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Vex   Listen
verb
Vex  v. i.  To be irritated; to fret. (R.)






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Vex" Quotes from Famous Books



... In thought, I am sure that you have done it. I know you are friendly to me; so am I to you. But it is not at all kind to vex those who are ...
— Minna von Barnhelm • Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

... ought to understand my temperament better—you ought to know it's going to stick in my mind, worry me, vex me, set me to seeking for remedies. It's just as if I'd been retained on a case. I feel almost duty-bound ...
— The Landloper - The Romance Of A Man On Foot • Holman Day

... had passed the Old Lady emerged from her lurking place, flushed with triumph. It did not vex her that Sylvia should think Chris Stewart had given her the flowers; nay, it was all the better, since she would be the less likely to suspect the real donor. The main thing was that Sylvia should have the delight of them. That quite satisfied the Old Lady, who went back to ...
— Chronicles of Avonlea • Lucy Maud Montgomery

... same!—and the next;—and the next; He perspire'd like an ox; he was nervous, and vex'd; Week past after week; till, by weekly succession, His weakly condition ...
— Broad Grins • George Colman, the Younger

... out presently before Aymer could make up his mind to vex him further with the question ...
— Christopher Hibbault, Roadmaker • Marguerite Bryant

... and the French colonies. The interior boundaries between colonies in 1750 were matters of frequent dispute and law-suits. Such questions were eventually brought to the decision of the English Privy Council, or remained to vex the new national government ...
— Formation of the Union • Albert Bushnell Hart

... determined hostility to the human race. Manners are of more importance than laws. Upon them, in a great measure, the laws depend. The law touches us but here and there, and now and then. Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady, uniform, insensible operation, like that of the air we breathe in. They give their whole form and colour to our lives. According to their quality, they aid ...
— Selections from the Speeches and Writings of Edmund Burke. • Edmund Burke

... betwixt Cibber's Odes and Blackmore's Job; Where froth and mud, that varnish and deform, Feed the lean critic and the fattening worm; Then sent disgraced—the unpaid printer's bane - To mad Moorfields, or sober Chancery Lane, On dirty stalls I see your hopes expire, Vex'd by the grin of your unheeded sire, Who half reluctant has his care resign'd, Like a teased parent, and is rashly kind. Yet rush not all, but let some scout go forth, View the strange land, and tell us of its worth; And should he there barbarian usage meet, ...
— Inebriety and the Candidate • George Crabbe

... unseen spirit thou hast sought, I woke those shadowy questionings that vex Thy young mind, lost in its own cloud of thought, And rouse the soul they trouble and perplex; I filled thy days with visions, and thy nights Blessed with all sweetest ...
— Poems of Henry Timrod • Henry Timrod

... No, you only vex me when you talk of sending poor old Biddy away. I could not do it, Cyril. I am not naturally a hard-hearted woman, and it would be sheer cruelty to turn off my old nurse. Where would she go, poor old thing? And you know yourself we cannot afford ...
— Lover or Friend • Rosa Nouchette Carey

... that? You would not do it to vex me! Gillie is maybe right. There is something strange.... (To another.) You may try now. Go on to the next verse. "William called Rufus from having red hair." ...(He does not answer.) ...
— Three Wonder Plays • Lady I. A. Gregory

... here in Breen's place and before the man who had so bitterly denounced it; and being above all tender-hearted and gallant where a woman, and a sorrowing one, was concerned, he must give Corinne and the child a fair and square start in the house of Breen, with no overdue accounts to vex her except such petty ones as a small life insurance and a few uncollected ...
— Peter - A Novel of Which He is Not the Hero • F. Hopkinson Smith

... taller than the shoulders of a young maiden of our nation, but she was very beautiful and very wise. Whether she was good-tempered or cross, I cannot tell, for she had no husband, and so there was nothing to vex her, or to try her patience. She had not, as the women of our nation now have, to pound corn, or to fetch home heavy loads of buffalo flesh, or to make snow-sledges, or to wade into the icy rivers to spear salmon, or basket kepling, or to lie concealed among the wet marsh grass and wild rice ...
— Traditions of the North American Indians, Vol. 1 (of 3) • James Athearn Jones

... little dog—he's very good, And very useful, too, I'll never vex or tease him, then, ...
— Bird Stories and Dog Stories • Anonymous

... authority of the senate might yield to a slow process of attrition, but would never be engulfed by any cataclysmic outburst of popular hostility. It was no part of the statesman's task to pry into the future and vex himself with the query whether a new and permanent headship of the State might not be created, to play the all-pervading part which destiny had assigned to the senate. The senate's power had not vanished, it was ...
— A History of Rome, Vol 1 - During the late Republic and early Principate • A H.J. Greenidge

... taking his hand, and looking up into his face, "Uncle," she said, "we wish you to remain, surely you will not vex us by a ...
— The Young Lord and Other Tales - to which is added Victorine Durocher • Camilla Toulmin

... discord between capital and labor is fundamentally born of the belief of some that wealth is as socially right in all important matters as it is socially powerful and the faith of others that the social problems that vex men and women would pass with the destruction of wealth's artificial social advantages. Each group confines itself to the territory of experience where everything has to do with matters of human relationship, and ...
— Rural Problems of Today • Ernest R. Groves

... yet, now he is gone, I feel I am alone. I check'd him while he spoke; yet, could he speak, Alas! I would not check. For reasons not to love him once I sought, And wearied all my thought To vex myself and him: I now would give My love could he but live Who lately lived for me, and when he found 'T was vain, in holy ground He hid his face amid the shades of death! I waste for him my breath Who wasted his for me! but mine returns, And this loin bosom ...
— Citation and Examination of William Shakspeare • Walter Savage Landor

... respects closely connected with the Irish, but so it is; for example, that word parghatsout-saniem is evidently derived from the same root as feargaim, which, in Irish, is as much as to say I vex." ...
— The Romany Rye • George Borrow

... finally reached the retreat of the Inca and entered his presence in company with Friar Marcos. "Although the Inca was not too happy to see a new preacher, he was willing to grant him an entrance because the Inca ... thought Friar Diego would not vex him nor take the trouble to reprove him. So the Inca gave him a license. They selected the town of Huarancalla, which was populous and well located in the midst of a number of other little towns and villages. There was a distance of two or three ...
— Inca Land - Explorations in the Highlands of Peru • Hiram Bingham

... night before diligently getting up the details of their case? He hated patronage and the making of appointments—a feeling rare in Ministers. "As for the Bishops," he burst out, "I positively believe they die to vex me." But when at last the appointment was made, it was made with keen discrimination. His colleagues observed another symptom—was it of his irresponsibility or his wisdom? He went to ...
— Queen Victoria • Lytton Strachey

... They vex'd the people, where'er they rov'd, With pillage and conflagration; Nor them old age's feebleness ...
— Targum • George Borrow

