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Undertake   Listen
verb
Undertake  v. t.  (past undertook; past part. undertaken; pres. part. undertaking)  
1.
To take upon one's self; to engage in; to enter upon; to take in hand; to begin to perform; to set about; to attempt. "To second, or oppose, or undertake The perilous attempt."
2.
Specifically, to take upon one's self solemnly or expressly; to lay one's self under obligation, or to enter into stipulations, to perform or to execute; to covenant; to contract. "I 'll undertake to land them on our coast."
3.
Hence, to guarantee; to promise; to affirm. "And he was not right fat, I undertake." "And those two counties I will undertake Your grace shall well and quietly enjoiy." "I dare undertake they will not lose their labor."
4.
To assume, as a character. (Obs.)
5.
To engage with; to attack. (Obs.) "It is not fit your lordship should undertake every companion that you give offense to."
6.
To have knowledge of; to hear. (Obs.)
7.
To take or have the charge of. (Obs.) "Who undertakes you to your end." "Keep well those that ye undertake."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Undertake" Quotes from Famous Books



... that he might give citizenship to men, but not to words. To be sure, Louis XIV. in childhood, wishing for a carriage, called for mon carrosse, and made the former feminine a masculine to all future Frenchmen. But do not undertake to exercise these prerogatives of royalty until you are quite sure of being crowned. The only thing I remember of our college text-book of Rhetoric is one admirable verse of caution ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 9, No. 54, April, 1862 • Various

... could track us through the snow and come up with us whenever they chose. No, they may be sure we'll stay where we are. It may be they'll attack us to-night, maybe not. It'd be a thing more risksome than redskins often undertake to cross the snow under the fire of nine rifles. I aint no doubt they'd try and starve us out, for they must know well enough that we can have no great store of provisions. But they know as well as we do that, if another snowstorm comes on, we might slip away from 'em without leaving a foot-mark ...
— True to the Old Flag - A Tale of the American War of Independence • G. A. Henty

... edited by Messrs. Vigfusson and Powell, in the Clarendon Press Series, is a most valuable book, which ought to be in the hands of every student; but it still leaves room for an elementary primer. As the engagements of the editors of the Reader would have made it impossible for them to undertake such a work for some years to come, they raised no objections to my proposal to undertake it myself. Meanwhile, I found the task was a more formidable one than I had anticipated, and accordingly, before ...
— An Icelandic Primer - With Grammar, Notes, and Glossary • Henry Sweet

... working order at San Remi, on the other side of the pass. The cannon themselves were enveloped in the hollowed trunks of trees; they could then be dragged over the ice and snow. The number of mules proving insufficient, and the peasants refusing to undertake this rough work, the soldiers yoked themselves to the cannon, and dragged them across the mountain without wishing to accept the rewards promised by the First Consul. He rode on a mule at the head of the rear-guard, wrapped in ...
— Worlds Best Histories - France Vol 7 • M. Guizot and Madame Guizot De Witt

... attend to the same directions. General regulations are all that a physician or surgeon can make respecting diet, many other circumstances will therefore require the consideration of those who attend upon the sick, and it is of consequence that they be well prepared to undertake their charge, for many fatal mistakes have arisen from ignorance and prejudice in these cases. A few rules that may be referred to in the absence of a medical adviser, are all that are necessary in the ...
— The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, • Mary Eaton

... I can undertake to cure any bicycle enthusiast. The receipt is simple and here given away. First, take two months of Rocky Mountains with a living sentient creature to pull you up and down their rock-ribbed sides, to help out with his sagacity ...
— A Woman Tenderfoot • Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson

... saying they had not found any sign of any such ambuscades. For confirmation whereof, they brought some prisoners, who declared that the said governor had had an intention of making some opposition by the way, but that the men designed to effect it were unwilling to undertake it: so that for want of means he could not put his design ...
— Great Pirate Stories • Various

... delight by the kindness of a Logan the votaries to learning on those of the Delaware." The eagerness of Philadelphia social circles for each new thing in literature enabled booksellers to import large supplies from England and to undertake splendid editions of notable books. Dr. Johnson was made to feel amiable for a moment toward America on being presented with a copy of Rasselas bearing a ...
— The Philadelphia Magazines and their Contributors 1741-1850 • Albert Smyth

... furious Than for the fire filch'd by Prometheus; And thrusts him down from heaven. He, wandering here, In mournful terms, with sad and heavy cheer, 440 Complain'd to Cupid: Cupid, for his sake, To be reveng'd on Jove did undertake; And those on whom heaven, earth, and hell relies, I mean the adamantine Destinies, He wounds with love, and forc'd them equally To dote upon deceitful Mercury. They offer'd him the deadly fatal knife That shears the slender threads[23] of human life; At his fair-feather'd feet ...
— The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 3 (of 3) • Christopher Marlowe

... of Girnar and Dhauli, there exist a number of Pali inscriptions purporting to be edicts of Asoca (the Dharmasoca of the Mahawanso), King of Magadha, in the third century before the Christian era, who, on his conversion to the religion of Buddha, commissioned Mahindo, his son, to undertake its establishment in Ceylon. In these edicts, which were promulgated in the vernacular dialect, the king endeavoured to impress both upon his subjects and allies, as well as those who, although aliens, were ...
— Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and • James Emerson Tennent

