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Relent   Listen
verb
Relent  v. i.  (past & past part. relented; pres. part. relenting)  
1.
To become less rigid or hard; to yield; to dissolve; to melt; to deliquesce. (Obs.) "He stirred the coals till relente gan The wax again the fire." "(Salt of tartar) placed in a cellar will... begin to relent." "When opening buds salute the welcome day, And earth, relenting, feels the genial ray."
2.
To become less severe or intense; to become less hard, harsh, cruel, or the like; to soften in temper; to become more mild and tender; to feel compassion. "Can you... behold My sighs and tears, and will not once relent?"






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Relent" Quotes from Famous Books



... knowing that they were compelled by the government to sell provisions to this branch of the army, as a general thing they sullenly complied with the request. Vodry's good manners and pleasing address usually caused them to relent. While the potatoes were being gingerly measured out, he would have them interested in some story of the war, which would invariably end up with the query: "By the way, did you know that we had an American ...
— The Story of Paul Boyton - Voyages on All the Great Rivers of the World • Paul Boyton

... would be the one to desert me," said Rose with a reproachful look, thinking it best not to relent too soon, though she was quite ready to do it when she saw how sincerely ...
— Rose in Bloom - A Sequel to "Eight Cousins" • Louisa May Alcott

... Pharaoh Mosche made the scourge cease. An extremely violent west wind carried all the grasshoppers into the Sea of Weeds; but the Pharaoh's obstinate heart, harder than brass, porphyry, or basalt, would not relent. ...
— The Works of Theophile Gautier, Volume 5 - The Romance of a Mummy and Egypt • Theophile Gautier

... speeche they had, Made murderers' heart relent: And they that undertooke the deed, Full ...
— R. Caldecott's First Collection of Pictures and Songs • Various

... be a bad plan," replied Gascoigne; "if it were possible that these fellows had any gratitude among them, some of them might relent at the idea of attacking ...
— Mr. Midshipman Easy • Frederick Marryat

... kindlings by the stove, ready for the morning fire. Still Eunice was not a bad-hearted girl, and when Andy, who heard her mutterings, put in a plea for Ethelyn, who he said "had never been so far away from home before, and whose head was aching enough to split," she began to relent, and proposed, of her own accord, to take up to the great lady a foot-bath together with hot water ...
— Ethelyn's Mistake • Mary Jane Holmes

... [Exit Servant.] I'll know His pleasure; may be he will relent. Alas, He hath but as offended in a dream! All sects, all ages smack of this vice; and he 5 To ...
— Measure for Measure - The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] • William Shakespeare

... work-basket upon his comical little head, he seized his cards and trudged away to distribute them among his friends. If he could only have gone out-of-doors, he could have found friends enough to have given them to; but he knew that Augustine would not relent so soon, and so contented himself with carrying them down to Snarlyou and Kiyi. But they were both out in the court, and would not come to him, even when he dropped porridge on ...
— St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, V. 5, April 1878 - Scribner's Illustrated • Various

... with an old legend of the love of a sorcerer for a maiden. The sorcerer is rejected, and in revenge he deprives the town in which the maiden lives of fire and light. The townspeople press the maiden to relent, and her yielding is signalised by a sudden blaze of splendour. Strauss's score shows to the full the amazing command of polyphony and the bewildering richness and variety of orchestration which have made his name ...
— The Opera - A Sketch of the Development of Opera. With full Descriptions - of all Works in the Modern Repertory • R.A. Streatfeild

... and I feared he would think I made but a poor show in comparison.' Wasn't it cruel of me now, and the poor thing looking at me speechless, with those lovely, humbugging eyes! I had to turn away and laugh in a corner, but I wouldn't relent, for, says I to myself, if I have to give up my run, I'll get some fun another way—and it is amusing, isn't it now, when a man shows you so plainly that he ...
— Pixie O'Shaughnessy • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey

... himself ran like a deer and Pentland after him, gun in hand and yelling horribly. After running a full mile the poor little Italian, out of breath and frightened nearly to death, dropped on his knees and begged for his life. The 'Indian' leveled his gun at his victim, but soon seemed to relent, and signified that Vivalla should turn his pockets inside out—which he did, producing and handing over a purse containing eleven dollars. The savage then marched Vivalla to an oak, and with a handkerchief tied him in the most approved Indian manner to the tree, leaving ...
— A Unique Story of a Marvellous Career. Life of Hon. Phineas T. • Joel Benton

... the happiest fellow alive!" he said, with difficulty restraining an inclination to throw his cap into the air and give an Irish caper. "That capital fellow, Jack, has been taking my part; and Lucy says that Sir John and Lady Rogers are inclined to relent, and she's certain would not withhold their consent provided I obtain what I've just got; and so I may conclude that it will all be settled, and that I may make my appearance at Halliburton as soon as I return ...
— The Three Commanders • W.H.G. Kingston

