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Circle around   /sˈərkəl ərˈaʊnd/   Listen
Circle around

verb
1.
Move around in a circular motion.  Synonyms: circle round, revolve around.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Circle around" Quotes from Famous Books



... former experience are sufficient to prevent me from running into gross inaccuracies or incongruities. Place me, as some have suggested, in the situation of the man in the farce, and carry me in a limited circle around the same point, under the assurance that I was travelling to distant and ever-changing scenes, and support the stratagem by every circumstance calculated to give it the fullest effect; it would never impose upon me: for the ...
— A Voyage Round the World, Vol. I (of ?) • James Holman

... would start him off to school," his mother once said, "and in a little while would follow him to ascertain his whereabouts. There was a large stump on the way to the schoolhouse, and Sam would take his position behind that, and as his father went past would gradually circle around it in such a way as to keep out of sight. Finally, his father and the teacher both said it was of no use to try to teach Sam anything, because he was determined not to learn. But I never gave up. He was always a great boy ...
— Mark Twain • Archibald Henderson

... shaking his fagot knife; they fell upon him, clubbing and stabbing with stock and bayonet, but he swung his smeared and sticky blade, clearing a circle around him. And I think he could have cut his way free had not Tric-Trac shot him in the ...
— The Maids of Paradise • Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers

... over her spinning-wheel to get to him, the woman Hildelitha threw her arms around her young lord's neck and gave him a hearty smack on either cheek; while the fat monk sputtered blessings between his paroxysms of coughing, and the six blooming girls made a screaming circle around them. ...
— The Ward of King Canute • Ottilie A. Liljencrantz

... was fighting were mere robbers, he said, and there was nothing for me to see. He gave me various warnings about dangers ahead. Then he very kindly explained that the Japanese plan was to hem in the volunteers, two sections of troops operating from either side and making a circle around the seat of trouble. These would unite and gradually drive the Koreans towards ...
— Korea's Fight for Freedom • F.A. McKenzie

... measure, however, two men were kept moving in a circle around the douar throughout the whole of the night; but no disturbance arose, and morning returned without bringing back the two men who had gone in ...
— The Boy Slaves • Mayne Reid

... the Hotel de Ville. The very streets are unsafe. Starvation faces the circle around Aristide Dauvray's hearth. Mad adventurers, foolish dreamers, vain "bourgeois" generals, head the Communists. Dombrowski, Cluseret, Flourens, the human tigers Ferre and Lullier, Duval, Bergeret, and Eudes, stalk in the stolen robes of power. Gloomy nights ...
— The Little Lady of Lagunitas • Richard Henry Savage

... like so many white wings on which the whole establishment is about to rise and fly away—fly away into "the district," which is the correct expression for the vast expanse of level plain melting into blue sky on the wide horizon-circle around. ...
— Twenty-One Days in India; and, the Teapot Series • George Robert Aberigh-Mackay

... hear me request you to speak," said Oudet, in a tone of stern rebuke. "Speak, Marmont, but it will be better to exercise caution and not let the walls themselves hear what we determine. So form a circle around me, and let one after another put his lips to my ear and whisper the name of him who should ...
— A Conspiracy of the Carbonari • Louise Muhlbach

... he told Ned: "I know the limit of her speed, and she can't be farther off than at some place within a circle of about one hundred and twenty-five miles from my house. And it's in the direction we're in. So if I circle around up ...
— Tom Swift and his War Tank - or, Doing his Bit for Uncle Sam • Victor Appleton

... in this whole hymn, because Sojourner, carried away with her own feeling, sang it from beginning to end with a triumphant energy that held the whole circle around her intently listening. She sang with the strong barbaric accent of the native African, and with those indescribable upward turns and those deep gutturals which give such a wild, peculiar power to the negro singing,—but above all, with ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. XI., April, 1863, No. LXVI. - A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics. • Various

... a run, completed the circle around the swamp, and slowed into a walk when approaching the big dead tree where he was to ...
— The Last Trail • Zane Grey

... you make your chief pleasure circle around about that home. It is unfortunate when it is otherwise. If the husband spend the most of his nights away from home, of choice, and not of necessity, he is not the head of the household; he is only the cashier. If the wife throw the cares of the household in the servant's lap, and then spend ...
— The Wedding Ring - A Series of Discourses for Husbands and Wives and Those - Contemplating Matrimony • T. De Witt Talmage

... favourite haunt. She had converted the over-skirt of her dress into an apron, now filled with bouquets from among the number showered upon her; and selecting one composed of pelargoniums and heliotropes, she placed it in the vase beneath her mother's picture, and laid the remainder in a circle around it. ...
— Infelice • Augusta Jane Evans Wilson

... just met after a long beat, each having described the half of a circle around a piece of open water, and had sunk down in utter weariness on a little patch of dry ground, and for a minute looked at each other in silence. Then ...
— Jersey Street and Jersey Lane - Urban and Suburban Sketches • H. C. Bunner

