Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Comely   Listen
adjective
Comely  adj.  (compar. comelier; superl. comeliest)  
1.
Pleasing or agreeable to the sight; well-proportioned; good-looking; handsome. "He that is comely when old and decrepit, surely was very beautiful when he was young." "Not once perceive their foul disfigurement But boast themselves more comely than before."
2.
Suitable or becoming; proper; agreeable. "This is a happier and more comely time Than when these fellows ran about the streets, Crying confusion." "It is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar





"Comely" Quotes from Famous Books



... taken. But the king and his son foresaw all this before, yea, had sufficiently provided for the relief of Mansoul, though they told not everybody thereof. Wherefore, after consultation, the son of Shaddai—a sweet and comely person, and one that always had great affection for those that were in affliction—having striven hard with his father, promised that he would be his servant to recover Mansoul. The purport of this agreement was that at a certain time, prefixed by ...
— The Worlds Greatest Books - Vol. II: Fiction • Arthur Mee, J. A. Hammerton, Eds.

... naked feet, amang the grass, Seem'd like twa dew-gemm'd lilies fair; Her brow shone comely 'mang her locks, Dark curling owre her shoulders bare; Her cheeks were rich wi' bloomy youth; Her lips had words and wit at will, And heaven seem'd looking through her een, The ...
— The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume III - The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century • Various

... before him passed a vision of the Intendant's palace at Quebec, with its women and riot and rottenness. His hand went up to his eyes, and under the shade of it he looked upon father and daughter—this pair of the old noblesse, clean, comely, ready for the sacrifice. What had New France done for these that they were cheerful to die for her? She had doled them out poverty, and now, in the end, betrayal; she had neglected her children for aliens, she ...
— Fort Amity • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... interesting to both sides. The Americans did not meddle with forbidden topics, as they had been cautioned not to do, such as their religion and burial rites; but they could not help thinking of this elegant lady's comely form being torn to pieces by the crows and vultures in the Tower of ...
— Across India - Or, Live Boys in the Far East • Oliver Optic

... many yeres passed the time that she was mariageable: notwithstanding, in thende he gaue her to wife to one of the sonnes of the Duke of Capua, with whom she continued no long time, but was a widowe, and then retourned vnto her fathers house againe. This Ladie was very faire and comely of bodie and face, as any creature could be, yonge, lustie, and more wise peraduenture then a woman ought to be. And thus dwelling with her louing father, she liued like a noble Ladie, in great pleasure: and seing that her father for the loue he bare vnto her, had ...
— The Palace of Pleasure, Volume 1 • William Painter

... space of cropped meadow between the barn and the hedge stood a man and a woman, both young. The man was a well-set-up, comely fellow, with a fine head of chestnut hair tied in a queue by a broad bow of black satin. He was dressed with certain tawdry attempts at ostentatious embellishments, which did not prepossess one at first glance in his favour. His coat of a fashionable ...
— Scaramouche - A Romance of the French Revolution • Rafael Sabatini

... such natural rudeness, and take great pleasure in that disorderly order:—even so do these rough and harsh terms enlumine, and make more clearly to appear, the brightness of brave and glorious words. So oftentimes a discord in music maketh a comely concordance. ...
— Spenser - (English Men of Letters Series) • R. W. Church

... was one tall beyond the common set of men, and thick as well as tall, and strong as well as thick; exceedingly robust, and able to conquer such difficulties of diet and of travel as would have killed most men alive. He was of a very comely though a very manly countenance," and in character of "a most incomparable generosity." He hated anything small or mean, was somewhat choleric, but not ...
— Historic Tales, Vol. 1 (of 15) - The Romance of Reality • Charles Morris

... and his countenance was far from comely. He was awkward and ill-proportioned; for his limbs were too long for his body, - so that when he rode, he appeared to be much shorter than he really was. *41 His dress was humble, his manners simple, and there was nothing imposing in his presence. But, on a nearer intercourse, ...
— The History Of The Conquest Of Peru • William H. Prescott

... by its works; for the whole method of life has been devised by it and ordered, and by it is held together. In like manner we must think also about the Deity, who in power is most mighty, in beauty most comely, in life immortal, and in virtue supreme: wherefore though he is invisible to human nature, he is seen by his very works." Other passages to the same purpose are quoted by Gataker (p. 382). Bishop Butler has the same as to the soul: "Upon the whole, ...
— Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus • Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

... gained the affections of Tuilagi,{*} the youngest daughter of the King. She, although not a seeker after the truth, was yet beginning to display some interest in the teachings of Christianity, and was an exceedingly comely young woman." Here Mr. Howlman clasped his fat hands together and cast up his eyes. "But her father, at my suggestion, objected to their union. One night Barcom and the poor, misguided girl were missing. ...
— Officer And Man - 1901 • Louis Becke

... into his art,—most of all in that highest sense of plastic beauty of form, which the great Italians had so intensely felt, which the great English school, uprising in his own day, was in some measure to recover. At most a comely buxom wench steals sometimes slyly into his canvas or copper-plate—the two servant-maids in his print of "Morning" at Covent Garden, whom the roysterers turning out from Tom King's coffee-house are kissing in the Piazza; ...
— The Eighteenth Century in English Caricature • Selwyn Brinton