... hardened in vice, was apparently a stranger to all compunctious visitings. A life of crime had steeled her soul against every merciful impression. But she was very apprehensive lest her son, less obdurate in purpose, might relent. Though impotent in character, he was, at times, petulant and self-willed, and in paroxysms of stubbornness spurned his mother's counsels and exerted ...
— Henry IV, Makers of History • John S. C. Abbott

... you—I need you—God knows, dear, how I do need you. Won't you come to me sometimes? Won't your mother ever relent—won't she? If she knew, she would be kind. Oh, Lila, Lila," he called as the two stood together there in the twilight with the glow of the coals in the fireplace upon them, "Lila, won't you let me take you home even—in my car? Surely your mother wouldn't ...
— In the Heart of a Fool • William Allen White

... Calhoun with a real vengeance, styling him "John Cataline Calhoun," and branding him as a "coward cur that sneaked to his kennel when the Master of the Hermitage blew his bugle horn." He seemed to relent a little, however, when he saw the life of the great Carolinian rapidly ebbing away, and on one occasion declared that, "When God lays his hand on a man, I take mine off." His wit was sometimes as pungent as his invective. ...
— Political Recollections - 1840 to 1872 • George W. Julian

... and he furnished me with two vials of poison for the dismal catastrophe I had planned. Thus provided, I, on pretence of sudden business at Seville, carefully avoided the dear, the wretched pair, whom I had devoted to death, that my heart might not relent, by means of those tender ideas which the sight of them would have infallibly inspired; and, when daylight vanished, took my station near that part of the house through which the villain must have entered on his hellish ...
— The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom, Complete • Tobias Smollett

... daughter, there, the sorrowing Chief detains, 70 And ever with smooth speech insidious seeks To wean his heart from Ithaca; meantime Ulysses, happy might he but behold The smoke ascending from his native land, Death covets. Canst thou not, Olympian Jove! At last relent? Hath not Ulysses oft With victims slain amid Achaia's fleet Thee gratified, while yet at Troy he fought? How hath he then so deep incensed thee, Jove? To whom, the cloud-assembler God replied. 80 What word hath pass'd thy lips, ...
— The Odyssey of Homer • Homer

... no month of the year I didn't camp out. Naturally I was caught in many kinds of weather. In severe storms I learned to stick close to camp, lying low and waiting for the furies to relent. In the early days, as in my first camp, I attempted to return home at once, but traveling over the soft, yielding snow only sapped my strength and got me nowhere. I learned that by remaining inactive by my campfire, I conserved both food and energy and had a far better chance to reach ...
— A Mountain Boyhood • Joe Mills

... as she spoke, and the little note of sorrow in her voice gave him a hope that she might relent at the last moment, and give him the promise he wanted so much. He put out his hand as if that would aid his appeal, and as his fingers closed over hers he said, "I am going away with a heavy heart, Telly, and when I can come back is hard to say. Will you not promise ...
— Uncle Terry - A Story of the Maine Coast • Charles Clark Munn

... genuine passion of his life; and when, as my husband's loyal wife, I repulsed the advances of his sovereign, that sovereign became my bitterest enemy. Not even after he had consoled himself with the insipid charms of that poor, flimsy creature, La Valliere, did Louis relent; his animosity, because of some witticism of mine on the subject of his hysterical mistress, has pursued me throughout life; not only me, but every member of my family. For a mere epigram I was banished from Paris, ...
— Prince Eugene and His Times • L. Muhlbach

... import, that she "meant to starve the life out of me!" Brandishing her knife, she chopped off the heavy slices for the other children, and put the loaf away, muttering, all the while, her savage designs upon myself. Against this disappointment, for I was expecting that her heart would relent at last, I made an extra effort to maintain my dignity; but when I saw all the other children around me with merry and satisfied faces, I could stand it no longer. I went out behind the house, and cried like a fine fellow! When tired of this, I returned to the kitchen, sat by the fire, ...
— My Bondage and My Freedom • Frederick Douglass

... exercised his legal rights, enforced his parental powers to the full, and then restored me to my position as his son. Now it is iniquitous, I maintain, that fathers should have these unlimited penal powers, that disgrace should be multiplied, apprehension made perpetual, the law now chastize, now relent, now resume its severity, and justice be the shuttlecock of our fathers' caprices. It is quite proper for the law to humour, encourage, give effect to, one punitive impulse on the part of him who ...
— Works, V2 • Lucian of Samosata

