"Penultimate" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... is allied to the Notopods (or those crabs which have their posterior legs placed almost on their backs, for the purpose of adhering to the under side of rocks), is very remarkable from the structure of its hind pair of legs. The penultimate joint, instead of terminating in a simple claw, ends in three bristle-like appendages of dissimilar lengths — the longest equalling that of the entire leg. These claws are very thin, and are serrated with the finest teeth, directed backwards: ...
— The Voyage of the Beagle • Charles Darwin
... penultimate point of importance, which may be held to affect the inclusion or exclusion of Irish Members at Westminster—I mean the question of future constitutional amendment. Here the colonial analogies are a little complicated. Since the Australian Colonies Act of 1850, in the new grant of ...
— The Framework of Home Rule • Erskine Childers
... mind or manners possess any feature, and are not as devoid of all eccentricity as half pounds of butter bought of metropolitan grocers, are recommended not to leave a roomful of their acquaintances until the last but one. Yes, they should always be penultimate. Perhaps Mrs. Woffington knew this; but epilogues are stubborn things, ...
— Peg Woffington • Charles Reade
... wishful to deny or admit the Andromeda's shortcomings—even the ship herself might have protested against the horror of a long "e" in the penultimate syllable of her name—the other man's rapid proffer of a light stopped him. He puffed away in silence; there was an awkward pause; for once in his career, Verity regretted his cultivated trick of covering up a significant ...
— The Stowaway Girl • Louis Tracy
... by Roth from the penultimate position where it stands in the original. Dawn here pays Night for the latter's malutinal withdrawing by withdrawing herself. Strictly speaking, the Dawn is, of course, the sunset light conceived of as identical ...
— The Religions of India - Handbooks On The History Of Religions, Volume 1, Edited By Morris Jastrow • Edward Washburn Hopkins
... set to work. It was largely guesswork, following those intricate alien connections, but Rynason had seen this part of such machines before. He found the penultimate point at which the impulses from the brain were translated into sound and broadcast through the speaker. He disconnected this, his torn fingers working awkwardly ...
— Warlord of Kor • Terry Gene Carr
... in the penultimate year of the war when the all-black 477th Bombardment Group was organized. (Black airmen and civil rights spokesmen complained that restricting Negroes to fighter units excluded them from many important and prestigious types of ...
— Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940-1965 • Morris J. MacGregor Jr.
... prehensile antennae; and it thus continues to do throughout life in most or all of the species of Lepas, Conchoderma, Dichelaspis and Ibla. In the first two of these genera, the cement escapes from the borders of the lower side of the disc or penultimate segment of the antennae, and can be there seen radiating out like spokes, which at their ends divide into finer and finer branches, till a uniform sheet of cement is formed, fastening the antennae and the adjoining part of the peduncle down to ...
— A Monograph on the Sub-class Cirripedia (Volume 1 of 2) - The Lepadidae; or, Pedunculated Cirripedes • Charles Darwin
... the concubines of the penultimate feudal ruler of Ch'in was living as a hostage in the neighbouring state of Chao, in what is now northern Shansi. There he made the acquaintance of an unusual man, the merchant Lue Pu-wei, a man of education and of great political influence. Lue Pu-wei persuaded the feudal ruler of Ch'in to ...
— A history of China., [3d ed. rev. and enl.] • Wolfram Eberhard
... at this time to state with much definiteness are few (doubling consonants, dropping silent e's, changing y's to i's, accenting the penultimate and antepenultimate syllables, lengthening and shortening vowels). In addition we may classify exceptions, for the sole purpose of ...
— The Art Of Writing & Speaking The English Language - Word-Study and Composition & Rhetoric • Sherwin Cody
... first at the end, and was thankful to see that the reply was from Rachel herself. But the penultimate clause introduced a complication. It must have some meaning. It would scarcely be a wholly irrelevant expression of dislike. Langholm, at all events, read a warning in the words—a warning to himself not to call ...
— The Shadow of the Rope • E. W. Hornung
... case; but its features, although unusually prominent, are like those of the general run of the considerations by which evolution is supposed to exclude design. Those of the penultimate citation and its context are all of the same stamp. The differences which begin as variations are said to be spontaneous—a metaphorical word of wide meanings—are inferred to be casual (whereas we only know ...
