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Waft   /wɑft/   Listen
Waft

noun
1.
A long flag; often tapering.  Synonyms: pennant, pennon, streamer.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Waft" Quotes from Famous Books



... "Wouldst be content, then, with the poor cottage, and the black bread, and the labor from morn till eve. Didst thou not of thyself wish for a palace and a lord like me? And did not the Hyldemoer waft me the wish, so that I came to meet and welcome thee ...
— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 3, August, 1850. • Various

... its horrors. I lived on Philpot street, Fell's Point, Baltimore, and have watched from the wharves the slave ships in the basin, anchored from the shore, with their cargoes of human flesh, waiting for favorable winds to waft them down the Chesapeake. There was, at that time, a grand slave mart kept at the head of Pratt street, by Austin Woldfolk. His agents were sent into every town and county in Maryland, announcing their ...
— My Bondage and My Freedom • Frederick Douglass

... met us at the Mausoleum, which is a small but handsome stone Gothic building, situated above the Nuuanu Avenue, on the road to the Pali. It commands a fine view over land and sea, and the gentle breezes waft through the open windows sweet scents from the many fragrant trees and flowers by which it is surrounded. There lay the coffins of all the kings of Hawaii, their consorts, and their children, for many generations past. The greater part were of polished koa wood, though ...
— A Voyage in the 'Sunbeam' • Annie Allnut Brassey

... on distant cattle Waft across the range; Through the golden-tufted wattle, Music low and strange; Like the marriage peal of fairies Comes the tinkling sound, Or like chimes of sweet St. Mary's On far English ground. How my courser champs the snaffle, And with nostril spread, Snorts and scarcely seems ...
— Poems • Adam Lindsay Gordon

... seven days. It did not cease till the Atlantic was strewn with wrecks: it did not lull till the deeps had gorged their fill of substance. Not till the destroying angel of tempest had achieved his perfect work, would he fold the wings whose waft was thunder—the tremor of whose ...
— The Three Brontes • May Sinclair

... League had jubilantly explained to Mr. Mix that he was a liberator and a saviour of humanity from itself, and Mr. Mix had deftly caught whatever bouquets were batted up to him. He had allowed the fragrance of them to waft even as far as the Herald office, to which he sent a bulletin every forty-eight hours. Mr. Mix's salary was comforting, his expense accounts were paid as soon as vouchers were submitted, he was steadily advancing in Miss Starkweather's ...
— Rope • Holworthy Hall

... spreads out every flower, Annual for me the grape, the rose, renew The juice nectarious and the balmy dew. For me the mine a thousand treasures brings; For me health gushes from a thousand springs; Seas roll to waft me, suns to light me rise; My footstool earth, ...
— The Testimony of the Rocks - or, Geology in Its Bearings on the Two Theologies, Natural and Revealed • Hugh Miller

... because, if I live thirty years, in thirty years not a denir of it will remain in my hands; because, with that gold, I will build granaries, castles, cities, and harbors; because I will create a marine, I will equip navies that shall waft the name of France to the most distant people; because I will create libraries and academies; because I will make France the first country in the world, and the wealthiest. These are the motives for my animosity against M. Fouquet, who prevented my acting. And then, ...
— The Man in the Iron Mask • Alexandre Dumas, Pere

... had more than sufficient reasons: the profits of his volume amounted to little more than enough to waft him across the Atlantic: Wee Johnnie, though the edition was all sold, refused to risk another on speculation: his friends, both Ballantynes and Parkers, volunteered to relieve the printer's anxieties, but the ...
— The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems, Songs, and Correspondence. • Robert Burns and Allan Cunningham

... straight to the grave where his father and mother lay buried and seated himself near it. Just then, a gentle breeze caused the stately trees surrounding the graveyard to waft their leafy tops to and fro. Nature was ...
— The Silver Lining - A Guernsey Story • John Roussel

... boat," available to those whose duties would allow it. The pleasant walk along the "Praya," or on the Governor's Road, and the generally delightful sail off to the ship at nine o'clock, on some of those beautiful moonlight evenings, when with but a gentle breeze to waft us smoothly over the placid waters, we could recline in our commodious boat, and puffing the mild cheroot (a privilege not the less valued because it was later than the regulations permitted smoking on board), we looked upon those gentle beams, and ...
— Kathay: A Cruise in the China Seas • W. Hastings Macaulay

... O Brother of my soul, When my release shall come; Thy gentle arms shall lift me then, Thy wings shall waft ...
— De La Salle Fifth Reader • Brothers of the Christian Schools