... Akbar Khan and his party. Akbar began the conference by asking the Envoy if he was ready to carry out the proposals presented to him overnight. 'Why not?' was Sir William's short reply. A number of Afghans, armed to the teeth, had gradually formed a circle around the informal durbar. Lawrence and Mackenzie pointed out this environment to some of the chiefs, who affected to drive off the intruders with their whips; but Akbar observed that it did not matter, as they 'were all in the secret.' 'Suddenly,' wrote Mackenzie, ...
— The Afghan Wars 1839-42 and 1878-80 • Archibald Forbes

... Richard reached the nut before the dog, and drew a circle around the spot where it had lain. Then he began digging into the sand with the hoe so industriously that Captain Kidd was moved ...
— Georgina of the Rainbows • Annie Fellows Johnston

... the wood-drake and wood-duck on my distant and day-long ramble, They rise together, they slowly circle around. ...
— Leaves of Grass • Walt Whitman

... thanked!" "Why God be thanked?" said the king; "has anything happened to him on the road?" "Sire," said the Chevalier de Grammont, "this is the history of my dress, and of Termes, my messenger." At these words the ball, ready to begin, was suspended: the dancers making a circle around the Chevalier de Grammont, he continued his ...
— The Memoirs of Count Grammont, Complete • Anthony Hamilton

... began again to march in a circle around the center of the room, the Brethren two abreast leading the column, the Sisters following after. There was a waving movement of the hands by drawing inward as if gathering in spiritual good and storing it up for future need. In the marching and ...
— Homespun Tales • Kate Douglas Wiggin

... that he might be early; the painful expectancy of fearing that he might be late. And it seemed to her divinely right and beautiful that, while he should have a hundred other absorbing interests in his life, her whole existence should perpetually circle around this single centre of thought. One by one, she lived in anticipation all the exquisite details of their life together, and in imagining them, she overlooked all possible changes that the years might bring, as entirely as she ignored the subtle variations of temperament which produce in ...
— Virginia • Ellen Glasgow

... other, after taking a glance about him, "I don't suppose it matters much which way we turn, since we propose to look over the entire island one way or another, suh. Say we turn off here to the left, and circle around. Or if you would rather have it, we might separate and spread out ...
— The Boy Scouts' First Camp Fire - or, Scouting with the Silver Fox Patrol • Herbert Carter

... frantically for some trace of the footprints of father's horse. Although I was nervous and excited enough to fly on the wings of lightning, I did not let the feeling get the better of me, but made a deliberate search of every inch of ground, making a complete circle around the outskirts of the camp, for I was determined to find those tracks. At last! There they were, unmistakable and clear. I gave a smothered cry and showed them to Milt. Then, still with the lantern carefully covered, so that no unguarded flash might bring a death-dealing ...
— Ten American Girls From History • Kate Dickinson Sweetser

... hungry you may enjoy them immensely; but Dorothy was worried and hungry that morning, so she paid little attention to the beauties of the forest, and hurried along as fast as she could go. She tried to keep in one direction and not circle around, but she was not at all sure that the direction she had chosen would lead ...
— The Emerald City of Oz • L. Frank Baum

... he do next? What sort of a man was this? The rough fellows in the circle around him insensibly drew back a little, and looked in each other's faces with surprise, as they tried to read the riddle of this disconcerting behaviour. The Quaker would not show fight! He was actually giving them leave to set upon him and beat him again! All ...
— A Book of Quaker Saints • Lucy Violet Hodgkin

... he were here on the merest matter of business. As soon as he was seated he turned his head and glanced behind him, and I thought his eyes rested first on that place where I had sat the week before; but they did not linger there a moment, sweeping on in a half circle around the room, glancing over me so quickly that I could not tell at all whether he had noticed me. I thought he had been looking for some one, though it couldn't have been the Spanish Woman, since she sat in plain sight on the other side ...
— The Other Side of the Door • Lucia Chamberlain

... of the day is done, all come on board and place themselves in a circle around the armador, who divides what they have obtained in the following manner: two oysters for himself, the same number for the Busos, or divers, and one for the government. This division having been concluded, ...
— Mexico and its Religion • Robert A. Wilson

... be his only opportunity for a brief meeting. And we all certainly had a most delightful visit with the old Captain. From the time of his arrival until his departure there was no sleeping, by anybody, on that picket post. We sat on the ground in a little circle around him, and listened to his comical and side-splitting stories of army life, and incidents in camp and field generally. He was an inimitable story teller, and his peculiar tone and manner added immensely to the comicality of his anecdotes. And somehow he had the happy ...
— The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865 • Leander Stillwell

... said, "it certainly is a beauty, and Chess says it must be worth a good deal; that centre stone is quite large, you see, and there are six others in a circle around it." ...
— Christmas with Grandma Elsie • Martha Finley

... it's a whole lot better than thin air with a hard-working circle around us—an' you know what that means," retorted Mr. Connors. "But if you don't want to take a chance in the shack, why mebby we can make Wallace's, or the Cross-O-Cross. That is, if we don't get ...
— Bar-20 Days • Clarence E. Mulford

... field glasses. The knife was in George's hand, and he slowly opened it whereat the appearance of the blade startled the Chief. He was all eagerness now, so George closed the blade and opened it again, and then cut a circle around the bullet hole and chipped ...
— The Wonder Island Boys: Adventures on Strange Islands • Roger Thompson Finlay