... request the indignation of the King was extreme; he threatened Becket with exile or death; the door of the next apartment was thrown open, and discovered a body of knights with their garments tucked up, and their swords drawn; the nobles and prelates besought the Archbishop to relent; and two Knights Templars on their knees conjured him to prevent by his acquiescence the massacre of all the bishops, which otherwise would most certainly ensue. Sacrificing his own judgment to their entreaties rather ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume VI. • Various

... the insolence to show my nose in that house, I should go out quicker than I came in. All this, and more, my least distant relative could tell a poor devil to his face; could ring for his man, and give him his brutal instructions on the spot; and then relent to the tune of this telegram! I have no phrase for my amazement. I literally could not believe my eyes. Yet their evidence was more and more conclusive: a very epistle could not have been more characteristic of its sender. Meanly elliptical, ludicrously precise, saving half-pence ...
— Raffles - Further Adventures of the Amateur Cracksman • E. W. Hornung

... Maintenon; "the King is never inhuman and inexorable; you should know that better than any one. He punishes only against the protests of his heart, and, as soon as he can relent without impropriety or danger, he pardons. M. de Lauzun, by refusing haughtily the marshal's baton, which was offered him in despite of his youth, deeply offended the King, and the disturbance he allowed himself to make at Madame de Montespan's ...
— The Memoirs of Madame de Montespan, Complete • Madame La Marquise De Montespan

... at once for Florence. He knew too well Cosimo's temper to bandy words, and sought interviews with Prince Francesco and the Duchess Isabella. With their knowledge he remained in the city, perhaps faintly hoping the Duke might relent and send for him back. A few days later Cosimo went into Florence, and passing through an ante-chamber at the Pitti Palace, he was astounded to see Almeni calmly standing in the recess ...
— The Tragedies of the Medici • Edgcumbe Staley

... for eight o'clock press, monsieur?" murmured the lady, smiling. "If you could dine here again to-night, I might relent by degrees." ...
— A Chair on The Boulevard • Leonard Merrick

... Alphonso the Brave sent for Inez and her children and sentenced them all to death, although his daughter-in-law fell at his feet and implored him to have mercy upon her little ones, even if he would not spare her. The king, however, would not relent, and signalled to the courtiers to ...
— The Book of the Epic • Helene A. Guerber

... that the end of his troubles was drawing nigh. Valentine, whom his mother loved so well, would intercede for Dora. Lord Earle would be sure to relent; and he could bring Dora home, and all would be well. If ever and anon a cold fear crept into his heart that simple, pretty Dora would be sadly out of place in that magnificent house, he dashed it from him. Miss Charteris slept calmly, too, ...
— Dora Thorne • Charlotte M. Braeme

... all: the doctrine is not of her own invention! Mr. Henley, the eternal Mr. Henley again appears upon the scene, from which he is scarcely ever a moment absent!—Were it possible I could relent, she is determined I shall not. But they are both down in my tablets, in large and indelible characters; on the black list; and there for a time at least ...
— Anna St. Ives • Thomas Holcroft

... ministrations thou, O Nature! 20 Healest thy wandering and distemper'd child: Thou pourest on him thy soft influences, Thy sunny hues, fair forms, and breathing sweets, Thy melodies of woods, and winds, and waters, Till he relent, and can no more endure 25 To be a jarring and a dissonant thing, Amid this general dance and minstrelsy; But, bursting into tears, wins back his way, His angry spirit heal'd and harmoniz'd By the benignant touch ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Vol I and II • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

... they were sent home. But the hard old father still would not relent. He returned their letters unopened. This bitter disappointment made the Captain's wife so ill that she almost died, and in one month the Captain's hair became iron gray. He reproached himself for having ever taken the daughter from ...
— In the Yule-Log Glow, Book II - Christmas Tales from 'Round the World • Various

... please me, Dick. Thank him for the money he has given you, and say nothing about the amount. Don't remind him. He might relent, and—and stop the check or ...
— The Scarlet Feather • Houghton Townley

... fail to relent at these words? Mrs. Lenox felt all the tender sentiments of a parent arise in her heart, and, taking her up in her arms, she clasped her to her breast, and loaded her with kisses. The sweet Leonora, who now, for the first time, received her mother's caresses, gave way to the effusion ...
— The Looking-Glass for the Mind - or Intellectual Mirror • M. Berquin

... hoped that Barney would relent and come. The next Sunday evening he had himself laid the parlor fire all ready for lighting, and hinted that Charlotte should change her dress. When nobody came he looked more crestfallen than his daughter; she suspected, ...
— Pembroke - A Novel • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

