Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

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




Be amiss   /bi əmˈɪs/   Listen
Be amiss

verb
1.
Interpret in the wrong way.  Synonyms: misapprehend, misconceive, misconstrue, misinterpret, misunderstand.  "She misconstrued my remarks"






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar





"Be amiss" Quotes from Famous Books



... this enquiry, it may not be amiss to point out the exact distinction between the original and the new resolution. The former embraced a rule of action whereby the members of the Association engaged their faith and honour to each other and the country that they would ...
— The Felon's Track • Michael Doheny

... warned the police at Honolulu that, by all he could make out, Kalamake and Keola had been coining false money, and it would not be amiss to watch them. ...
— Island Nights' Entertainments • Robert Louis Stevenson

... so," agreed Amanda, while she mentally appraised the girl before her and thought, "Isabel Souders, a little more democracy wouldn't be amiss for you." ...
— Amanda - A Daughter of the Mennonites • Anna Balmer Myers

... while to study the ground under her window or anywhere else for footprints? It might not be amiss; what do you think ...
— The Chief Legatee • Anna Katharine Green

... at ease! It is a very hot day—A draught of good wine will not be amiss. But first let me consult my purse. [Takes out a couple of pieces of money, which he turns about in his hand.] This will do for a breakfast—the other remains for my dinner; and in the evening I shall be home. [Calls out] Ha! Halloo! Landlord! [Takes notice of Agatha, ...
— Lover's Vows • Mrs. Inchbald

... Something must be amiss, and one of the maids had come to warn her. The possibility that the house was on fire, or that burglars had broken in, flashed ...
— The Splendid Folly • Margaret Pedler

... err?" questions Pere De Caussade. "Can anything that it sends be amiss? But I have this to do; I need such a thing; I have been deprived of the necessary means; that man thwarts me in such good works; this illness overtakes me when ...
— The Life Radiant • Lilian Whiting

... impression is current in European countries-perhaps less generally since the war—that America is given over solely to a worship of the American dollar. While between nations as between individuals, comparisons are valueless, it may not be amiss to say, from personal knowledge, that the Dutch worship the gulden infinitely more than do the Americans ...
— The Americanization of Edward Bok - The Autobiography of a Dutch Boy Fifty Years After • Edward William Bok (1863-1930)

... commences its thirtieth year. With such antecedents as it possesses, it seems unnecessary to make any especial pledges as to its future, but it may not be amiss to say that it will be the aim of its conductors to make it more and more deserving of the liberal support it has hitherto received. The same eminent writers who have contributed to it during the ...
— Continental Monthly - Volume 1 - Issue 3 • Various

... except as far as relates to the coincidence of the events of the present time with those which occurred in the reigns of Charles the First and Second, and during the protectorship of Cromwell. It may not be amiss to remind you that the brave and enlightened patriot, Prynne, was imprisoned at Dunster Castle in this county by the tyrant Charles the First. Prynne had his nose slit, and his ears cut off, for speaking ...
— Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq. Volume 1 • Henry Hunt

... be amiss. You must not suppose that the terms used in defining a word are its absolute synonyms, or may be substituted for it indiscriminately. You must develop a feeling for the limits of the word, so ...
— The Century Vocabulary Builder • Creever & Bachelor

... your business to a happy and an honourable issue, which is the constant subject of our requests to the Lord for you, and I doubt not but we shall have a comfortable answer. In the meantime I think, as I have hinted to your Excellence in former letters, it will not be amiss if you draw good store of bills upon us, though but pro forma, that we may get as much money for you as we can before your return, and that you may have a sufficient overplus to pay all servants' wages off, which I believe will amount to a considerable sum; and upon this peace ...
— A Journal of the Swedish Embassy in the Years 1653 and 1654, Vol II. • Bulstrode Whitelocke

... "thee'st not got thy gown and bands on yet. We'll have hard work to finish this field by sunset; another hand wouldn't be amiss." ...
— Garthowen - A Story of a Welsh Homestead • Allen Raine

... register has already been discussed, but it may not be amiss to repeat just here that in the child larynx as in the adult the head-register is that series of tones which are produced by the vibration of the thin, inner edges of the vocal band. If breathing is natural, and if the throat is open and relaxed, no strain in singing this tone is possible. ...
— The Child-Voice in Singing • Francis E. Howard

... above, p. 231; and Ewald, iii. p. 380 seq.). How far the distinction between the Nethinim and the Levites was afterwards maintained (Josh. ix. 21 seq., I Esdras i. 3; Ezra viii. 20) is not clear. It would not be amiss if Ezekiel's intention of banishing foreigners from the temple found its fulfilment only through these heathen hieroduli, the Mehunim, the Nephisim, the sons of Shalmai, and the others whose foreign-sounding names are given in Ezra ii. ...
— Prolegomena to the History of Israel • Julius Wellhausen

... upside-down—cartloads of sand coming in for the garden walks and the courtyard, and painters hard at work repainting the houses. And poor Merle knew very well that there would be serious trouble if anything should be amiss with the ...
— The Great Hunger • Johan Bojer