... prize to his own dominions. The river nymph would have told the goddess all she had witnessed, but dared not, for fear of Pluto; so she only ventured to take up the girdle which Proserpine had dropped in her flight, and waft it to the feet of the mother. Ceres, seeing this, was no longer in doubt of her loss, but she did not yet know the cause, and laid the blame on the innocent land. "Ungrateful soil," said she, "which I have endowed ...
— Bulfinch's Mythology • Thomas Bulfinch

... he know it, feel it in every nerve? Did he not read tacit reproaches in every beam of her deep tranquil eye? Did he not fancy some allusion to it, in every tone of her low sweet voice? Did he not tremble at every air of heaven, lest it should waft the rumor of his infidelity to the chaste ears of her, whom alone he loved and honored? Did he not know that one whisper of that disgraceful truth would break off, and forever, the dear hopes, on ...
— The Roman Traitor (Vol. 1 of 2) • Henry William Herbert

... noonday to these doors, Tumultuous, naked, and unsightly throng, With mutilated limbs and squalid faces, In litters and on crutches, from afar Comfort yourselves, and with expanded nostrils Drink in the nectar of the feast divine That favorable zephyrs waft to you; But do not dare besiege these noble precincts, Importunately offering her that reigns Within your loathsome spectacle of woe! —And now, sir, 'tis your office to prepare The tiny cup that then shall minister, Slow sipped, its liquor to thy lady's lips; And now bethink thee ...
— Modern Italian Poets • W. D. Howells

... nineteen goats, nine hogs, and thirteen pigs. The 16th we saw the island of Ascension, seven or eight leagues to the W.S.W. In the morning of the 28th, the wind westerly and reasonably fair weather, we spoke the Dutch ship, which made a waft for us at his mizen-top-mast head. He told us that he had only eight or nine men able for duty, all the rest being sick, and forty-six of his crew dead. This was a grievous chastisement for them, who had formerly ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. VIII. • Robert Kerr

... spiro spero" shout, and ride Till you have 'scalp'd old Folly's hide, And none a kiss will waft her; Bind all the fools in your new book, That "I spy!" may lay my hook, And ...
— The English Spy • Bernard Blackmantle

... Waft of soul's wing! What lies above? Sunshine and Love, Skyblue and Spring! 20 Body hides—where? Ferns of all feather, Mosses and heather. Yours ...
— Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning • Robert Browning

... feet per head per minute should not, if properly distributed, cause an unpleasant draught in any part of the hot rooms; for it must be remembered that even in a highly-heated atmosphere a waft of air of the same temperature is felt to be cold. The main thing to be studied in this provision of a large volume of air is that the cold inlet be ample, and the passage from this intake to the point where ...
— The Turkish Bath - Its Design and Construction • Robert Owen Allsop

... Roland. 'And now my little Renee has no more shore-qualms; she is smoothly chaperoned, and madame will present us tea on board. All the etcaeteras of life are there, and a mariner's eye in me spies a breeze at sunset to waft us out of Malamocco.' ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... window came a sudden waft of hot carnations, a long drawn breath of the rapturous ...
— Prisoners - Fast Bound In Misery And Iron • Mary Cholmondeley

... legions throng: From Strymon's lake, Cayster's plashy meads, And fens of Scythia green with rustling reeds; From where the Danube winds through many a land, And Mareotis laves the Egyptian strand, To rendezvous they waft on eager wing, And wait assembled the returning spring. Meanwhile they trim their plumes for length of flight, Whet their keen beaks, and twisting claws, for fight; Each crane the pygmy power in thought o'erturns, And every bosom for the battle burns. When genial gales ...
— The Minstrel; or the Progress of Genius - with some other poems • James Beattie

... and luxuriates in the strangest and gaudiest shapes. Your real face is known of no other abstraction; indeed, you never see it yourself, so well-fitted and so constant is the mask through which you waft the endearments which have caused you to be avoided everywhere. This, I admit, is imagination; but is it very far from the truth? Perhaps I ask in vain, for truth is the very last thing that may be expected of you and of those who do your bidding upon earth. I will not, therefore, ...
— Punch, or The London Charivari, Volume 101, October 31, 1891 • Various

... the triumph of slight incidents over the mind:—What incredible weight they have in forming and governing our opinions, both of men and things—that trifles, light as air, shall waft a belief into the soul, and plant it so immoveably within it—that Euclid's demonstrations, could they be brought to batter it in breach, should not all have ...
— The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman • Laurence Sterne

... even more sympathy by foreigners generally than is accorded to her humbler fellow-countrywoman. She is represented as a mere ornament, or a soulless, listless machine—something on which the sensual eye of her opium-smoking lord may rest with pleasure while she prepares the fumes which will waft him to another hour or so of tipsy forgetfulness. She knows nothing, she is taught nothing, never leaves the house, never sees friends, or hears the news; she is, consequently, devoid of the slightest intellectual effort, and no more a companion to her ...
— Chinese Sketches • Herbert A. Giles

