1.
An offensive weapon, having a long and usually sharp-pointed blade with a cutting edge or edges. It is the general term, including the small sword, rapier, saber, scimiter, and many other varieties.
2.
Hence, the emblem of judicial vengeance or punishment, or of authority and power. "He (the ruler) beareth not the sword in vain." "She quits the balance, and resigns the sword."
3.
Destruction by the sword, or in battle; war; dissension. "I came not to send peace, but a sword."
4.
The military power of a country. "He hath no more authority over the sword than over the law."
5.
(Weaving) One of the end bars by which the lay of a hand loom is suspended.
Sword arm, the right arm.
Sword bayonet, a bayonet shaped somewhat like a sword, and which can be used as a sword.
Sword bearer, one who carries his master's sword; an officer in London who carries a sword before the lord mayor when he goes abroad.
Sword belt, a belt by which a sword is suspended, and borne at the side.
Sword blade, the blade, or cutting part, of a sword.
Sword cane, a cane which conceals the blade of a sword or dagger, as in a sheath.
Sword dance.
(a)
A dance in which swords are brandished and clashed together by the male dancers.
(b)
A dance performed over swords laid on the ground, but without touching them.
Sword fight, fencing; a combat or trial of skill with swords; swordplay.
Sword grass. (Bot.) See Gladen.
Sword knot, a ribbon tied to the hilt of a sword.
Sword law, government by the sword, or by force; violence.
Sword lily. (Bot.) See Gladiolus.
Sword mat (Naut.), a mat closely woven of yarns; so called from a wooden implement used in its manufacture.
Sword shrimp (Zool.), a European shrimp (Pasiphaea sivado) having a very thin, compressed body.
Sword stick, a sword cane.
To measure swords with one. See under Measure, v. t.
To put to the sword. See under Put.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Sword" Quotes from Famous Books



... Jewish rabble to Jeremiah: "Since we left off to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by ...
— The Travels of Marco Polo Volume 1 • Marco Polo and Rustichello of Pisa

... a Moslem town, and a part of the old bazaar remains. The original inhabitants, who escaped the sword, went either to Sokol or into Bosnia. The hodgia, or Moslem schoolmaster, being on some business at Krupena, came in the morning to see us. His dress was nearly all in white, and his legs bare from the knee. He told me that the Vayvode of Sokol had a curious mental malady. Having lately lost a son, ...
— Servia, Youngest Member of the European Family • Andrew Archibald Paton

... Zedekiah his eyes, and Zerubbabel his voice. History shows that these physical excellencies were no blessings to many of their possessors; they invited the ruin of almost all. Samson's extraordinary strength caused his death; Saul killed himself by cutting his neck with his own sword; while speeding swiftly, Asahel was pierced by Abner's spear; Absalom was caught up by his hair in an oak, and thus suspended met his death; Uzziah was smitten with leprosy upon his forehead; the darts ...
— The Legends of the Jews Volume 1 • Louis Ginzberg

... know, the world knows, the forces and the resources the public agents have brought into employment to sustain a government against which there has been brought not one complaint of real injury committed against society at home or abroad. You all may recollect that in taking up the sword thus forced into our hands this government appealed to the prayers of the pious and the good, and declared that it placed its whole dependence on the favor of God. I now humbly and reverently, in your presence, reiterate the acknowledgment of that dependence, not doubting ...
— The Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln, Complete - Constitutional Edition • Abraham Lincoln

... enjoyed in society. They now regained with great delight their former position in their shires. The Whigs raised a cry that the King was foully betrayed, and that he had been induced by evil counsellors to put the sword into the hands of men who, as soon as a favourable opportunity offered, would turn the edge against himself. In a dialogue which was believed to have been written by the newly created Earl of Warrington, and which had a wide circulation at the time, ...
— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 3 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... brightest heaven of invention,[1] A kingdom for a stage, princes to act, And monarchs to behold the swelling scene! Then should the warlike Harry, like himself, Assume the port of Mars;[2] and, at his heels, Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword, and fire, Crouch for employment.(A) But pardon, gentles all, The flat unraised spirit that hath dar'd On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth So great an object: Can this cockpit hold[3] The vasty fields of France? or may we cram Upon this little stage[4] the very ...
— King Henry the Fifth - Arranged for Representation at the Princess's Theatre • William Shakespeare

... mean he is sick, I wonder," he cogitated. "Lord, I wish I could let well enough alone. But this sword of Damocles business is beginning to get on my nerves. I have half a mind to take a run into town this afternoon and see the old reprobate. I'll bet he doesn't know as much as he claims to, but I'd like to be ...
— Wild Wings - A Romance of Youth • Margaret Rebecca Piper

... that sword looks awful gleaming and sharp. It might cut somebody, by accident. It makes me shiver, Mr. George. Curse him!" says the excellent old gentleman apart to Judy as the trooper takes a step or two away ...
— Bleak House • Charles Dickens

... half-fiend, dwelt in the fens near the hill on which Heorot stood. Terrible was he, dangerous to men, of extraordinary strength, human in shape but gigantic of stature, covered with a green horny skin, on which the sword would not bite. His race, all sea-monsters, giants, goblins, and evil demons, were offspring of Cain, outcasts from the mercy of the Most High, hostile to the human race; and Grendel was one of mankind's most bitter enemies; hence his hatred of the joyous shouts from Heorot, and ...
— Hero-Myths & Legends of the British Race • Maud Isabel Ebbutt