... would rather be the Earl of Warwick than all the kings he ever made! Jeffrey and Gifford I take to be the monarch-makers in poetry and prose. I like Scott—and admire his works to what Mr. Braham calls Entusymusy. All such stuff can only vex him, and do ...
— My Recollections of Lord Byron • Teresa Guiccioli

... two or three letters from Pendleton. That part of the State is for the present outside the area of conflict, though I hear that the guerilla bands to the east in the mountains still vex and annoy, and that Skelly is growing bolder. I foresee the time when we shall have to reckon with this man, who is a ...
— The Shades of the Wilderness • Joseph A. Altsheler

... will try to keep him for you until to-morrow, when you can go and sell him. If your father saw his tricks he would, himself, dispose of him and pocket the cash. I will shut him in an outhouse until you come again, and I only hope that he will not bark and vex Tommy!" ...
— Jewel's Story Book • Clara Louise Burnham

... tent-poles, they will vex you sorely, and tempt you to throw them away: if you do not carry them, you will wonder when night comes why you did not take them. If your tent is not large, so that you can use light ash poles, I would at least start ...
— How to Camp Out • John M. Gould

... a lying knave," replied the prince, "and in the plot to vex and provoke me." He then gave him a box on the ear, which knocked him down; and after having stamped upon him for some time, he tied the well-rope under his arms, and plunged him several times into the water, neck and heels. "I will drown thee," cried he, "if thou dost not tell me directly ...
— The Arabian Nights Entertainments Complete • Anonymous

... Darling was taken towards Melbourne but was lost through the carelessness of Jackey. Jackey, on two occasions on the Darling River, left for several days without leave, which led Mr. Landsborough to tell him that he would not take him any farther. This did not appear to vex him much for, without asking to be taken on or promising to behave better in future, he immediately went and hired himself to a settler in the neighbourhood. The rest of the party reached Melbourne in safety. Jemmy and Fisherman, who had never been in ...
— Journal of Landsborough's Expedition from Carpentaria - In search of Burke and Wills • William Landsborough

... lovely it will be, uncle, to have you to run to whenever anything vexes me, but nothing ever will vex ...
— By Berwen Banks • Allen Raine

... handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her. ...
— Persuasion • Jane Austen

... hasten on, Edgar. I am not in the least afraid. I recognize now the part of the wood we are in and I can find my way back quite easily. I'll tell my father that we have made it up. I wish I had not kept our meetings so private, for it may vex him a little to know I have been seeing you. He is getting old and irritable, that was why I did ...
— The Woodlanders • Thomas Hardy

... constrain princes and peoples to receive that one true religion of the Gospel is wholly against the mind and merciful law of Christ."[6] He went on to say that no king or bishop is able to command faith, that it is monstrous for Christians to vex and destroy each other on account of religious differences. The leading Protestant bodies, especially the established churches, still held to the corporate idea of the nature of religious institutions; ...
— Unitarianism in America • George Willis Cooke

... Houses of Parliament "have sate above seven years to hatch Cocatrices and Vipers, they have filled the kingdom with Serpents, bloodthirsty Souldiers, extorting Committees, Sequestrators, Excisemen; all the Rogues and scumme of the kingdom have they set on work to torment and vex the people, to rob them, and to eat the bread out of their mouthes; they have raised a causelesse and unnaturall Warre against their own Soveraigne Lord and King, a most pious Christian Prince, contrary to their allegiance and duty, and ...
— Christmas: Its Origin and Associations - Together with Its Historical Events and Festive Celebrations During Nineteen Centuries • William Francis Dawson

... manners to me, but you're enough to vex a saint—'their skinful to eat and dhrink!'—you common crathur you, to speak that way of the clargy, as if it was ourselves or the laborers you ...
— The Station; The Party Fight And Funeral; The Lough Derg Pilgrim • William Carleton

... could name it! Trembling over-much With too much ardour, I was moved at length To mere mad utterance. In a blameful strength I seiz'd thy hand, to scare thee, as of old Dryads were scared; and calm and icy-cold Thine answer came: "I pray thee, vex me not!" And all that day 'twas winter on ...
— A Lover's Litanies • Eric Mackay

... fraighted was: But sudden storme did so turmoyle the aire, And tumbled up the sea, that she, alas! Strake on a rock, that under water lay, And perished past all recoverie. O! how great ruth, and sorrow-full assay**, Doth vex my spirite with perplexitie, Thus in a moment to see lost and drown'd So great riches as like cannot be found. [* Heben, ebony.] ...
— The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, Volume 5 • Edmund Spenser

... too much the ghosts come through Your crazy doors, to vex and startle me, Touching with curious fingers cold as dew Kissing with unloved kisses fierily That dwell, slow fever, through my veins all day, And fill my senses as the dead their graves. They are builded in my castles and bridges? ...
— The Hours of Fiammetta - A Sonnet Sequence • Rachel Annand Taylor

... take mine with it. Listen, Ana. I kept you here, not to vex the Princess or you, but for a good reason. You know that it is the custom of the royal dynasties of Egypt for kings, or those who will be kings, to wed their near kin in order that the ...
— Moon of Israel • H. Rider Haggard

... is some consolation in that thought, in the midst of this dire rebellion of my countrymen. But I'll vex myself no more with the unpleasant recollections; the arms of my sovereign will soon purge that wicked ...
— The Pilot • J. Fenimore Cooper

... young, and was trembling with cold. Much rain had fallen during the night, and her robe, of silver gauze, was dabbled in mud and water; her fair and tender hands were all dirty, which seemed to vex her even more than the dangers she had experienced. She continued, however, to struggle and to make signs for relief, when three enormous wolves appeared at a distance. The brothers looked at each other expressively, like people ...
— The Fairy Book - The Best Popular Stories Selected and Rendered Anew • Dinah Maria Mulock (AKA Miss Mulock)

... combinations of matter that dissolve, all the phenomena that pass, they affirm the existence of enduring entities, individual spirits, thinkers conscious of their thoughts. In central calm, far within the struggle and vex of the rolling elements, throned in its own serene realm of law, lives the free, conscious soul, and will live eternally, actualizing its potentialities. Nothing can disintegrate it, because it is not an aggregate but a unity, not a quantitative mass of matter, but a spaceless ...
— The Destiny of the Soul - A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life • William Rounseville Alger

... us by their incessant movement. The tree will vex us by the swaying of its branches. The grass will present itself to us as an untidy intruder. The barren patch of earth will fill us with a profound depression owing to its desolate lack of life and beauty. The dog will worry us by its fuss, its solicitation, its ...
— The Complex Vision • John Cowper Powys

... have deserved: But if you shall still refuse the Lord that speaks now from heaven in mercy to you, you shall not hereafter escape the Lord, that in his own time will speak to you in his wrath, and vex you in his ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... the lordship of the spirit of the place and dozed knee-deep in the cool, shaded pool. There seemed no flies to vex him and he was languid with rest. Sometimes his ears moved when the stream awoke and whispered; but they moved lazily, with foreknowledge that it was merely the stream grown garrulous at ...
— Brown Wolf and Other Jack London Stories - Chosen and Edited By Franklin K. Mathiews • Jack London