... virtue? It has been by no means such as to prevent the adoption, in our days, of various maxims of antiquity, which, when well considered, too clearly establish the depravity of man. It may not be amiss to adduce a few instances in proof of this assertion. It is now no less acknowledged than heretofore, that prosperity hardens the heart: that unlimited power is ever abused, instead of being rendered the instrument of diffusing happiness: that habits of vice grow up of themselves, ...
— A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians, in the Middle and Higher Classes in this Country, Contrasted with Real Christianity. • William Wilberforce

... It will not be amiss in this Place to give some Account of a Custom of our Ancestors, relating to the Hair worn by the Royal Family: For 'tis recorded, that our Forefathers had a particular Law concerning it; viz. That such as were chosen Kings by the People, or were of the Regal ...
— Franco-Gallia • Francis Hotoman

... mob that, by reason of his beautiful style, all that he said was taken for the truth, without questioning. But truth after all is eternal, and style transient, and now that Thackeray's style is becoming, if I may say so, a trifle 1860, it may not be amiss that we should inquire whether his estimate of George is in substance and fact worth anything at all. It seems to me that, as in his novels, so in his history of the four Georges, Thackeray made no attempt at psychology. He dealt simply with types. One George he insisted upon regarding ...
— The Works of Max Beerbohm • Max Beerbohm

... As some discussion has arisen in the public prints regarding the battle of San Juan, Cuba, July 1, 1898, and your personal movements during that day have been the subject of comment, it may not be amiss in me to state some facts coming under my personal observation as Commanding General of the Cavalry Division of which your regiment formed a part. It will, perhaps, be advisable to show first how I came to be in command, in order ...
— Theodore Roosevelt - An Autobiography by Theodore Roosevelt • Theodore Roosevelt

... be amiss also to imitate the rhetoricians of our times, who think themselves in a manner gods if like horse leeches they can but appear to be double-tongued, and believe they have done a mighty act if in their Latin orations they can but ...
— The Praise of Folly • Desiderius Erasmus

... It may not be amiss to interrupt the President's narration to Mr. Carpenter, at this point, with a few ...
— The Great Conspiracy, Complete • John Alexander Logan

... from the world obedience to his "abstract" notions of right and wrong, has been invariably attended with calamities dire, and extended just in proportion to the breadth and vigor of the movement. On slavery in the abstract, then, it would not be amiss to have as little as possible to say. Let us contemplate it as it is. And thus contemplating it, the first question we have to ask ourselves is, whether it is contrary to the will of God, as revealed to us in his Holy Scriptures—the only certain means given us to ascertain ...
— Cotton is King and The Pro-Slavery Arguments • Various

... money. But suppose I earn my money for another season or two? Would not your Irish brutalities be then over; and my father's eloquence, and the eccentricities of the other gentlemen? And would not your brother and your father have in some way settled their affairs? Surely a little money won't then be amiss, though it may have come from the industry of a ...
— The Landleaguers • Anthony Trollope

... be amiss to sum up what has been said about Personality-Suggestion. It is a general term for the information which the child gets about persons. It develops through three or four roughly distinguished stages, ...
— The Story of the Mind • James Mark Baldwin

... which, I shall give the following Particulars: In respect to Uneasinesses in the State, it may not be amiss to premise, that it is esteem'd by Men of Penetration, no small Wisdom in the present Administration, to bestow Preferments on the brightest and most enterprising Authors of the Age; but whether it be so much out of a Regard to the Service they are ...
— A Vindication of the Press • Daniel Defoe

... friendships between nations, is the great and growing interest of commerce; of the whole system of which through the globe, your High Mightinesses are too perfect masters for me to say any thing that is not familiarly known. It may not, however, be amiss to hint, that the central situation of this country, her extensive navigation, her possessions in the East and West Indies, the intelligence of her merchants, the number of her capitalists, and the riches of her funds, render a connection with her very desirable ...
— A Collection of State-Papers, Relative to the First Acknowledgment of the Sovereignty of the United States of America • John Adams

... before been found to be highly antiscorbutic; and others were now sent out on trial, or by way of experiment;—the inspissated juice of beer and wort, and marmalade of carrots especially. As several of these antiscorbutic articles are not generally known, a more particular account of them may not be amiss. ...
— A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World, Volume 1 • James Cook

... written so much with only one illustration, that perhaps it won't be amiss if I place here a few typical heads and a couple of typical full figures, the original sketches of which I pencilled in spare places in my notebook at odd times. If they be really typical they ...
— A Soldier's Sketches Under Fire • Harold Harvey

... not be amiss, Nastasya, if Praskovya Pavlovna were to send us up a couple of bottles of beer. We could ...
— Crime and Punishment • Fyodor Dostoyevsky

... quoth the priest, "and it will not be amiss to remove this stumbling-block out of our friend's way. And, since we begin with the 'Diana' of Montemayor, my opinion is that it should not be burnt, but that all that part should be expunged which treats of the ...
— Wit and Wisdom of Don Quixote • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