... disguises. The groundwork and meaning are the same, whether the actors are Osiris, Isis and Set, Ptah, Hapi and the Virgin Cow, or the many other actors of this drama. There, too, among a brown race of men, the light-god was deemed to be not of their own hue, but "light colored, white or yellow," of comely countenance, bright eyes and golden hair. Again, he is the one who invented the calendar, taught the arts, established the rituals, revealed the medical virtues of plants, recommended peace, and again was identified as one of the brothers of ...
— American Hero-Myths - A Study in the Native Religions of the Western Continent • Daniel G. Brinton

... can, That wole he hide of every man, And openly the vice telle, As he which of the Scole of helle Is tawht, and fostred with Envie Of houshold and of compaignie, Wher that he hath his propre office To sette on every man a vice. 440 How so his mouth be comely, His word sit evermore awry And seith the worste that he may. And in this wise now a day In loves Court a man mai hiere Fulofte pleigne of this matiere, That many envious tale is stered, Wher that it mai noght ben ansuered; Bot yit fulofte it is believed, ...
— Confessio Amantis - Tales of the Seven Deadly Sins, 1330-1408 A.D. • John Gower

... accredited as a man of amorous gallantries[16]; he married at eighteen, apparently in haste, and less than six months before the birth of a child.[17] We know from legal records that he and his father before him had frequent lawsuits.[18] While a uniform tradition represents him as comely, pleasing and attractive, equally does it represent him as a man of ready, aggressive and caustic wit, and rebellious and bitter against opposition.[19] The lines on the slab over his grave are less supplicatory than mandatory against the removal of ...
— Testimony of the Sonnets as to the Authorship of the Shakespearean Plays and Poems • Jesse Johnson

... came with hat and wig, A wig that flowed behind, A hat not much the worse for wear, Each comely in its kind. ...
— R. Caldecott's First Collection of Pictures and Songs • Various

... to the son of a neighbouring Emir, a youth comely, well-fashioned, skilled with the bow, apt in all exercises; one that sat his mare firm as the trained falcon that fixeth on the plunging bull of the plains; fair and terrible in combat as the lightning that strideth the rolling storm; and it is ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... off: they reached it in less than six hours. There was Uncle Fountain on the hall steps to receive her, and the comely housekeeper, Mrs. Brown, ducking and smiling in the background. While the servants were unpacking the carriage, Mr. Fountain took Lucy to her bedroom. Mrs. Brown had gone on before to see for the third time whether all was comfortable. There was a huge ...
— Love Me Little, Love Me Long • Charles Reade

... kiss'd fair Ellenore, And press'd her lily hand; Sic a comely knight and comely dame Ne'er met in wedlock's band: But the baron watch'd, as he raised the latch, And kiss'd again his bride; And with his spear, in deadly ire, ...
— The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume II. - The Songs of Scotland of the past half century • Various

... service of the table upon the knee, and the women only stand about him, leaning against the wall. The room below his half-pace hath tables on the sides for the guests that are bidden; who are served with great and comely order; and towards the end of dinner (which in the greatest feasts with them lasteth never above an hour and a half) there is an hymn sung, varied according to the invention of him that composeth it (for they have excellent poesy), but the subject of it is always ...
— Ideal Commonwealths • Various

... have baffled old Stowe. He says, "Towards the west end of Knight Rider Street is the parish church of St. Nicolas Cold Abby, a comely church, somewhat ancient, as appeareth by the ways raised thereabout; so that men are forced to descend into the body of the church. It hath been called of many Golden Abby, of some Gold (or Cold) Bey, and so hath the most ancient ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 223, February 4, 1854 • Various

... tours he passed through a country town when he came suddenly upon a charming group—a comely woman with a bevy of little ones about her—in a garden. He stopped short, then advanced and leaned over ...
— Good Stories from The Ladies Home Journal • Various

... intimacies of Fairyland. She welcomed him gladly and a little warmly—I suspect a pressure of his hand in both of hers and a lit face to his. After all, ten years ago young Skelmersdale may have been a very comely youth. And once she took his arm, and once, I think, she led him by the hand adown the ...
— Twelve Stories and a Dream • H. G. Wells

... result of a dream, by some ancient crone, who officiated at her nativity, and that it means the Woman of the Green Valley. She is now about 60 years of age. When about 15 or 16, she is said to have been a slender, comely lass, with large bright hazel eyes, and a graceful figure. At this age, she married a young gentleman from the north of Ireland, of good family and standing, and high connections, who made a wild adventure into this region. ...
— Personal Memoirs Of A Residence Of Thirty Years With The Indian Tribes On The American Frontiers • Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

... work, with nothing to do all day but sun themselves and polish their bayonets, naturally moped and pined for the homes that were missing them so sorely. They, too, found the smoky blaze of the camp-fire but a sorry substitute for the cheerful hearth, where memory pictured the comely wife and the sturdy little ones. The hardy mountaineer, pent and confined to a mud-bound acre, naturally molded and panted for the fresh breezes and rough tramps ...
— Four Years in Rebel Capitals - An Inside View of Life in the Southern Confederacy from Birth to Death • T. C. DeLeon