— Darwiniana - Essays and Reviews Pertaining to Darwinism • Asa Gray
... this, was easily dissuaded from his design; and the next moment was wondering why he had been so near playing the fool as to throw away a shot—his penultimate one, too—at an animal placed full fifty yards beyond ...
— The Cliff Climbers - A Sequel to "The Plant Hunters" • Captain Mayne Reid
... indecisive ending, where the curtain falls, as the saying goes, on a note of interrogation. An unemphatic ending, as I understand it, is a deliberate anticlimax, an idyllic, or elegiac, or philosophic last act, following upon a penultimate act of very much higher tension. The disposition to condemn such an ending off-hand is what I am here pleading against. It is sometimes assumed that the playwright ought always to make his action conclude within five minutes of its culmination; but for such a hard-and-fast ...
— Play-Making - A Manual of Craftsmanship • William Archer
... death and leaps four centuries: it is young and perpetual. It thrills with something the failing middle ages had forgotten: it reaches what they never reached, a climax, for one cannot put too vividly the flash of the penultimate line, "I am granted a vision when I think ...
— Avril - Being Essays on the Poetry of the French Renaissance • H. Belloc
... his immortal robes. It was Miss Pinnegar who saw the travellers and ordered the unions and calicoes and grey flannel. James hovered round and said the last word, of course. But what was his last word but an echo of Miss Pinnegar's penultimate! He was not interested ...
— The Lost Girl • D. H. Lawrence
... existence of the fact. The existence of the perception of matter is admitted on all hands. It refers to the nature, or origin, or constitution of the fact. Is the perception of matter simple and indivisible, or is it composite and divisible? Is it the ultimate, or is it only the penultimate, datum of cognition? Is it a relation constituted by the concurrence of a mental or subjective, and a material or objective element,—or do we impose upon ourselves in regarding it as such? Is it a state, or modification ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, No. 382, October 1847 • Various
... the penultimate entree was reached, had turned naturally on the affair of the theatre and the constitutionally sworn rector. In the first fervor of royalty, during the year 1816, those who later were called Jesuits were ...
— The Jealousies of a Country Town • Honore de Balzac
... so holds on. Bread was frozen at Lord's Table. Though 't was so cold John Tuckerman was baptized. At six o'clock my ink freezes, so that I can hardly write by a good fire in my Wives chamber. Yet was very Comfortable at Meeting." In the penultimate sentence of this quotation may be found the clue and explanation of the seemingly incredible assertion in the last sentence. The reason why he was comfortable in church was that he was accustomed to sit in cold rooms; even with the great open-mouthed and open-chimneyed fireplaces ...
— Sabbath in Puritan New England • Alice Morse Earle
... The penultimate week in August went on—wearily, tamely, and monotonously. It was, perhaps, the presence of the Speaker—it was, perhaps, the painful recollection of the scene of violence on a previous occasion—it was, perhaps, the universal exhaustion of the House; whatever the cause, the excitement ...
— Sketches In The House (1893) • T. P. O'Connor
... p. 413. In the above discussion there is no evidence that the author felt this difficulty so strongly as it is expressed in the Origin, Ed. i. p. 299,—as perhaps "the most obvious and gravest objection that can be urged against my theory." But in a rough summary written on the back of the penultimate page of the MS. he refers to the geological evidence:—"Evidence, as far as it does go, is favourable, exceedingly incomplete,—greatest difficulty on this theory. I am convinced not insuperable." Buckland's remarks ...
— The Foundations of the Origin of Species - Two Essays written in 1842 and 1844 • Charles Darwin
... longer—he had, you see, wasted less breath. When he saw Hugh gasping in the penultimate throes of death, he mustered sufficient strength to clutch the bottle, and even to crawl over to his friend's side. Hugh saw him coming and shut his teeth. Arthur was too feeble to prize them open with his hands, but he had no difficulty in knocking out a couple with ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, April 29, 1914 • Various
... text "Farrij," as if the pl. of "Farrj"chicken were "Farrij" instead of "Farrj." In modern Egyptian these nouns of relation from irregular plurals to designate tradespeople not only drop the vowel of the penultimate but furthermore, shorten that of the preceding syllable, so that "Farrij" becomes "Fararj." Thus "Sandik," a maker of boxes, becomes "Sanadk," and "Dakhkhin, a seller of tobacco brands," "Dakhakhn." See Spitta ...