... we might attend service at a neighboring chapel, and see a congregation composed chiefly of apprentices. On our arrival, we received a welcome from the residents, which reassured us of their sympathy in our object. We joined the family circle around the centre table, and spent the evening in free conversation on the subject ...
— The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus • American Anti-Slavery Society

... beautiful gratified and developed, her singular and delicate nature lifted up to its full capacity, and then, when all these qualities are fully matured, cultivated and sanctified, all their sacred influences shall circle around ten thousand firesides, and the cabins of the humblest freedmen shall become the homes of Christian refinement through the influence of the uplifted and cultivated ...
— The American Missionary, Vol. XLII. April, 1888. No. 4. • Various

... another person at the table whose quick eye, drawn by sisterly affection, saw Le Gardeur's movement before even Hortense. Amelie was impatient to leave her seat and go beside him, but she could not at the moment leave the lively circle around her. She at once conjectured that the note was from Angelique des Meloises. After drinking deeply two or three times Le Gardeur arose, and with a faint excuse that did not impose on his partner left the table. Amelie rose quickly ...
— The Golden Dog - Le Chien d'Or • William Kirby

... quietly pasturing on the rich herbage. One of the Indians immediately prepared his lasso, and darted out toward the herd to make a capture. The horses did not seem to be alarmed by his approach, but when he got pretty nigh them they began to circle around him, keeping at a cautious distance, with their heads elevated and with loud neighings. They then, following the leadership of a splendid stallion, set off on a brisk canter, and soon disappeared beyond the undulations of ...
— David Crockett: His Life and Adventures • John S. C. Abbott

... Ambrosia, wait till another ten years is over; but we must see our little beauty through the twenty-four hours." Ianthe now waved a tiny wand in a circle around Aurora's head,—the long eyelashes sank over her eyes, and the beautiful child fell into a ...
— The Fairy Godmothers and Other Tales • Mrs. Alfred Gatty

... provisions brought from Elvas. These he gave to the woman of the house to cook for the travelers, and no objection was started as to cooking flesh, that other people might commit the sin of eating it on a fast day. The whole party sat in a large semi-circle around the fire, conversing and watching the cooking of their supper; but no sooner did the savory fumes diffuse themselves through the building than another personage joined them. A stout pig, evidently a denizen ...
— The Actress in High Life - An Episode in Winter Quarters • Sue Petigru Bowen

... from the crowd. The police-officer, with a look of command, made a circle around him; and Frederick, gazing at him ...
— Sentimental Education, Volume II - The History of a Young Man • Gustave Flaubert

... the weather changed. In his diary, under date of December 11th, Washington noted that there was wind and rain; and that at night, when the clouds had dispersed, there was "a large circle around the moon." On the following day, a storm of snow set in at one o'clock, P. M., which soon changed, first to hail, and then to rain. Washington was caught out in it. As usual, he had been in the saddle since ten o'clock in the morning, ...
— Washington and the American Republic, Vol. 3. • Benson J. Lossing

... numbers as would enable them to effect a "surround." The name almost explains the nature of this hunt, which is practised as follows:—When a hand of Indian hunters discover a herd of buffaloes, they scatter and deploy into a circle around them. They soon accomplish this on their swift horses, for they are mounted—as all prairie-hunters are sure to be, whether whites or Indians. As soon as the circle is formed, the Indians ride inward with loud yells, and drive the buffaloes into a thick clump in the centre. They then dash ...
— The Boy Hunters • Captain Mayne Reid

... expectant curiosity. One of them, a girl of apparently her own age, spoke to her, but in a language which she did not understand. Receiving no reply, the urchins suddenly closed together, and holding hands, began to circle around her, ...
— Carmen Ariza • Charles Francis Stocking

... has not); she has shortness of breath, and a short dry cough; her face is flabby and pale; her complexion gradually assumes a yellowish or greenish hue—hence the name of chlorosis; there is a dark, livid circle around her eyes; her lips lose their colour, and become almost white; her tongue is generally white and pasty, her appetite is bad, and is frequently depraved—the patient often preferring chalk, slate pencil, cinder, and even dirt, to the daintiest food, indigestion frequently attends ...
— Advice to a Mother on the Management of her Children • Pye Henry Chavasse

... watered us with the showers of divine instruction and prayers, that, like this vine, we might entwine about it and bear pleasant fruit. From this cross we learned, while yet in the bloom of life, like newly-opened flowers, to join together in sweet friendship. Above this we have placed a circle around the Holy Bible, that bright lamp of the Lord, that will enlighten us like the sun if we follow its leading—that well of living waters, which will cause us to flourish like the palm tree. Thus will our leaf be ever green, ...
— Woman And Her Saviour In Persia • A Returned Missionary

... performed in building up worlds and suns. None save astronomers, and few only of these, care for researches into the star-depths, except in connection with the thought that every star is a sun and therefore probably the light and fire of a system of worlds like those which circle around ...
— Myths and Marvels of Astronomy • Richard A. Proctor

... was chose a fair level space for the dance, and when Demodocus arrived he took his harp and struck up a lively measure. A fair troop of boys stood in a circle around him, and the dance began. Alcinous had not overrated the skill of his people in this graceful pastime, and Odysseus was filled with wonder as he watched the intricate yet ordered movements of ...
— Stories from the Odyssey • H. L. Havell