... his mill-house sore troubled in his mind. "That lad must not be so much with Alois," he said to his wife that night. "Trouble may come of it hereafter: he is fifteen now, and she is twelve; and the boy is comely ...
— Stories of Childhood • Various

... a man nearer being an artist, who yet was not one. The tang was in the family; while he was writing the journal for our enjoyment in his comely house in Navy Gardens, no fewer than two of his cousins were tramping the fens, kit under arm, to make music to the country girls. But he himself, though he could play so many instruments and pass judgment in so many fields of art, remained an amateur. It is not given to any one so keenly to ...
— Harvard Classics Volume 28 - Essays English and American • Various

... by the graceful portico of the Temple of Fortune—so briskly, indeed, that he came with no slight force full against the rotund and comely form of that respectable citizen Diomed, who was retiring homeward to his ...
— The Last Days of Pompeii • Edward George Bulwer-Lytton

... her face, now, and looked at him, a moment. Tear-stained and dishevelled though she was, and soiled by marks of drink and debauchery, Gabriel saw she must once have been very beautiful and still was comely. ...
— The Air Trust • George Allan England

... maidens were of comely presence, and one of them had had claims to be considered a Beauty. When I saw them in the old meeting-house on Sundays, as they rustled in through the aisles in silks and satins, not gay, but more than decent, as I ...
— The Professor at the Breakfast Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes (Sr.)

... pace the floor. Hearing presently advancing footsteps, he dropped into a chair, and leaning back and shutting his eyes, assumed an expression of pain and lassitude. In a moment the door of the room was opened, and a comely woman of middle age entered, dressed ...
— The Knight of the Golden Melice - A Historical Romance • John Turvill Adams

... avenues thridding the region of the works, and smelling of the decay of market-houses, were fine streets of shops and churches, and I dare say comely dwellings, with tram- cars ascending and descending their hilly slopes. The stores I find noted as splendid, and in my pocket-book I say that outside of the market-house, before you got to those streets, there are doves and guinea-pigs as well ...
— Seven English Cities • W. D. Howells

... judged by; we could not see the face, for it was turned away from us; but the form was plainly that of a comely woman. She stood between the rails with her arms stretched out like a cross, her white gown fitting her figure closely. A black, shawl-like mantilla was over the head, partly concealing her face; her right foot was upon the left-hand rail. She ...
— Danger Signals • John A. Hill and Jasper Ewing Brady

... natural choice of a lover nearer her years? "Like unto like" was Nature's law. It was flying in the face of Providence to expect to win the love of one so young and fair, when others so young and comely craved it. The sweat was beaded on his forehead as he neared the top and came in sight of the platform. Yes, they had no thought for him. Already Mrs. Hoyt was half-way up the wooden stairs, and the others were scattered more or less between that point and the platform ...
— From the Ranks • Charles King

... one of the most social places on the continent. The men collect themselves into weekly evening clubs. The ladies in winter are frequently entertained either at concerts of music or assemblies, and make a very good appearance. They are comely and dress well...." ...
— Woman's Life in Colonial Days • Carl Holliday

... come to their general Character, the Feathers, speaking of them all together, are generally very Comely, Strong, Large, Beautiful things, their Quills or Heads well fixt, and the Cavities fill'd with a solid substantial Matter, which tho' it is full of Spirit, has a great deal of Temperament, and full of suitable ...
— The Consolidator • Daniel Defoe

... tightly into one single tress hanging girlishly down her back and its end reached down to her waist. The massiveness of it surprised you. On my word it reminded one of a club. Her face was big, comely, of an unruffled expression. She had a good complexion, and her blue eyes were so pale that she appeared to look at the world with the empty white candour of a statue. You could not call her good-looking. It was something much more impressive. The simplicity of her apparel, the opulence ...
— Falk • Joseph Conrad

... must have been some tender passage in their brief intercourse. He must have kissed her during their flight from home to steamer. Her young pulses must have throbbed a little faster at the sight of his comely face. ...
— The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne • William J. Locke

... guidance of our gods—and yours, Coru-hin-Irigod—that we met. Such slaves as you sold at the outlanders' plantation would bring a fine price in the North. The men are strong, and have the look of good field-workers; the women are comely and well-formed. Though I fear that my wife would little relish it did I bring ...
— Time Crime • H. Beam Piper

... the neighborhood of the valley of Dundee, were formerly distinguished from all their neighbors by the superiority of their physical qualities. The men were of high stature, robust, active, and courageous; the women comely and graceful. Both sexes possessed an extraordinary taste for poetry and music. Now, alas! a long experience of poverty, prolonged privation of sufficient food and suitable clothing, have profoundly deteriorated this race, ...
— The Philosophy of Misery • Joseph-Pierre Proudhon

... home. As they reached the gate, they were surprised to see two stout horses, held by a groom, standing before it. They inquired who had arrived. "Your worships' cousin, master Harry Rolfe and a stranger, a stout and comely gentleman, who has the air and speech of a sea-captain—though he may be, judging by his looks, some great ...
— The Settlers - A Tale of Virginia • William H. G. Kingston