... "Since then in vain I tell My numerous woes, in silence let them dwell. But Heaven, and all the Greeks, have heard my wrongs; To Heaven, and all the Greeks, redress belongs; Yet this I ask (nor be it ask'd in vain), A bark to waft me o'er the rolling main, The realms of Pyle and Sparta to explore, And seek my royal sire from shore to shore; If, or to fame his doubtful fate be known, Or to be learn'd from oracles alone, If yet he lives, with patience ...
— The Odyssey of Homer • Homer, translated by Alexander Pope

... disease shoots thro' my languid frame, And checks the zeal for wisdom and for fame. Now droops fond hope, by Disappointment cross'd; Chill'd by neglect, each sanguine wish is lost. O'er the weak mound stern Ocean's billows ride, And waft destruction in with every tide; While Mars, descending from his crimson car, Fans with fierce hands the ...
— Translations of German Poetry in American Magazines 1741-1810 • Edward Ziegler Davis

... thy car, Thy Cupid, dove, and sparrow, To waft my fair, Like my own star, To give ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 13, - Issue 368, May 2, 1829 • Various

... then how easy of attainment! To accomplish seemed no more difficult than to desire. The stream was running his way, and the wind was blowing his way. As surely as the Mississippi goes to the Mexican Gulf, would destiny waft Burr to the ocean of his desire. Imaginations so extravagant, courted in solitude and fed by indolence, served to beguile the days of the long voyage from ...
— A Dream of Empire - Or, The House of Blennerhassett • William Henry Venable

... its sorrows, crimes and cares To tire thee of it, enter this wild wood And view the haunts of Nature. The calm shade Shall bring a kindred calm, and the sweet breeze That makes the green leaves dance, shall waft a balm ...
— The Redemption of David Corson • Charles Frederic Goss

... and fair the light winds blew As glad to waft him from his native home; And fast the white rocks faded from his view, And soon were lost in circumambient foam; And then, it may be, of his wish to roam Repented he, but in his bosom slept The silent thought, nor ...
— Childe Harold's Pilgrimage • Lord Byron

... wild, sweet, playful, rustic creature, to whose marble image he bore so striking a resemblance. How mirthful a discovery would it be (and yet with a touch of pathos in it), if the breeze which sported fondly with his clustering locks were to waft them suddenly aside, and show a pair of leaf-shaped, furry ears! What an honest strain of wildness would it indicate! and into what regions of rich mystery would it extend Donatello's sympathies, to be thus linked (and by no monstrous chain) with what we call the inferior trioes of being, whose ...
— The Marble Faun, Volume I. - The Romance of Monte Beni • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... resolv'd with utmost power; And he at night would swim to Hero's tower, From whence he meant to Sestos' forked bay To bring her covertly, where ships must stay, Sent by his father, throughly rigg'd and mann'd, To waft her safely to Abydos' strand. There leave we him; and with fresh wing pursue Astonish'd Hero, whose most wished view I thus long have forborne, because I left her So out of countenance, and her spirits bereft ...
— Hero and Leander and Other Poems • Christopher Marlowe and George Chapman

... themselves to float along the current of time like a mere straw on the surface of the waters, liable to be veered about by every puff of wind and whirling eddy! If the current in which they float happens to waft them into the smooth waters, and the calm sunshine of virtue and respectability, it is a matter of mere fortunate chance. If they are drawn into the dark stream of sin, they have but little power to resist, and are soon hurried into the surging rapids, and hurled over the boiling cataract ...
— Golden Steps to Respectability, Usefulness and Happiness • John Mather Austin

... flower from that bright bower Some nymph would waft to me— For in my eyes a dearer prize Than glitt'ring gem 'twould be— For its changeless blue seems emblem ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, No. 360 - Vol. XIII. No. 360, Saturday, March 14, 1829 • Various

... to me, and uttered O how oft, Hath Galatea spoke! waft some of them, Ye winds, I pray you, for ...
— The Bucolics and Eclogues • Virgil

... nest, call'd forth a short essay; Now trembling on the brink, with fear she sees This unknown clime, nor dares to trust the breeze. But here, no unfledg'd wing was ever crush'd; Be each rude blast within its cavern hush'd. Soft swelling gales may waft her on her way, Till, eagle-like, she eyes the fount of day: She then may dauntless soar, her tuneful voice May please each ear and bid the ...
— The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor - Vol I, No. 2, February 1810 • Samuel James Arnold

... do not practise quietism as a religion, or whether it be from any other cause, it is difficult to say, seem to have more than their fair share of premonitions. Every one remembers how George Fox saw a "waft" of death go out against Oliver Cromwell when he met him riding at Hampton Court the day before he was prostrated with his fatal illness. Fox was full of visions. He foresaw the expulsion of the "Rump", the restoration of Charles II., and the Fire of London. Stephen Grellet ...
— Real Ghost Stories • William T. Stead