... slaves of reason, who tread in a circle around their stake as far as the cord of their logic reaches, they too cannot be ...
— The Bride of Dreams • Frederik van Eeden

... church-bells through the mountain, like a sweet melody; it was like speech, an harmonious chorus of all the spirits of nature, mild, good, full of love, for it came from the daughters of the sun-beams, who encamped themselves every evening in a circle around the pinnacles of the mountains, and spread out their rose-coloured wings, that grow more and more red as the sun sinks, and glow over the high Alps; men call it, "the Alpine glow." When the sun is down, they enter ...
— The Ice-Maiden: and Other Tales. • Hans Christian Andersen

... himself up nice in his Prince Albert, give his topper a wipe, and start away with the flute and a roll of music in a natty little case, like he was off to the Bank for the day. The only thing that ruffled him any was the children, about eighty of them, who always went along, too, and set in a circle around him when he played. I told him they'd soon tire of tagging after him, which he said he was mighty glad to hear; but if it was flies, they couldn't have been more pertinacious. I spoke to the king about it, and Old Dibs he complained ...
— Wild Justice: Stories of the South Seas • Lloyd Osbourne

... singly into the rolling ground, and the herds are composed only of does and yearling males. It was always possible to tell at once if an antelope had a fawn upon the plain, for she would run in a wide circle around the spot and refuse ...
— Across Mongolian Plains - A Naturalist's Account of China's 'Great Northwest' • Roy Chapman Andrews

... eyes, and I thought—no, I never then fully grasped the meaning expressed in that gaze, it was to me as the tender glance of a brother. Mattathias is gone; Solomona and her children are all gone; Judas, with his gallant band, is like a lion at bay with the hunters closing in an ever-narrowing circle around him. Apollonius has been vanquished, Seron defeated by our hero; but now Nicanor and Giorgias, with the forces of Ptolemy, upwards of forty thousand men, are combining to crush him by their overwhelming numbers! What can the devotion of our patriots avail but to swell the band of martyrs who ...
— Hebrew Heroes - A Tale Founded on Jewish History • AKA A.L.O.E. A.L.O.E., Charlotte Maria Tucker

... it would be better for any one employing this shadow method to take two epochs on either side of solar noon, when the sun was at exactly the same elevation, or the shadow of exactly the same length,—determining this by striking out a circle around the foot of the upright, and observing where the shadow's point crossed this circle before noon in drawing nearer to the base, and after noon in passing away from the base. These two intersections with the circle necessarily lie at ...
— The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, September 1879 • Various

... faithful as watchdog, by the door of her friend and companion. He asked himself whether by violent or diplomatic process, he could rid himself of this second watcher; and the answer was in the negative. The circle around him was a circle not ...
— Charlotte's Inheritance • M. E. Braddon

... hands and closed the circle around Forrester, surrounding him completely. The golden auras that shone about their bodies grew more and more bright. Forrester clutched the golden ...
— Pagan Passions • Gordon Randall Garrett

... made up the beds, she swept the floor, she straightened the great rug in front of the fireplace, and set the twelve little chairs in a half circle around the fire; and, just as she finished, the door opened and in walked twelve of the queerest little people she had ever seen. They were just about as tall as a carpenter's rule, and all wore yellow clothes; and when Minnie saw this, she knew that they must be the dwarfs who kept the gold ...
— Mother Stories • Maud Lindsay

... for excess of fatigue. But we had hardly closed our eyes before we were aroused by a hissing sound like the sough of wind, and awaking, saw a serpent like a dragon, a seld-seen sight, of monstrous make and belly of enormous bulk which lay in a circle around us. Presently it reared its head and, seizing one of my companions, swallowed him up to his shoulders; then it gulped down the rest of him, and we heard his ribs crack in its belly. Presently it went its way, and we abode ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 6 • Richard F. Burton

... strategic position and the methods of defence. Before speaking of the incidents of the day, a brief outline of Port Arthur will be given as a key to the situation. A view of the place from the sea is disappointing, as the hills that circle around the bay are bare and destitute of vegetation and foliage. The foothills of a long mountain range divide the peninsula of Liao-tung (the circle of the hills extending over ten miles); several bays also indent the shore. ...
— Travels in the Far East • Ellen Mary Hayes Peck

... Mr. Easterly expressed it, "to bring back facts, not dreams." His investment matters went quickly and well, and now he turned to his wider and bigger scheme. He wrote the Cresswells tentatively, expecting no reply, or an evasive one; planning to circle around them, drawing his nets closer, and trying them again later. To his surprise ...
— The Quest of the Silver Fleece - A Novel • W. E. B. Du Bois

... eyes appeared to be insurmountable obstacles to the Indianising of the ex-rifleman. Peg-leg, however, proved an artist of skill. The chevelure of Sure-shot, well saturated with charcoal paste, assumed a different hue. A black circle around each eye neutralised the tint of both iris and pupil. To his face was given a ground-coat of red ochre; while some half-dozen dark stripes, painted longitudinally over it, and running parallel to the nose, extinguished the snub—transforming ...
— The Wild Huntress - Love in the Wilderness • Mayne Reid