... action grows hotter; he knows no disgrace like striking to the French flag; no reward for past services so ample as a wooden leg; and no retreat so honourable as Greenwich hospital. Contrast his behaviour with that of a French sailor, who must have a drawn sword over his head to make him stand to his gun, who runs trembling to the priest for an absolution—"Ah, mon bon pere, avez pitie de ...
— A Lecture On Heads • Geo. Alex. Stevens

... anything else—as great a mistake as Julius Caesar would have made if he had chosen to remain a fashionable lawyer instead of mixing in politics, or Achilles, if he had taken a necklace or a bracelet and left the sword in Ulysses' basket. You would have found your mythical duenna ...
— Taquisara • F. Marion Crawford

... seemed that I did not have a sword, but that I, too, looked upon the battle from a place where there were no flames. I ran little errands for ...
— Chimney-Pot Papers • Charles S. Brooks

... Surt has consumed the tree. Hyrm steers from the east, the waters rise, the mundane snake is coiled in jotun-rage. The worm beats the water and the eagle screams; the pale of beak tears carcasses; (the ship) Naglfar is loosed. Surt from the south comes with flickering flame; shines from his sword the Valgod's sun. The stony hills are dashed together, the giantesses totter; men tread the path of Hel, and heaven is cloven. The sun darkens, earth in ocean sinks, fall from heaven the bright stars, fire's breath assails the all-nourishing, towering ...
— The Antediluvian World • Ignatius Donnelly

... ask me a question, I will put another to you," said the stranger, also drawing his sword half out of the scabbard. "For what purpose do you visit the house where you ...
— The Ferryman of Brill - and other stories • William H. G. Kingston

... but ill. And were the world below content to mark And work on the foundation nature lays, It would not lack supply of excellence. But ye perversely to religion strain Him, who was born to gird on him the sword, And of the fluent phrasemen make your king; Therefore your steps have wander'd ...
— The Divine Comedy, Complete - The Vision of Paradise, Purgatory and Hell • Dante Alighieri

... With fire and sword thy walks were swept: Exploded mines thy streets had heaped In hills of rubbish; they had been Traversed by gabion and fascine, With cannon lowering in the rear In dark array,—a deadly tier,— Whose thunder-clouds, with ...
— The Cruise of the Betsey • Hugh Miller

... desperate were their circumstances at one period, that serious thoughts of abandoning the country were entertained by many of the leading men. Under these circumstances R. J. Meigs, then a young lawyer, was forced to lay aside the gown, and assume the use of both the sword and plough. It is true that but little ploughing was done, as much of the corn was then raised by planting the virgin soil with a hoe, amongst the stumps and logs of the clearing, after burning off the brush and light stuff. In this way large crops were invariably ...
— Heroes and Hunters of the West • Anonymous

... were for putting her behind one of them, on a horse, she rebelled again, and it took near a dozen of boys to hoist her up; but one vagabone of them, that had a rusty broad-sword in his hand, gave her a skelp with the flat side of it, that subdued her at once, and off they went. Now, above all nights in the year, who should be dead but my own full cousin, Denis Fadh—God be good to him!—and I, and Jack, and Dan, his brothers, ...
— The Ned M'Keown Stories - Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of - William Carleton, Volume Three • William Carleton

... war whoop so piercing and fierce that Robert was startled. It cut the air like the slash of a sword, but it was a long cry, full of varied meaning. It expressed satisfaction, triumph, a taunt for the foe, and then it died away in a sinister note like a threat for any who tried to follow. ...
— The Hunters of the Hills • Joseph Altsheler

... a few silversmiths', some blacksmiths', and some sword and gunsmiths'. The latter manufacture fairly good ...
— Across Coveted Lands - or a Journey from Flushing (Holland) to Calcutta Overland • Arnold Henry Savage Landor

... application. Every quotation his companion evaded or turned aside, only to be met by another passage. The skeptic became enraged. 'Don't you see, I don't believe your Bible! What's the use of quoting it to me?' he shouted. The minister's reply was another thrust of the Sword of the Spirit, 'If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.' Years passed, then one morning the minister received a letter. Opening it he read, 'You took the Sword of the Spirit and stabbed me through and through one day, and ...
— The Key To Peace • A. Marie Miles

... Velasquez's pictures. His feet stuck out behind the cross, but his arms were tied in a position which must soon have become painful. Around lay a cock tied by his legs, a ladder, a sponge tied on a stick, a sword, a lantern, and all the usual emblems of the Passion. The holy women and the Roman soldiers with their spears were just coming out of the cottage near by to take up their positions in this strange and pathetic tableau. The face of that peasant in the tattered brown cloak, not ...
— Spanish Life in Town and Country • L. Higgin and Eugene E. Street

... whom her father gives to Siggeir against her will. In the midst of King Volsung's hall stood a mighty oak-tree. As the wedding-feast is being held there enters a stranger, an old man with one eye, his hat drawn down over his face and bearing in his hand a sword. This sword he thrusts to the hilt into the tree, saying that it shall belong to him who can draw it out again; after which he disappears as he had come. All the guests try their strength in vain upon the sword, but Sigmund alone is able to draw ...
— The Nibelungenlied - Translated into Rhymed English Verse in the Metre of the Original • trans. by George Henry Needler