... not so! Think of him! treacherously wounded, and lying moaning. That gruesome oil! Oh! my poor Leonard!" and she burst into tears. "So fair, and comely, and young, ...
— Grisly Grisell • Charlotte M. Yonge

... if the girl so much as heard him. Her eyes were passing from feature to feature of his face, as the stars revealed it above her,—from the broad comely brow to the square young chin, from the clean-cut fine-tempered mouth to the clear true eyes. One by one she noted them, and shade by shade her strained look of fear relaxed. Slowly she forgot her dread; and forgetting, her mind wandered ...
— The Ward of King Canute • Ottilie A. Liljencrantz

... isn't a gratefuler man living than I am for your kindness to my poor forsaken little feller," answered Mr. Brown, dropping both his burdens to give the comely woman's ...
— Under the Lilacs • Louisa May Alcott

... his horses, wool-fells, and linen goods for the strangers' merchandise and slaves, with deeds as honourable as his words. Our adventurer was so taken with "Lord Budomel" that he gladly went with him two hundred and fifty miles up country, on his promising a supply of negro slaves, black but comely, and none of them more than twelve ...
— Prince Henry the Navigator, the Hero of Portugal and of Modern Discovery, 1394-1460 A.D. • C. Raymond Beazley

... Neither age nor dignity served as a protection; deeds of lust were perpetrated amidst scenes of carnage, and murder was added to rape. Aged men and women that had passed their prime, and who were useless as booty, were made the objects of brutal sport. If a mature maiden, or any one of comely appearance, fell in their way, after being torn piecemeal by the rude hands of contending ruffians, they at last were the occasion of their turning their swords against each other. While eagerly carrying off money or massy gold from ...
— The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to prose. Volume II (of X) - Rome • Various

... pereles is this moste comely kynge A nd as for his strength and magnanymyte C oncernynge his noble dedes in euery thynge O ne founde or grounde lyke to hym can not be B y byrth borne to boldnes and audacyte V nder the bolde planet of Mars the champyon S urely ...
— The Ship of Fools, Volume 1 • Sebastian Brandt

... destitute of a resting place? Is it better resting in flesh than in God? Dost thou think that those souls which are now with Christ, do so much pity their rotten or dusty corpse, or lament that their ancient habitation is ruined, and their once comely bodies turned into earth? Oh, what a thing is strangeness and dis-acquaintance. It maketh us afraid of our dearest friends, and to draw back from the ...
— Clemence - The Schoolmistress of Waveland • Retta Babcock

... Approach'd her close behind, and panting breath'd Upon her floating tresses. Pale with dread, Her strength exhausted in the lengthen'd flight, Old Peneus' streams she saw, and loud exclaim'd:— "O sire, assist me, if within thy streams "Divinity abides. Let earth this form, "Too comely for my peace, quick swallow up; "Or change those beauties to an harmless shape." Her prayer scarce ended, when her lovely limbs A numbness felt; a tender rind enwraps Her beauteous bosom; from her head shoots up Her hair in leaves; in branches spread her ...
— The Metamorphoses of Publius Ovidus Naso in English blank verse Vols. I & II • Ovid

... Kishibojin [7] is the face of a comely woman. But her eyes are weird. In her right hand she bears a lotus-blossom; with her left she supports in a fold of her robe, against her half-veiled breast, a naked baby. At the foot of her shrine stands Jizo-Sama, leaning upon his shakujo. ...
— Glimpses of an Unfamiliar Japan - First Series • Lafcadio Hearn

... affect to be so gallant and so courteous, how is it that when women rule their reign is always stormy and troublous? Anne of Austria—comely, amiable, and gracious as she was—met with the same brutal discourtesy which her sister-in-law, Marie de Medici, had been obliged to bear. But gifted with greater force of intellect than that queen, she never yielded aught of her just rights; and it was ...
— Marguerite de Navarre - Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois Queen of Navarre • Marguerite de Navarre

... abused. Why, Ajax, master of the seven-fold shield, Butchered the flocks he found in spacious field. And he who on his mother venged his ire, Against the Destinies durst sharp[163] darts require. 10 Could I therefore her comely tresses tear? Yet was she graced with her ruffled hair. So fair she was, Atalanta she resembled, Before whose bow th' Arcadian wild beasts trembled. Such Ariadne was, when she bewails, Her perjured Theseus' flying vows and sails. So, chaste Minerva, did Cassandra ...
— The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 3 (of 3) • Christopher Marlowe

... of Tiberius, [28] his beauty (he was one of the tallest and most comely of the Romans) might introduce him to the favor of Sophia; and the widow of Justin was persuaded, that she should preserve her station and influence under the reign of a second and more youthful husband. But, if the ambitious candidate had been tempted ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 4 • Edward Gibbon

... comely lady, with a bright brown eye, and a face full of character and ability, opened fire upon the vicar as soon as they had shaken hands, while her daughter looked wistfully ...
— The Shadow of the Rope • E. W. Hornung