... friend, with almost my last breath at Torquay, for your kindness about the Gregory, besides the kind note itself. It is, however, too late. We go, or mean at present to go, to-morrow; and the carriage which is to waft us through the air upon a thousand springs has actually arrived. You are not to think severely upon Dr. Scully's candour with me as to the danger of the journey. He does think it 'likely to do me harm;' therefore, you know, he was justified by his medical responsibility in laying ...
— The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1 of 2) • Frederic G. Kenyon

... Long did the punkahs waft their breeze over that brave-hued wheel of pleasure, and the sound of the violins quaver and wail out into the morning. Then quickly, as the spangles of dew vanish off grass when the sun rises, all melted away; and in the great rooms were none but ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy

... so think I. And there is but one wind in the halls of heaven that can waft the fruit to the ...
— Harold, Complete - The Last Of The Saxon Kings • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... Lord Kilcullen was, accordingly, summoned to Grey Abbey; and, as he presumed his attendance was required for the purpose of talking over some method of raising the wind, he obeyed the summons.—I should rather have said of raising a storm, for no gentle puff would serve to waft ...
— The Kellys and the O'Kellys • Anthony Trollope

... Lorain, when the News of the Queen's Decease was brought the Pretender by a Servant of L.P. He was no Stranger to the Interest he had just before with the Ministry, who still were most of 'em in Power. A Ship lay ready for him to waft him over, but he was arrested in his Journey by the French King's Orders, and threatened by M.T. with the Bastile, if he did not return forthwith to Lorain, otherwise considering the After-acts of the Gentlemen then in Play, he would very probably ...
— Memoirs of Major Alexander Ramkins (1718) • Daniel Defoe

... all-knowing imp! isn't even Shakespeare hidden from you?" But now the voice didn't sound sweet to me at all, because I wanted to get away. We rose at the same minute, Mr. Dane and I, and Lorraine seemed to waft us from the house on a kind little wind. At the foot of the steps we stopped for fear the gravel should crunch, and while we waited for Aunt Elizabeth to go in the other way I looked at Mr. Dane to see if he wanted to laugh as ...
— The Whole Family - A Novel by Twelve Authors • William Dean Howells, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, Mary Heaton Vorse, Mary Stewart Cutting, Elizabeth Jo

... golden gates, O poet-landed month of June, And waft me, on your spicy breath, The melody ...
— Ballads • Horatio Alger, Jr.

... to you; my thoughts run away with me, my pen flies like a bird over the paper. You need not remind me of the fact that my handwriting is execrable. I know it, therefore don't waft it across America. Spare me this mortification. Tear the letters up after reading them, or before, if you like. When I see the stacks of never-looked-through letters being dragged from one place to the other, tied up in ...
— The Sunny Side of Diplomatic Life, 1875-1912 • Lillie DeHegermann-Lindencrone

... vireo, and also watched a sandpiper teetering about the edge of the water, while a red-shafted flicker dashed across the lake to a pine tree on the opposite side. As I left this attractive valley, the hermit thrushes seemed to waft me a ...
— Birds of the Rockies • Leander Sylvester Keyser

... brown. As it withers, the many-pointed leaf of the white bryony and the bine as it shrivels, in like manner, do their part. The white thistle-down, which stays on the bursting thistles because there is no wind to waft it away, reflects it; the white is pushed aside by the colour ...
— Nature Near London • Richard Jefferies

... you to have a letter from Dr. Holland before it gets stale: therefore you must forgive me for writing on this thin paper, for no other would waft it to ...
— The Life and Letters of Maria Edgeworth, Vol. 2 • Maria Edgeworth

... listened, with an idea that a horse's hoofs might ring on the causeway again, and that a rider in a cloak, and a Gytrash-like Newfoundland dog, might be again apparent: I saw only the hedge and a pollard willow before me, rising up still and straight to meet the moonbeams; I heard only the faintest waft of wind roaming fitful among the trees round Thornfield, a mile distant; and when I glanced down in the direction of the murmur, my eye, traversing the hall-front, caught a light kindling in a window: it reminded me that I was late, ...
— Jane Eyre - an Autobiography • Charlotte Bronte

... passed through it, but he lingered there, fancying he could smell the faint sweetness of her presence. Within, the organ was booming softly and in that sound he forgot, for a moment, the necessity for action. The music seemed to be wonderfully complicated with the waft of Henrietta's passage, with his love for her, with all he imagined her to be, but the forgetfulness was only for that moment, and he pushed open ...
— THE MISSES MALLETT • E. H. YOUNG