... he said, "you may do whatever you please. Whether you women are so devilish hard on each other because you know your own sex is more than I should undertake ...
— The Philistines • Arlo Bates

... in the loss of a wife, to whom he was much attached; and he resolved to shew his respect to her memory by devoting his attention exclusively to the improvement of his children: for this purpose he had sent to England for a governess qualified to undertake the education of his daughters, and he had the good fortune to obtain a lady eminently fitted for the trust. She arrived a few days only before the young Artist, and her natural discernment enabled her to appreciate that original bias of mind which she had heard ascribed to him, and of which she ...
— The Life, Studies, And Works Of Benjamin West, Esq. • John Galt

... him with materials and come to help him rebuild; but this proved onerous, and instead a communal fund for the purpose of assisting fire sufferers was established. The modern insurance company had gradually come to assume the management of this fund and eventually to undertake the function of insuring against fire. But the people were still the arbiters of the fire cost, and the companies merely barometrically reflected the condition of the community as to fires. When fires are numerous ...
— White Ashes • Sidney R. Kennedy and Alden C. Noble

... leaves them, but I have not yet found what other moment he considered auspicious for returning to them. He tells us that "new experiments will be necessary, and that he has himself already begun to undertake them." Perhaps he will give us the results of these experiments in some future book—for that they will prove satisfactory to him can hardly, I ...
— Essays on Life, Art and Science • Samuel Butler

... non-resident squire of a strictly conservative type, there must be need for improvements; but here again comes in the question of money. I am afraid that trip abroad must be put off for the present. How would it be for you to come here for a bit? I will sound Mrs. Macdonald on the subject to-morrow. If I undertake the management of things here myself, you would help me with accounts, etc., and I could take you on as my paid secretary! However this is looking too far ahead. I will keep this letter open and tell you the result ...
— The Village by the River • H. Louisa Bedford

... nodded, "if you men will undertake to fill the buckets before you try to dry yourselves. Otherwise, we shall run out ...
— The High School Boys' Training Hike • H. Irving Hancock

... coal. She would find us comfortably located, and the warmth of our welcome and the cordiality of our attentions would perhaps compensate for the absence of many of her home luxuries, which we cannot of course supply. You should come, too. While I am too wise to undertake to outwalk, outfish, or outrun you, I will venture to contract to keep you entertained diligently and discreetly during your ...
— Eugene Field, A Study In Heredity And Contradictions - Vol. I • Slason Thompson

... training for their work; and there is not a county in the state to which our graduates do not go as teachers, and in the lower counties and along this malarial coast nearly all the schools for colored children are taught by Avery graduates. In many places conditions are such that no one can undertake this work without jeopardizing health or risking life itself. But there are not wanting those whom zeal and devotion lead into these dangerous fields. Names might be given of those who have even given up life itself at work ...
— The American Missionary — Volume 54, No. 2, April, 1900 • Various

... feet where I had waded a year before. Most of the horses had to be swum over, as there was little room in the ferry-boats for them. The river was so high that this was very dangerous, and only expert swimmers dared to undertake it. Twenty dollars was paid for swimming a horse over, and I saw numbers swept down by the current and landed hundreds of yards below, many on the side from which they had started. I crossed in a ferry-boat on my recently acquired horse, having left my faithful ...
— The Story of a Cannoneer Under Stonewall Jackson • Edward A. Moore

... "You could do anything! If you undertake the job of landing a publisher for my stuff, it is as ...
— The Re-Creation of Brian Kent • Harold Bell Wright

... the route via Dover by Ostend and through Brussels; but I had been informed by you that Ludovic Tiler, my colleague and coworker, was to undertake the inquiry on ...
— The Passenger from Calais • Arthur Griffiths

... very worst evil, to a neighbour. But since the sin had been committed only in thought, the kindly guardian of her conscience was quickly disposed to grant her absolution if, as a penance, she would repeat a goodly number of paternosters and undertake a pilgrimage. If she had had sound feet, she ought to have journeyed to Santiago di Compostella; but, since her condition precluded this, a visit to Altotting in Bavaria would suffice. But Kuni by no means desired any mitigation of the penance. She silently resolved to undertake the pilgrimage ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... Tenryu-ji, and Shokoku-ji. After the conclusion of peace between the Northern and Southern Courts the temple Shokoku-ji was destroyed by fire and it remained in ashes until the time of Yoshimasa, when the priest, Chushin, persuaded the shogun to undertake the work of reconstruction. A heavy imposition of land-tax in the form of tansen, and extensive requisitions for timber and stones brought funds and materials sufficient not only to restore the edifice and to erect a pagoda 360 feet high, but ...
— A History of the Japanese People - From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era • Frank Brinkley and Dairoku Kikuchi

... I refuse this commission? Mrs. George Pitt delivered it to me just now, at Lord Holderness's at Sion, and as my virtue has not yet been able to root out all my good-breeding—though I trust it will in time—I could not help promising that I would write to you—nay, and engaged that you would undertake it. When I venture, sure you may, who are out of the reach ...
— The Letters of Horace Walpole Volume 3 • Horace Walpole