... to relate the events of my life, it will not be amiss to give you some account of my ancestors. My great-grandfather on the male side was a silk mercer, in Cheapside, who, when he died, left his son, who was his only child, a fortune of one hundred thousand pounds and a splendid business; the son, however, had no inclination for trade, ...
— Lavengro - The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest • George Borrow

... have had wine enough and to spare," declared Treadway. "The Lady Barbara must be here soon, and, to my thinking, ten minutes of sleep would not be amiss. You, too, my lord, could you not meet the lady with a better grace after at least forty winks?" He linked his arm in Lord Farquhart's and led him toward a door at the side of the room. "Come to my room and we'll pretend to imitate the lad with the good conscience and the good wine atop of it. ...
— Ainslee's, Vol. 15, No. 6, July 1905 • Various

... now of the Bushido idea of veracity; but it may not be amiss to devote a few words to our commercial integrity, of which I have heard much complaint in foreign books and journals. A loose business morality has indeed been the worst blot on our national reputation; ...
— Bushido, the Soul of Japan • Inazo Nitobe

... the island of Bretagne, so that France was now a sort of crescent of land holding a Jurassic sea in its centre, Bretagne and Belgium forming the two horns. This Jurassic basin or inland sea united England and France, and it may not be amiss to say a word here of its subsequent transformations. During the long succession of Jurassic periods, the deposits of that epoch, chiefly limestone and clays, with here and there a bed of sand, were accumulated at its bottom. Upon these followed the chalk ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 12, August, 1863, No. 70 - A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics • Various

... not proper for one sort, it may be fit for another: Yet I would not (by this) hinder any from the trial, what advance such experiments will produce: In the mean time, for the simple imbibition of some seeds and kernels, when they prove extraordinary dry, as the season may fall out, it might not be amiss to macerate them in milk or water only, a little impregnated with cow-dung, &c. during the space of twenty four hours, to give them a spirit to sprout and chet the sooner; especially if you have been retarded in your sowing without our former preparation: But concerning ...
— Sylva, Vol. 1 (of 2) - Or A Discourse of Forest Trees • John Evelyn

... he. "By the way, it would not be amiss to keep Le Gardeur away from the festival. These Philiberts and the heads of the Honnetes Gens have great ...
— The Golden Dog - Le Chien d'Or • William Kirby

... subdivision by accumulating workmen in large groups. The beginner, confining himself to one department, is soon able to earn wages, and so he usually continues as he begins. Mr. C.B. Stetson has written on this subject with great force and earnestness, and it will not be amiss to quote a sentence as to the advantages enjoyed by the technically workman. He says that "it is the rude or dexterous workman, rather than the really skilled one, who is supplanted by machinery. Skilled labor ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 446, July 19, 1884 • Various

... after 4 o'clock, and have a quiet mutton chop in due time, and have a do pipe or pipes: nay I could even have a bathe if there was any sea water left in the evening. If you did come to Ipswich, an hour (hardly more) to glance at the old Town might not be amiss. ...
— Letters of Edward FitzGerald - in two volumes, Vol. 1 • Edward FitzGerald

... not be amiss to notice, in this place, one criticism of a Leicestershire clergyman, which may be pronounced unique: "I do not see why they should have been rejected," observed the matter-of-fact annotator; "I think some of them very good!" Upon the whole, few have been the instances, ...
— Rejected Addresses: or, The New Theatrum Poetarum • James and Horace Smith

... Ruffles with some of the Nobility, of which it may not be amiss to give some Account, because it may be for the Advantage of our Nobility to know, how Persons of like Quality in that Country ...
— Atalantis Major • Daniel Defoe

... be amiss in the present case, before examining the constitutional question, to notice the course of legislation as well as expressions of opinion from other judicial sources. In the brief filed by Mr. Brandeis ... is ...
— Making Both Ends Meet • Sue Ainslie Clark and Edith Wyatt

... extemporaneous composition and thoughtless reading are much in fashion, it will not be amiss to invoke profounder studies, and slower, but more useful and permanent results. Let it be remembered that even the Divine Mind first called into being the chaos of creation, and then in seven days reviewed and elaborated it into ...
— Atlantic Monthly Volume 6, No. 34, August, 1860 • Various

... by that Ingenious Parisian, Monsieur Thevenot, in his second Tome, of the Relations of divers considerable Voyages, whereof he lately presented some Exemplars to his Friends in England. The Book being in French, and not common, 'tis conceived it will not be amiss to insert here the said Information, which is to ...
— Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society - Vol 1 - 1666 • Various

... to spoil all. Instead of waking the prince, he called his valet, who was really a spy of the king's, and who, suspecting something to be amiss, pretended to fall asleep again, while heedfully watching. Frederick soon after awoke, put on a coat of French cut instead of his uniform, and went out. The valet immediately roused several officers of the king's suite, and ...
— Historical Tales, Vol 5 (of 15) - The Romance of Reality, German • Charles Morris