... to that in use by the neighboring Igorot is found here. A large blanket is weighed down with stones, and is placed in the river. After one or two hours have elapsed, a number of men form a wide circle around it. Often they drag between them a rope to which many corn husks are attached. As they advance toward the blanket, they turn the larger stones with their feet so that any fish hiding beneath them will be frightened away. The circle of men and corn husks causes the fish to go toward the blanket, ...
— The Tinguian - Social, Religious, and Economic Life of a Philippine Tribe • Fay-Cooper Cole

... and braves who were to sing, sat down on the ground in a group near the mat; but the multitude spread in a great circle around it. Men of importance before taking their seats on the short grass, each in turn lifted the calumet, which was filled, and blew a little smoke on the manitou. Then the dancer sprang out, and, with graceful curvings in time to the music, seized the pipe ...
— Heroes of the Middle West - The French • Mary Hartwell Catherwood

... with the axis of the world. Upon this slide are marked, on one side, the initials of the names of the months and on the other side the corresponding signs of the zodiac. The sun apparently describing a circle around the axis, PP, the rays passing through a point of the axis (small aperture of the slide) will travel over a circular cone around such axis. If, then, the apparatus be so suspended that the circle, M, shall be in the meridian, the slide parallel with the earth's axis, and the circle, ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 810, July 11, 1891 • Various

... we ought to complete that circle around the Indian army, curving to the west and then to the north, until we're in their rear. Then we can complete the impression that two forces are attacking 'em, one in front and the other behind. What do ...
— The Keepers of the Trail - A Story of the Great Woods • Joseph A. Altsheler

... enough, 'Honesty is not necessarily greater where elegance is less'; nor does a sense of supreme or despotic power necessarily imply the exercise or abuse of it. Princes have, happily, the same yearning as the peasant after the respect and affection of the circle around them, and the people under them; and they must generally seek it by the ...
— Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official • William Sleeman

... the altars glanced from the rich jewels of the great ladies, who, kneeling upon velvet cushions placed before them by pages, and taking their prayer-books from the hands of female attendants, formed a brilliant circle around the chancel lattice. Standing next that lattice, wrapped in their richly colored and embroidered cloaks, letting their green and red orders be seen with studied carelessness, holding in one hand their hats, the plumes sweeping the floor, and letting the other rest ...
— Stories by Foreign Authors: Spanish • Various

... drake, 'paint my head green, and put a white circle around my throat, like a necklace. Besides that, I want a brown breast and yellow legs: but I don't want ...
— Indian Why Stories • Frank Bird Linderman

... of this ceremony is called EgbikbEgaybe and is given over almost entirely to the women. Two tambara are erected in the house, and young betel nut buds and women's skirts are hung on them. The women and some men form a line and dance in a circle around the offerings, keeping time to music furnished by beating small gongs, or by pounding on a board resting on a rice mortar.[50] Before each dance the mabalian informs a spirit that this dance is for him and it is customary to add a gift of some kind to those already ...
— The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao - The R. F. Cummings Philippine Expedition • Fay-Cooper Cole

... their muskets. This forced the savages to retire, but gave to the rencounter that hostile air which, in consideration of the disparity of numbers, ought at all hazards to have been avoided. The wild men quickly formed a circle around the artillery. The latter, fearing for their porters and the precious baggage, leaped through this circle and joined their servants, making believe to cock their fire-arms. Upon this the Indians, half afraid of the guns, vanished ...
— Lippincott's Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, No. 23, February, 1873, Vol. XI. • Various

... they must circle around over the wide expanse to take in its features and discover the prisoner. Then Frank could lay his ...
— The Aeroplane Boys on the Wing - Aeroplane Chums in the Tropics • John Luther Langworthy

... formed a circle around her; before her stood the haughty and angry Laea; behind her, and standing side by side, Taneo and ...
— Ridan The Devil And Other Stories - 1899 • Louis Becke

... horrible—forms made unnaturally visible by their own light, that mouth and leer, and stretch out distorted arms to seize him, whose appalling presence fills the room from floor to ceiling, and which eddy and circle around him in horrid demon dances, whirling gradually nearer and nearer, until myriads of hideous faces are thrust close to his own, or grin above him, while he chokes for breath—forms that make the cold sweat stand on his baby forehead, ...
— Continental Monthly , Vol. 5, No. 6, June, 1864 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy • Various

... had grown intolerable. There was not a breath of air stirring, otherwise I might have shunned it by keeping to windward. The whole atmosphere of the islet, as well as a large circle around it, was impregnated with the fearful effluvium. I could bear it no longer. With the aid of my gun, I pushed the half-decomposed carcass into the lake; perhaps the current might carry it away. It did: I had the gratification ...
— The Hunters' Feast - Conversations Around the Camp Fire • Mayne Reid

... of her brooding over this vision, she retained some consciousness of the vast expanse which stretched beneath her, beyond the darkness that curtained her sight. A loud rumbling arose, and waves of life seemed to surge up and circle around her. Echoes, odors, and even light streamed against her face, though her hands were still nervously pressed to it. At times sudden gleams appeared to pierce her closed eyelids, and amidst the radiance ...
— A Love Episode • Emile Zola