... be held sacred by man; while all this sentimentality is only to bribe to his purpose the effeminate soft-heartedness of his contemporaries [Footnote: The author it is supposed alludes to Kotzebue.—TRANS.]. On the other hand, if any person were to undertake the moral vindication of poor Aristophanes, who has such a bad name, and whose licentiousness in particular passages, is to our ideas quite intolerable, he will find good grounds for his defence in the general object of his pieces, in which he at least ...
— Lectures on Dramatic Art - and Literature • August Wilhelm Schlegel trans John Black

... very rough mountain road. Did I not confidently expect to find Oliver there, I should not let you undertake this ride. But the inquiries I have just made lead me to hope for the best results. I was told that yesterday a young man bound for Tempest Lodge, stopped to buy a large basket of supplies at the village below us. ...
— Dark Hollow • Anna Katharine Green

... several men that I believe to be honest," returned the owner of the bungalow, "yet only one that I know to be honest, and who possesses at the same time the judgment to undertake a mission like the one I have ...
— The Motor Boat Club and The Wireless - The Dot, Dash and Dare Cruise • H. Irving Hancock

... To develop auditory imagery, practise calling up sounds. Try to image your French instructor's voice in saying eleve. The development of these sense fields is a slow and laborious process and one questions whether it is worth while for a student to undertake the labor involved when another sense is already very efficient. Probably it is most economical to Arrange impressions so as to favor the sense that is ...
— How to Use Your Mind • Harry D. Kitson

... outside work in the way of attests and assays, had left him little time for study or experiment. For nearly three weeks he had not left the mining camp, the last two Saturdays having found him too weary with the preceding week's work to undertake the long ...
— At the Time Appointed • A. Maynard Barbour

... authorities at Brussels of these beautiful promenades. Then, too, here are avenues of trees that make you in love with the city as you enter it. I do wish all our towns would raise committees of public-spirited men, who should undertake, by voluntary contributions, or town action, to plant the roadsides that form the entrances to these places. I was delighted, some months ago, to hear that a few gentlemen at Haverhill, in Massachusetts, had banded together for this purpose. Charley, if you live to take an active share ...
— Young Americans Abroad - Vacation in Europe: Travels in England, France, Holland, - Belgium, Prussia and Switzerland • Various

... few moments I thought—well, I will not undertake the impossible task of telling what extraordinary conjectures occurred to me by way of accounting for the presence of this young woman in my room before the true explanation of the matter occurred to me. For, of course, when my experience that ...
— With The Eyes Shut - 1898 • Edward Bellamy

... it, had it been made at an earilier(sic) hour, for I had brought my mind to a firm resolve, during that Sunday's reflection, viz: to obey every order, however unreasonable, if it were possible, and, if Mr. Covey should then undertake to beat me, to defend and protect myself to the best of my ability. My religious views on the subject of resisting my master, had suffered a serious shock, by the savage persecution to which I had been subjected, ...
— My Bondage and My Freedom • Frederick Douglass

... Lucetta, with as much bitterness as she could put into a small communication, "will you kindly undertake not to speak to me in the biting undertones you used to-day, if I walk through the yard at any time? I bear you no ill-will, and I am only too glad that you should have employment of my dear husband; but in common fairness treat me as his wife, and do not try to make me wretched ...
— The Mayor of Casterbridge • Thomas Hardy

... a hundred; for Garth could not think of leaving her; and he shrank from the thought of inflicting the agony it would cause her to be carried so far. And even suppose they gained their own camp, the situation would be little improved; for how was he in his ignorance to undertake the delicate task of setting the shattered bone; of improvising splints and bandages; and supplying, what a glance at the ugly wound showed to be needful, antiseptics? A surgeon, whatever his skill, rarely ...
— Two on the Trail - A Story of the Far Northwest • Hulbert Footner

... Betty, will I let you undertake such a red-cross expedition as that. They'll have to wait. I came in to call on you and whisper sweet nothings to you in the parlor while ...
— Over Paradise Ridge - A Romance • Maria Thompson Daviess

... she began, "that a woman should be one of those who return thanks to our lecturer, and as I fear that no other woman present will be inclined to undertake this duty, I will make no apology for trying to perform it. And that in very few words. Speaking for myself, I cannot pretend to agree with the whole of Mr. Quarrier's address; I think his views were frequently timid"—laughter ...
— Denzil Quarrier • George Gissing

... crowds, both in the hall and in the gallery. Each individual gave his opinion concerning the event of the trial: some declared that the circumstances which must appear against Laniska were so strong, that it was madness in Albert to undertake his defence; others expressed great admiration of Albert's intrepid confidence in himself and his friend. Many studied the countenance of the king, to discover what his wishes might be; and a thousand idle conjectures were formed from his ...
— Tales And Novels, Volume 1 • Maria Edgeworth

... inflammation of the hock or foot, only this local lesion should be treated. If it remains after the local lesion has healed, or if we have no assignable cause, the best results have followed the sectioning of the lateral extensor of the foot. A competent veterinarian alone should undertake this operation. ...
— Special Report on Diseases of the Horse • United States Department of Agriculture