... world; Or whether thou to our moist vows deny'd, Sleep'st by the fable of Bellerus old, 160 Where the great vision of the guarded Mount Looks toward Namancos and Bayona's hold; Look homeward Angel now, and melt with ruth. And, O ye Dolphins, waft the haples youth. ...
— The Poetical Works of John Milton • John Milton

... on thy bended snath, Look from the meadows green and low: The wind of the sea is a waft of death, The waves are singing a song of woe! By silent river, by moaning sea, Long and vain shall thy watching be: Never again shall the sweet voice call, Never the white hand rise ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 13, No. 78, April, 1864 • Various

... to themselves. No women were about, but here and there a guarded light betrayed sin still awake, and here and there a bell, calling the faithful to church, sounded a homely note of peace. The morning was desperately close, without a waft of air. She found the Abbot Milo at his lodging, in the act of setting off to mass at the church of Saint Martha. The sight of ...
— The Life and Death of Richard Yea-and-Nay • Maurice Hewlett

... tell me not of the budding bay, Nor the yew by the new-made grave, And waft me not in spirit away, Where the sorrowing willows wave; Let the shag-bark walnut blend its shade With the elm on the verdant lea— But let us his to the distant glade, Where ...
— Eugene Field, A Study In Heredity And Contradictions - Vol. I • Slason Thompson

... tone changes. "Has Euripides succeeded any better? None can say; for he spoke to a dim future above and beyond the crowd. If he fail, you two will be fellows in adversity; and, meanwhile, I am convinced that your wish unites with his to waft the white sail on its way.[48] Your nature, too, is kingly." She concludes with a tribute to the "Poet's Power," which is one with creative law, above and behind all potencies of heaven and earth; and to that inherent royalty of truth, in which alone she could venture to approach one so ...
— A Handbook to the Works of Browning (6th ed.) • Mrs. Sutherland Orr

... of the cannon, would waft to them to-day the tidings of the brilliant victory supposed to be achieved by the Emperors Francis ...
— LOUISA OF PRUSSIA AND HER TIMES • Louise Muhlbach

... on the hilltop were the grey towers and the piled-up houses of Theos, a picturesque medley with their red roofs and white fronts now fast becoming blurred in the gathering twilight. As they neared the road a sudden waft of perfume from the lavender-fields beyond filled the air, and a breath of wind came sweeping through the yellow corn-fields. Brand, with his hat in his hand, looked thoughtfully ...
— The Traitors • E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim

... Pain, sickness, time, and death, they dare defy. When the pale tyrant's hand shall seal your doom, And lock your ashes in the silent tomb, These beauties shall in double lustre rise, Shine round the soul, and waft ...
— Sketches of the Fair Sex, in All Parts of the World • Anonymous

... are guilty of in pursuing the trade? No—you stir up the harmless Africans to war, and stain their fields with blood: you keep constant hostile ferment in their territories, in order to procure captives for your uses; some you purchase with a few trifling articles, and waft to distant shores to be made the instruments of ...
— Anti-Slavery Opinions before the Year 1800 - Read before the Cincinnati Literary Club, November 16, 1872 • William Frederick Poole

... nothing of a quarter of a mile of gurgling brook. I am a beauty-merchant, a trader in song, and I pursue utility, dear Madge. I sing a song, and thanks to the magazine editors I transmute my song into a waft of the west wind sighing through our redwoods, into a murmur of waters over mossy stones that sings back to me another song than the one I sang and ...
— Love of Life - and Other Stories • Jack London

... powers who are not "ohai band" (of the brotherhood)—China, for instance. Try to believe an irresponsible writer when he assures you that China's fleet to-day, if properly manned, could waft the entire American navy out of the water and into the blue. The big, fat Republic that is afraid of nothing, because nothing up to the present date has happened to make her afraid, is as unprotected ...
— American Notes • Rudyard Kipling

... stand, with naught between, Come as a friend, O Death! Lay gently thy cold hand upon my brow, And still the fevered throb of this blind life, This fragment, mournful yet so fair—this dream, Aspiring, earth-bound, passionate—and waft me Where broken harmonies will blend once more, And severed hearts once more together beat; Where, in our Father's fold, all, all shall ...
— Lady John Russell • Desmond MacCarthy and Agatha Russell

... Jonathan!—for friend thou art,— Do, prithee, take now in good part Lines the first steamer shall waft o'er. Sorry am I to hear the blacks Still bear your ensign on their backs; The stripes they suffer make me sore. Beware of wrong. The brave are true; The tree of Freedom never grew Where Fraud and ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 104, June, 1866 • Various

... cloud scurries and lifts above, Slides on the sun and flutters there to waft her Sisters on. The shadow of a dove Falls on the cote, the trees are filled with wings; And down the valley through the crying trees The body of the darker storm flies; brings With its new air the breath of sunken seas And slender tenuous thunder... But I wait... Wait for the mists and for the ...
— This Side of Paradise • F. Scott Fitzgerald