... the hearts that know Thee, Lord, Thou wilt speak through flood or sword; Just beyond the cannon's roar, Thou art ...
— The Americanization of Edward Bok - The Autobiography of a Dutch Boy Fifty Years After • Edward William Bok

... His banner-bearer could not see his leader's cap so left, and jumped off his horse to rescue it. Raising the cap from the ground, he found himself challenged with the bayonet by the same Magyar soldier. He had no time to draw, but with a mighty sweep, sword in scabbard, he felled the Magyar to the ground; he had no time to dispatch him, and was barely able ...
— With the "Die-Hards" in Siberia • John Ward

... in doubt as to the intentions of this individual, who was, doubtless, the commander of the garrison; for as the ship swept along the narrow channel, hugging the northern shore closely, and every moment shortening the distance between the battery and herself, he was seen to draw his sword, which flashed like a white flame in the brilliant sunshine as he waved it above his head, and the next moment a perfect storm of bullets from falcon and falconet, patarero, saker, and swivel, came hurtling from the ...
— Two Gallant Sons of Devon - A Tale of the Days of Queen Bess • Harry Collingwood

... his head mournfully. "Not in the good stuff. I just sold the original sword of Jean Lafitte to a man who makes preserved tomatoes. It is the eighth in three weeks. The business in Lafitte sabers is very fair lately. General Jackson belt-buckles are moving well, too, not to mention ...
— The Net • Rex Beach

... is told of Arnold's last moments, which if true (and pray God it may be!) should be linked with the memory of his crime for ever. It is said that he ordered to be brought from the garret of his house the old Continental uniform and sword he had worn for the last time on the memorable day of his escape from West Point. With trembling hands he unfolded the coat, and, drawing it painfully over his shoulders, sat lost in long and deep reflection: then, rousing himself ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. XVII. No. 101. May, 1876. • Various

... these words, Satyaki rushed at Kritavarma and severed his head with a sword in the very sight of Keshava. Yuyudhana, having achieved this feat, began to strike down others there present. Hrishikesa ran to prevent him from doing further mischief. At that time, however, O ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 4 • Kisari Mohan Ganguli

... his knees, where he leaned with neck outstretched as if he waited the stroke of the headsman's sword, unable to regain his feet. The girl looked with serious eyes into Morgan's face, the hot ...
— Trail's End • George W. Ogden

... revel along the shuddering heath With dirge-like mirth and raiment like a shroud: A worse fair face than witchcraft's, passion-proud, With brows blood-flecked behind their bridal wreath And lips that bade the assassin's sword find sheath Deep in the heart whereto love's heart was vowed: A game of close contentious crafts and creeds Played till white England bring black Spain to shame: A son's bright sword and brighter soul, whose deeds High conscience lights ...
— Sonnets, and Sonnets on English Dramatic Poets (1590-1650) • Algernon Charles Swinburne

... her. The hall was silent except for faint rustlings and here and there deep breaths drawn guardedly. The vital question hung like a sword over the white-faced girl. Perhaps she divined its impending stroke, for she sat like a stone with dilating, appealing eyes upon ...
— The Rainbow Trail • Zane Grey

... poison—till he came to Homer. Latin the Saint loved, except "when reading, writing, and casting of accounts was taught in Latin, which I held not for lesse paynefull or penal than the very Greeke. I wept for Dido's death, who made herselfe away with the sword," he declares, "and even so, the saying that two and two makes foure was an ungrateful song in mine ears; whereas the wooden horse full of armed men, the burning of Troy, and the very Ghost of Creusa, was a most ...
— Adventures among Books • Andrew Lang

... this is! what puppets we are! How terrible an enigma is Fate! I never set my foot without my door, but what the fearful darkness that broods over the next moment rushes upon me. How awful an event may hang over our hearts! The sword is always above us, seen ...
— Godolphin, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... the noble child, That song-and-saga wonder; Who, when his fabled sword was forged, ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. VI. • Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke

... was not to be accompanied with shaking hands." His figure clad in black velvet was most impressive. His hair was powdered and gathered in a large silk bag. His hands were dressed in yellow gloves, and he carried a cocked hat adorned with a black feather, while at his side hung a sword in a scabbard of white polished leather. To ardent republicans these trappings were so many manifestations of monarchical leanings. Hamilton's suggestion that coins should bear the head of the President under whom they were minted, was additional ...
— Union and Democracy • Allen Johnson

... very clever of him, for she looked like some slim beardless boy, and not in the least like those great fat Fraus at Baireuth, whom nobody could have mistaken for a man as they bulged and heaved even before the strings of the breastplate were uncut by his sword. And then she sat up and hailed the sun, and Georgie felt for a moment that he had quite taken the wrong turn in life, when he settled to spend his years in this boyish, maidenly manner with his embroidery and his china-dusting at ...
— Queen Lucia • E. F. Benson

... all the time? Why, at that particular instant, sword-point to sword-point with Colonel Bludyer of the Dragoons, slightly wounded in two places—cool and wary, and seeming to enjoy, with a sort of fierce pleasure, such a safety-valve for excitement as a duel with one of ...
— Kate Coventry - An Autobiography • G. J. Whyte-Melville

... not, for God's sake! he is mad. Some get within him, take his sword away: Bind Dromio too, and bear them to my ...
— The Comedy of Errors - The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] • William Shakespeare