... It may not be amiss to remark, in explanation of the startling and sensational title chosen for this production, that logic has not yet succeeded in framing a title-page which shall clearly indicate the nature of a book. ...
— Danger! A True History of a Great City's Wiles and Temptations • William Howe

... writing books it may not be amiss to explain that no one ever said, "Now then, I'll write a story!" and sitting down at table took up pen and dipping it in ink, wrote. Stories don't come that way. Stories take possession of one—incident after incident—and you write in order ...
— Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Vol. 2 of 14 - Little Journeys To the Homes of Famous Women • Elbert Hubbard

... Asia and find that the worship of nature spirits and the veneration of ancestors prevail throughout the whole of this vast region and have not been suppressed by Buddhism or Brahmanism. Then coming to the purely Indian sphere, I have thought it might not be amiss to give an epitome of such parts of Indian history as are of importance for religion. Next I endeavour to explain how the social institutions of India and the unique position acquired by the Brahman aristocracy ...
— Hinduism and Buddhism, Vol I. (of 3) - An Historical Sketch • Charles Eliot

... the aid of my wife's patient attention and ready pen, to relate any of the stories which I have heard at various times from persons whose likenesses I have been employed to take, it will not be amiss if I try to secure the reader's interest in the following pages, by briefly explaining how I became possessed of the ...
— After Dark • Wilkie Collins

... particular moment of these tremendous times: The period of surprise is over; the forces known; the issue fully joined. It is now a case of "Pull devil, pull baker," and a question of the fibre of the combatants. For this reason it may not be amiss to try to present to any whom it may concern as detached a picture as one can of the real nature of that combatant who is called the Englishman, especially since ignorance in Central Europe of his character was the chief cause of this war, and speculation ...
— New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 3, June, 1915 - April-September, 1915 • Various

... evening's stay a dress-suit case is sufficient. In your valise must be placed your evening clothes, and if the party is to be somewhat of an informal one, I would also take my dinner jacket. If you are going to a very fashionable resort, a black frock coat, waistcoat, and fancy trousers would not be amiss, but in that case you would have also to take a hatbox for your top hat. Of recent years men in the country have been consulting their comfort more than absolute accuracy in the details of dress. Even at ...
— The Complete Bachelor - Manners for Men • Walter Germain

... gift, Betty. It's an umbrella, of course, and a fine one! Here's a card which says, 'Knowing that two umbrellas could never be amiss in England, I send this.' Do you suppose he guessed ...
— John and Betty's History Visit • Margaret Williamson

... bowled Gard over. Was he in love or did he merely imagine he was? Was he filling with the divine fire or only being smitten? Who could ever tell? And what is, in fact, the practical difference? Kindly old Rebner had hinted that it would not be amiss in Gard to bring home one of the excellent German maedchens with her brimming stock ...
— Villa Elsa - A Story of German Family Life • Stuart Henry

... extremely careful in this particular, and observed the variation of the needle with the utmost diligence, it may not be amiss to take this opportunity of explaining this point, so that the importance of his remarks may sufficiently appear. The needle points exactly north only in a few places, and perhaps not constantly in them; but in most it declines a little to the east, ...
— Early Australian Voyages • John Pinkerton

... we follow Buckingham into the presence, where he had so difficult a part to sustain, it may not be amiss to follow Christian after his brief conversation with him. On re-entering the house, which he did by a circuitous passage, leading from a distant alley, and through several courts, Christian hastened to a low matted apartment, ...
— Peveril of the Peak • Sir Walter Scott

... current with the agents of the Hawk. Indeed, take it altogether, it is but a poor adventure. I shall endeavour the settlement of your account with Friend ——-, and remit you. In the meantime, it will not be amiss to send me an account ...
— Memoirs of Aaron Burr, Complete • Matthew L. Davis

... already been made, but as it is one of the niceties of the American constitution, it may not be amiss to elaborate it at greater length. The doctrine of Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, and the majority of our jurists, would see to be that the States, under God, are severally sovereign in all matters not expressly confided to the General government, and therefore that the American ...
— The American Republic: Its Constitution, Tendencies, and Destiny • A. O. Brownson

... replied Mr. W., stopping short;—'perhaps a small glass of brandy to drink your health, and success to Sammy, Sir, wouldn't be amiss.' ...
— The Pickwick Papers • Charles Dickens

... in a former letter how much incongruous animals, in a lonely state, may be attached to each other from a spirit of sociality; in this it may not be amiss to recount a different motive which has been known to create as ...
— The Natural History of Selborne • Gilbert White

... then among those Spanish pirates all was gibbering and jabbering and splashing of oars, as they attempted to pull in every direction at once. Some were for going ashore, others for heading straight to the vessel and there discovering what might be amiss. That something was very gravely amiss there could be no further doubt, particularly as whilst they discussed and fumed and cursed two more shots came over the water to account for yet a ...
— Captain Blood • Rafael Sabatini

... It may not be amiss however, to examine the behaviour of these famous pretenders to fair and open conduct, and see how far they practice what they preach. In doing this, permit me to call your attention ...
— A Review and Exposition, of the Falsehoods and Misrepresentations, of a Pamphlet Addressed to the Republicans of the County of Saratoga, Signed, "A Citizen" • An Elector