... vex the gardener in growing grapes indoors. Of these, mealy-bug, red-spider, thrips and mildew are most troublesome. In a well-conducted grapery, there is never an intermission in the warfare ...
— Manual of American Grape-Growing • U. P. Hedrick

... love that knows me not, And some strange force, within me or around, Makes answer, kiss for kiss, and sigh for sigh, And somewhere there is fever in the halls That troubles me, for no such trouble came To vex the cool far hollows ...
— Grass of Parnassus • Andrew Lang

... God, who high in glory reigns, Laughs at their pride, their rage controls; He'll vex their hearts with inward pains, And speak in ...
— The Psalms of David - Imitated in the Language of The New Testament - And Applied to The Christian State and Worship • Isaac Watts

... not to "chide" you nor "vex," But I ask you to answer me now; Did the torturing pain Of a love that is vain Ever furrow your ...
— The Song of the Exile—A Canadian Epic • Wilfred S. Skeats

... negus and applause, And I'm your man for any cause. If wrong the cause, the more my delight; But I don't object to it, even when right, If I only can vex some old friend by't; There's Durham, for instance;—to worry him Fills up my cup of bliss to ...
— The Complete Poems of Sir Thomas Moore • Thomas Moore et al

... warfare. He is the man full of strong thought backed by civilization: they, the men trying to keep up their faith in idols, trying to scare with war-paint, trying to startle with war-whoop, trying to vex with ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 09, No. 51, January, 1862 • Various

... Crying, nor Prayers, Their subtile Whinings, nor Treacherous Tears, That shall one kind Return for ever gain, But when t' oblige us they've done all they can, We'll laugh, deride, and scorn the Foppish Sex, And wrank Invention for new ways to vex, Till they to shun us, prompted by Despair, Or Drown themselves, ...
— The Fifteen Comforts of Matrimony: Responses From Women • Various

... says the Countess, about Lady Byron. "When he was praising her mental and personal qualifications, I asked him how all that he now said agreed with certain sarcasms supposed to be a reference to her in his works. He smiled, shook his head, and said, they were meant to spite and vex her, when he was wounded and irritated at her refusing to receive or answer his letters; that he was sorry he had written them, but might on similar provocations recur to the same vengeance." On another occasion he said, "Lady B.'s first idea is what is due to herself. I ...
— Byron • John Nichol

... soul, I begged him not to let a thought of me give him any uneasiness. My free papers had not been made out, and he was for sending at once for a notary. But his younger brother was with him—he who was to be his heir. 'Don't vex yourself about Pomp, Edwin,' said he. 'I will see that justice ...
— Cudjo's Cave • J. T. Trowbridge

... Is the king's ship; in the deep nook, where once Thou call'dst me up at midnight to fetch dew From the still-vex'd Bermoothes, there she's hid: The mariners all under hatches stow'd; 230 Who, with a charm join'd to their suffer'd labour, I have left asleep: and for the rest o' the fleet, Which I dispersed, they all have met again, And are upon ...
— The Tempest - The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] • William Shakespeare

... grieve, either of you,' he continued; 'nor vex yourselves that this has happened. Please not to be angry with me, father, for deserting you and the mill, where you want me, for I must go. For these three years we and the rest of the country have been in fear of ...
— The Trumpet-Major • Thomas Hardy

... but their ears bear no black-and-white marks. Pardon, I do not mean to vex you; I read as I run, ...
— The Maid-At-Arms • Robert W. Chambers

... misfortunes worked to quite other ends than he anticipated. For Damaris came nearer, her expression gravely earnest as appealing to him not to mind, not to let these things vex him. ...
— Deadham Hard • Lucas Malet

... when the weather proves fair; Nor will we vex now though it rain; We'll banish all sorrow, and sing till to-morrow, ...
— The Complete Angler • Izaak Walton

... on Ratnagiri's groves of calm, Beyond the city, but below the caves, Lodged such as hold the body foe to soul, And flesh a beast which men must chain and tame With bitter pains, till sense of pain is killed, And tortured nerves vex torturer no more— Yogis and Brahmacharis, Bhikshus, all— A gaunt and mournful band, dwelling apart. Some day and night had stood with lifted arms, Till—drained of blood and withered by disease Their slowly-wasting ...
— The Light of Asia • Sir Edwin Arnold

... shall, indeed, be known to be related to them!" then recollecting herself, and not wishing to be answered, she added, "I certainly do think there has been by far too much trouble taken to procure the acquaintance. I suppose" (smiling) "I have more pride than any of you; but I confess it does vex me, that we should be so solicitous to have the relationship acknowledged, which we may be very sure is a matter of ...
— Persuasion • Jane Austen

... distress was changed into rejoicing by the prayer of the holy child, at which the broken parts came together and were made whole; that once on receiving his food in a basket, let down to his otherwise inaccessible cell, the devil vainly tried to vex him by breaking the rope; that once Satan, assuming the form of a blackbird, nearly blinded him by the flapping of his wings; that once, too, the same tempter appeared as a beautiful Roman girl, to whose fascinations, in his youth, St. Benedict had been sensible, and ...
— History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, Volume I (of 2) - Revised Edition • John William Draper

... Gerard Noeel, both for his good wishes and the more tangible proof of interest he sent me (a considerable payment for a box on my benefit night)? I am sorry you were alarmed on Monday. You alarmed us all; you looked so exceedingly ill that I feared something very serious had occurred to distress and vex you. Thank you for your critique upon my Constance; both my mother and myself were much delighted with it; it was every way acceptable to me, for the censure I knew to be deserved, and the praise I hoped was so, and they were blended in the very nicest proportions. We dine at six to-morrow. Lady ...
— Records of a Girlhood • Frances Anne Kemble

... of my first letter may have fatigued you, my Curtius, knowing as I so well do, how you esteem brevity. I hope at this time not to try your patience. But, however I may weary or vex you by my garrulity, I am sure of a patient and indulgent reader in the dear Lucilia, to whom I would now first of all commend myself. I salute her, and with her the little Gallus. My writing to you is a sufficient proof ...
— Zenobia - or, The Fall of Palmyra • William Ware

... vex. Bleui splendidissimum," which sounds like an appeal for "Two Lovely Blue Eyes." But if it means something entirely different, I shall hear it without the smallest surprise. In fact, looking further, I find, it's "an artificial ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 102, June 18, 1892 • Various

... enough to vex one of the saints, by their stupidity," he said. "Unless they have some one standing behind them with a whip, they cannot be trusted to do what they are told. It is not that they are not willing, ...
— A Jacobite Exile - Being the Adventures of a Young Englishman in the Service of Charles the Twelfth of Sweden • G. A. Henty