... Leander, "I am not in her power as it is, then.") "If I was to tell you once more that I couldn't undertake to say any such ...
— The Tinted Venus - A Farcical Romance • F. Anstey

... he surmounted, and what he has effected; against what privations his genius struggled into birth and lived; the perseverance of his apprenticeship; his intellectual exploits; and, after all, his glory, we are inclined to maintain that what he failed to accomplish or undertake is as nothing in comparison with his achievements.... There is nothing left but to confess that the clay of which he was made was thick with diamonds, and that his life was one of the most valiant and the most noble ...
— Robert Burns - Famous Scots Series • Gabriel Setoun

... series, the existence of which is inferred by Darwin and his adherents. This is a series leading from simple egg-like organisms to ape-like creatures, and from these to man. Will those who cannot answer our previous inquiries undertake to assert dogmatically in the present case at what point in the historical series there is a break or division? At what step are we to be asked to suppose that the order of nature was stopped, and a non-natural ...
— More Science From an Easy Chair • Sir E. Ray (Edwin Ray) Lankester

... notice qualms of misgiving shoot through the circles of scientific historians as they contemplated his majestic work. In any case, I may appeal to the example of the great Athenian in support of the thesis that to undertake to write contemporary ...
— The Development of the European Nations, 1870-1914 (5th ed.) • John Holland Rose

... show how, at Tuskegee, we are trying to work out the plan of industrial training, and trust I shall be pardoned the seeming egotism if I preface the sketch with a few words, by way of example, as to the expansion of my own life and how I came to undertake the work at Tuskegee. ...
— The Future of the American Negro • Booker T. Washington

... about a hundred a year," and all actual scholastic duties to perform. This change brought him into intimate relations with Edward Irving, who, having acquired a reputation as a teacher in Haddington, had been induced by the patrons of an adventure school, in Kirkcaldy, to undertake the management of it. The two, though professionally rivals, became fast friends, and read and made excursions into different parts of Scotland together. Carlyle was also introduced by Irving to various Kirkcaldy families, including that of Mr. Martin, the parish minister, one of ...
— Great Men and Famous Women, Vol. 7 of 8 • Charles F. (Charles Francis) Horne

... endeavor? By common consent of mankind who are the supreme soldiers, the supreme painters, the supreme poets? To attempt to name them is as difficult as it is dangerous; but the effort itself may be profitable, even if the ultimate result is not wholly satisfactory. To undertake this is not to revive the puerile debate as to whether Washington or Napoleon was the greater man; rather it is a frank admission that both were preeminent, with the further inquiry as to those others who may have achieved a supremacy commensurate with theirs. To seek out ...
— Inquiries and Opinions • Brander Matthews

... the Tree-dwellers. No greater conquest has ever been made. In writing of this subject, Mr. Geiger says: "And if we admire in genius not only superior intellectual endowment but the boldness of attempting to think of what has never been thought of by any one before, and to undertake what has never been done before, it was surely an act of genius when man approached the dreaded glow, when he bore the flame before him over the earth on the top of the ignited log of wood—an act of daring without a prototype in ...
— The Tree-Dwellers • Katharine Elizabeth Dopp

... out of it all bitter and callous and sore, in the most fitting of moods to undertake a difficult and deadly enterprise. Miss Sampson completely slipped my mind; Sally became a wraith as of some one dead; Steele began to fade. In their places came the bushy-bearded Snecker, the olive-skinned Sampson with ...
— The Rustlers of Pecos County • Zane Grey

... undertake work on such a scale, sir," David answered, without looking at the manuscript. "You had better see the Messieurs Cointet ...
— Lost Illusions • Honore De Balzac

... Cabinet which they ought to support. Mr. Daubeny had been in power,—nay, was in power, though he had twice resigned. Mr. Gresham had been twice sent for to Windsor, and had on one occasion undertaken and on another had refused to undertake to form a Ministry. Mr. Daubeny had tried two or three combinations, and had been at his wits' end. He was no doubt still in power,—could appoint bishops, and make peers, and give away ribbons. But ...
— The Prime Minister • Anthony Trollope

... effort of Harvard University to treat the records of the African peoples scientifically in keeping with the standard set in the first volume of the Varia Africana. This paper, however, as may be inferred from its title, does not undertake to survey the facts covering the whole field, but restricts itself to materials of a more or less archaeological character, that is, to the architecture, tombs and the arts and crafts of a small ...
— The Journal of Negro History, Volume 6, 1921 • Various

... the papal system, which had so long spread a darkness like that of death over his unfortunate country, and I had no sooner informed him that I had brought with me a certain quantity of Testaments, which it was my intention to leave for sale at Elvas, than he expressed a great desire to undertake the charge, and said that he would do the utmost in his power to procure a sale for them amongst his numerous customers. Upon showing him a copy, I remarked, your name is upon the title page; the Portuguese version of the Holy Scriptures, circulated by the ...
— The Bible in Spain • George Borrow

... free from vermin, and they were as Mrs. Fales had said, a rough set. But those apparently fragile and delicate girls had great energy and resolution, and the subject of our sketch was not disposed to undertake an enterprise and then abandon it. She had trials of other kinds, to bear. The surgeons afforded her few or no facilities for her work; and evidently expected that her whim of nursing would soon be given over. Then came the general order for the removal of ...
— Woman's Work in the Civil War - A Record of Heroism, Patriotism, and Patience • Linus Pierpont Brockett