... Freydisa, who, when the Norse are seized with a sudden panic at the Esquimaux and flee from them, as they had three weeks before fled from Thorfinn's bellowing bull, turns, when so weak that she cannot escape, single-handed on the savages, and catching up a slain man's sword, puts them all to flight with her fierce visage and fierce cries—Freydisa the Terrible, who, in another voyage, persuades her husband to fall on Helgi and Finnbogi, when asleep, and murder them and all their men; and then, when he will not murder the five ...
— Historical Lectures and Essays • Charles Kingsley

... assumes to the feelings the character of a perfidy accomplished by mysterious powers, and calls forth something of the same resentment, and in a gladiatorial intellect something of the same spontaneous resistance. A sword that breaks in the very crisis of a duel, a horse killed by a flash of lightning in the moment of collision with the enemy, a bridge carried away by an avalanche at the instant of a commencing retreat, affect the feelings like dramatic incidents emanating from a human will. ...
— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 4, September, 1850 • Various

... consists in this,—that the word, by which it is ruled or administered, is heard, believed, and obeyed. All will be done by means of preaching; and this will just be the sign by which the kingdom of Christ is distinguished from the other kingdoms of this world, which are governed by the sword and by physical power." To this point also Luther draws attention, that our prophecy affords a powerful support to the ministers of the Word: "It will be done by the proclamation of the promise, and Shiloh will be [Pg ...
— Christology of the Old Testament: And a Commentary on the Messianic Predictions, v. 1 • Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg

... Sword which pierc'd him with the Weapon-Salve, And wrap it close from Air till I have time To ...
— The Evolution of Modern Medicine • William Osler

... sword in hand, Frae John o' Groat's to Airly, Hae to a man declar'd to stand Or fa' ...
— Penelope's Experiences in Scotland • Kate Douglas Wiggin

... two-handed sword into the f[oe]tid air while the tide of corruption paused in its swirling, and swept down on Rupert ...
— Black Spirits and White - A Book of Ghost Stories • Ralph Adams Cram

... late message, says: 'Let us alone, let us go, and the sword drops from our hands.' But what does this involve? The admission of the right of secession, which, as has been proved, is fatal to all national unity and preservation. Even if this arrogant demand was complied with, would peace be thus possible? Would not the breaking up of the Union involve the ...
— Continental Monthly, Vol. II. July, 1862. No. 1. • Various

... moment, and never darken its doors again!"—when this happened, Laura was shot through by an ecstatic quiver, such as she had felt once only in her life before; and that was when a beautiful, golden-haired Hamlet, who had held a Ballarat theatre entranced for a whole evening, fell dead by Laertes' sword, to the rousing plaudits of the house. Breathing unevenly, she watched, lynx-eyed, every inch of Annie Johns' progress: watched her pick up her books, edge out of her seat and sidle through the rows of desks; watched her walk ...
— The Getting of Wisdom • Henry Handel Richardson

... is, Scottice, dust in motion, and has no English synonym; oor is hour. Sir Walter Scott is said to have advised an artist, in painting a battle, not to deal with details, but to get up a good stoor: then put in an arm and a sword here and there, and leave all the rest to ...
— Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character • Edward Bannerman Ramsay

... another man, who can not or will not defend himself, what did I care for Count Claudieuse? What did I care for your threats or for his hatred?" He said these words with perfect calmness, but with that cold, cutting tone which is as sharp as a sword, and with that positiveness which enters irresistibly into the mind. The countess was ...
— Within an Inch of His Life • Emile Gaboriau

... island of St. Louis, with its stately old mansions entre cour et jardin, behind grim stone portals and high walls where great magistrates and lawyers dwelt in dignified seclusion—the nobles of the rove: but where once had dwelt, in days gone by, the greater nobles of the sword-crusaders, perhaps, and knights templars, like ...
— Peter Ibbetson • George du Marier et al

... of the Austrian army fought its way to the walls of Mantua, but Wurmser sought in vain to form a junction with it; and in February Mantua was captured by Napoleon. The conqueror's vengeance next fell upon his holiness the pope. Not tarrying even to receive the sword of Wurmser, Napoleon headed his legions and marched towards Rome. Within eight days one half of the states of the church were conquered, and the pope had no hope but in submission. The conqueror granted him political existence, on condition that he should cede to the republic Wignon, ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

... human, has its defects; nevertheless, the sword of justice, being a two-edged weapon, is excellently adapted alike for attack or defence. Procedure, moreover, has its amusing side; for when opposed, lawyers arrive at an understanding, as they well may do, without exchanging a word; through ...
— Lost Illusions • Honore De Balzac

... of Civil War, by asking if Scotland were historically in a position to object to civil wars having high moral purpose. "I, for one," Argyll said, "have not learned to be ashamed of that ancient combination of the Bible and the sword. Let it be enough for us to pray and hope that the contest, whenever it may be brought to an end, shall bring with it that great blessing to the white race which shall consist in the final freedom of ...
— Great Britain and the American Civil War • Ephraim Douglass Adams

... day-light test, but shadows and chimeras chasing one another over the moonlit sky, then he retreated. He chose to stop, reverentially, as taught by Scripture, when he must, rather than to be driven back by the cherubim and the flaming sword. Not even Kant, or Coleridge, or any of their living imitators, however congenial their respective tastes for speculative subtleties, could tempt him so to disregard the boundary between reason and faith as to lose sight of Calvary, or mistake an ignis ...
— The History of Dartmouth College • Baxter Perry Smith