... suspense, I know, is telling upon all of you; but it is now our intention to make an end of it. Poole, here, and I are going to force our way into the cabinet. If all is well, my shoulders are broad enough to bear the blame. Meanwhile, lest anything should really be amiss, or any malefactor seek to escape by the back, you and the boy must go round the corner with a pair of good sticks and take your post at the laboratory door. We give you ten minutes to ...
— Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde • ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

... this politic part of eloquence in private speech it is easy for the greatest orators to want: whilst, by the observing their well- graced forms of speech, they leese the volubility of application; and therefore it shall not be amiss to recommend this to better inquiry, not being curious whether we place it here or in that part ...
— The Advancement of Learning • Francis Bacon

... be amiss to remind the incredulous reader that a famous firm in the City accepted precisely the same security as that here accepted by Bulpit Brothers, with the same sublime indifference to troubling themselves by ...
— Miss or Mrs.? • Wilkie Collins

... or delights to recreate himself amid the "Temple's holy gloom," will find the freest scope for the indulgence of his humours, on the opposite side of the Moldau; and as our tastes reverted to that channel, after sufficient time had been devoted to other matters, it may not be amiss if I state some of the occurences that befell during our second visit to the Hradschin and ...
— Germany, Bohemia, and Hungary, Visited in 1837. Vol. II • G. R. Gleig

... now to execute this order, upon the principles and in the spirit stated by the President. This task, always an unpleasant one, when it requires the removal of employees, falls mainly upon you, subject to my approval. It may not be amiss now for me to state, in advance, somewhat in more detail, my views as to the mode of reduction. The extent of the reduction is fully stated in the report, and we are thus relieved from that portion of ...
— Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet - An Autobiography. • John Sherman

... learning and talents might have very good intellectual society, without the aid of any little gratifications of the senses. Berrenger joined with Johnson, and said, that without these any meeting would be dull and insipid. He would therefore have all the slight refreshments; nay, it would not be amiss to have some cold meat, and a bottle of wine upon a side-board. 'Sir, (said Johnson to me, with an air of triumph,) Mr. Berrenger knows the world. Every body loves to have good things furnished to them without ...
— Life Of Johnson, Volume 4 (of 6) • Boswell

... is easy to conceive what a number of ill consequences such a law would prevent, the mischiefs of quarrels, and lewdness, and thefts, and midnight brawls, the diseases of intemperance and venery, and a thousand other evils needless to mention. Nor would it be amiss, if the masters of those public-houses were obliged, upon the severest penalties, to give only a proportioned quantity of drink to every company, and when he found his guests disordered with excess, to ...
— The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, Vol. III.: Swift's Writings on Religion and the Church, Vol. I. • Jonathan Swift

... to have the feeling—especially in regard to political conventions, that it might not be amiss to put forward some suggestions just now as to how a hundred million people can strike—make themselves more substantial, more important in this country, so that we shall really have in this country in time a hundred million people who, taken as a whole, feel important in it—like a Senator ...
— The Ghost in the White House • Gerald Stanley Lee

... time it may not be amiss to contrive some other little adventure, but what it can be I know not; leave it, as ...
— Life Of Johnson, Vol. 3 • Boswell, Edited by Birkbeck Hill

... which, instead of dispiriting the Directors, engaged them to turn their thoughts to every method that could be devised for recovering their affairs. There is so wide a difference between our English great chartered companies and those [formerly] in Holland, that it may not be amiss to give a concise account of the flourishing state of that Company, as it may shew what great things may be managed by a board of merchants, for such the Directors ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 11 • Robert Kerr

... general. But it may not be amiss to add, in particular, that in the great Variety of Subjects which this Collection contains it is one of the principal Views ...
— Clarissa: Preface, Hints of Prefaces, and Postscript • Samuel Richardson

... be amiss to say the arc i is swept from the center g through the point u, said point being located ten degrees from the intersection of the radial a c with the peripheral line a. It will be noticed that the inner angle of the entrance pallet A seems to extend inward, beyond the radial ...
— Watch and Clock Escapements • Anonymous

... of railways a few remarks anent the projected line from France (via Siberia and Bering Straits) to America may not be amiss. As the reader is already aware, the main object of our expedition was to determine whether the construction of such a line is within the range of human possibility. The only means of practically solving this question was (firstly) to cover ...
— From Paris to New York by Land • Harry de Windt

... came to the marriage-bed, they were first searched by the mid-wife, and those only which she allowed of as fruitful were admitted. I hope, therefore, it will not be amiss to show you how they may prove themselves and turn barren ground into fruitful soil. Barrenness is a deprivation of the life and power which ought to be in the seed to procreate and propagate; for which end men and women were ...
— The Works of Aristotle the Famous Philosopher • Anonymous