... the threat is to attack the Knight a second and third time with Kt-Q5, and Q-B3, after moving the KKt away. As Black's KKt is only supported twice, and there is no chance of bringing up more forces for its defence, Black must undertake something to provide against the ...
— Chess Strategy • Edward Lasker

... to advertise apacible, mild armadura, frame, framing (mach.) atajo, short cut buen exito, success comprometerse, to undertake edificio, building empresa, undertaking experimentar, to experience grabados (generos), embossed (goods) hilado, yarn intentar,*tener intencion, to intend junto a, coupled with practico, practical *proponerse, to have in view (a) rayas, striped (goods) recto, ...
— Pitman's Commercial Spanish Grammar (2nd ed.) • C. A. Toledano

... 'I will undertake to groom it,' said the youth. 'I never saw the horse I was afraid of yet.' The little horse allowed itself to be rubbed down without a toss of its head ...
— The Green Fairy Book • Various

... "I have had before now in a dream the illusion of flying or floating, but this time it is the real thing. It has certainly proved to me that we may free ourselves from the law of gravitation." Now, if you wake abruptly from this dream, you can analyze it without difficulty, if you undertake it immediately. You will see that you feel very clearly that your feet are not touching the earth. And, nevertheless, not believing yourself asleep, you have lost sight of the fact that you are lying down. Therefore, since you are not lying down and yet your ...
— Dreams • Henri Bergson

... come down here for change of air,' said Mr. Gibson. 'The country at this time of the year is better than London, excepting when the place is surrounded by trees. Now our house is well drained, high up, gravel soil, and I'll undertake to doctor ...
— Wives and Daughters • Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

... A. Jones, speaking for the first time since this subject had been broached. "Would it not be wise to consider the expense of making films, before you undertake it?" ...
— Aunt Jane's Nieces Out West • Edith Van Dyne

... of the President as Commander-in-Chief in his most righteous removal of their favorite, caused much heart-burning, and gave rise to much disloyal conduct. That it was tolerated at all was owing to the unappreciated indulgence or hesitation of the Administration, lest it should undertake too much. The operation, to have been skilful and complete, required nerve. That article so necessary for this crisis is in the ranks, and let us trust that for the future it will be found in greater ...
— Red-Tape and Pigeon-Hole Generals - As Seen From the Ranks During a Campaign in the Army of the Potomac • William H. Armstrong

... excited. "What's this about the treasurership?" she demanded. "Are you really to be treasurer, Mr. Waring-Gaunt? I am awfully glad. You know this whole mine was getting terribly Switzery. Isn't he awful? He just terrifies me. I know he will undertake to run me one ...
— The Major • Ralph Connor

... it freely; and betimes in the morning I will beseech the virtuous Desdemona to undertake for me: I am desperate of my fortunes if ...
— Elson Grammer School Literature, Book Four. • William H. Elson and Christine Keck

... it could not have been otherwise, since it produced the greatest good, and therefore was the individual instance, in which the greatest good was most directly postponed to personal gratification(21). Such is the spirit of the doctrine I undertake to refute. ...
— Thoughts on Man - His Nature, Productions and Discoveries, Interspersed with - Some Particulars Respecting the Author • William Godwin

... induce his son to go into the country on an errand for which he showed strong disinclination. "The duties are of such a trifling nature, you may perform them with perfect ease;" so said a minister to persuade a member of his church to undertake a responsible office against which he ...
— Talkers - With Illustrations • John Bate

... finding the state of the kingdom tolerably composed, was seduced, by his avidity for glory and by the prejudices of the age, as well as by the earnest solicitations of the King of France, to undertake an expedition against the infidels in the Holy Land [n]; and he endeavoured previously to settle the state in such a manner as to dread no bad effects from his absence. As the formidable power and turbulent disposition of the Earl of Gloucester gave him apprehensions, he insisted ...
— The History of England, Volume I • David Hume

... by the Carthaginians that Hanno should undertake a voyage beyond the Pillars of Hercules, and there found Liby-Phoenician cities. He sailed accordingly with sixty ships of fifty oars each, and a body of men and women, to the number of thirty thousand, and provisions, and ...
— History of Phoenicia • George Rawlinson

... colonel briefly, "you've all felt that we're now led by a great commander. But energy and daring on the part of a leader demand energy and daring on the part of his men. General Grant is about to undertake a great enterprise, one that demands the concentration of his troops. I want you, Warner, to go to General Sherman with this dispatch, and here is one for you, Pennington, to ...
— The Rock of Chickamauga • Joseph A. Altsheler

... alternatives," he said. "The first is that I should arrest you and hand you over to the police. The second is that you should undertake most solemnly to marry me, in which case I will take ...
— The Book of All-Power • Edgar Wallace

... adopt. If it be true that what is most revealing in any age is its regulative ideas, then what is more valuable for the preacher than to attempt the understanding of his generation through the defining of its ruling concepts? And it is this audacious task which, for two reasons, we shall presume to undertake. ...
— Preaching and Paganism • Albert Parker Fitch