... I am overpowered with melancholy forebodings. Scarcely are you out of my sight, before I dread, that I shall never see you more, or that some fatality should deprive me of your love. When shall the sails of love waft us from this dangerous shore? Oh! when shall I dare to call you mine? Heavens! how many things may intervene...! Let nothing detain you from Richmond this evening; but come not at all—come no more, unless to reassure my trembling heart, ...
— Tales And Novels, Vol. 8 • Maria Edgeworth

... The joyful sound proclaim, Till each remotest nation Has learnt the Saviour's name. Waft, waft, ye winds, his story, And you, ye waters, roll, Till like a sea of glory, It spreads from ...
— The Moravians in Labrador • Anonymous

... poet's darling, perhaps because its frail breath seems to waft from out the delicate blue petals the rare imaginings native to a ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 4, October, 1864 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various

... The dismal sound of arms now strikes my ear, An Actian sea-fight, and retreating fear. Make wide the entrance of your thirsty soil, New spirits must i' th' mighty harvest toil; Charon's too narrow boat can ne're convey, Scarce a whole fleet will waft the souls away; Pale furies be with the vast ruin crown'd, And fill'd with blood, remangle every wound. The universal fabrick of the world, Rent and divided, to your empire's hurl'd. She scarce had ...
— The Satyricon • Petronius Arbiter

... warm, drowsy, a little melancholy. It seems to seize upon the two sitting within its seductive influence, and threatens to waft them from day dreams into dreams born of idle slumber. The rustle of a coming skirt, however, a low voice, a voice still lower whispering a reply, recalls them both to the fact that rest, complete and perfect, is ...
— April's Lady - A Novel • Margaret Wolfe Hungerford

... in upon them. She wore a pink cloth gown, a flower-garlanded hat, a white coaching veil, beneath which her features were indistinguishable. She brought with her a waft of strong perfume. Her figure was a living suggestion of the struggle between maturity and the corsetiere. Before she spoke she ...
— A Lost Leader • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... supposed this once belonged to some prehistoric giant who could waft it as do ladies their bamboo fans, when they brush the dust from old hearts—as the ...
— Visionaries • James Huneker

... May, three old women sat together near an open window in the shed chamber of Byfleet Poor-house. The wind was from the northwest, but their window faced the southeast, and they were only visited by an occasional pleasant waft of fresh air. They were close together, knee to knee, picking over a bushel of beans, and commanding a view of the dandelion-starred, green yard below, and of the winding, sandy road that led to the village, two miles away. Some captive ...
— A Country Doctor and Selected Stories and Sketches • Sarah Orne Jewett

... the waist and shoulders with an effect of modesty never meant by the sculptor, but not displeasing. There was an old fountain near, its stone rim and centre of rock-work green with immemorial mould, and its basin quivering between its water-plants under the soft fall of spray. At a waft of fitful breeze some leaves of early autumn fell from the trees overhead upon the elderly pair where they sat, and a little company of sparrows came and hopped about their feet. Though the square without ...
— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells

... or, one stop outblown Of planetary music, so far flown Earthwards, that to those innocent ears 'twas brought Which bent the mighty measure to their thought? Or, haply, from breast-shaped Beth-Haccarem, The hill of Herod, some waft sent to them Of storming drums and trumps, at festival Held in the Idumaean's purple hall? Or, it may be, some Aramaic song Of country lovers, after partings long Meeting anew, with much "good will" indeed, Blown ...
— In The Yule-Log Glow—Book 3 - Christmas Poems from 'round the World • Various

... quagmires and the windy coach. Oh, my lord, if you ever loved me let us set out to-morrow. I languish for Fareham House—my basset-table, my friends, my watermen to waft me to and fro between Blackfriars and Westminster, the mercers in St. Paul's Churchyard, the Middle Exchange. I have not bought myself anything pretty since ...
— London Pride - Or When the World Was Younger • M. E. Braddon

... mould, the next day (21st March) he tallowed her to make her a Man-of-war; disposing all our ordnance and provisions that were fit for such use, in her. For we had heard by the Spaniards last taken, that there were two little galleys built in Nombre de Dios, to waft the Chagres Fleet to and fro, but were not yet both launched: wherefore he purposed now to adventure ...
— Sir Francis Drake Revived • Philip Nichols

... refers to Braham's appearance at the National Theatre, Philadelphia: "Who that heard 'Jephthall's Rash Vow' could ever forget the volume of voice which issued from that diminutive frame, or the ecstasy with which 'Waft her, angels, through the skies' thrilled every nerve of the attentive listener? He ought to have visited the United States twenty years sooner, or not have risked his reputation by coming at all. Like Incledon, he was only ...
— Great Singers, First Series - Faustina Bordoni To Henrietta Sontag • George T. Ferris