... talking freely. Avdotya's conduct had perplexed him. "It's a strange business, really," he said, "how did it happen? He must have bewitched her, I suppose? It shows how strictly one must look after a wife! You want to keep a firm hand over her. All the same it wouldn't be amiss for you to go home; I expect you have got a lot of belongings there still." Yefrem added much more to the same effect; he did not like to be silent when ...
— Knock, Knock, Knock and Other Stories • Ivan Turgenev

... which occur that make it necessary to give up symmetry so as not to interfere with utility. Again, if in the course of the work any of the material fall short, such as marble, timber, or anything else that is provided, it will not be amiss to make a slight reduction or addition, provided that it is done without going too far, but with intelligence. This will be possible, if the architect is a man of practical experience and, besides, not ...
— Ten Books on Architecture • Vitruvius

... "What be amiss, father?" said young Reuben. "Ye've bin a-settin' there shakin' yer head like a old owl since I turned into the road. It be time to ...
— The Strand Magazine, Volume V, Issue 25, January 1893 - An Illustrated Monthly • Various

... Schilling be consulted. In a few weeks he will be in London, which he intends visiting during a summer tour which he is on the point of commencing. He will call at the Society's House, and as he is a nobleman of great experience and knowledge in all that relates to China, it would not be amiss to interrogate him on such a subject. I again repeat that I am ...
— Letters of George Borrow - to the British and Foreign Bible Society • George Borrow

... our first hunting-party will be apt to give the reader a wrong idea of the method in which this sport is usually conducted, it may not be amiss to add a few more words on the subject; and which I am the better able to do since ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 17 • Robert Kerr

... 'very good thought—capital idea indeed. I'll send somebody up directly. And if you make a little resistance when we put you in the chaise it wouldn't be amiss—look as if you didn't want to be taken ...
— Sketches by Boz - illustrative of everyday life and every-day people • Charles Dickens

... their sons under their thumb, as the saying is. And if you want at your age to preserve your independence, and not be hurried off and buried in the country, like a schoolboy in disgrace, a little manliness of bearing would not be amiss. You ...
— My Novel, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... to Alicant to settle Lambe's accounts, and asked to be strengthened with our authority. If Lambe will obey the resolve of Congress, it will be better to let him go and settle his account there. But if he will not go back, perhaps it might not be amiss for Mr. Barclay to have instructions from us to require a settlement, those instructions to be used in that case only. If you think so, be so good as to write a joint letter and send it to me. But this, if done at all, should be done immediately. How much money has Lambe drawn? I have suggested ...
— The Writings of Thomas Jefferson - Library Edition - Vol. 6 (of 20) • Thomas Jefferson

... etc., are demonstrated and described in the following pages, and the colour plates endeavour to give the idea of the correct colourings. In this connection, a few observations, based on the study of genuine originals, may not be amiss. ...
— Jacobean Embroidery - Its Forms and Fillings Including Late Tudor • Ada Wentworth Fitzwilliam and A. F. Morris Hands

... were only employed in the mere official forms. From the time that Mr. Hastings new-modelled the revenue system, nothing is seen in its true shape. We now know, in spite of the fallacy of these records, who the true grantor was: it will not be amiss to go a little further in supplying their defects, and to inquire a little concerning the grantee. This makes it necessary for me to inform your Lordships who Debi ...
— The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. X. (of 12) • Edmund Burke

... my instinctively maternal transports to you," she said, serenely, "though, maternal solicitude might not be amiss concerning you." ...
— The Common Law • Robert W. Chambers

... with him at this time, and perhaps, out of his family, the one to whom he talked with the greatest freedom and fullness on the subject, owing to my own intense interest in it, it cannot be amiss that I state his exact position as far as he let me see it. It must be remembered that the doctrine of evolution, as he knew it, and in the only form in which it was then stated, was simply and purely that of development by natural selection acting on chance variation, and differing ...
— The Autobiography of a Journalist, Volume I • Stillman, William James

... triumphs of modern mathematics consists in having discovered what mathematics really is, a few more words on this subject may not be amiss. It is common to start any branch of mathematics—for instance, Geometry—with a certain number of primitive ideas, supposed incapable of definition, and a certain number of primitive propositions or axioms, supposed incapable of proof. Now the fact is that, though there ...
— Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays • Bertrand Russell

... was not Juergen's intention, for he was just thinking of looking about him a little in the world. The eel breeder of Zjaltring had an uncle in Alt-Skage, who was a fisherman, but at the same time a prosperous merchant, who had ships upon the sea; he was said to be a good old man, and it would not be amiss to enter his service. Alt-Skage lies in the extreme north of Jutland, as far removed from the Hunsby dunes as one can travel in that country; and this is just what pleased Juergen, for he did not want to remain till the wedding of Martin and ...
— What the Moon Saw: and Other Tales • Hans Christian Andersen

... routes to California rattlesnakes are often met with, but it is seldom that any person is bitten by them; yet this is a possible contingency, and it can never be amiss to have an ...
— The Prairie Traveler - A Hand-book for Overland Expeditions • Randolph Marcy