... is possible the men of Ystrad might have less superstition, and somewhat more courage, than their neighbours, and supposing such a one to come suddenly on these nightly revellers, he would of course cause great consternation amongst them; and, on finding a comely female in the group, it is not unnatural to imagine that he might, as the heroes of old have done before him, seize on a beauteous Helen, carry her home, and in process of time marry her—for many ...
— Welsh Fairy-Tales And Other Stories • Edited by P. H. Emerson

... industries; but it is not too late for the reader, whom I could do no greater favor than sending him there, to repair my deficiency. In self-defense I urge my knowledge of a military school in the Alcazar, where and in the street leading up to it we saw some companies of the comely and kindly-looking cadets. I know also that there are public night schools where those so minded may study the arts and letters, as our guide was doing in certain directions. Now that there are no longer any Jews in Toledo, and the Arabs to whom they betrayed the Gothic capital ...
— Familiar Spanish Travels • W. D. Howells

... except that what regards gamp is a good deal better. Mrs. Laight, and child, and sisters all in good condition and in high spirits. Have already been dancing—I believe twice. At Mrs. General G.'s I met by accident Mrs. Rogers. She is a pleasant, cheerful, comely woman, to appearance not past thirty-eight or forty. You know we had heard otherwise. Eustis has sprained his ankle, which puts him, for the present, out of the gay world. I have not been abroad except to dine with Mrs. L. I am rejoiced at what you ...
— Memoirs of Aaron Burr, Complete • Matthew L. Davis

... it abroad, without diminishing the account given to them. Another captain was quickly engaged, and the Hebe sailed on her voyage. The late owners of Captain Macgregor were informed of his death, and about two weeks afterwards a comely-looking lady with a little boy of four years old called at Mr Hobkirk's house and asked for an interview. She was received with unfeigned displeasure. The owner commenced a vigorous tirade against the man who he considered had wronged him by killing himself with drink. The lady suddenly ...
— The Shellback's Progress - In the Nineteenth Century • Walter Runciman

... hand that did the deid, The heart that thocht the ill, The feet that bore him wi' sik speid, The comely youth ...
— The Forest of Vazon - A Guernsey Legend Of The Eighth Century • Anonymous

... their masters making no inquiry how they get it, provided the money comes. If it is not regularly paid they are flogged. Some take in washing, some cook on board vessels, pick oakum, sell peanuts, &c., while others, younger and more comely, often resort to the vilest pursuits. I knew a man from the north who, though married to a respectable southern woman, kept two of these mulatto girls in an upper room at his store; his wife told some of her friends that he had not lodged at home for two weeks together, I have seen these ...
— The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus • American Anti-Slavery Society

... narrated in the last chapter, the clerks in the bank of Wreckumoft were not a little interested by the entrance of a portly woman of comely appearance and large proportions. She was dressed in a gaudy cotton gown and an enormously large bonnet, which fluttered a good deal, owing as much to its own magnitude and instability as to the quantity of pink ribbons and ...
— Shifting Winds - A Tough Yarn • R.M. Ballantyne

... the character of ambassadors came to the Admiral and informed him, in the best manner they were able, that the king would visit him, if he might be assured of coming in safety. Being satisfied on this point, a numerous company soon appeared, in front of which was a very comely person bearing a kind of sceptre, on which hung two crowns, and three chains of great length. The chains were of bones, and the crowns of network, curiously wrought ...
— In the Footprints of the Padres • Charles Warren Stoddard

... miles distant from Itchen. Anne might be about two or three and twenty years of age when she came to us; and a very notable, industrious servant she was, and remarked, moreover, as possessing a strong religious bias. Her features, everybody agreed, were comely and intelligent. But that advantage in the matrimonial market was more than neutralised by her unfortunate figure, which, owing, as we understood, to a fall in her childhood, was hopelessly deformed, though still strongly ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 431 - Volume 17, New Series, April 3, 1852 • Various

... completed the drama to the Management's satisfaction, and received a comely little cheque in payment. It was the first cheque that I had seen for years! I danced with joy, I paid for a shampoo, I committed no end ...
— A Chair on The Boulevard • Leonard Merrick

... well the enormous dishonesties as the little lies of trade. Let this holiness actuate the parent, and in his strong and gentle rule he will mould the hearts of his children heavenward, and train them in the admonition of the Lord, until, a commanded household, comely in their filial love, they shall reverence their Father who is in heaven. Let the child be impressed with holiness, and he will have higher motives to obedience than he can gather from the constraint of duty or from the promptings of affection. Let the master be holy, and ...
— The Wesleyan Methodist Pulpit in Malvern • Knowles King

... version of the story differs at the end from that given by Wilson, "Essays," ii. 74) in his remarks on this story (i. p. 510-15), which he connects with Buddhist legends, observes that it occurs also in the "Tuti-Nameh" (Rosen, ii. 228), but there the hunchback is replaced by a comely youth, and the similarity with the Russian story disappears. For a solar explanation of the Indian story see A. de Gubernatis, "Zool. Mythology," ...
— Russian Fairy Tales - A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore • W. R. S. Ralston