... promise that in her name. Indeed, I had already extracted such a promise before I would undertake to come up here. I have warned Mrs. Pauling not to repeat a word the girl said to her. And Zebedee is a ...
— Sheila of Big Wreck Cove - A Story of Cape Cod • James A. Cooper

... Henderson's cavalcade was on the road, would be unable to hold out, Henderson realized the imperative necessity for sending him a message of encouragement. The bold young Virginian, William Cocke, volunteered to brave alone the dangers of the murder-haunted trail to undertake a ride more truly memorable and hazardous than that of Revere. "This offer, extraordinary as it was, we could by no means refuse," remarks Henderson, who shed tears of gratitude as he proffered his sincere thanks and wrung ...
— The Conquest of the Old Southwest • Archibald Henderson

... effort to respond gratefully to her kind friend, and expressed a hope that she would shortly be able to undertake the duties ...
— Isabel Leicester - A Romance • Clotilda Jennings

... expected to meet him, and, contrary to his own plans, compelled him to stop at Geneva, and made use of him there and elsewhere! For he was urged on one side and another more than could be told, and specially by me, who, in God's name, urged him to undertake matters that were harder than death. And albeit he begged me several times, in the name of God, to have mercy on him and suffer him to serve God in other ways, as he has always thus occupied himself, nevertheless, seeing that ...
— The Rise of the Hugenots, Vol. 1 (of 2) • Henry Martyn Baird

... fact that Joan had herself no shadow of a doubt regarding their reality, and it was their effect upon her, and not her natural inclination, which impelled her to leave her parents and her home to undertake great perils and to endure great hardships, and, as it proved, a terrible death. It was these visions and voices, and they alone, which made her believe that she would succeed, if she obeyed them, in saving her country and in replacing her king on his throne. It was ...
— Joan of Arc • Ronald Sutherland Gower

... had, in consequence, obtained the post of surgeon to the regiment Auge, in the Wuertemberg army. This advancement enabled him to complete his project, to print the Robbers at his own expense, not being able to find any bookseller that would undertake it. The nature of the work, and the universal interest it awakened, drew attention to the private circumstances of the author, whom the Robbers, as well as other pieces of his writing, that had found their way into the periodical publications of the time, sufficiently ...
— The Life of Friedrich Schiller - Comprehending an Examination of His Works • Thomas Carlyle

... can never undertake the management of three children!" said Mrs. Lovell, her countenance expressing the painful ...
— After a Shadow, and Other Stories • T. S. Arthur

... all necessary reservoir sites should be held by the Government for the equal use at fair rates of the homestead settlers who will eventually take up these lands. The United States should not, in my opinion, undertake the construction of dams or canals, but should limit its work to such surveys and observations as will determine the water supply, both surface and subterranean, the areas capable of irrigation, and the location and storage capacity of reservoirs. This done, the use of the water and ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Volume IX. • Benjamin Harrison

... particulars of their necessities, and to assist them with money, with work, by sending them away from Moscow, by placing their children in school, and the old people in hospitals and asylums. And not only that, I thought, but these people who undertake this can be formed into a permanent society, which, by dividing the quarters of Moscow among its members, will be able to see to it that this poverty and beggary shall not be bred; they will incessantly annihilate it at its very inception; then they will fulfil their duty, not ...
— The Moscow Census - From "What to do?" • Lyof N. Tolstoi

... Jeremiah is divinely impelled to undertake an itinerant mission throughout Judah in support of the Deuteronomic legislation, but he is warned that, for their disobedience, the people will be overtaken by disaster, which he must not intercede to avert, ...
— Introduction to the Old Testament • John Edgar McFadyen

... from the dealers: in other words, education is compulsory. Eating is not compulsory; you may starve, you must learn. The Government has founded a large system of retail establishments, or schools, and up to a certain age all the children are taught there whose parents do not undertake to have them supplied with thoughts at other establishments. I say thoughts, but it is facts principally that they acquire. Of course, some thoughts are necessary to mix the facts together with; but they generally ...
— 'That Very Mab' • May Kendall and Andrew Lang

... knows that his immediate chief is interested in him personally, that he understands what service is being rendered and is anxious to forward his welfare as well as that of the house, there is no effort, inconvenience, or discomfort which he will not undertake to complete a task which the boss has undertaken. Throughout the entire organization, the sympathy and coperation of the men above with the men below is essential for securing the highest degree of loyalty. No assumed or manufactured ...
— Increasing Efficiency In Business • Walter Dill Scott

... angry twice. He had done me the honor to promote me to water-color, and as I wanted a rag to wipe my slab and brushes, I ventured to ask for one, on which he turned upon me a glance of haughty surprise, and said, "Do you suppose, sir, that I can undertake to supply you with rags?" This will give an idea of the curiously unsympathetic nature of the man. On another occasion I was drawing a house, or beginning to draw one, when the master came to look over my shoulder ...
— Philip Gilbert Hamerton • Philip Gilbert Hamerton et al