... traditional, a brief sketch of the pirate's life may not be amiss. According to Francis Xavier Martin's History of North Carolina, Edward Teach was born in Bristol, England. While quite young he took service on a privateer and fought many years for king and country with great boldness. In 1796 he joined one ...
— In Ancient Albemarle • Catherine Albertson

... went in and spoke a word to Mr. Gandle. It's true as we wanted someone to help me 'an 'Lizabeth; we've wanted someone bad for a long time. And this young girl wouldn't be amiss, we thought, for waitin' in the shop; the men likes to see a noo face, you know, mum, an' all the more if it's a good-looking 'un. If she'd been a orn'ary lookin' girl, of course I couldn't have not so much as thought of it, as things was. She told me plain an' straightforward as she couldn't ...
— Thyrza • George Gissing

... picture possible of this man speaking from the eternal.—Unless Milton and Carlyle had co-operated to make it, I think, any translation of the Agamemnon—which so many have tried to translate—would be fatiguing and a great bore to read. It may not be amiss to quote three lines from George Peel's David and Bethsabe, which have been often called Aeschylean ...
— The Crest-Wave of Evolution • Kenneth Morris

... It may not be amiss here to ask—What is the meaning of these integrations? The evidence seems to show that they are in some way dependent on community of function. The eight segments which coalesce to make the head of a centipede, jointly protect the cephalic ganglion, and afford a solid fulcrum ...
— Essays: Scientific, Political, & Speculative, Vol. I • Herbert Spencer

... consideration. But so much has been said by both graceful and able writers on Japan as to the advantages she enjoys from her simple non-mechanical civilization, and the mistake she is making in adopting the mechanical civilization of the West, that it may not be amiss to dwell for a few moments upon it. I wish to show that the second element of progress consists in the ...
— Evolution Of The Japanese, Social And Psychic • Sidney L. Gulick

... Freshett had talked over every single thing about the geese, and that they were like Pryors' had been settled, Mrs. Freshett said: "Since he told about it before all of us, and started out the way he did, would it be amiss to ask how Laddie ...
— Laddie • Gene Stratton Porter

... way of taking the word may not be amiss, but I didn't mean it so. I meant a certain loss; you understand, a CERTAIN loss; that is to say, a certain loss. Now then, sir, what use your mere writing and saying you will insure me, unless beforehand you place in ...
— The Confidence-Man • Herman Melville

... not be amiss to observe here that when the word tiger is used it does not mean the Bengal tiger. It means the jaguar, whose skin is beautifully spotted, and not striped like that of the tiger in the East. It is, in fact, the tiger of the new world, and receiving the name of tiger from ...
— Wanderings In South America • Charles Waterton

... far we have succeeded on Mars in harnessing a mighty universal force to the end of utilizing the same in turning our factory wheels, lighting our domiciles and giving warmth to our homes in winter, it might not be amiss to state a few facts concerning our knowledge of matter ...
— The Planet Mars and its Inhabitants - A Psychic Revelation • Eros Urides and J. L. Kennon

... not be amiss; at any rate, we'll make the experiment;not that I would wish to give my name to the publicassistance from a learned friend might be acknowledged in the preface after what flourish your nature willI am a ...
— The Antiquary, Complete • Sir Walter Scott

... all who are in his pay in the military forces of the islands from engaging in commerce; and orders the governor not to allow this, or permit them to export goods to Nueva Espana. If the governors would observe that order, it would not be amiss. [401] ...
— History of the Philippine Islands Vols 1 and 2 • Antonio de Morga

... Minister or the Chancellor of the Exchequer. At the end of eighteen months of hope and fear and agony, Mr. Bellingham found that the consent of Mr. Perceval was positively refused; he was driven to despair, and he shot him. It may not be amiss to say a few words here respecting Mr. Perceval. He had become, most unexpectedly, Chancellor of the Exchequer. He was a lawyer, and had been hired as the advocate of the Princess of Wales. During the "delicate ...
— Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq. Volume 3 • Henry Hunt

... experiments with farm-yard manure," he says, "it may not be amiss to state briefly the more prominent and practically interesting points which have been developed in the course of this investigation. I ...
— Talks on Manures • Joseph Harris

... relating the part I had in public affairs under this new governor's administration, it may not be amiss here to give some account of the rise and progress of ...
— Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin • Benjamin Franklin

... us is now silent enough. It Now hath quite forgot to rave While birds of calm sit brooding on the charmed wave. The reason why is plain or should be plain to anything above the level of a Gladstonian intellect. It cannot be amiss, though, to recall a specimen of Mr. Arthur O'Connor's style, that so we may judge of his superior acceptability to the people of East Donegal. Speaking after the Union of Hearts had been invented and ...
— Ireland as It Is - And as It Would be Under Home Rule • Robert John Buckley (AKA R.J.B.)