... to our order, which is called the House of the Blessed Virgin in the Wood, and lieth near Northorn. He came from Medenblic, a town in Holland, and was one of the four first Brothers of our House. He was a man of great stature and grave deportment, eloquent in discourse, and his hoary head was comely to look upon. He took part in the labours of the younger Brothers, and would perform lowly tasks, such as washing the trenchers, digging the ground, carrying stones, or collecting wood. It was his wont to come early into the choir, ...
— The Chronicle of the Canons Regular of Mount St. Agnes • Thomas a Kempis

... last time in life Patty Cannon's bold and comely face swelled again with passionate blood to the roots of the glossy black hair, and the few who saw her rich, dark eyes, inflamed with anger, say their pupils were dilated like the wild-cat's. She was gone in a moment, and ...
— The Entailed Hat - Or, Patty Cannon's Times • George Alfred Townsend

... Setting his fate aside, of comely virtues; Nor did he soil the fact with cowardice— An honor in him which buys out his faults— But with a noble fury and fair spirit, Seeing his reputation touched to death, He ...
— The Brother Clerks - A Tale of New-Orleans • Xariffa

... speaking, countenance, gesture, and use of apparel the person of a Gentleman; whereby amity is obtained, and continued, that Gentlemen of all countries, in their young years, nourished together in one place, with such comely order, and daily conference, are knit by continual acquaintance in such unity of minds and manners as lightly never after is severed, than which is nothing more profitable to ...
— Christmas: Its Origin and Associations - Together with Its Historical Events and Festive Celebrations During Nineteen Centuries • William Francis Dawson

... drinks. Josephine's party stared around, talking desultorily. And at length they perceived Jim stalking along, leading Aaron Sisson by the arm. Jim was grinning, the flautist looked unwilling. He had a comely appearance, in his white shirt—a certain comely blondness and repose. And as much a gentleman ...
— Aaron's Rod • D. H. Lawrence

... temples, or the thin soft hair above the ears! What synthesis! There are no niggling details, breadth is not lost in this multitude of closely observed and recorded facts. The large eyes gaze devoutly at the vision of the Child, and if neither Virgin nor Son is comely there is character delineated. The accessories must fill the latter-day painter avid of surface loveliness ...
— Promenades of an Impressionist • James Huneker

... show, neat and clean, but cheaply; no bed-hangings (and in those days most baudy houses had bed-hangings), the blinds were new and white, the beds quite clean. The top-floor room where I went for economy was two shillings and sixpence. The woman of the house was tall, comely, and middle-aged. As I paid her I noticed she had fat red cheeks. How curious that I should recollect those red cheeks. She had a white apron on, and was a ...
— My Secret Life, Volumes I. to III. - 1888 Edition • Anonymous

... Sanchez—wasn't that his name, doctor? Oh! you forget—all right! Off they started with a guide, on hired mules; but when they pulled up at their destination they found the Don wasn't there, though they were handsomely entertained by the senora—a comely, fat, and waspish body, with very few clothes on—who cursed her Don for sending people to see her, and the visitors too for coming. However, as her guests had not dined, she fed them bountifully on a supper of the ...
— Captain Brand of the "Centipede" • H. A. (Henry Augustus) Wise

... give weight to the declaration that it was the greatest talking they had ever heard; were young children, who in after years, when a neglected gravestone was toppling over all that was left of the orator, would still speak of the wonders of his eloquence; were comely women to whom the household was the world and the household task the life's work, but who could now for the moment lift their bent forms and have their dulled eyes turned to higher and better things. Moreover, ...
— The Soldier of the Valley • Nelson Lloyd

... hair in graceful ringlets play'd, All eyes are charm'd that view them, And o'er his comely shoulders stray'd, Where wanton zephyrs ...
— Translations of German Poetry in American Magazines 1741-1810 • Edward Ziegler Davis

... my garth a goodly olive grew; Thick was the noble leafage of its prime, And like a carven column rose the trunk. This tree about I built my chamber walls, Laying great stone on stone, and roofed them well, And in the portal set a comely door, Stout-hinged and tightly closing. Then with axe I lopped the leafy olive's branching head, And hewed the bole to four-square shapeliness, And smoothed it, craftsmanlike, and grooved and pierced, Making the rooted timber, where it grew, A corner of my couch. ...
— The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft • George Gissing

... wash the dust out of my hair," Amuba said. "Still, I do think that these Israelites wear their hair inconveniently long; and yet the long plaits that their women wear down their back are certainly graceful, and the women themselves are fair and comely." ...
— The Cat of Bubastes - A Tale of Ancient Egypt • G. A. Henty

... possession of which would render me happier than any king. . . . I would marry! Oh, yes! I would certainly marry—found a family. I was still young, my dear Sir, and passably good looking. In fact there was a certain young widow, comely and amiable, who lived not far from Passy, who had on more than one occasion given me to understand that I was more than passably good looking. I had always been susceptible where the fair sex was concerned, and now . . . oh, now! I could pick and ...
— Castles in the Air • Baroness Emmuska Orczy