... She was the sword which hung over his head. It was she who destroyed her son! But he knew nothing of the shameful depths to which she had sunk; he lived with her but she concealed her life from him. I saw it, I knew it when his father hurled the dreadful accusation at him; he ...
— The Northern Light • E. Werner

... in his left breast; a sad spectacle, and a broad wound, which makes my hand now shake to write of it. His brother intending, it seems, to kill the coachman, who did not please him, this fellow stepped in and took away his sword; who thereupon took out his knife, which was of the fashion, with a falchion blade, and a little cross at the hilt like a dagger; and with that stabbed him. Drove hard towards Clerkenwell, thinking to have ...
— The Diary of Samuel Pepys • Samuel Pepys

... the gate my heart and my soul were so full of rapture and longing that I forgot. And there stood at the gate two mighty angels with sweeping wings, and, oh! so stern of countenance. They held each in one hand a flaming sword, and in the other the latchet, which moved to and fro at their lightest touch. Nearer were figures all draped in black, with heads covered so that only the eyes were seen, and they handed to each who came white garments such as the angels wear. A low murmur came that told that ...
— Dracula's Guest • Bram Stoker

... raw tomatoes with vinegar, or cooked tomatoes without any sugar or fats. This diet may be varied by the use of salted or fresh fish, either at breakfast or dinner. This fish must not be rich like salmon or sword-fish, but rather like ...
— Mother's Remedies - Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers - of the United States and Canada • T. J. Ritter

... Self-fed and self-consumed. If this fail, The pillared firmament is rottenness, And earth's base built on stubble. But come, let's on! Against the opposing will and arm of Heaven 600 May never this just sword be lifted up; But, for that damned magician, let him be girt With all the grisly legions that troop Under the sooty flag of Acheron, Harpies and Hydras, or all the monstrous forms 'Twixt Africa and Ind, I'll find him out, And force him to return his purchase back, Or drag him by the curls ...
— Milton's Comus • John Milton

... poison'd poignard in his belt he wore, A crescent sword depended at his side, The deathful quiver at his back he bore, And infants—at his ...
— The Mysteries of Udolpho • Ann Radcliffe

... from His hand, and therefore undefiled. Nearer the gate of Paradise than we, Our children breathe its airs, its angels see; And when they pray, God hears their simple prayer, Yea, even sheathes His sword, in ...
— Many Thoughts of Many Minds - A Treasury of Quotations from the Literature of Every Land and Every Age • Various

... as they were called. And just as men had travelled abroad to preach Christianity to those who knew it not, so now the Mohammedans set forth to teach the faith of their Lord and Master. But whereas Christianity was taught by peaceful means, Mohammedanism was carried by the sword. The Roman provinces of Syria and Egypt had been conquered by the Arabs, and the famous cities of Jerusalem and Alexandria were filled with teachers of the new faith. The Mohammedans had conquered Spain and were pressing by ...
— A Book of Discovery - The History of the World's Exploration, From the Earliest - Times to the Finding of the South Pole • Margaret Bertha (M. B.) Synge

... the poor, Capital enslaves Labor and drives it with the iron bit of remorseless power and the sharp spur of Necessity where it will. But there must be a day of reckoning; the Voice will be heard, if not in peace with the sword: ...
— Around the World with Josiah Allen's Wife • Marietta Holley

... God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, 'The judgments of the Lord are ...
— Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet - An Autobiography. • John Sherman

... his sword, over his head, faster and faster. Someone was pressing his heart so that he could hardly breathe. It was all over. They knew. Everything ...
— The Dark House • I. A. R. Wylie

... the second picture, which is much damaged, is not easy to be explained. It represents a naked hero, armed with sword and spear, to whom a woman crowned with laurel and clothed in an ample peplum is pointing out another female figure. The latter expresses by her gestures her grief and indignation at the warrior's departure, the ...
— Museum of Antiquity - A Description of Ancient Life • L. W. Yaggy

... crudest sins of her age; she could also treat with subtle insight the most elusive phases of spiritual experience. No greater distance can be imagined than that which separates the young Dominican with her eyes full of visions from a man like Sir John Hawkwood, reckless free-lance, selling his sword with light-hearted zeal to the highest bidder, and battening on the disorder of the times. Catherine writes to him with gentlest assumption of fellowship, seizes on his natural passions and tastes, and seeks to sanctify the military life of his affections. With her sister ...
— Letters of Catherine Benincasa • Catherine Benincasa

... witness such roguery. I dare wager than when the tale is told, fifty years hence, of the highwayman who rode into a city of thirty thousand inhabitants in broad day, masked and armed with two pistols and a sword at his belt, to return the two hundred louis which he had stolen the day previous to the honest merchant who was then deploring their loss, and when it is added that this occurred at a table d'hote where ...
— The Companions of Jehu • Alexandre Dumas

... paternal territory by the English, and at first detained by them as a state-prisoner after the death of his father—who (as M. Joshua Van Dael had written to M. Rodin) had fallen sword in hand—Djalma had at length been restored to liberty. Abandoning the continent of India, and still accompanied by General Simon, who had lingered hard by the prison of his old friend's son, the young Indian came ...
— The Wandering Jew, Complete • Eugene Sue