... reconciliation with the duke. During his confinement his poem was published without his permission: first in 1580, a very imperfect version; in 1581, a genuine one. This at once brought him great fame; but while its publishers made a fortune, Tasso received nothing. Neither did the duke relent, although powerful influences were brought to bear on him. Tasso was not released until 1586, and then, broken in health, he passed the rest of his life in Rome and Naples, living on charity, though treated with great honor. He died in Rome, April ...
— National Epics • Kate Milner Rabb

... save the semi-universal cumulus or neutral, you have little cause to fear that the tempest will renew itself. But beware of the purple and the sulky indigo. The purple sometimes clears up and dissolves itself in joyous crimson, or fair-weather pink. I have hardly ever known indigo to relent. When it rolls or steals into the heavens its purpose is tumult; and if you miss its fury be sure that someone else, some other where, ...
— The Four Canadian Highwaymen • Joseph Edmund Collins

... ARMAND:—I have received your letter. You are still good, and I thank God for it. Yes, my friend, I am ill, and with one of those diseases that never relent; but the interest you still take in me makes my suffering less. I shall not live long enough, I expect, to have the happiness of pressing the hand which has written the kind letter I have just ...
— Camille (La Dame aux Camilias) • Alexandre Dumas, fils

... Should I in pity of thy plaints or thee, Accursed Barabas, base Jew, relent? No, thus I'll see thy treachery repaid, But wish thou hadst behav'd ...
— The Jew of Malta • Christopher Marlowe

... routed us; But we relent, for he is low— Stonewall! Justly his fame we outlaw; so We drop a tear on the bold Virginian's bier, Because no ...
— Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War • Herman Melville

... she was mad for running away, and surely when Allan Lyster saw what he had done he would relent and persecute her ...
— Marion Arleigh's Penance - Everyday Life Library No. 5 • Charlotte M. Braeme

... rubbed against the saddle leather. His soft hands were cut by the reins, he was sore from the tips of his fingers to the soles of his feet. But as each fresh temptation assailed him a glance at Conniston, riding a few paces ahead, made him pull himself together. For some day the old man would relent, and then Roger Hapgood would see that for every agonized mile now he ...
— Under Handicap - A Novel • Jackson Gregory

... sister all that and it pleased her. I am sure if you do well these next few years that she will relent and all be happily settled, unless that wonderful change, which you don't believe possible, should occur. Now, cheer up; don't be lackadaisical and blue. Say good-bye cheerfully and bravely, show a manly front, and leave a pleasant memory behind you. We all ...
— Jo's Boys • Louisa May Alcott

... as his own, with a free intellectual assent. He went on to ask him by what texts he proved the Protestant doctrine of justification. Charles gave two or three of the usual passages with such success, that the Vice-Principal was secretly beginning to relent, when, unhappily, on asking a last question as a matter of course, he received an answer which confirmed all his ...
— Loss and Gain - The Story of a Convert • John Henry Newman

... supper, and I observed my wife to eye my eyes whether I did ever look upon Deb., which I could not but do now and then (and to my grief did see the poor wretch look on me and see me look on her, and then let drop a tear or two, which do make my heart relent at this minute that I am writing this with great trouble of mind, for she is indeed my sacrifice, poor girle); and my wife did tell me in bed by the by of my looking on other people, and that the only way is to put things out of sight, ...
— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys

... scandalized by this his wildest escapade—by his having used, after all and despite her prohibition, Mrs. De Peyster's closed house as a retreat; but when she came back from Europe, and he made her see in its proper light this gorgeous and profitable lark, she would relent and forgive him. Why, of course, she would ...
— No. 13 Washington Square • Leroy Scott

... like a singing bird in the heart of the wilderness. She lived apart in a paradise of her own, and even the colonel had to relent again and bestow his grim smile ...
— The Safety Curtain, and Other Stories • Ethel M. Dell

... developing an interest in golf. At the start he may have no interest in it whatever; he may even deride it. Yielding to the importunities of his friends, however, he takes his stick in hand and samples the game. Then he begins to relent; admits that perhaps there may be something interesting about the game after all. As he practises with greater frequency he begins to develop a warmer and still warmer interest until finally he thinks of little else; ...
— How to Use Your Mind • Harry D. Kitson

... was the subject of regret to us all; but we lived in hopes that time would soften his resentment, and that in the end he would relent. About two months after our marriage Mr. Norman died; and, after the funeral, I and my wife removed to a house I had in Piccadilly, near the park. There we lived very happily for a length of time; my sister, who had been bridesmaid to ...
— Forgotten Tales of Long Ago • E. V. Lucas

... seemed to relent, and she did all in her power to make their last dinner together one pleasant to remember. When she left her uncle and cousin to finish their wine, she left them well disposed to kindly confidence. For since Allan's return from Fife he had not ...
— A Daughter of Fife • Amelia Edith Barr