... be amiss for me to state that Robert Burns was an Irish poet whose parents happened to be Scotch. He was born in Ayrshire in Seventeen Hundred Fifty-nine. He died in Seventeen Hundred Ninety-six, and was buried at Dumfries by the ...
— Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 5 (of 14) • Elbert Hubbard

... elder brother. As he found them positively obstinate, he sent for them all together, and said to them: "Children, since for your good and quiet I have not been able to persuade you no longer to aspire to the Princess, your cousin, I think it would not be amiss if every one traveled separately into different countries, so that you might not meet each other. And, as you know I am very curious, and delight in everything that's singular, I promise my niece in marriage to him that shall bring me the most extraordinary rarity; and for the purchase ...
— The Blue Fairy Book • Various

... sure and have a strong, short, sharp and pointed pair—the surgical instrument, not the fancy article. Nail scissors would not be amiss but for the roughness of ...
— Art in Needlework - A Book about Embroidery • Lewis F. Day

... but very economical.—But as I mean soon to publish a particular account of these Fire-places,—with drawings and ample directions for constructing them, I shall not enlarge farther on the subject in this place.—It may however not be amiss just to mention here, that these new-invented Fire-places not being fixed to the walls of the Chimney, but merely set down upon the hearth, may be used in any open Chimney: and that Chimnies altered or constructed on the principles here recommended are particularly ...
— ESSAYS, Political, Economical and Philosophical. Volume 1. • Benjamin Rumford

... doctor and his lady, to undergo a severe course of medicine, especially as I heard him very formally ask her advice what was good for a Mahometan fever, the moment after he had handed me into the carriage. She studied a little while, and then she said, A ride to Harlow fair would not be amiss. He said he was entirely of her opinion, because it suited him to go ...
— Books for Children - The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, Vol. 3 • Charles and Mary Lamb

... lights which were moving about the churchyard, they observed that something unusual was going on, and went into the church. They listened to the sermon for a while, and then the clerk nudged the parson and said, "It would not be amiss if we were to use the opportunity together, and before the dawning of the last day, find an easy way of getting to heaven." "To tell the truth," answered the parson, "that is what I myself have ...
— Household Tales by Brothers Grimm • Grimm Brothers

... not be amiss: Under the guidance of the Tuskegee influences, the annual Tuskegee Negro Conferences, the visits of Tuskegee teachers, etc., the importance of land-buying was early brought to our attention, but because of the crude and inexperienced laborers about ...
— Tuskegee & Its People: Their Ideals and Achievements • Various

... their trustworthiness as witnesses, because of the danger of mistaking analogous for homologous forms. This difficulty applies equally to living groups, and it is so important that a few instances may not be amiss. ...
— Darwin and Modern Science • A.C. Seward and Others

... last visit to Berlin, you were so kind as to say that the Symphonic Poem Tasso would not be amiss arranged by you for a military band, and you, with your well-known readiness for action, expressed your willingness to arrange the instrumentation accordingly. Allow me today to lay claim to half your kind offer, and ...
— Letters of Franz Liszt, Volume 1, "From Paris to Rome: - Years of Travel as a Virtuoso" • Franz Liszt; Letters assembled by La Mara and translated

... not be amiss to note that the author credits Koster with the glory of the invention ...
— The Philadelphia Magazines and their Contributors 1741-1850 • Albert Smyth

... trouble is, and how uncertain the reward; how many accidents may hinder us from ever being happy, and how few there are (and those so unlikely) to make up our desire. All this makes no impression on you; you are still resolved to follow your blind guide, and I to pity where I cannot help. It will not be amiss though to let you see that what I did was merely in consideration of your interest, and not at all of my own, that you may judge of me accordingly; and, to do that, I must tell you that, unless it were after the receipt ...
— The Love Letters of Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple, 1652-54 • Edward Abbott Parry

... shortly before paid me his farewell visit, and had brought me the letter of introduction to his friend at Horncastle, and also his bill, which I found anything but extravagant. After we had each respectively drank the contents of two cups—and it may not be amiss here to inform the reader that though I took cream with my tea, as I always do when I can procure that addition, the old man, like most people bred up in the country, drank his without it—he thus addressed me:—"I am, as I told you on the night of your accident, the ...
— The Romany Rye - A Sequel to 'Lavengro' • George Borrow

... for the ventilation of rooms otherwise than as they provide for the admission of light. Now the properties of light and air, with reference to our domestic requirements, differ in some important particulars—of which it may not be amiss to give a ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 236, May 6, 1854 • Various

... one more point in fielding the catcher's position upon which a few words will not be amiss, that is, as to touching a runner coming home. There is a difference of opinion as to the best place for the catcher to stand when waiting for the throw to cut off such a runner. The general practice is to stand a couple of feet from the plate toward third base and in ...
— Base-Ball - How to Become a Player • John M. Ward

... making a great clatter with their hammers; until the new ship, which was called the Argo, seemed to be quite ready for sea. And, as the Talking Oak had already given him such good advice, Jason thought that it would not be amiss to ask for a little more. He visited it again, therefore, and standing beside its huge, rough trunk, inquired what ...
— Tanglewood Tales • Nathaniel Hawthorne



Words linked to "Be amiss" :   see, interpret, misunderstand, construe, misconceive, misinterpret, misconstrue



Copyright © 2024 Dictionary One.com