... do unwisely undertake to possess themselves of the cities, and by fraud to draw thereunto their adherents; then they make show of keeping peace, but in the meantime they contrive how to separate and confuse the whole body, and of the members to make a massacre; they secretly fall upon Hamburg, upon ...
— Selections from the Table Talk of Martin Luther • Martin Luther

... been thinking what I could undertake for the salvation of souls, and these simple words of the Gospel have given me light. Pointing to the fields of ripe corn, Jesus once said to His disciples: "Lift up your eyes and see the fields, for they ...
— The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire d'une Ame): The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux • Therese Martin (of Lisieux)

... image of the bleeding Christ, May you be damned to everlasting fire, Nor prayers of saints lift up your soul from hell, If you prove false in what you undertake This night ...
— Semiramis and Other Plays - Semiramis, Carlotta And The Poet • Olive Tilford Dargan

... Donatello, were considered the three best; but the two latter, considering that Ghiberti was fairly entitled to the prize, withdrew their claims in his favor, and persuaded the syndics to adjudge the work to him. Brunelleschi was requested to undertake the work in concert with Ghiberti, but he would not consent to this, desiring to be first in some other art or undertaking than equal, or perhaps secondary, in another. "Now, this was in truth," says Vasari, "the sincere rectitude of friendship; it was talent without ...
— Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects and Curiosities of Art (Vol. 3 of 3) • S. Spooner

... shoes, or boxes made ready by the little ones. For weeks before the anxiously awaited day, letters are written to the Kings, explaining what gifts would be acceptable, and are given to the parents who undertake to deliver them. The children are careful to facilitate the display of the Kings' generosity by placing their shoes or boxes in conspicuous places and filling the boxes with grass, so that the horses of the Kings ...
— Santo Domingo - A Country With A Future • Otto Schoenrich

... he need. But, however, let the worst come to the worst, the law is all on my side, and it is only se fendendo. The attorney that was here just now told me so, and bid me fear nothing; for that he would stand my friend, and undertake the cause; and he is a devilish good one at a defence at the Old Bailey, I promise you. I have known him bring off several that everybody thought would ...
— Amelia (Complete) • Henry Fielding

... reckoning with the king. So he ran to his first and truest friend of all, and said, 'Thou wottest, friend, that I ever jeopardied my life for thy sake. Now to-day I require help in a necessity that presseth me sore. In how many talents wilt thou undertake to assist me now? What is the hope that I may count upon at thy hands, O my dearest friend?' The other answered and said unto him, 'Man, I am not thy friend: I know not who thou art. Other friends I have, with whom I must needs make merry to-day, and so win their friendship for the time to ...
— Barlaam and Ioasaph • St. John of Damascus

... have given a careful account of everything that was recorded in the chronicles of the society. We were too discouraged to undertake anything new in the two weeks before school opened. I presume I might mention here Reddy's cantilever bridge, which, however, had really nothing to do with the S. S. I. E. E. of W. C. I., because our society was formally disbanded the day before Bill and I returned to school. About a ...
— The Scientific American Boy - The Camp at Willow Clump Island • A. Russell Bond

... a Prussian army menaced Hanover. Bonaparte lost no time, and, profiting by the friendship manifested towards him by the inheritor of Catherine's power, determined to make that friendship subservient to the execution of the vast plan which he had long conceived: he meant to undertake an expedition by land against the English colonies in ...
— Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, Complete • Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne

... "could Mr. Orden have wanted with a typewriter! I thought journalism was generally done in the offices of a newspaper—the sort of journalism that he used to undertake." ...
— The Devil's Paw • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... his heart. Acting was his legitimate calling, but he would attempt anything to turn an honest penny. In turn he had been sailor, engineer, pilot, painter, manager, lecturer, bartender, soldier, author, clown, pantaloon, and a brass band. To preach a sermon would disconcert him as little as to undertake to navigate a balloon. He could get away with a pint of Jersey lightning, and under its stimulating influence address a blue ribbon temperance meeting on the pernicious effects of rum. Where he was born no one could tell. He claimed laughingly that it was so long ...
— A Pirate of Parts • Richard Neville

... going to quit," said Brown, recovering his quiet manner. "If he wants the school, and will undertake to run it, why, I'll give him ...
— The Foreigner • Ralph Connor

... the couples has been left to the organizers we insist that husband and wife both undertake to come together, which means that if one has to drop out, both do so; we insist that they come only on condition that they both continuously participate in the entire ...
— Marriage Enrichment Retreats - Story of a Quaker Project • David Mace

... America; for otherwise the slavery majorities would be compromised in Congress, and slavery would be forced to renounce forever the election of the Presidents of free America. To avoid such a misfortune, there is nothing that they would not have been ready to undertake. ...
— The Uprising of a Great People • Count Agenor de Gasparin

... with the Emperor, the Berlin Government might suggest something which could serve as a basis upon which to open negotiations. In such a case, His Majesty was of the opinion that Edestone, if he were willing to undertake the delicate task, would be the most suitable person to act ...
— L. P. M. - The End of the Great War • J. Stewart Barney