... trust in God and seek nothing but His honour and glory, you need not fear a hundred thousand.... Forward now!' he cried; 'to work! to work! It is time that the villains were chased away like dogs.... To work! relent not if Esau gives you fair words. Give no heed to the wailings of the ungodly; they will beg, weep, and entreat you for pity, like children. Show them no mercy, as God commanded Moses (Deut. vii.) and has declared ...
— Life of Luther • Julius Koestlin

... like myself, had I demanded his daughter in marriage; but I hoped now, that the sight of his child whom he mourned as lost, and of his grandchild—towards whom a grandfather's heart is always especially open—would soften him, and cause him to relent. In this I was ...
— Tales of the Caliph • H. N. Crellin

... heart dear. The flames of Aetna are not half so hot As is the fire which thy disdain hath bread. Ah cruel fates, why do you then besot Poor Corin's soul with love, when love is fled? Either cause cruel Chloris to relent, Or let me die upon the wound ...
— Elizabethan Sonnet Cycles - Idea, by Michael Drayton; Fidessa, by Bartholomew Griffin; Chloris, by William Smith • Michael Drayton, Bartholomew Griffin, and William Smith

... ran down her cheeks: she then took some paper, and imitating the hand-writing, wrote as follows:—"I must submit to your wishes, Donna Emilia; and while your sister blesses Don Florez, must yield to the severity of your disposition. Still I hope that you will relent—I am very miserable; write to me, if you have any love still ...
— The Pacha of Many Tales • Frederick Marryat

... an additional gift of cloth, blankets, powder, and ball, to be given them in case they harass the English at Halifax. This missionary is to induce them to do so."[85] In spite of these efforts, the Indians began to relent in their hostilities; and when Longueuil became provisional governor of Canada, he complained to the Minister that it was very difficult to prevent them from making peace with the English, though Father ...
— Montcalm and Wolfe • Francis Parkman

... so resolute as thou wast? Light. What else, my lord? and far more resolute. Y. Mor. And hast thou cast how to accomplish it? Light. Ay, ay; and none shall know which way he died. Y. Mor. But at his looks, Lightborn, thou wilt relent. Light. Relent! ha, ha! I use much to relent. Y. Mor. Well, do it bravely, and be secret. Light. You shall not need to give instructions; 'Tis not the first time I have kill'd a man: I learn'd in Naples how to poison flowers; To strangle with a lawn thrust down the throat; To pierce the wind ...
— Edward II. - Marlowe's Plays • Christopher Marlowe

... Raphael, turning towards Saul, who sat alone and motionless, "Father! why do you not command him to humble himself? Bring him to reason; tell him to give up the writing to us, and we will carry it to the Rabbi and ask him to relent!" ...
— An Obscure Apostle - A Dramatic Story • Eliza Orzeszko

... and inquiry were often repeated by Miss Mandeville as she still lay "between life and death," on her couch of fever, pain and unconsciousness, and the tones of her voice were so full of sorrow, the father's heart melted at last, and he began to relent. And when, after a pause, ...
— Eveline Mandeville - The Horse Thief Rival • Alvin Addison

... symbol. In the central composition here pictured, the Gilded One has vanished through the portals. Impersonal, unresponsive attendants in Aztec garb guard the door from suppliant followers. With subtle symbolism they give no sign as to whether or not they will relent and give entrance. But the fact that branches of trees have grown close across the opening seems to imply ...
— The Sculpture and Mural Decorations of the Exposition • Stella G. S. Perry

... he would make a Rush at me, and Welt me sorely; but oftener he would Relent, and opening his Locker would give me a slice of Sausage, or a white Biscuit, or a nip ...
— The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous, Vol. 2 of 3 • George Augustus Sala

... told you everything, but in this I must judge for myself.' Then Hetta, seeing that her mother would not relent, left the room without further speech, and immediately opened her desk that the letter ...
— The Way We Live Now • Anthony Trollope

... me more, than to see Men Laugh so freely at a Comedy, and yet account it a silly weakness to Weep at a Tragedy. For is it less natural for a Man's Heart to relent upon a Scene of Pity, than to be transported with Joy upon one of Mirth and Humour? Or is it only the alteration of the Features of one's Face that makes us forbear Crying? But this alteration is undoubtedly as great in an immoderate Laughter, as in a most desperate Grief; and good Breeding teaches ...
— The Present State of Wit (1711) - In A Letter To A Friend In The Country • John Gay

... am!" said her father; but he had to relent under her look of meek imploring, and say, "or I ought to be. I don't see how you ...
— The Quality of Mercy • W. D. Howells