... Mulai Hassan, eyed the gem and coolly Said, 'The thing is but a common tumbler-bottom, nothing more!' Whereupon, the King's Assassin drew his sword, and Mulai Hassan Never peddled rings again upon the ...
— The Foreign Hand Tie • Gordon Randall Garrett

... drawn On Lammermuir. Hearkening, I heard again In my precipitous city beaten bells Winnow the keen sea wind. And here afar, Intent on my own race and place I wrote. Take thou the writing; thine it is. For who Burnished the sword, blew on the drowsy coal, Held still the target higher; chary of praise And prodigal of counsel—who but thou? So now in the end; if this the least be good, If any deed be done, if any fire Burn in the imperfect page, the ...
— The Life of Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson • Nellie Van de Grift Sanchez

... roving habits, their primitive mode of life, and their inborn hatred of the infidel, whom they now regard as an instrument sent by Providence to inflict vengeance on the true believer for his apathy, and culpable neglect of his religious duties, including the propagation of his faith by fire and sword. Still, they believe the time to be approaching when every true son of the prophet shall "hae his ain" again; and it is past the power of mortal man to shake a Mahometan's trust ...
— Notes in North Africa - Being a Guide to the Sportsman and Tourist in Algeria and Tunisia • W. G. Windham

... war rose in the west like a black thundercloud in the blue summer sky, filling the harvest gatherers with anxious forebodings. For fourteen days the people waited in painful suspense, not knowing whether to take up the sword or the scythe. Then the cry of destiny came crashing through the country, terrifying and relieving at the same time: "The ...
— The Malady of the Century • Max Nordau

... was clean all the way through—washed clean, spoke clean, thought clean—and now there was no tellin' what kind of a push I'd fall in with. You've had a peek at trainin' camps, eh? Them rubbers is apt to be a scousy lot. It was the goin' back to eatin' with sword swallowers that came hardest, though. I can stand for a good many things, but when I sees a guy loadin' up his knife for the shovel act, I ...
— Shorty McCabe • Sewell Ford

... Allies. These Allies, however, did not call themselves conquerors, nor take Paris, nor judge the Parisians ; but so far as belonged to a capitulation, meant, on both sides, to save the capital and its inhabitants from pillage and the sword. Once restored to its rightful monarch, all foreign interference was at an end. Having been seated on the throne by the nation, and having never abdicated, though he had been chased by rebellion from his kingdom, he had never forfeited his privilege to judge ...
— The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay Volume 3 • Madame D'Arblay

... took over Beled. With them remained the Cherub, wielding for one day the flaming sword of retribution. Arabs had desecrated our graves as they always did, and had stripped our dead. The Cherub put the bodies back and dug several dummy graves. In these last he put Mills bombs; removing the pin, he held each bomb down as the earth was ...
— The Leicestershires beyond Baghdad • Edward John Thompson

... with two panels; the smaller hoist-side panel has two equal vertical bands of green (hoist side) and orange; the other panel is a large dark red rectangle with a yellow lion holding a sword, and there is a yellow bo leaf in each corner; the yellow field appears as a border that goes around the entire flag and extends ...
— The 1996 CIA Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... Sword so great, that it was only fit To take off his great Head, who came with ...
— Letters Concerning Poetical Translations - And Virgil's and Milton's Arts of Verse, &c. • William Benson

... was a moonlight night, and the tent was one belonging to a white Madras regiment. Suddenly, I saw another figure, that had been lying down outside the tent, rise. I saw the flash of the moonlight on steel; then there was a blow, and the soldier fell. I drew my sword and rushed forward. ...
— Colonel Thorndyke's Secret • G. A. Henty

... they! now I remain. Dispatch me: for the fatal moment is at hand, which an old Sabine sorceress, having shaken her divining urn, foretold when I was a boy; 'This child, neither shall cruel poison, nor the hostile sword, nor pleurisy, nor cough, nor the crippling gout destroy: a babbler shall one day demolish him; if he be wise, let him avoid talkative people, as soon as he comes to ...
— The Works of Horace • Horace

... hair stands upright. He has matted locks and two tongues. His face has the hue of copper, and he is clad in a lion's skin.[363] That irresistible deity assumes such a fierce shape. Assuming again the form of the sword, the bow, the mace, the dart, the trident, the mallet, the arrow, the thick and short club, the battle-axe, the discus, the noose, the heavy bludgeon, the rapier, the lance, and in fact of every kind of weapon that exists on earth, ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 - Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 • Unknown

... followers, a stately palace, so much rent coming in, so much credit among men. Alas, all that is about him, not in him. If you buy a horse you see him bare of saddle and cloths. When you judge of a man, why consider his wrappings only? In a sword it is the quality of the blade, not the value of the scabbard, to which you give heed. A man should be judged by what he is ...
— The World's Greatest Books—Volume 14—Philosophy and Economics • Various

... those indescribable inflections—words which pierced your heart, cold as a sword-blade: "Come, come!" says Robert, striving to drag Isabella away, ... and that simple word was made frantic, breathless, by the accent accompanying it. No one who has not heard Delsarte utter the word rival can conceive of all the mysteries of hate ...
— Delsarte System of Oratory • Various

... hands, who presented a stern aspect of endurance, as though they were determined to sit there through the preparations as well as the promised entertainment, and still to continue sitting until turned out by sword and bayonet. The "Salle des Marechaux" exists no more except in name, for men on ladders were employed covering up the portraits which decorate the hall with screens of red silk—I suppose lest the past glory of French heroes should pale the brilliancy of the National Guard, just ...
— The Insurrection in Paris • An Englishman: Davy