... three Zenians who accompanied us were to remain below. I nodded my approval of this arrangement, and slowly we made our way to the top of the great platform, while the pennon-bearers formed a close circle around its base, and the people, who had surrounded the great building filed in with military precision and took seats. In the short space of time that it took us to reach the top of the dais, the whole great building filled itself ...
— The God in the Box • Sewell Peaslee Wright

... but woe, And tears, sad tears, from my eyes o'erflow, Which I, the bereaved, must shed, must shed. O children of Ida, sons of Crete, Grasping your bows to the rescue come; Twinkle about on your restless feet, Stand in a circle around her home. O Artemis, thou maid divine, Dictynna, huntress, fair to see, O bring that keen-nosed pack of thine, And hunt through all the house with me. O Hecate, with flameful brands, O Zeus's daughter, arm thine hands, ...
— The Frogs • Aristophanes

... Fox and Jimmy Skunk. Even timid little Whitefoot the Wood Mouse was where he could peer out and see without being seen. Of course, Chatterer the Red Squirrel and Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel were there. There they all sat in a great circle around him, each where he felt safe, but where he could see, and every one of them laughing and making fun ...
— The Adventures of Buster Bear • Thornton W. Burgess

... the speech of the Free Lances' leader; but despite the suggestions of immediate departure, the circle around the table ...
— The Free Lances - A Romance of the Mexican Valley • Mayne Reid

... hollow trees tumbled a whole regiment of stuffed bears, some carrying tin swords, some popguns and others long spears with gay ribbons tied to the handles. There were hundreds of them, altogether, and they quickly formed a circle around the Frogman and the Cookie Cook but kept at a distance and left a large space for the ...
— The Lost Princess of Oz • L. Frank Baum

... families where the mother's presence seemed the sunshine of the circle around her; imparting a cheering and vivifying power, scarcely realized till it was withdrawn. Every one, without thinking of it, or knowing why it was so, experienced a peaceful and invigorating influence as soon as he entered ...
— The American Woman's Home • Catherine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe

... a general movement which took place among the band. The Indians dismounted to a man, giving their horses in charge to three or four of the party, who were also intrusted with the safe keeping of the prisoners. They then formed themselves in a circle around a warrior, who appeared to possess the chief authority; and at a given signal the whole array moved slowly and cautiously from the centre in straight and consequently in diverging lines. Most of their dark forms were soon blended with the brown covering of the prairie; though ...
— The Prairie • J. Fenimore Cooper

... lies this region, a tenantless island, Nowhere open way, seas splash in circle around me, 185 Nowhere flight, no glimmer of hope; all mournfully silent, Loneliness all, all points me to ...
— The Poems and Fragments of Catullus • Catullus

... to the table and with a pencil drew a circle around a spot south of Epernay. "We are here," he said. "The lines are here." He moved the pencil to the northwest of Epernay, where the heavy black lines indicating the front crossed the Marne. "Notice that the lines swing southwest through Comblizy and la Chapelle, ...
— Aces Up • Covington Clarke

... around an abbreviation or a figure indicates that the word or number is to be spelled out. A circle around a spelled-out word or number indicates that it is to be abbreviated ...
— Newspaper Reporting and Correspondence - A Manual for Reporters, Correspondents, and Students of - Newspaper Writing • Grant Milnor Hyde

... talk. Some one always has to be the orator of a club, and Tansey, self-elected, filled this position in the circle around the old stove. Greeley was bored. Past history did not concern him and Moore's opinions he ignored. He had not been listening closely, for his thoughts would, in spite of him, follow the ramshackle buggy ...
— A Son of the Hills • Harriet T. Comstock

... entered, the ladies and gentlemen were seated in a large circle around the centre-table. At one end sat the Duchesses Amelia and Louisa, the mother and wife of Charles Augustus and near the former her friend and favorite the poet Wieland, once the tutor of her son the duke. Near the poet sat an elderly gentleman of cheerful, good-natured mien, who, with ...
— Old Fritz and the New Era • Louise Muhlbach

... and Hare at noon under the shade of the cottonwoods. Eschtah, magnificent in robes of state, stood up with them. The many members of Naab's family and the grave Navajos formed an attentive circle around them. The ceremony was brief. At its close the Mormon lifted his face and ...
— The Heritage of the Desert • Zane Grey

... crushed down the basket till it was almost flat, and it did not look as though there was any space in it for a kitten, much less an eight-year-old boy. Then the men formed a circle around the basket, and began a sort of chant. Something like a voice seemed to be sounding in at the open windows. It continued to come nearer, and at last appeared to proceed from the basket, which began to be distended, till it was restored to its full size. Then the lid was ...
— Across India - Or, Live Boys in the Far East • Oliver Optic

... after a time it ceased, and the wail was at once replied to and continued by women's voices in the camp: he now hastily went down to the camp still uttering his lamentations, and the whole body rose at his approach, and formed a large open circle around him. The natives who were supposed to have caused the death of his friend, formed a part of the circle and were armed with spears; behind them stood the orphan son of the deceased, probably in the light of an accuser; and behind the son were the ...
— Journals Of Expeditions Of Discovery Into Central • Edward John Eyre