... the King of Ireland, Nuada of the Silver Hand, on the Hill of Usna. Not long had the people been assembled, when they beheld a stately band of warriors, all mounted on white steeds, coming towards them from the east, and at their head rode a young champion, tall and comely. "This young warrior was Luga of the Long Arms.... This troop came forward to where the King of Erin sat surrounded by the Dedannans, and both parties exchanged friendly greetings. A short time after this they saw another company approaching, quite unlike the first, for they were ...
— Folklore as an Historical Science • George Laurence Gomme

... is "buxom, blithe and debonair," qualities which affect the physique and result in heartiness of aspect and a comely plumpness. An arch damsel is etymologically akin to an archbishop, both descending from the Greek prefix {archi}, from {arche}, a beginning, first cause. Shakespeare uses arch as ...
— The Romance of Words (4th ed.) • Ernest Weekley

... dearest, would you love Cato? I could as soon love the statue of Accius Naevius, with his long beard, on the steps of the Comitium; he were scarce colder, or less comely than ...
— The Roman Traitor (Vol. 1 of 2) • Henry William Herbert

... never Had I asked the maiden's name. Was it Lieschen—was it Gretchen? Had she tin, or whence she came? So I took my trusty meerschaum, And I took my lute likewise; Wandered forth in minstrel fashion, Underneath the louring skies: Sang before each comely Wirthshaus, Sang beside each purling stream, That same ditty which I chanted When Undine was my theme, Singing, as I sang at Jena, When the shifts were hung to dry, "Fair Undine! young Undine! Dost thou love as ...
— The Bon Gaultier Ballads • William Edmonstoune Aytoun

... preserves the dignity of the home. From our standpoint the white man is a law-breaker! The "Great Mystery," we say, does not adorn the woman above the man. His law is spreading horns, or flowing mane, or gorgeous plumage for the male; the female he made plain, but comely, modest and gentle. She is the foundation of man's dignity and honor. Upon her rests the life of the home and of the family. I have often thought that there is much in this philosophy of an untutored people. Had her husband remained long enough in one place, ...
— Old Indian Days • [AKA Ohiyesa], Charles A. Eastman

... addressed sat busy with newspapers, at a table a little withdrawn from the fire; a lady in fresh middle age, and comely to look at. The daughter, not comely, but sensible-looking, sat in the glow of the fireshine, doing nothing. Both were extremely well dressed, if "well" means in the fashion and in rich stuffs, and with no sparing of money or care. ...
— Nobody • Susan Warner

... children were running about among the legs of the men, heeding them mighty little in their bold play, and the men seemed little troubled by it, although they were talking earnestly and seriously too. A well-made comely girl leaned up against the chimney close to the gaffer’s chair, and seemed to be in waiting on the company: she was clad in a close-fitting gown of bright blue cloth, with a broad silver girdle, daintily wrought, round ...
— Old Familiar Faces • Theodore Watts-Dunton

... in her own little room at The Ship, and Mrs. Peck, with motherly kindness writ large on her comely, plump face, was bending over her with a cup of steaming broth ...
— The Tidal Wave and Other Stories • Ethel May Dell

... year my stock it grew, And from this one, this single ewe, Full fifty comely sheep I raised, As sweet a flock as ever grazed! Upon the mountain did they feed; They throve, and we at home did thrive. —This lusty lamb of all my store Is all that is alive; And now I care not if we die, And perish all ...
— Lyrical Ballads, With Other Poems, 1800, Vol. I. • William Wordsworth

... fell lame, and he stopped two days at my Uncle Elzaphan's. My Uncle Elzaphan asked him what business did he in the world, and he said he put down on cloth or paper with brushes and colors all the fair and comely things he saw. And he showed a piece of paper with on it painted the row of willows along our brook. I sat in the chimney-corner and no one heeded me. I saw—oh, then I knew! I have no paint, but ever since I have made pictures with burnt ...
— Hillsboro People • Dorothy Canfield

... over a sweaty cotton shirt: the man, tall, lean, swarthy, grim; the boy grim and dark, too, and with a face that was prematurely aged. At the man's cabin a little girl in purple homespun was hurrying in and out the back door clearing up after the noonday meal; at the boy's, a comely woman with masses of black hair sat in the porch with her hands folded, and lifting her eyes now and then to the top of the spur. Of a sudden the man impatiently threw down his hoe, but through the battered ...
— The Heart Of The Hills • John Fox, Jr.

... regarded as leading their worshippers to battle. Some of the names show that these gods were thought of as mighty warriors, e.g. Caturix, "battle-king," Belatu-Cadros—a common name in Britain—perhaps meaning "comely in slaughter,"[71] and Albiorix, "world-king."[72] Another name, Rigisamus, from rix and samus, "like to," gives the idea ...
— The Religion of the Ancient Celts • J. A. MacCulloch

... magnificent court of Love, the purblind king, wherein it is easy to enter, but difficult to get out again, and where are chambers innumerable. In the hall opposite the door stood giddy Cupid, with two arrows in his bow, darting a languishing venom called lust. Along the floor I saw many fair and comely women walking with measured steps, and following them, wretched youths gazing upon their beauty, and each one begging a glance from his mistress, fearing a frown even more than death; now and then one, bowing to the ground, would place a letter in his goddess' ...
— The Visions of the Sleeping Bard • Ellis Wynne