... Maria! Mother of the desolate! Guide of the unfortunate! Hear from thy starry home our prayer: If sorrow will await us, Tyrants vex and hate us, Teach us thine own most patient part to bear! Sancta Maria! When we are sighing, When we are dying, Give to us thine ...
— The Beth Book - Being a Study of the Life of Elizabeth Caldwell Maclure, a Woman of Genius • Sarah Grand

... plunge into sorrow, grieve, fash[obs3], afflict, distress; cut up, cut to the heart. displease, annoy, incommode, discompose, trouble, disquiet; faze, feaze[obs3], feeze (U[obs3].S.); disturb, cross, perplex, molest, tease, tire, irk, vex, mortify, wherret|, worry, plague, bother, pester, bore, pother, harass, harry, badger, heckle, bait, beset, infest, persecute, importune. wring, harrow, torment, torture; bullyrag; put to the rack, put to the question; break on the wheel, ...
— Roget's Thesaurus

... would certainly send her away, if she knew how late Phebe sometimes calls us in the morning,' Jacinth used to say. 'There's nothing that would vex her more than laziness, and it is very tiresome. But then, very likely, she'd get us some prim maid that would be ill-natured and crabbed, and perhaps not really ...
— Robin Redbreast - A Story for Girls • Mary Louisa Molesworth

... crimson and turned away, but only for a minute. "Tell me when he asked you this?" she cried. "Prithee, tell me, Mary. I wish not to vex you, but this ...
— Hayslope Grange - A Tale of the Civil War • Emma Leslie

... says: 'And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him.' White friends of the South! Let me beseech you to vex not this social stranger within your borders; the stranger who invades your swamps and drains them into his system for your comfort; who creeps through the slime of ...
— The Hindered Hand - or, The Reign of the Repressionist • Sutton E. Griggs

... man[127] with a long grey beard sitting on a stone at the place where he had reached land after his flight. When Slyboots came nearer, the old man asked, "Why are you so sad, my friend?" Slyboots told him how badly he had fared, and the old man bid him be of good cheer, and not vex himself, adding, "No harm can happen to you, as long as you wear the ring of strength." He then gave Slyboots a mussel-shell,[128] and advised him to build the bridge with the magic wand to the middle of the sea, and then ...
— The Hero of Esthonia and Other Studies in the Romantic Literature of That Country • William Forsell Kirby

... Empress' regency, And re-confirm it on last year's lines, My bother Joseph stoutening her rule As the Lieutenant-General of the State.— Vex her with no divisions; let regard For property, for order, and for France Be chief with all. Know, gentlemen, the Allies Are drunken with success. Their late advantage They have handled wholly for their own gross gain, And made a pastime ...
— The Dynasts - An Epic-Drama Of The War With Napoleon, In Three Parts, - Nineteen Acts, And One Hundred And Thirty Scenes • Thomas Hardy

... but two or three, had appeared from behind the rocks of the hills, and the heart of Wee Willie Winkie sank within him, for just in this manner were the Goblins wont to steal out and vex Curdie's soul. Thus had they played in Curdie's garden, he had seen the picture, and thus had they frightened the Princess's nurse. He heard them talking to each other, and recognized with joy the bastard Pushto that he had picked up from one of his father's ...
— Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II • Rudyard Kipling

... Bold; come this way, and we shall not be seen. What has happened to vex you so? What can I do for you? ...
— Barchester Towers • Anthony Trollope

... that convey Us weary children of a day Life's tedious nothing o'er, Where neither passions come, nor woes To vex the genius of ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 14, No. 406, Saturday, December 26, 1829. • Various

... temperance and fortitude, requires beauty in the conservators of his republic. It would vex you that a man should apply himself to you amongst your servants to inquire where Monsieur is, and that you should only have the remainder of the compliment of the hat that is made to your barber or your secretary; as it happened to poor Philopoemen, ...
— The Essays of Montaigne, Complete • Michel de Montaigne

... cheerfulness, food, clothing, books, preservation in journeys, success of business, conversation, and kindness of friends, &c.? Have I seen it in afflictions, and particularly in little things, which had a tendency to vex and disquiet me? Have I received my comforts thankfully, and my afflictions submissively? How have I guarded against the temptations of the day, particularly against this or that temptation, which I foresaw in the morning? Have I maintained ...
— A Practical Directory for Young Christian Females - Being a Series of Letters from a Brother to a Younger Sister • Harvey Newcomb

... walks was particularly unfortunate in this respect: the account of it may stand here instead of similar cases, which might weary if not vex the reader. ...
— Autobiography • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

... o'clock came a light dinner—perhaps thrushes and chianti—from the trattoria; at six appeared coffee and milk-rolls; at nine, when the pine-fire blazed, roast chestnuts and grapes. Debts there were none to vex the spirits of these prudent children of genius. If a poet could not pay his butcher's and his baker's bills, Browning's sympathies were all with the baker and the butcher. "He would not sleep," wrote his wife, "if an unpaid bill dragged itself by any chance into ...
— Robert Browning • Edward Dowden

... grudge and ill-will in their bosoms; every one thinking she was punished most, although she would have it, that she deserved to be punished least; and they continued all the sly tricks they could think on to vex and tease ...
— The Governess - The Little Female Academy • Sarah Fielding

... never go for to beat him,' continued Harold; 'but it was enough to vex a chap—wasn't it?—to have Mother coming and lugging one off from the carrying, and away from the supper and all. Women always grudge ...
— Friarswood Post-Office • Charlotte M. Yonge

... I speak it out, for it lieth near my heart. Sith thou art no more Prince of Wales but King, thou canst order matters as thou wilt, with none to say thee nay; wherefore it is not in reason that thou wilt longer vex thyself with dreary studies, but wilt burn thy books and turn thy mind to things less irksome. Then am I ruined, and mine orphan sisters ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... had eschewed letter-writing! I am averse to his suit, and yet he ceaseth not to vex me continually with his drivelling ditties. His ballad-mongering to these 'eyne' alone would set up one of your ...
— Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 1 (of 2) • John Roby

... as much amused with the thing as others, I was more than once obliged to remind him that my occupations left me but little time to learn my parts. Then he would assume his coaxing manner and say, "Come, do not vex me! You have such a memory! You know that it amuses me. You see that these performances render Malmaison gay and animated; Josephine takes much pleasure in them. Rise earlier in the morning.—In fact, I sleep too much; is not that the cafe—Come, Bourrienne, do ...
— Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, Complete • Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne

... sure and search carefully for the witch-mark. I doubt not we shall find it fairly and legibly writ in the devil's characters on Mother Demdike and Mother Chattox. They shall undergo the stool and the pool, and other trials, if required. These old hags shall no longer vex you, good Master Nicholas. Leave them to me, and doubt not I will bring them to ...
— The Lancashire Witches - A Romance of Pendle Forest • William Harrison Ainsworth