... cowering group are a few score horses, many of them sprawled upon the sand motionless; others occasionally struggle to rise or plunge about in their misery. Crouching among the timber, vigilant but weary, dispersed in big, irregular circle around the beleaguered bivouac, some sixty soldiers are still on the active list. All around them, vigilant and vengeful, lurk the Cheyennes. Every now and then the bark as of a coyote is heard,—a yelping, ...
— Marion's Faith. • Charles King

... still trees standing wide apart—maple-trees, with the sap-pegs still in the bark. I sat down on a log; the Indians seated themselves in a wide circle around me; the renegade officer walked to the fringe of ...
— The Maid-At-Arms • Robert W. Chambers

... thermometer would often go over forty degrees below zero, with the sun shining bright and the sky blue; but with a frightful big yellow-and-orange sun-dog each side of the sun, morning and evening, like two great columns; and sometimes there would be a big orange circle around the sun all day, with much frost ...
— Track's End • Hayden Carruth

... sisters and Eudora were in the stately old sitting-room, with its heavy mahogany furniture and its white-wainscoted calls. Amelia simply tossed the bundle into a corner of the sofa; then the sisters all sat in a loving circle around Eudora. ...
— The Yates Pride • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

... Paz," exclaimed another voice which went to his very soul; he recognized Sarah, and his arm traced a bloody circle around him. ...
— The Pearl of Lima - A Story of True Love • Jules Verne

... then by the family and gens of the decedent, next by his remaining phrators, and last by the members of the opposite phratry After the body had been deposited in the grave the sachems and chiefs formed in a circle around it for the purpose of filling it with earth. Each in turn, commencing with the senior in years, cast in three shovelfuls, a typical number in their religious system, of which the first had relation to the ...
— Houses and House-Life of the American Aborigines • Lewis H. Morgan

... eyes detected his design, and she sternly ordered him to remain where he was. Then she turned and spoke a few words to her followers in the Indian tongue. At once a rapid movement took place, as the natives formed themselves in a circle around the white men and thus barred every avenue of escape. This brought the miners somewhat to their senses, and seeing that their unwelcome visitors were not ghosts, their hands slipped to their hip-pockets. But a mighty roar from Sconda ...
— Glen of the High North • H. A. Cody

... is opened, And the largest lamp is lit; When the chestnuts glow in the embers, And the kid turns on the spit; When young and old in circle Around the firebrands close; When the girls are weaving baskets, And ...
— Lays of Ancient Rome • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... confound with the Red-eyed Vireo's, is that of the Solitary Warbling Vireo,—a bird slightly larger, much rarer, and with a louder, less cheerful and happy strain. I see him hopping along lengthwise of the limbs, and note the orange tinge of his breast and sides and the white circle around his eye. ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 104, June, 1866 • Various

... in something like a circle around the fire, and acting on the advice of Elmer, who had been on the cattle range and knew what was right, each sleeper expected to keep ...
— Afloat - or, Adventures on Watery Trails • Alan Douglas

... up to me to do something to maintain the reputation I had made, so I said, "Your majesty, I will now proceed to make it interesting for you, if you and the boys will kindly be seated in a circle around me." They got into a circle, all laughing, and I took out of my pistol pocket a half pint flask, of glass, covered with leather, and with a stopper that opened by touching a spring, and I walked around in front of each one of the Royal family, mumbling, "Ene-mene-mony-my," and opening ...
— Peck's Bad Boy Abroad • George W. Peck

... intrepid young commander, La Palice, retreated facing the enemy, who pressed thick and close upon him, till, his further progress being arrested by a wall, he placed his back against it, and kept them at bay, making a wide circle around him with the deadly sweep of his battle-axe. But the odds were too much for him; and at length, after repeated wounds, having been brought to the ground by a deep cut in the head, he was made prisoner; not, however, before he had flung his sword far over the heads of the assailants, disdaining, ...
— The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella The Catholic, V3 • William H. Prescott

... monotonous music stirred the savages to action. Solemnly they formed a circle around the fire, arms extended, lightly touching each other's finger-tips. To and fro they swayed in time to the crude music, and when the drums thundered out a sonorous crescendo, they crouched to the earth, springing up in unison, uttering fearful yells. When the individual ...
— The Adventures of Piang the Moro Jungle Boy - A Book for Young and Old • Florence Partello Stuart

... sheik spent the evening with us with a number of his people; this was his greatest delight, and we had become thoroughly accustomed to his daily visits. At such times we sat upon an angarep, while he sat upon a mat stretched upon the ground, with a number of his men, who formed a half-circle around him; he then invariably requested that we would tell him stories about England. Of these he never tired, and with the assistance of Mahomet we established a regular entertainment; the great amusement of the Arabs being ...
— The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia • Samuel W. Baker

... in the faces of the circle around us: Some were as black and wild in their appearance as any American savages whatever. One woman was as comely almost as the figure of Sappho, as we see it painted. We asked the old woman, the mistress of the house where we had the milk, ...
— The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. • James Boswell