... business with Arethusa, some of it not very straight business; for Ctesius, the king of the place, had a woman-servant, very tall and comely, who was from their own country; they cajoled her in ways that no woman can resist and, partly by means of "a necklace of gold with amber beads strung among it," induced her to go away with them one evening, and she took ...
— Castellinaria - and Other Sicilian Diversions • Henry Festing Jones

... offices. The number of great ladies, called kibere, seldom exceed six. This dignified title is generally given to the mothers of the sultan's children, or to those, who having been once great favorites, are appointed governesses to the rest; there are, altogether about fifty women, all black and very comely, and from what stolen glances we could obtain, they appeared extremely well dressed. They are guarded by five eunuchs, who keep up their authority ...
— Lander's Travels - The Travels of Richard Lander into the Interior of Africa • Robert Huish

... for when I caught him by his bonny golden locks, he was insensible. His head had struck against a stone in the plunge, and a great cut was over his forehead. God bless him, a sorry scar it left! but many, I warrant, have the Southrons now made on his comely countenance. I have never seen him since ...
— The Scottish Chiefs • Miss Jane Porter

... the occasion. Somewhat small in stature, nature had nevertheless endowed her with a remarkably well turned figure, well shaped arms, comely features, a singularly clear complexion, and blue eyes full of light and vivacity. Dressing with considerable taste and elegance—utterly shameless—without principle or character, with nothing to lose—everything to gain, the woman was eminently ...
— English Caricaturists and Graphic Humourists of the Nineteenth Century. - How they Illustrated and Interpreted their Times. • Graham Everitt

... the major-domo, who in turn issued orders to the small army of servants—men in livery and comely maids in neat black dresses with perky caps and wisps of aprons—to escort the guests to their ...
— Bandit Love • Juanita Savage

... comely girl; she was big to look at, being tall and strong. She was never plump; she was never well clothed, not even in the best days of her youth. She had been brought up in the work-house; after that she belonged to no one. Her mind was ...
— A Dozen Ways Of Love • Lily Dougall

... of men raised by them being made up by men raised by the mayor and aldermen themselves in a somewhat novel fashion. The Court of Aldermen had agreed that each of their number should on the Saturday night make the round of his ward and select "fifty, forty, twenty, or ten" tall and comely men, who should be warned in the king's name to appear the next morning before seven o'clock at the Guildhall. On Sunday morning the mayor and aldermen came to the Guildhall, and took the names of those whom they had selected over night. ...
— London and the Kingdom - Volume I • Reginald R. Sharpe

... a comely sight, some five years ago, to see two Jews closeted together making a secret bargain—one had power, the other had money. The man of power asked the man of money to lend him twenty million dollars; it was done. At once the man of power purchases with this twenty millions part of ...
— The Lost Ten Tribes, and 1882 • Joseph Wild

... "Mother, already thou knowest, and why should it all be recounted? We in our progress assailing Aetion's hallowed city, Conquer'd and sack'd it, and hither conducted the plunder of Theba. Then when the sons of Achaia assembled to make the division, They to Atreides allotted for guerdon the comely Chryseis. But to the galleys anon of the brass-clad sons of Achaia, Journey'd in sorrow her father, the grayhair'd priest of Apollo, Eager to ransom the maiden, and bearing a bountiful ransom. Holding the fillet ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 367, May 1846 • Various

... acquaintances, or you breed confusion and dissipate interest accordingly. Joan is very young in many ways. She is extravagant in the matter of the equipment of her heroes. Bob Ingleby, the farmer (a gentleman, because he had been at Winchester), is a "great comely giant," yet wins events one and three of the Hunt Steeplechase, though thrown badly in number two. I have a suspicion that this work is really Joan's tee shot, and that after a notable recovery, which on the best of her present form I ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 146., January 14, 1914 • Various

... spurs, and sharp were the javelins which they held in their hands. The javelin of Siegfried was two spans broad in the blade, and had a double edge. Terrible were the wounds that it made. Their bridles were gilded, and their horse-girths of silk. A comely sight they were to see, and the people came from all round to ...
— Heroes Every Child Should Know • Hamilton Wright Mabie

... that while Mrs. Carkeek lived with me and shared the secret. Few women, I dare to say, were ever so completely wrapped around with love as we were during those three years. It ran through my waking life like a song: it smoothed my pillow, touched and made my table comely, in summer lifted the heads of the flowers as I passed, and in winter watched the fire with me and ...
— Old Fires and Profitable Ghosts • A. T. Quiller-Couch

... it aside themselves, cannot with much modesty pretend to judge for those who have not; or, if they may, there is still a question how far it is right to lay it aside. The following lines are a sort of translation from Horace; and I submit it to the reader, whether it is comely for a Christian divine to be less reverent toward God, than a heathen poet; and whether the plural language here used, does not lack the reverence of the original, ...
— The Grammar of English Grammars • Goold Brown



Words linked to "Comely" :   bonny, beautiful, sightly, proper, comeliness, fair, decorous, comme il faut, bonnie, seemly, decent



Copyright © 2024 Dictionary One.com