— Supplemental Nights, Volume 5 • Richard F. Burton
... stages to be given to a religious building; they also regulated the order of the colours, each one of which was consecrated by tradition to one of those great heavenly bodies. We can easily understand how the silver white of the penultimate stage was chosen to symbolize the moon, while the glory of the gold upon the upper story recalled that ...
— A History of Art in Chaldaea & Assyria, v. 1 • Georges Perrot
... anything like intentional indecorum, he warns the readers that they will be guilty of a breach of good faith should they permit a work prepared only for students to fall into the hands of boys and girls. From the first to almost the penultimate edition of these stories the drawing-room alone has been consulted. Even Mr. Payne, though his otherwise faithful version was printed for the Villon Society, had the fear of Mrs. Grundy before his eyes. Moreover, no previous editor—not even Lane himself—had a tithe of Captain ...
— Supplemental Nights, Volume 6 • Richard F. Burton
... known me then," returned Lady Sellingworth, with the slightest possible stress on the penultimate word. ...
— December Love • Robert Hichens
... in her high, repellent voice. 'Don't ask me!—I know nothing about ULTIMATE marriage, I assure you: or even penultimate.' ...
— Women in Love • D. H. Lawrence
... minutes to play, the Convalescents, who had shown great form, required only twelve runs to win the match. Kippy and Gunner Toady shared the batting. A pretty glance to leg for two by the Gunner was all that could be taken out of the penultimate over, and Kippy at the pergola end faced Mark Styles, the postman, to take the first ball of the last over. Two singles were run, and then Kippy placed one nicely into the herbaceous border for four. The next one ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 153, Sept. 5, 1917 • Various
... conscience," says the man with the nose, "is indisposed toward foreign idioms ye might, to please yourself, smuggle the letter into the penultimate syllable." ...
— The Four Million • O. Henry
... end of Schubert's "Erlking" would have been absolutely false if the penultimate note had ascended to the tonic instead of descending a ...
— Critical & Historical Essays - Lectures delivered at Columbia University • Edward MacDowell
... spoken to the written language. Thus, Americans incline to give to every syllable of a written word a distinct enunciation; and the popular habit is to say dic-tion-ar-y, mil-it-ar-y, with a secondary accent on the penultimate, instead of sinking the third syllable, as is so common in England. There is, no doubt, something disagreeably stiff in an anxious and affected conformity to the very letter of orthography; and to those accustomed to a ...
— The Verbalist • Thomas Embly Osmun, (AKA Alfred Ayres)
... Gram., p. 39. "The following sentence cannot be possibly understood."—Ib., p. 104. "The words must be generally separated from the context."—Comly's Gram., p. 155. "Words ending in ator have the accent generally on the penultimate."—Murray's Gram., i, 239. "The learned languages, with respect to voices, moods, and tenses, are, in general, differently constructed from the English tongue."—Ib., i, 101. "Adverbs seem originally to have been contrived to express compendiously in ...
— The Grammar of English Grammars • Goold Brown
... mists, and the golden-coloured spray of the cataract amid the broken rocks, whereover the wild hawks fly to and fro, there is at least a suggestion, an outline, of the truly magnificent burst of morning music in the poet's penultimate ...
— Life of Robert Browning • William Sharp
... Penitence pento. Penitent, a konfesanto. Penitent penta. Penitentiary pentfarejo. Penknife trancxileto. Pennant flageto. Penny penco. Penniless senmona. Pension pensio. Pensioner pensiulo. Pensive pensa, pensema. Pentagon kvinangulo. Pentecost pentekosto. Penultimate antauxlasta. Penurious avara. Penury malricxeco. Peony peonio. People popolo, homoj. Peopled homhava. Pepper pipro. Pepper-box piprujo. Pepper-caster piprujo. Peradventure eble, hazarde. ...
— English-Esperanto Dictionary • John Charles O'Connor and Charles Frederic Hayes
... compelled to steal off to catch trains to Brighton and other suburbs, and leave the theatre before the ending of a play. The result threatens to be curious. The dramatists will be induced to make their big effort in the penultimate act, leaving nothing for the last but some tranquil rounding off which you may miss without serious loss. Instead of the notice, often, alas! untrue: "The audience is requested to be seated punctually at eight o'clock, since the interest in the play begins at the rise of the ...