... The fabled cities of gold proved to be peaceful settlements. Coronado attempted to lose his cut-throats by having them settle in the country. A plains Indian, captive among the Pecos, changed his plans, and led him to undertake his wonderful march. The Pecos wished to get rid of the guests, so they concocted a marvelous story of buried treasures, and made the poor captive father it. To the gold-chasers the captive was known as "The Turk," his head being shaven and adorned only with a scalp-lock, ...
— The Round-up - A Romance of Arizona novelized from Edmund Day's melodrama • John Murray and Marion Mills Miller

... appeared simple enough in theory and on paper, proved extremely difficult of execution. If Field could have foreseen the thirteen years of constant anxiety which awaited him, he would no doubt have hesitated to undertake it. It looked, at first, as though success would crown his efforts almost at the outset, for in 1858, the laying of a cable was completed, and for some days, messages were sent from one continent to the other. Then the signals ...
— American Men of Mind • Burton E. Stevenson

... Where can it be had? The New Yorkers who have money, G., T., S., etc., are all interested in and pledged to raise ten thousand dollars for the North American Phalanx, to pay off its mortgage. You might as well undertake to raise dead men, as to attain any considerable amount of capital from the people here; I have tried it so often that I ...
— Brook Farm • John Thomas Codman

... in the valleys that aforetime were ours. Already have they spread the Welsh booths, and thither are come these two that are warring upon you and great store other knights. And they have ordained that he which shall do best at the assembly shall undertake the garrison of this castle in such sort as that he shall hold it for his ...
— High History of the Holy Graal • Unknown

... years, the idol of English readers, and not without weight with the Trade. Would he see if some English house would not reprint it? No leading publisher nibbled at it, not even Murray, who was Mr. Irving's publisher; but an obscure bookseller named Andrews finally agreed to undertake it, if Mr. Irving would put his valuable name on the title-page as the editor. He was not acquainted with Mr. Bryant, but he was a kind-hearted, large-souled gentleman, who knew good poetry when he saw it, and he consented to "edit" the book. He was not a success in the estimation of ...
— Poetical Works of William Cullen Bryant - Household Edition • William Cullen Bryant

... fire talking, while Sally had her breakfast. Having first explained the reasons which made it impossible that she should live at the cottage in the capacity of his servant, he astonished her by announcing that he meant to undertake the superintendence of her education himself. They were to be master and pupil, while the lessons were in progress; and brother and sister at other times—and they were to see how they got on together, on this ...
— The Fallen Leaves • Wilkie Collins

... moment, heedless and indifferent to consequences, even when the reaction of to-morrow crushes them in the ruin that they cause to day. Thus do unchained Negroes, each pulling and hauling his own way, undertake to manage a ship of which they have just obtained mastery.—In such a state of things white men are hardly worth more than black ones. For, not only is the band, whose aim is violence, composed of those who are most destitute, most wildly enthusiastic, and most inclined to destructiveness and ...
— The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 2 (of 6) - The French Revolution, Volume 1 (of 3) • Hippolyte A. Taine

... relates to three things: the freedom of the will, the immortality of the soul, and the existence of God. The speculative interest which reason has in those questions is very small; and, for its sake alone, we should not undertake the labour of transcendental investigation—a labour full of toil and ceaseless struggle. We should be loth to undertake this labour, because the discoveries we might make would not be of the smallest use in the ...
— The Critique of Pure Reason • Immanuel Kant

... prettily turned,—very prettily turned; and shows more readiness of wit than I gave you credit for under your present suffering. But of course we all know where your heart is. Men do not undertake perilous journeys to ...
— Phineas Finn - The Irish Member • Anthony Trollope

... Wield and Stalker are announced; but we do not undertake to warrant the orthography of any of the names here mentioned. Inspector Wield presents Inspector Stalker. Inspector Wield is a middle-aged man of a portly presence, with a large, moist, knowing eye, a husky voice, and a habit of emphasising his conversation by the aid of a corpulent fore-finger, ...
— Reprinted Pieces • Charles Dickens

... accomplished, the army having rested several months, Gen. Gillmore asked for leave to undertake such expeditions within his Department as he might think proper. About the middle of December, 1863, the War Department granted him his request, and immediately he began making preparations for an expedition, collecting ...
— The Black Phalanx - African American soldiers in the War of Independence, the - War of 1812, and the Civil War • Joseph T. Wilson

... in full possession of every advantage that their position afforded. In the cool of the evening, they sat down to rest in the great stone gallery overlooking the sea, satisfied that they were reasonably secure from any assault that their foes might undertake. No sign of hostility had been observed during the day. Japat looked, as observed from the chateau, to be the most peaceful spot ...
— The Man From Brodney's • George Barr McCutcheon

... Tsarina were troubled and wept for their lost sons, came the youngest son, Lyubim Tsarevich, and likewise entreated them to let him go forth to seek his brothers. But his parents said to him: "Son, you are too young and cannot undertake so long a journey; and how can we part with you, our only child left to us? We are already in years, and to whom should we leave our crown?" But Lyubim Tsarevich would not be denied; he remained firm to his purpose, and said: "It is needful for me to travel and ...
— The Russian Garland - being Russian Falk Tales • Various



Words linked to "Undertake" :   undertaking, stipulate, pioneer, consent, take on, confront, subvention, contract, rent, specify, subvent, qualify, lease, sign, set about, accept, charter, rise



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