... minion murmured, "Death!" Not one discordant voice. But Charlemaign— Though to his foes a circulating sword, Yet, as a king, mild, gracious, exorable, Blest in his children too, with but one born To vex his flesh like an ingrowing nail— Looked kindly on the trembling pair, and said: "Yes, Eginardus, well hast thou deserved Death for this thing; for, hadst thou loved her so, Thou shouldst have sought her ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 8, Issue 45, July, 1861 • Various

... would he watch no more; no more the sea With myriad vessels, sail by sail, perplex His eyes and mock his longing. Weary head, Take now thy rest; eyes, close; for no more me Shall hopes untried elate, or ruined vex. ...
— New Poems • Robert Louis Stevenson

... light-house tower— In the tumultuous evil hour Ere Peace with Sara came, 45 Time was, I should have thought it sweet To count the echoings of my feet, And watch the storm-vex'd flame. ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Vol I and II • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

... We will not do that. We want to ask your permission first. We had no intention of doing otherwise; we intended to ask you for the hay. And we did not mean to vex you, but rather to honour you in this manner. Is it not an honour to be asked to save a whole ...
— Seven Icelandic Short Stories • Various

... so far from great, that tis not knowne, Can lend no praise but what thou'dst blush to own; And no rude hand, or feeble wit should dare To vex thy Shrine with an unlearned teare. I'de have a State of Wit convoked, which hath A power to take up on common Faith; That when the stocke of the whole Kingdome's spent In but preparative to thy Monument, The prudent Councell may invent fresh wayes To get new contribution to thy prayse, And ...
— The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher in Ten Volumes - Volume I. • Beaumont and Fletcher

... for reflection, for my turn came next. I believe I cried or got into somebody's way, or did something to vex the tyrant; all I know is that I heard myself addressed as 'You young scoundrel,' and ordered to go to the 'mast-head.' Go to the mast-head indeed! with a freshening wind, under whose influence the ship was beginning to heel over, ...
— Sketches From My Life - By The Late Admiral Hobart Pasha • Hobart Pasha

... The landlady talked of Mr. Cheffinsky as her "star boarder," and said that she was used to his "queer ways." Often he stopped away from home a day or two, but she never worried. He always came back. The "Stahls" were voluble over the non-arrival of their luggage, which seemed to vex them more than the appearance of Cheffinsky, their old friend. Whether or not Mrs. MacMahon believed the story, at all events she agreed to supply the needs of Mr. and Mrs. Stahl, ordering a list of things for their selection. This arrangement ...
— The Lion's Mouse • C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson

... friend here," replied Maniferro, "who has any desire to vex a friend; and since we are all friends, let us give each other the hand like friends." "Your worships have all spoken like good friends," added Monipodio, "and as such friends should do; now finish by giving each other your ...
— The Exemplary Novels of Cervantes • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

... leaving the edges always sharp is that you may not trouble or vex the color, but let it lie as it falls suddenly on the paper: color looks much more lovely when it has been laid on with a dash of the brush, and left to dry in its own way, than when it has been dragged about ...
— The Elements of Drawing - In Three Letters to Beginners • John Ruskin

... health to make it a rule never to discuss business troubles and things that vex and irritate one at night, especially just before retiring, for whatever is dominant in the mind when one falls asleep continues its influence on the nervous structure long ...
— Pushing to the Front • Orison Swett Marden

... family. Well, when laid in the odoriferous channel, the larva goes to the end, as far as it can go, and makes no further movement. Does not this placid quiescence point to the absence of a sense of smell? The resinous flavour, so strange to the grub which has always lived in oak, ought to vex it, to trouble it; and the disagreeable impression ought to be revealed by a certain commotion, by certain attempts to get away. Well, nothing of the kind happens: once the larva has found the right position in the groove, ...
— The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles • Jean Henri Fabre

... faculty, above all other people on earth, of knowing where to place their care, whilst others vex and torture themselves and at length must despair. Such must be the consequence of unbelief, which has no God and would provide for itself. But faith understands this word Peter quotes from the Scriptures: "Because he careth for you." It joyfully meditates thereon and does and ...
— Epistle Sermons, Vol. III - Trinity Sunday to Advent • Martin Luther

... with tears at last, when he did not speak, and she turned away. The blood rushed to Palmer's face: surely that was more than pity! But he would not tempt her,—he would never vex her soul as he had done before: if she had come to him, as a sister might, because she thought he was dying, he would not taunt her with the old ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, Number 60, October 1862 • Various

... mother of these twa young ladies that are gane—the last o' them's dead at a ripe age, I trow—Jean Liltup came out o' Liddel water, and she was as near our connexion as second cousin to my mother's half-sister. She drew up wi' Singleside, nae doubt, when she was his housekeeper, and it was a sair vex and grief to a' her kith and kin. But he acknowledged a marriage, and satisfied the kirk; and now I wad ken frae you if we hae not ...
— Guy Mannering, or The Astrologer, Complete, Illustrated • Sir Walter Scott

... heart in trying, and not being able to love you. But if you had asked me when we gave you the sword, you might have had me, sir, and we both should have been miserable by this time. I talked with that silly lord all night just to vex you and mamma, and I succeeded, didn't I? How frankly we can talk of these things! It seems a thousand years ago: and, though we are here sitting in the same room, there's a great wall between us. My dear, kind, faithful, gloomy old cousin! ...
— Henry Esmond; The English Humourists; The Four Georges • William Makepeace Thackeray

... with her fan-stick through the pile of the soft rug on the floor, and sat gazing thoughtfully at her feet. As she sat thus her eye was caught by her sandals, richly set with precious stones, and the slender toes she had so often contemplated with pleasure; but now the sight of them seemed to vex her, for in obedience to a swift impulse she loosened the straps, pushed off her right sandal with her left foot, kicked it from her, and said, ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... way to show your friendship, Hodge! You vex me sometimes. Now, look here! The 'flock' can be together but a little while longer. The last of June is approaching fast, and that brings commencement. Diamond, Rattleton, Browning, Gamp, Dismal, Danny, Bink, and a lot more will leave Yale ...
— Frank Merriwell's Reward • Burt L. Standish

... upon his hands for bad likenesses, finds his account in bestowing them here gratis. The good creature has not the heart to mortify the painter at the expense of an honest refusal. It is pleasant (if it did not vex one at the same time) to see him sitting in his dining parlour, surrounded with obscure aunts and cousins to God knows whom, while the true Lady Marys and Lady Bettys of his own honourable family, in favour ...
— The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, Volume 2 • Charles Lamb

... As, vex'd by the fierce wind, The weary sailor lifts at night his gaze To the twin lights which still our pole displays, So, in the storms unkind Of Love which I sustain, in those bright eyes My guiding light and only solace lies: But e'en in this far more is due to theft, Which, taught by ...
— The Sonnets, Triumphs, and Other Poems of Petrarch • Petrarch