... properly talked to by one of her own sex, she might see, as perhaps she did not now see, how cruel was her line of conduct toward him, and might be persuaded to relent, at least enough to allow his voice to reach her; and that was all he asked for. He had not the slightest doubt that the widow Keswick would gladly consent to carry any message he chose to send to Miss March, and, more than that, to throw all the force of her peculiar style of persuasion ...
— The Late Mrs. Null • Frank Richard Stockton

... disturbed. "But put yourself in the position of any minister to one of the greatest European monarchies. Suppose a political insurgent, formidable for station and wealth, had been proscribed, much interest made on his behalf, a powerful party striving against it, and just when the minister is disposed to relent, he hears that the heiress to this wealth and this station is married to the native of a country in which sentiments friendly to the very opinions for which the insurgent was proscribed are popularly entertained, and thus that the fortune to be restored ...
— The International Monthly, Volume 5, No. 3, March, 1852 • Various

... Yet lest the punishment th'offence exceed, Justice with weight and measure must proceed: 90 Yet when pronouncing sentence, seem not glad, Such spectacles, though they are just, are sad; Though what thou dost thou ought'st not to repent, Yet human bowels cannot but relent: Rather than all must suffer, some must die; Yet Nature must condole their misery. And yet, if many equal guilt involve, Thou may'st not these condemn, and those absolve. Justice, when equal scales she holds, is blind; Nor cruelty, nor mercy, change her ...
— Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham • Edmund Waller; John Denham

... one portion of it they had not visited. That was a shaft which had been the "discovery hole," where the first find of ore had been made. And it was this they entered on the day when Fate seemed most particularly unkind. Yet even Fate appeared to relent, in the end, through one of those trifling afterthoughts which lead men to do the insignificant act. They had prepared everything for the venture. They had an extra supply of candles, chalk for making a course mark, sample bags for such pieces of ore as might interest them, and the prospectors' ...
— The Plunderer • Roy Norton

... temperance, fortitude, justice. He is at liberty to put patriotism at the value it is worth when he remembers that he is a citizen of the world; he must train himself to receive in tranquillity the shocks of Destiny, and to be above all passion and all pain. He must never relent and never forgive. He must remember that there are only two classes of men, the wise and the fools, as "sticks can only either be straight or crooked, and very few sticks in this ...
— History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, Volume I (of 2) - Revised Edition • John William Draper

... I did not then and there throw my palette and brushes into the fire. Of course, I declined to do such an act, whereupon he dismissed me from his presence for ever. This occurred on the morning of the day of the fire. I thought he might perhaps relent after such an evidence of the mutability of human affairs. I even ventured to remind him that Tooley Street was not made of asbestos, and that an occasional fire occurred there! But this made him worse than ever; so I went the length of saying that ...
— Fighting the Flames • R.M. Ballantyne

... upon the death of Augustus, when the mere sight of him appeased their fury, though it had risen to a great height. For they persisted in it, until they observed that he was sent away to a neighbouring city [389], to secure him against all danger. Then, at last, they began to relent, and, stopping the chariot in which he was conveyed, earnestly deprecated the odium to which such a proceeding would ...
— The Lives Of The Twelve Caesars, Complete - To Which Are Added, His Lives Of The Grammarians, Rhetoricians, And Poets • C. Suetonius Tranquillus

... sooth'd his listening ear, And the big rain-drops told the tempest near; Then did his horse the homeward track descry, [s] The track that shunn'd his sad, inquiring eye; And win each wavering purpose to relent, With warmth so mild, so gently violent, That his charm'd hand the careless rein resign'd, And doubts and terrors vanish'd from his mind. Recall the traveller, whose alter'd form Has borne the buffet of the mountain-storm; And ...
— Poems • Samuel Rogers

... gods. Throw up the game,—too fearful are the odds. With honour canst thou quit this high divan, For thou'st done more than any other man. Yet two successes serve not, though they're glorious, Unless for the third time thou be victorious. And thou, my domineering, wilful child, Wilt not relent towards this youth? Be mild, And graciously accept ...
— Turandot: The Chinese Sphinx • Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller

... gloomy and wrinkled by suffering and exposure; and he turned his look wistfully towards Marble, at whose command each order in succession had been obeyed. Our new captain caught that gaze, and I was, for a single moment, in hope he would relent, and let the wretch go. But Marble had persuaded himself he was performing a great act of nautical justice; nor was he aware, himself, how much he was influenced by a feeling allied ...
— Afloat And Ashore • James Fenimore Cooper

... and praise they are chary, There is nothing much good upon earth; Their watchword is NIL ADMIRARI, They are bored from the days of their birth. Where the life that we led was a revel They 'wince and relent and refrain' — I could show them the road — to the devil, Were I only a ...
— The Man from Snowy River • Andrew Barton 'Banjo' Paterson