... with the green shield," exclaimed one of a party of men-at-arms, who were drinking together at an ancient hostel, not far from Shrewsbury—"the knight with the green shield is as good a knight as ever buckled on a sword, or wore spurs."—"Then how comes it he is not one of the victors in the day's tournament?" exclaimed another.—"By the bones of Alfred!" said a third, "a man must be judged of by his deserts, and not by the partiality of his friends. ...
— Varney the Vampire - Or the Feast of Blood • Thomas Preskett Prest

... him DU any more, as is the fashion with young men when they are very intimate. I had nothing for it but to call him out; but I owed him no grudge. I disarmed him in a twinkling; and as I sent his sword flying over his head, said to him, 'Kurz, did ever you know a man guilty of a mean action who can do as I do now?' This silenced the rest of the grumblers; and no man ever sneered at ...
— Barry Lyndon • William Makepeace Thackeray

... martyrs flourished in its hundred-fold increase, as St. Justin has well observed: "We are slain with the sword, but we increase and multiply: the more we are persecuted and destroyed, the more are added to our numbers. As a vine, by being pruned and cut close, shoots forth new suckers, and bears a greater abundance of fruit; so is it with us."[4] Among other ...
— The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints - January, February, March • Alban Butler

... but before he could secure those articles he was seized by a number of savages; and at that moment I was also dragged down into the cabin, where the first sight that met our eyes was Vaka-ta-Bula, holding Captain Duck's bloodstained sword in his hand. He was surrounded by many other chiefs and, greatly to our relief, he went up to Mr. Mariner and embraced him. Then, in broken English, he said that Mr. Brown and many of those who had gone on shore were already killed; that now that he had possession ...
— Rodman The Boatsteerer And Other Stories - 1898 • Louis Becke

... verandah steps. The stalwart khaki-clad figure was photographed on his reeling brain. He heard the clank of a sword against the first stone step. He tried to cry out—afterward he tried to believe that he had cried out—but it was too late. The hidden something which had crouched behind the heavy creepers sprang up—for a short ...
— The Native Born - or, The Rajah's People • I. A. R. Wylie

... roused from his meditation by Gillette's voice, "see this sword. I will plunge it into your heart at the first cry of that young girl. I will set fire to your house, and no one shall escape from it. Do you ...
— The Hidden Masterpiece • Honore de Balzac

... living'—a wound that throbs and burns, and aches, more intolerably with every pissing hour and day—it is not unnatural, I think, that I should seek for a little cessation of suffering; a brief dreaming space in which to rest for a while, and escape from the deathful Truth—Truth, that like the flaming sword placed east of the fabled garden of Eden, turns ruthlessly every way, keeping us out of the forfeited paradise of imaginative aspiration, which made the men of old time great because they deemed themselves immortal. It was a glorious faith! that strong consciousness, that ...
— Ardath - The Story of a Dead Self • Marie Corelli

... 'sea-serpent,' and 'sea-officer' (now superseded by 'naval officer'). The term in one form is as old as the fifteenth century. Edward III, in commemoration of the naval victory of Sluys, coined gold 'nobles' which bore on one side his effigy 'crowned, standing in a large ship, holding in one hand a sword and in the other a shield.' An anonymous poet, who wrote in the reign of Henry VI, ...
— Sea-Power and Other Studies • Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge

... him, but rode on. The peasant then called for help, and other villagers joining him, they followed the king, each one having seized in the mean time such weapons as came most readily to hand. They surrounded the king in order to take the falcon away, while he attempted to beat them off with his sword. Pretty soon he broke his sword by a blow which he struck at one of the peasants, and then he was in a great measure defenseless. His only safety now was in flight. He contrived to force his way through the circle that ...
— Richard I - Makers of History • Jacob Abbott

... the prince, forgetting the dervish's advice, clapped his hand upon his sword, drew it, and turned about to avenge himself; but had scarcely time to see that nobody followed him before he and his horse were changed into ...
— The Arabian Nights Entertainments • Anonymous

... knew of Christianity was, that it was a religion of fire and sword, and that one of its first duties was to avenge some mysterious and inexplicable crime which had been committed ages ago by some unheard of ancestors of theirs in an unknown land. The inquisitors addressed themselves to the Spanish Jews in the same abrupt and ferocious manner in which the ...
— Lord George Bentinck - A Political Biography • Benjamin Disraeli

... narrative, while his mother's eyes would glow, and her body be tense with interest, and an expectant expression would creep over her face, betraying her excitement. In the interview between Wallace and Hazelrig in the house in the Wellgate in Lanark, when Wallace dramatically draws his sword in answer to the supplication for mercy, and says: "Ay, the same mercy as you showed my Marion," Robert's voice would thunder forth the words with terrible sternness, while Nellie would gasp and catch her breath in a quick ...
— The Underworld - The Story of Robert Sinclair, Miner • James C. Welsh

... "Gin'ral Buddoe," large, powerful, black, in a cocked hat with a long white plume. A rusty sword rattled at his horse's flank. As he came opposite my window I saw a white man, alone, step out from the house across the way and silently lift his arms to the ...
— The Flower of the Chapdelaines • George W. Cable