... severe, discontented people can win attention easily enough, and acquire the kind of consideration which is generally conceded to anyone who can be unpleasant. How often families and groups are drilled and cautioned by anxious mothers and sisters not to say or do anything which will vex so-and-so! Such irritable people get the rooms and the chairs and the food that they like, and the talk in their presence is eagerly kept upon subjects on which they can hold forth. But how little such regard lasts, ...
— Where No Fear Was - A Book About Fear • Arthur Christopher Benson

... murmured Theo, leaning her head out of one of the open windows of the tea-house, and staring absently down upon the waves leaping over the black rocks below. 'Vex me! It's more than that. Oh, it's too bad that all the burden should fall on me! Father ought to look after the boys. ...
— The Captain's Bunk - A Story for Boys • M. B. Manwell

... affection. In a long letter of March 24, Vail shows his solicitude for Morse's peace of mind: "I think I would not be bothered with a directorship in the New York and Buffalo line, nor in any other. I should wish to keep clear of them. It will only tend to harass and vex when you should be left quiet and undisturbed to pursue your improvements and the enjoyment of what is most ...
— Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals - In Two Volumes, Volume II • Samuel F. B. Morse

... don't vex yourself about any old father dead and gone. I wouldn't! Though, to be sure, I never had the chance. Little I ever knew or cared ...
— Olive - A Novel • Dinah Maria Craik, (AKA Dinah Maria Mulock)

... cease, for why should I prolong My notes, and vex a Singer with a Song? Oh thou with pen perpetual in thy fist! Dubbed for thy sins a stark Miscellanist, So pleased the printer's orders to perform For Messrs. Longman, Hurst and Rees and Orme. Go—Get thee hence to Paternoster Row, Thy patrons wave a duodecimo! (Best form for letters ...
— The Works of Lord Byron, Vol. 7. - Poetry • George Gordon Byron

... their value; that they accumulate so rapidly (much faster, in fact, than books) as to outrun the means at the disposal of any library to deal with them; in short, that they cost more than they come to, if bound, and if unbound, they vex the soul of the ...
— A Book for All Readers • Ainsworth Rand Spofford

... shall vex thee, looking ancient kindness on thy pain. Turn thee, turn thee on thy pillow; get thee to thy ...
— The World's Best Poetry, Volume 3 - Sorrow and Consolation • Various

... schooled in war. At the age of sixteen he commanded in Macedonia during Philip's absence and quelled a rising of the hill-tribes on the northern border; in the following year (338) he headed the charge which broke the Sacred Band at Chaeronea. Then came family dissensions such as usually vex the polygamous courts of the East. In 337 Philip repudiated Olympias for another wife, Cleopatra, Alexander went with his mother to her home in Epirus, and, though he soon returned and an outward reconciliation between father and son was contrived, ...
— Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia

... spurted the blood, and Jim was just going to let out when he looked up and saw Miss Falkland looking at him, with her beautiful eyes so full of pity and surprise that he could have had his hand chopped off, so he told me afterwards, rather than vex her for a moment. So he shut up his mouth and ground his teeth together, for it was no joke in the way of pain, and the blood began to run like a blind ...
— Robbery Under Arms • Thomas Alexander Browne, AKA Rolf Boldrewood

... his own improvidence, and rejoiced to think that Sydney's position was assured, no matter what might happen to himself. Yet often in the silence of the night he would toss upon his restless bed, or vex his soul with complicated accounts in the privacy of his study, and none but the two faithful women who lived with him suspected what he suffered in ...
— Name and Fame - A Novel • Adeline Sergeant

... urine nor the winde, which doth thy body vex, So it be done with secresie, let that not ...
— Early English Meals and Manners • Various

... an income that materially exceeded the revenues of many reigning princes. I had not an ex-pensive nor a vicious habit of any sort. Of houses, horses, hounds, packs, and menials, there were none to vex or perplex me. In every particular save one I was completely my own master. That one was the near, dear, cherished sentiment that rendered Anna in my eyes an angel (and truly she was little short of it in those of other people), and made her ...
— The Monikins • J. Fenimore Cooper

... house-bred whelps do feel the sudden urge To shake their bodies and start from off the ground, As if beholding stranger-visages. And ever the fiercer be the stock, the more In sleep the same is ever bound to rage. But flee the divers tribes of birds and vex With sudden wings by night the groves of gods, When in their gentle slumbers they have dreamed Of hawks in chase, aswooping on for fight. Again, the minds of mortals which perform With mighty motions mighty enterprises, Often in sleep will do and ...
— Of The Nature of Things • [Titus Lucretius Carus] Lucretius

... thou vex me with insolent gaze, thou who honourest the foe guilty of thy father's blood, and art thought only to take thy vengeance with loaves ...
— The Danish History, Books I-IX • Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Learned")

... was a young lady of a jealous temperament, and kept a sharp eye both on me and on my lady visitors. However, I felt so kindly towards her, and was so entirely dependent upon her for almost all that made my life a blessing and a comfort to me, that I took good care not to vex her, and we remained excellent friends. The men were far less inquisitive, and would not, I believe, have come near me of their own accord; but the women made them come as escorts. I was delighted with their handsome mien, and pleasant ...
— Erewhon • Samuel Butler

... "have your own way, if you like. I'll not spare you if you do anything to vex me; only remember, my good fellow, that whatever I may say will only be said ...
— The Cruise of the "Esmeralda" • Harry Collingwood

... to bring herself to such a determination as that expressed to him. But he would insist on seeing her; she could not refuse that to him, after what had passed between them, and he would then tell her what he thought of her, and leave her for ever. But no; he would do nothing to vex her, as long as she was grieving for her brother. Poor Harry!—she loved him so dearly! Perhaps, after all, his sudden rejection was, in some manner, occasioned by this sad event, and would be revoked as her sorrow grew less ...
— The Kellys and the O'Kellys • Anthony Trollope

... surely not least dear, That blithe and buxom buccaneer, Th' avenging goddess of her sex, Born the base soul of man to vex, And wring from him those tears and sighs Tortured from woman's heart and eyes. Ah! fury, fascinating, fair— When shall I cease ...
— Robert Louis Stevenson, an Elegy; And Other Poems • Richard Le Gallienne

... not Oscar's fault, if I am out of spirits every now and then. It is my own fault. I have offended my father; and I sometimes fear I have not acted justly towards Madame Pratolungo. These things vex me. ...
— Poor Miss Finch • Wilkie Collins

... vex myself, Theo, and annoy myself, and whip myself, as I deserve, child. And, besides, how can you expect such an idiot as I am to say anything but idiotic things? Do you know, it quite pleased me to see him angry. I thought, ah! now I have hurt his feelings! Now ...
— The Virginians • William Makepeace Thackeray