... thoughts ineffable! O visions blest! Though worthless our conceptions all of Thee, Yet shall Thy shadowed image fill our breast, And waft its homage to Thy Deity. God! Thus alone my lowly thoughts can soar; Thus seek Thy presence—Being wise and good! Midst Thy vast works admire, obey, adore; And when the tongue is eloquent no more, The soul shall speak ...
— A Survey of Russian Literature, with Selections • Isabel Florence Hapgood

... cells, the daisy with its "golden eye and white silver eyelashes," all did fealty to their adored Queen. Some went down on their knees; others doffed their caps; others smiled bewitchingly; others could do nothing but waft sweet perfumes. There were even bands of very varied music and musicians, all assisting with their efforts in swelling the Queen's Anthem. The brook, though it had sung all night, and had need of ...
— The Story of a Dewdrop • J. R. Macduff

... girls gather round her, Remembering eagerly how their fathers found her Fresh as a spring-like wind in February, Subtler in her moving heart than sun-motes that vary At every waft of an opening and shutting door; They gather chattering near, Hush, break out in laughter, whisper aside, Grow silent more and more, Though she will never chide. Now through the silence sounds her voice still clear, And all give ear. Like a silver thread through the ...
— Georgian Poetry 1918-19 • Various

... the folds whereof Rippled with flashing fire of rubies sewn Thick on the silver threads, the rays wherefrom Set forth new words and weighty sentences Whose message made all living creatures glad; And from the east the wind of sunrise blew With tender waft, opening those jewelled scrolls So that all flesh might read; and wondrous blooms Plucked in what clime I know not-fell in showers, Coloured as none are coloured ...
— The Light of Asia • Sir Edwin Arnold

... thrift may follow Fear, perfect love casteth out —, with hope, farewell Fearfully and wonderfully made Fears, saucy doubts and —, our hopes belied our Feast, bare imagination of a —of nectared sweets —of reason Feather, of his own, espied a —, a wit 's a —, to waft a Feature, cheated of Feel, would make us, must feel themselves Feelings, great, came to them Feels, meanest thing that Feet beneath her petticoat —like snails did creep Feet, standing with, reluctant Felicity, we make or ...
— Familiar Quotations • Various

... They seem more conscious that they are in the Divine presence. They have little to look upon but the heavens above and the boundless ocean around them. Both seem made on purpose for them—the sun to guide them by day, and the stars by night, the sea to bear them on its bosom, and the breeze to waft them on their course. They feel how powerless they are of themselves; how frail their bark; how dependent they are on the goodness and mercy of their Creator, and that it is He alone who can rule the tempest and control the stormy ...
— Nature and Human Nature • Thomas Chandler Haliburton

... tree-tops and swung her in the air from one to another; but when St. Catherine of Siena was a little child, and went to be a hermit in the woods, and got terribly frightened, and lost her way, and sat down to cry, the Angels, you know, did really and truly waft her up on their wings and carried her to the valley of Fontebranda, which was very near home. And when she was quite a little thing and used to say her prayers going up to bed, the Angels would come to her and just "whip" her right up ...
— A Child's Book of Saints • William Canton

... did—and it took her all of an hour—nothing that the morning sun shone on was quite as lovely, and no waft of air so refreshing or so welcome as our beloved heroine when she burst in ...
— Kennedy Square • F. Hopkinson Smith

... pondered came a wife of the witch-folk there, A woman young and lovesome, and shaped exceeding fair, And she spake with Signy the Queen, and told her of deeds of her craft, And how the might was with her her soul from her body to waft And to take the shape of another and give her fashion in turn. Fierce then in the heart of Signy a sudden flame 'gan burn, And the eyes of her soul saw all things, like the blind, whom the world's last fire Hath healed in one passing moment 'twixt his death and his ...
— The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs • William Morris

... as my candle lighted up the cavity, I saw that the walls of my strange abode were perforated in various places by holes, some of which were large enough to admit my body. Taking my cap from my head, I found that by waving it in the air I could readily waft my body in whatever direction I chose; and, in less than a minute, I found myself comfortably seated in the largest and most convenient of these cavities. I now felt the need of food and drink; and, before proceeding to do any thing else, I opened ...
— John Whopper - The Newsboy • Thomas March Clark

... protectingly. The figure vanished, and Esther awoke to the knowledge that "Bobby" was not at his post. Then with a flash came the recollection of Bobby's mistress—the pale, unfortunate young seamstress she had so unconscionably neglected. She wondered if she were alive or dead. A waft of sickly odors surged from below; Esther felt a deadly faintness coming over her; she had walked far, and nothing had yet passed her lips since yesterday's dinner, and at this moment, too, an overwhelming terrifying feeling of loneliness pressed like ...
— Children of the Ghetto • I. Zangwill