— Our Stage and Its Critics • "E.F.S." of "The Westminster Gazette"
... noble philanthropy and six thousand pounds to rescue and to save the most beautiful, the most unfortunate country in the world from further disappointment? Only six thousand pounds now required for the great ultimate, or penultimate, or antepenultimate effort. Another twopence and ...
— Ireland as It Is - And as It Would be Under Home Rule • Robert John Buckley (AKA R.J.B.)
... work be tolerated on the English or American stage. Until Act IV there is hardly one genuine dramatic episode, though Bernhardi at a directors' meeting is forced to resign and is eventually sent to prison for two months. But in the penultimate act the priest calls on him, and for fifteen minutes the situation is strong and splendidly conceived. The conscience of the ecclesiastic brings him to Bernhardi, not ...
— Ivory Apes and Peacocks • James Huneker
... dropped by a bird or a beast, and exhausting the soil of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and potash, from the centre continuously outwards; whilst immediately within the enlarging ring there is constantly a band of coarse rank grass fed by the manure of the penultimate dead spawn. The innermost starved ground remains poor and barren. In this duplicate way the ...
— Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure • William Thomas Fernie
... revised edition of Mr. Elbert Pitts's Final Words on Religion, under the title of Antepenultimate Words on Religion. As Mr. Pitts observes in his arresting Preface, "Finality, in a time of upheaval, is a relative term, and I hope, at intervals of six months or so, to publish my penultimate, quasi-ultimate and paulo-post-ultimate views on the vital beliefs which underlie the fantastic superstructure of dogmatic theology." The new work will be illustrated with three portraits of the author by Mr. Marcellus Thom, taken at various stages of the ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 153, July 25, 1917 • Various
... consult your tutors. Is, we call short, as Par{i}s, trist{i}s, Save all such words as mensIs, istIs. Plurals oblique that end in is, Adding thereto for quibus quIs. The is in SamnIs long by right is Because its genitive's SamnItis, Where you observe a lengthened state Of syllable penultimate. The same to all such words applies, And Is contracted, meaning eis, Long too,— and pray remember this Are monosyllables in is. Save {i}s the nominative pronoun, And qu{i}s, and b{i}s, which last is no noun. When verbs by is concluded are, In second person singular; But in the plural itis ...
— The Comic Latin Grammar - A new and facetious introduction to the Latin tongue • Percival Leigh
... womanly beauty. Had it been only the frock Cleopatra was intelligent enough to have known that the pang she had felt would have been left unexplained. No, it was more fundamental than that. All the dress had accomplished was to set an acute accent over a development which, though already at its penultimate stage, had so far escaped the notice of Cleopatra and her mother. The picture had been present the day before, but it had not been quite perfectly focussed. The new frock ...
— Too Old for Dolls - A Novel • Anthony Mario Ludovici
... Zarathustra opens his exposition of the doctrine of relativity in morality, and declares all morality to be a mere means to power. Needless to say that verses 9, 10, 11, and 12 refer to the Greeks, the Persians, the Jews, and the Germans respectively. In the penultimate verse he makes known his discovery concerning the root of modern Nihilism and indifference,—i.e., that modern man has no goal, no aim, no ideals (see ...
— Thus Spake Zarathustra - A Book for All and None • Friedrich Nietzsche
... possible. Down to the days of Terence and probably somewhat later the old rule still held good of quadrisyllables with the scansion of m[)u]l[)i][)e]r[)i]s or m[)u]l[)i][)e]r[e]s, but in other words had given way to the later Quintilian rule, that all words with a long unit as penultimate had the stress on the vowel in that unit, while words of more than two syllables with a short penultimate had the stress on the antepenultimate. I say 'unit' because here, as in scansion, what counts is not the syllable, but the vowel plus all the consonants that come ...
— Society for Pure English Tract 4 - The Pronunciation of English Words Derived from the Latin • John Sargeaunt
... in integers of the indeterminate equation ax by c may be effected by means of continued fractions. If we suppose a/b to be converted into a continued fraction and p/q to be the penultimate convergent, we have aq - bp 1 or -1, according as the number of convergents is even or odd, which we can take them to be as we please. If we take aq-bp 1 we have a general solution in integers of ax by c, viz. x cq - bt, y at - cp; if we ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 2 - "Constantine Pavlovich" to "Convention" • Various |