... inhabitants flock together that they may see that which must be sent to the king. Names are easily collected. One man signs because he hates the papists; another because he has vowed destruction to the turnpikes; one because it will vex the parson; another because he owes his landlord nothing; one because he is rich; another because he is poor; one to show that he is not afraid; and another to show that he ...
— Samuel Johnson • Leslie Stephen

... thought to say to him other than he chose to hear, by the Lord above us ye dare not do it for the king's crown, who is lord of this land, he would put ye to such great shame! Of long time, and full well, do I know his ways! When he is well entreated, and men do naught to vex him, then is he gentle as a lamb, but an ye rouse him to wrath then is he the fiercest wight of God's making—in such wise is he fashioned. Gentle and courteous is he to all the world, rich and poor, so long as men do him no wrong, but let his temper be changed, and nowhere ...
— The Romance of Morien • Jessie L. Weston

... she did not tell papa anything about it; it would only vex papa and do no good. Mamma told me to tell you that she had made up her mind to forgive you, and to say no more about it, although she was deeply grieved that you should have so ...
— A Dozen Ways Of Love • Lily Dougall

... in the neighbourhood, though happily we saw none of them. But at certain intervals we met the Austrian patrol, whose duty it was to clear the road of brigands. Peter, it appeared to us, kept strange company about him,—idlers, beggars, vagabonds, and brigands. It must vex the good man much to find his dear children disgracing him so in the ...
— Pilgrimage from the Alps to the Tiber - Or The Influence of Romanism on Trade, Justice, and Knowledge • James Aitken Wylie

... rul'd, And to the house of Tantalus was given A long-withheld repose. A son alone Was wanting to complete my parent's bliss; Scarce was this wish fulfill'd, and young Orestes, The household's darling, with his sisters grew, When new misfortunes vex'd our ancient house. To you hath come the rumour of the war, Which, to avenge the fairest woman's wrongs, The force united of the Grecian kings Round Ilion's walls encamp'd. Whether the town Was humbl'd, and achiev'd their great revenge I have not heard. My father led ...
— Iphigenia in Tauris • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

... Scholar, it is the part of wisdom to spend little of your time upon the things that vex and anger you, and much of your time upon the things that bring you quietness and confidence and good cheer. A friend made is better than an enemy punished. There is more of God in the peaceable beauty of this little wood-violet than in all the angry disputations ...
— The Ruling Passion • Henry van Dyke

... but half appeased the cravings of Barkilphedro's pride. Consolations, palliations at most. To vex is one thing; to torment would be infinitely better. Barkilphedro had a thought which returned to him without ceasing: his success might not go beyond just irritating the epidermis of Josiana. What could he hope for more—he so ...
— The Man Who Laughs • Victor Hugo

... haughty self-possession, might have been described, as the late Lord Aberdeen was, by one who knew him well, as 'possessing a heart of fire in a form of ice,' had yet a deeply felt but secret sorrow, with which even his resolution could hardly cope. If I do not disguise that for years he had much to vex him in the wild ways of a son whom he yet never ceased to love, it is only because otherwise I could convey little idea of the unreserved manner in which that lofty spirit could turn for consolation, in letter after letter, to Mr. Hope, ...
— Memoirs of James Robert Hope-Scott, Volume 2 • Robert Ornsby

... journey barefooted among thorns and briers and prickles. "Though sometimes small evils," says Richard Sharp, "like invisible insects, inflict great pain, and a single hair may stop a vast machine, yet the chief secret of comfort lies in not suffering trifles to vex us; and in prudently cultivating and under-growth of small pleasures, since very few great ones, alas! are ...
— How to Get on in the World - A Ladder to Practical Success • Major A.R. Calhoon

... natural that he should lie!" she continued; "all Englishmen lie, especially the rooibaatje Englishmen, but he should not lie so badly. It must vex the dear Lord to hear a man lie so badly, even though he be an Englishman and ...
— Jess • H. Rider Haggard

... conny-catching pageants are past[86], Some other must those arrant stories tell; These hungry wormes thinke long for their repast; Come on; I pardon thy offence to me; It was thy living; be not so aghast! A fool and a physitian may agree! And for my brothers never vex thyself; They are not to ...
— Calamities and Quarrels of Authors • Isaac D'Israeli

... You'd not mean to wrong me of a farthing, I know; but you must be well aware you're not always your own mayster. So if you cannot keep your own brass safe, I can hardly think it wise to trust you to take charge of mine. I don't wish to vex you, Mayster Frank, but that's just the ...
— Frank Oldfield - Lost and Found • T.P. Wilson

... made for the multitude. What purpose then can it serve to preach Atheism? It may at least serve to convince all those who reason, that nothing is more extravagant than to fret one's self, and nothing more unjust than to vex others, for mere groundless conjectures. As for the vulgar who never reason, the arguments of an Atheist are no more fit for them than the systems of a natural philosopher, the observations of an astronomer, the experiments of a chemist, the calculations of a geometrician, the ...
— Good Sense - 1772 • Paul Henri Thiry, Baron D'Holbach

... petition:— "Grant me the pledge of thy word, and confirm with the nod of acceptance, Else let refusal be spoken, (for fear cannot dwell with the Highest,)— Give me to know of a truth that with thee I am last of the Godheads." Vex'd was the spirit of Zeus, as at last he made answer to Thetis:— "Plagueful indeed is the hour which to strife and contention with Hera Sees me committed by thee, and her words of reproach are a torment; Ever, when cause there is none, she upbraids me before the Immortals, Saying I favour ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 367, May 1846 • Various

... London then; papa went up and down every day from the big town by the sea where our home was. Clement thinks perhaps I had better not say what town it is, as some people might remember about us, and I might say things that would vex them; so I won't call it anything, though I must explain that it is not at all a little place, but quite big enough for any one to lose their way in, if they were strangers. But Peterkin wasn't a stranger; and ...
— Peterkin • Mary Louisa Molesworth

... words was not that of Lady Aoi herself; and when Genji came to reflect, it clearly belonged to the Lady of Rokjio. Always before, when anyone had talked with him about a living spirit coming to vex Lady Aoi, he felt inclined to suppress such ideas; but now he began to think that such things might really happen, and he felt disturbed. "You speak thus," said Genji, as if he was addressing the spirit, "but you do not tell me who you ...
— Japanese Literature - Including Selections from Genji Monogatari and Classical - Poetry and Drama of Japan • Various

... to go a way that you do not like, and to do a thing that will vex you. I have been a great trouble to you since I was a child in the house, and I am a great trouble to you yet. It is not my fault. I have been chosen for what I have to do. [Stands up.] I have to ...
— The Unicorn from the Stars and Other Plays • William B. Yeats

... to throw into my voice an aggressive cheeriness which I had calculated would vex him, but his manner remained that of a man who is simply bored. I argued with him politely concerning the paper; but he insisted, still with the same weary air, that he had done with it. I thanked him effusively. I ...
— Sketches in Lavender, Blue and Green • Jerome K. Jerome