... not give expression In any ocean-tide, But music, like confession, Will waft thee ...
— Brave Men and Women - Their Struggles, Failures, And Triumphs • O.E. Fuller

... Will do for a ship, If only the cargo be Golden sand From the beautiful land Of far-off Arcady. For faith will waft The tiny craft ...
— The Peter Patter Book of Nursery Rhymes • Leroy F. Jackson

... they start unmarked by Athena, but straightway swiftly she set her feet on a light cloud, which would waft her on, mighty though she was, and she swept on to the sea with friendly thoughts to the oarsmen. And as when one roveth far from his native land, as we men often wander with enduring heart, nor is any land too distant but all ways are clear ...
— The Argonautica • Apollonius Rhodius

... tried rather wistfully to convince you, dear reader, that you had a solar plexus and a lumbar ganglion and a few other things. I don't know why I took the trouble. If a fellow doesn't believe he's got a nose, the best way to convince him is gently to waft a little pepper into his nostrils. And there was I painting my own nose purple, and wistfully inviting you to look ...
— Fantasia of the Unconscious • D. H. Lawrence

... seem to waft themselves to me," said Jim modestly. "Anyhow, the quarantine station is a jolly little place for a holiday, and the sea view is delightful." He broke off, laughing, and suddenly flung his arm ...
— Back To Billabong • Mary Grant Bruce

... a perfect winter day with a gorgeous sunshine and a crisp air that seemed to bring refreshment in every waft. The leafless trees were penciled against the blue sky like the lines of a fine engraving. The church bells rang out their reverent inspiration, they were harmoniously toned and there was no jangling. Lilian wondered a little—were her parents and the two children at home kneeling ...
— The Girls at Mount Morris • Amanda Minnie Douglas

... storms be breasted by walls they cannot shake from their foundations. But the seasons and the tides and the tempests work their will on the great scale upon whatever stands in their way; they feed or starve the tillers of the soil; they spare or drown the dwellers by the shore; they waft the seaman to his harbor or bury him in the ...
— A Mortal Antipathy • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

... man lifts up his hand to bless With readiness; yet who needs more such blessing? Is it the free-born bird that makes its nest Wherever its strong wings would waft it, or The flowery plant bound by a ...
— Life Immovable - First Part • Kostes Palamas

... tents, and do such hard work. All that is no delight like dreaming on the moss in the woods, and talking to the birds, and breathing the fragrance all about, and having rushes of delight sweep over you like a waft from the beautiful heaven above. Oh, why should I marry; to think of some one else that I do not want and not feel that my life was my ...
— A Little Girl in Old Quebec • Amanda Millie Douglas

... or modern Napoleon's:) the peaceful choice of all, Or good or ill humanity—welcoming the darker odds, the dross: —Foams and ferments the wine? it serves to purify—while the heart pants, life glows: These stormy gusts and winds waft precious ships, Swell'd ...
— Leaves of Grass • Walt Whitman

... entertainment, Celestial quire? Me rather, bright guests! with your wings of upbuoyance Bear aloft to your homes, to your banquets of joyance, That the roofs of Olympus may echo my lyre! 15 Hah! we mount! on their pinions they waft up my soul! O give me the nectar! ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Vol I and II • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

... Latin— sent down Iris instead. But I was mightily pleased to see that one of the gentlemen that do the heavy articles for the celebrated "Oceanic Miscellany" misquoted Campbell's line without any excuse. "Waft us HOME the MESSAGE" of course it ought to be. Will he be duly ...
— The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes

... happy faces of country people stared at them from under the hoods. The road shone white, having been scoured with rain, and all the hedgerows smelt of green things growing, with now and then a waft of the white violet. The sky was so clear that they could see the smoke of many liners, hull down, making the Start. When they reached the crest of the hill above Dartmouth a man-of-war appeared, a three-funnelled ...
— The Tragic Bride • Francis Brett Young

... life, While Death and Nature wag'd unequal strife, Spoke the expiring hero:—"Hither stand, Receive your dying sovereign's last command. When that the spirit from my frame is riven, (Oh, gracious Alla! be my sins forgiven, And bright-eyed Houris waft my soul to heaven,) Then when you bear me to my last retreat, Let not the mourners howl along the street— Let not my soldiers in the train be seen, Nor banners float, nor lance or sabre gleam— Nor yet, to testify ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. - Volume XII, No. 347, Saturday, December 20, 1828. • Various



Words linked to "Waft" :   blow, flag, float, drift, penoncel, streamer, pennoncel, be adrift, pennon, pennoncelle



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