... eke there came from out the farthest Britains bent, Which brideled hath the Scots so sterne: and marks with iron brent Vpon their liuelesse lims dooth read, whiles Picts their liues relent. ...
— Chronicles (1 of 6): The Historie of England (4 of 8) - The Fovrth Booke Of The Historie Of England • Raphael Holinshed

... for that we do repent; And learning this, the bridegroom will relent. Too late, too ...
— The World's Best Poetry Volume IV. • Bliss Carman

... the world by the general title of "monteneros," or highlanders, being analogous in their habits and manners, and confused ideas of meum and tuum, to the highland cattle-stealers of Scotland. In this dilemma, the governor's heart began to relent—he thought that he was ...
— An Old Sailor's Yarns • Nathaniel Ames

... or magi of olden times in the East. In this powerful being's locality there lived a poor man who had the great misfortune to have an inveterate scold for a wife. He bore the infliction for a long time without murmuring, in hopes that she would relent, but time seemed only to increase the affliction; at length, growing weary of the unceasing torment, he complained to the Tshaumen who comforted him, and sent him home with the assurance that all ...
— Klondyke Nuggets - A Brief Description of the Great Gold Regions in the Northwest • Joseph Ladue

... the inhumanity of this action moved me very much, and made me relent exceedingly, and tears stood in my eyes upon that subject; but with all my sense of its being cruel and inhuman, I could never find in my heart to make any restitution. The reflection wore off, and I began quickly to forget the circumstances ...
— The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders &c. • Daniel Defoe

... to me! (She kneels, and raises her hands to Pauline's corsage.) Behold me at your feet, acknowledging you my rival! Is this sufficient humiliation for me? Oh, if you only knew what this costs a woman to undergo! Relent! Relent, and save me. (A loud knocking is heard, she takes advantage of Pauline's confusion to feel for the letters.) Give back my life to me! (Aside) ...
— The Stepmother, A Drama in Five Acts • Honore De Balzac

... Alexander to walk before him, but took the PAS himself of the King of Prussia and Prince Blucher. He was going to put the Hetman Platoff to breakfast at a side-table with the under college tutors; but he was induced to relent, and merely entertained that distinguished Cossack with a discourse on his own language, in which he showed that the Hetman knew ...
— The Book of Snobs • William Makepeace Thackeray

... in the sand and did not answer; but the fact that she remained at all assured him she would relent. He was amused at her quick show of temper. What a prospect ...
— That Girl Montana • Marah Ellis Ryan

... that she wished to know, she could afford to be generous. It was plain that the goddesses had displaced Miss Jones in her lover's heart. Hence his annoyance and embarrassment. She could well appreciate his position and in her heart she began to relent toward him. Miss Jones had evidently, under the pretence of studying music, come to Leipsic, to look after her recreant adorer, whose silence had begun to alarm her. The goddesses, too, who had been initiated into the secret, arrived at similar ...
— Stories by American Authors, Volume 10 • Various

... angel of mercy sent me "Kate Coventry" yesterday, just when I was pining for a bonne bouche of some kind, I did not care what, whether a stick of candy or an equally palatable book. It is delightful to have one's wishes realized as soon as they are made. I think it rather caused me to relent towards Mr. Halsey; I did not feel half so belligerent as I did just the Sunday before. At all events, I felt well enough to go down in the evening when he called again, though I had been too indisposed to do so on ...
— A Confederate Girl's Diary • Sarah Morgan Dawson

... our leader) should throw out some angling question moving in the line of our desires; upon which hint Mr. White, if he had any touch of indulgence to human infirmity—unless Mount Caucasus were his mother, and a she-wolf his nurse—would surely relent, and act as his conscience must suggest. But Lady Carbery reminded me of the three Calendars in the "Arabian Nights," and argued that, as the ladies of Bagdad were justified in calling upon a body of porters to kick those gentlemen into the street, being people who had abused the indulgences ...
— Memorials and Other Papers • Thomas de Quincey

... she made this little set speech. She saw Vanno as he had looked that day, and on other days when she had deliberately cut him in the street, or in the Casino, though she knew he had been waiting in the hope that she would relent and let him speak. His eyes haunted her everywhere. It seemed to her that they were very sad, and had lost that burning, vital light of the spirit which in contrast had made the personalities of other men dull as smouldering fires. Occasionally ...
— The Guests Of Hercules • C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson

... in prospect of the adventure; and her mother saw Bittridge look at her with more tenderness than she had ever seen in him before. "I'll take good care of her, Mrs. Kenton," he said, and for the first time she felt herself relent a little towards him. ...
— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells

... his obstinacy Egypt had gone down into famine, pestilence and destruction. Without more than ordinary concern he had watched the hand of the scourge pursue it into ruin till what time he should relent, and he ...
— The Yoke - A Romance of the Days when the Lord Redeemed the Children - of Israel from the Bondage of Egypt • Elizabeth Miller

... For remember the promise, each dog has his day.— Tis our aggregate worth must our merits decide, Our patience, sagacity, faithfulness tried; We then shall deserve, if we don't obtain fame, And the Poets, not we, incur the just blame; This perhaps too may cause our arch-foe to relent, And move to compassion the hard hearted D * * *; If so, my companions, the good that may follow, Is better than all we can get from APOLLO." The PRESIDENT spoke, the fair omen they hail, And in sign of ...
— The Council of Dogs • William Roscoe

... they must have suffered through those long dreary days, John going back to slavery and misery, and Judy not knowing what her own fate might be. But she had comforted herself with the thought that when John's master saw what a condition he was in, he would relent toward him. But she was sadly mistaken, for he took him, weary, sick, and suffering, as he was, and whipped him cruelly, and then left him ...
— A Child's Anti-Slavery Book - Containing a Few Words About American Slave Children and Stories - of Slave-Life. • Various

... Design, and aid him in his Escape.—It shall be so—But then he flies, absents himself, and I bar myself from his dear dear Conversation! That too will distract me.—If he keep out of the way, my Papa and Mama may in time relent, and we may be happy.—If he stays, he is hang'd, and then he is lost for ever!—He intended to lie conceal'd in my Room, 'till the Dusk of the Evening: If they are abroad I'll this Instant let him out, lest some Accident ...
— The Beggar's Opera • John Gay

... extremely few English people there now. The famous picture-galleries are still powerless to attract the American art pilgrim, though that is due more to the difficulty of obtaining permission to reside than to lack of interest in the collections. Possibly next year the police may relent. The food shortage is not so menacing. Moreover, the village of Ober-Ammergau proposes once more to have its religious fete and stage the "Life of Christ." "Whether we can have the play depends almost entirely on the Americans," say the villagers. "The money of visitors alone makes the performance ...
— Europe—Whither Bound? - Being Letters of Travel from the Capitals of Europe in the Year 1921 • Stephen Graham

... angrily about what the man was like, so that he might be found and brought before him. Then the lady confessed that she had put the brooch in the turban, comforting herself with the thought that, when the king saw Putraka and knew that Patala loved him, he might perhaps relent and ...
— Hindu Tales from the Sanskrit • S. M. Mitra and Nancy Bell

... soul to go. He even meditated ways of suicide if the Commander, for a punishment, should veto his going. During the last three weeks he had run up an appalling tally of black marks, and yet it was generally agreed that the Commander would relent if Link would only keep his temper and behave with common ...
— News from the Duchy • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... his sounds of all sort, that were uttered in sport, With whims and vagaries unheard of before, With feathers and wings, and a thousand gay things, That in frolicsome fancies his Choruses wore— When his humor was spent, did your temper relent, To requite the delight that he gave you before? We beheld him displaced, and expelled and disgraced, When his hair and his wit were ...
— Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol. 2 • Charles Dudley Warner

... sorry for him, but he sincerely hoped that the officer would not change his mind or relent. He knew the youth could not possibly stay awake the ...
— The Brighton Boys in the Radio Service • James R. Driscoll

... have to yield to the general spirit of fairness and amity for which, in his opinion, the railroads have of late been distinguished. He reasons that the law has fulfilled its mission, that the railroads have reformed, and that it now behooves the people to relent and to extend to the much persecuted corporations the hand of friendship and good will. The postprandial eloquence of this gentleman has often suavely intimated that the repeal of the Interstate Commerce Act would be the most opportune recognition ...
— The Railroad Question - A historical and practical treatise on railroads, and - remedies for their abuses • William Larrabee

... punishment? Who shall throw the first stone at a husband, who, in the heat of just resentment, sacrifices his faithless wife and her perfidious seducer? or at the young maiden, who, in her weak hour of rapture, forgets herself in the impetuous joys of love? Even our laws, cold and cruel as they are, relent in such cases, and ...
— The Sorrows of Young Werther • J.W. von Goethe

... not; methinks my Heart has laid up a Stock will last for Life; to back which, I have taken a Thousand Pound upon my Uncle's Estate; that surely will support us, till one of our Fathers relent. ...
— The Busie Body • Susanna Centlivre

... of Memphis? Sometimes the gods relent and that which they have withheld for a space, they give. My lord lives, and I live, and a child of his may yet fill the throne ...
— Morning Star • H. Rider Haggard



Words linked to "Relent" :   yield, soften, stand, truckle



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