... they found stored in the vaults. They seized about 300 lbs. of gunpowder, made up in 8 lb. cartridges, a quantity of fuses, and other military stores, and then proceeded to search the entire building for arms. Of these, however, they found very little—nothing more than the rifles and sword bayonets of the two or three men who constituted the garrison, a circumstance which seemed to occasion them much disappointment. They were particularly earnest and pressing in their inquiries for hand-grenades, a species of missile which they ...
— Speeches from the Dock, Part I • Various

... make each pupil who recites feel that he is on the witness stand experiencing all its attendant discomforts, instead of being a cooeperating agent in an agreeable enterprise. We suspend the sword of Damocles above his head and demand from him such answers as will fill the measure of our preconceived notions. He may know more of the subject, in reality, than the teacher, but this will not avail. In fact, this may militate against him. She demands ...
— The Vitalized School • Francis B. Pearson

... what I said,"—and the Colonel took up his sword to buckle it on, and then continued coolly, "the fact is Laura, our ...
— The Gilded Age, Complete • Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner

... Thousand Springs. A little grass peninsula running out between the river and a narrow lagoon, a part of Decker's ranch, two miles by water below the Springs and half a mile from Decker's Ferry, set all about with a hedge of rose, willow, and wild-currant bushes, sword-grass, and tall reeds,—the grasses enormous, like Japanese decorations,—crossing the darks of the opposite shore and the lights of the river and sky. Our tents are pitched, our blankets spread in the sun, our wagon is soaking its tired feet ...
— A Touch Of Sun And Other Stories • Mary Hallock Foote

... cried, and began to dance about the room. "Ha, ha, ha!" he said again, and made beautiful smiles to himself in the shaving glass and in the brass candlestick; and then swung about his arms for all the world as if he were going through the sword exercise. ...
— Life's Little Ironies - A set of tales with some colloquial sketches entitled A Few Crusted Characters • Thomas Hardy

... All wanted to be the "Sleeping Beauty," for that was the chosen scene, with the slumbering court about the princess, and the prince in the act of awakening her. Jack was to be the hero, brave in his mother's velvet cape, red boots, and a real sword, while the other boys were to have parts of more or ...
— Jack and Jill • Louisa May Alcott

... St. Edward's staff, by the Marquess of Salisbury. II. The spurs, by Lord Calthorpe, as deputy to the Baroness Grey de Ruthyn. III. The sceptre with the cross, by the Marquess Wellesley. IV. The pointed sword of temporal justice, by the Earl of Galloway. V. The pointed sword of spiritual justice, by the Duke of Northumberland. VI. Curtana, or sword of mercy, by the Duke of Newcastle. VII. The sword of state, by the Duke of Dorset. VIII. The sceptre ...
— Coronation Anecdotes • Giles Gossip

... he decided on doing two things: learning English and the small-sword exercise. [La Vie de Voltaire, par M—(a Geneve, 1786), pp. 55-57; or pp. 60-63, in his SECOND form of the Book. The "M—" is an Abbe Duvernet; of no great mark otherwise. He got into Revolution trouble afterwards, but escaped with his head; and republished his Book, ...
— History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. X. (of XXI.) - Frederick The Great—At Reinsberg—1736-1740 • Thomas Carlyle

... cares! To you I have no scruple in avowing, that my position in this country is hateful. So long accustomed to war against a barbarous enemy, I could almost fancy myself as much a Moor at heart, as I appeared in visage, when in your service on my way to Luxembourg, whenever I find my sword uplifted against a Christian breast!—Civil war, Ottavio, is ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXLV. July, 1844. Vol. LVI. • Various

... bound not to keep our oaths with heretics, though bound by the most sacred ties. We are bound not to believe their oaths; for their principles are damnation. We are bound to drive heretics with fire, sword, faggot, and confusion, out of the land; as our holy fathers say. if their heresies prevail we will become their slaves. We are bound to absolve without money or price, those who imbrue their hands in the blood of a heretic!" Do not these extracts show ...
— Life in the Grey Nunnery at Montreal • Sarah J Richardson

... separated as they were by some weeks' journey from their own country, while the enemy would be soon upon them in numbers five times their own. Yet, even so, Hunyady's faith and courage did not desert him. The proverb says, "If thy sword be short, lengthen it by a step forward." And Hunyady boldly, but yet with the caution that behooved a careful general, took up his position before the Sultan's army. Both he and his Hungarians fought with dauntless courage, availing themselves of every advantage and beating back every assault. ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 8 - The Later Renaissance: From Gutenberg To The Reformation • Editor-in-Chief: Rossiter Johnson

... regained her composure. She took no part in the search, leaving everything to the young man, looking listlessly herself at the different articles that came uppermost. Nothing further of much interest or value, however, was found. A sword or two, such as were then worn by gentlemen, some buckles of silver, or so richly plated as to appear silver, and a few handsome articles of female dress, composed the principal discoveries. It struck both Judith and the Deerslayer, notwithstanding, ...
— The Deerslayer • James Fenimore Cooper



Words linked to "Sword" :   sword lily, arm, Bearer of the Sword, sword cane, weapon, sword stick, brand, sword bean, peak, Excalibur, Australian sword lily, helve, steel, rapier, sword fern, forte, sabre, haft, saber, foible, toothed sword fern, point, cutlass, sword of Damocles, cutlas, fencing sword



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