... pain, all past, is peace, And joy, dream-tasted, hath the deepest cheer, So art thou sweetest of all months that lease The twelve short spaces of the flying year. The bloomless days are dead, and frozen fear No more for many moons shall vex the earth, Dreaming of summer and ...
— Among the Millet and Other Poems • Archibald Lampman

... I rage, in vain I rouse my powers; But I shall wake again, I shall, to better hours. Even in slumber will I vex him; Still perplex him, Still incumber: Know, you that have adored him, And sovereign power afford him, We'll reap the gains Of all your pains, And seem to have restored him. [ZEAL ...
— The Works Of John Dryden, Vol. 7 (of 18) - The Duke of Guise; Albion and Albanius; Don Sebastian • John Dryden

... the world's great tumult dieth, Thou shalt look back and wonder at its roar; But its far voice shall seem to thee a dream, Its power to vex thy ...
— The May Flower, and Miscellaneous Writings • Harriet Beecher Stowe

... "Tush, man! Vex not thy soul as to thy friend's virtues or vices— what are they to thee? And of truth Sah-luma is no worse than the rest of us. All I maintain is that he is certainly no better. I have known many poets in my day, and they are all more or less ...
— Ardath - The Story of a Dead Self • Marie Corelli

... wealth of the American people is largely applied for the increase of the magnificence of town and country residences—for the most part so ignorantly applied, that the Genius of Architecture might almost be frightened from our shores by the spectacles reared here to vex and astonish the next ages. To bring about a reform, to lead the way for rationalism, in the noblest of the practical arts, Mr. Ruskin has approved himself worthy by his previous works. The Stones of Venice will increase the fame won by his "Modern Painters." ...
— The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 2, May, 1851 • Various

... homes that awaited them, or, in the case of many, of other homes where they were to visit, deepened her newly awakened sense of isolation. Fathers and mothers appeared constantly to visit their daughters, and questions that had never troubled her heart before arose to vex her. Why was it, when these other girls, flung together from all parts of the country, were so blest with kindred, that she had literally but one kinsman, the grandfather on whom all her ...
— A Hoosier Chronicle • Meredith Nicholson

... his face, and drew her black silk hood forward so as to shade it. They were nearly of the same height and complexion, and Edmund pronounced that Walter made a very pretty girl, so like Rose that he should hardly have known them apart, which seemed to vex the boy more ...
— The Pigeon Pie • Charlotte M. Yonge

... my life been money instead of nature, I have no hesitation in saying that by this time I would have been a rich man. But it is not the things I have done that vex me so much as the things I have not done. I feel that I could have accomplished so much more. I had the will, but ...
— Captains of Industry - or, Men of Business Who Did Something Besides Making Money • James Parton

... Baker would not have tried to run off any more if it had not been for Jim Leonard. He was so glad he had not got off with the circus that he did not mind any of the things at home that used to vex him; and it really seemed as if his father and mother were trying to act better. They were a good deal taken up with each other, and sometimes he thought they let him do things they would not have let him do if they had noticed what he asked. His mother was fonder of him than ...
— The Flight of Pony Baker - A Boy's Town Story • W. D. Howells

... beech tree warning us in faded lettering as we pass beneath it of the penalties awaiting trespassers were to be superseded by a notice headed "Verboten!" What essential difference would there be—that a wise man need vex his soul concerning? We should no longer call it England. That would be all. The sweep of the hills would not be changed; the path would still wind through the woodland. Yet just for a name we are ready to face ...
— New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 4, July, 1915 - April-September, 1915 • Various

... eating her soup at one end of the table, while Francoise dealt with hers at the other extreme. He told Helene that in future she was to serve the repast in common, on a tablecloth, and that it was to include dessert from his table. This order seemed to vex Helene extremely. "That girl seems to live without eating,'' she said, "and she never seems ...
— She Stands Accused • Victor MacClure

... a great while to stay in the world any way, and I don't see why we can't be let alone and have a good time while we are here, and when we get to heaven we can take a fresh start. Oh, dear! I never shall go to heaven, if I am so bad and vex mamma. But then papa didn't care. But then he would have liked me to go to school. But there, I won't! I won't! I will not! I'll study at home. Oh, dear! I wish papa was a great man, and knew everything, and could teach me. Well, he is just as happy, and just ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume V, Number 29, March, 1860 - A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics • Various

... varieties; and there is hardly anything which stands still. And consider this which is near to thee, this boundless abyss of the past and of the future in which all things disappear. How then is he not a fool who is puffed up with such things or plagued about them and makes himself miserable? for they vex him only for a time, ...
— Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus • Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

... snug little place! True, its walls resembled those of any other room—I am not speaking of that; the point is that the recollection of them seems to haunt my mind with sadness. Curious that recollections should be so mournful! Even what in that room used to vex me and inconvenience me now looms in a purified light, and figures in my imagination as a thing to be desired. We used to live there so quietly—I and an old landlady who is now dead. How my heart aches to remember ...
— Poor Folk • Fyodor Dostoyevsky

... asks Helen, observing her frayed aspect, and in turn becoming the supporter. "You've seen something to vex you? something of—Luis?" ...
— The Death Shot - A Story Retold • Mayne Reid

... wondering eyes, "That is where we women workers have to suffer! Men grudge us the laurel, but they forget that we are trying to win it only that we may wear the rose more fittingly! A woman tries to do a great and a noble thing, not that she may vex of humiliate a man by superiority,—but that she may be more worthy to be his mate and helper in the world,—and also, that her children may reverence her for something more than the mere animal duties of nursing ...
— The Master-Christian • Marie Corelli

... vex you with my face Henceforth, my love, for aye; So take me in your arms a space Before ...
— A Shropshire Lad • A. E. Housman

... Walter as a murderer of little children, and it is not possible. Why, it seems but yesterday that I stood plaguing him on the stone doorstep at Guy Park—calling him Walter Ninny and Walter Noodle to vex him. You remember, Euan, that his full name is Walter N. Butler, and that he never would tell us what the N. stands for, but we guessed it stood for Nellis, in honour of Nellis Fonda.... Lord! What a world o' trouble for us ...
— The Hidden Children • Robert W. Chambers



Words linked to "Vex" :   stir up, eat, bedevil, raise up, harass, debate, nonplus, chevvy, bother, get at, vexer, displease, displace, vexation, devil, unhinge, confound, get, move, disturb, flummox, get under one's skin, fox, chivy, reassure, amaze, scramble, annoy, gravel, confuse, plague, trouble, perturb, discombobulate, escape, chivvy, beat, throw, befuddle, provoke, rankle, irritate, rag, get to, pose, baffle, mystify, stick, shake up, grate, nettle, bewilder, antagonize, mix up, chafe, chevy, perplex, peeve, eat into, nag, rile, beset, worry, dumbfound, fret, puzzle, elude, ruffle, cark, poke, nark, hassle, stump, molest, riddle, disquiet, deliberate, stupefy



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