... not very numerous; sometimes there were three or four around at once. When they were coming we could hear and see them for some rods. Their fashion was to circle around the oxen before lighting on them. I frequently slapped them to kill them, sometimes I caught them, in that case they were apt to lose their heads, proboscis and all. These flies were very large, some were black and some of the largest were whitish ...
— The Bark Covered House • William Nowlin

... describing circle around the head, height of eye (cutting hair). Right hand passed over forehead and face. Left index pointing to black ...
— Sign Language Among North American Indians Compared With That Among Other Peoples And Deaf-Mutes • Garrick Mallery

... curious, but equally courteous, and stood in a large circle around my machine, waiting for me to make my wishes known. For several minutes I pretended to be busy attending to dials and valves inside the car. While trying to screw my courage up to the point of making a verbless explanation of my difficulty, ...
— High Adventure - A Narrative of Air Fighting in France • James Norman Hall

... better turn north fur about a mile and then turn west, Doctor Kirby," I says, "so as to make a kind of a circle around that town." ...
— Danny's Own Story • Don Marquis

... for so long; she had kept her father, she had found her mother, an' she was about to meet—her lover. I saw the Sioux Injuns doin' the dance once, where they tie thongs through their breast muscles an' circle around a pole. Every now an' again they'd fling back their full weight on the thongs, an' their faces would light with savage joy. That was the kind of joy I felt when I ...
— Happy Hawkins • Robert Alexander Wason

... by the author, had to acknowledge that in the scene where Robespierre, alone at midnight in the Conciergerie, sees the phantoms of his victims advance from the surrounding shadows and form a menacing circle around him, Irving had used his poor voice with so little skill that there was little left for the splendid climax, when, in trying to escape from his ghastly visitors, Robespierre finds himself face to face with Marie Antoinette, and with a wild cry, half of horror, ...
— The Ways of Men • Eliot Gregory

... into the court, screeching and shouting, it was easy to see that joy alone at escaping from labor did not render them so noisy. After having pushed through the only door that led to the yard, the crowd separated, and made a circle around a deformed being, ...
— The Mysteries of Paris V2 • Eugene Sue

... delayed awaiting the return of the warriors who had remained to engage in the skirmish with the white men, so that it was quite late when all were in the village, and the dance of death commenced to circle around ...
— Tarzan of the Apes • Edgar Rice Burroughs

... men drew a whistle and blew twice. A single tremulous call like the cry of an owl answered. The swift beat of horses' feet followed, and four white-and-scarlet clansmen swept in a circle around the group. ...
— The Clansman - An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan • Thomas Dixon

... Nobility.—The French nobility had been mastered by the king, but to keep them subservient, to make them circle around royalty and chant its praises, they were {401} given a large extension of rights and privileges. They were exempt from the responsibilities for crime; they occupied all of the important places in church and ...
— History of Human Society • Frank W. Blackmar

... rest," as there is in shooting range cattle in a round-up. The habits of the animal positively eliminate the real essence of sport,—difficulty and danger. When a musk-ox band is chased by dogs, or by wolves, the full-grown members of it, bulls and cows alike, instantly form a close circle around the calves, facing outward shoulder to shoulder, and stand at bay. Without the aid of a gunner and a rifle, such a formation is invincible! Mr. Paul Rainey's moving pictures tell a wonderful story of animal intelligence, bravery and devotion to the ...
— Our Vanishing Wild Life - Its Extermination and Preservation • William T. Hornaday

... rose languidly, unfastened her red silk gown, and let it fall in a rustling circle around her. She let down her soft, misty lengths of hair, in which was a slight shimmer of white, and brushed it. Standing before her dresser, using her ivory-backed brush with long, even strokes, her reflected face showed absolutely ...
— The Debtor - A Novel • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

... with the hope of meeting the lecturer. When she had finished speaking I joined the throng that surged forward from the body of the hall, and as I reached her and felt the grasp of her friendly hand I had a sudden conviction that the meeting was an epoch in my life. I was right. Some one in the circle around us told her that I wanted to preach, and that I was meeting tremendous opposition. She was interested at once. She looked at me with quickening sympathy, and then, suddenly putting an arm around me, drew me ...
— The Story of a Pioneer - With The Collaboration Of Elizabeth Jordan • Anna Howard Shaw

... closed by a grating, before which were two sentinels, who were relieved at intervals. A double line of carbineers, placed on each side of the door of the church, reached to the scaffold, and formed a circle around it, leaving a path about ten feet wide, and around the guillotine a space of nearly a hundred feet. All the rest of the square was paved with heads. Many women held their infants on their shoulders, and thus the children had the best view. The Monte ...
— The Count of Monte Cristo • Alexandre Dumas, Pere

... sordid desire of the vulgar, Hereward," answered the Follower, with assumed superiority, "who are contented to enjoy life, lacking distinction; whereas we, on the other hand, we of choicer quality, who form the nearest and innermost circle around the Imperial Alexius, in which he himself forms the central point, are watchful, to woman's jealousy, of the distribution of his favours, and omit no opportunity, whether by leaguing with or against each other, to recommend ourselves individually to ...
— Waverley Volume XII • Sir Walter Scott

... with eyes alight-for Patsy had a voice that could stir imagination in the dullest—so it was that Louise and the others went out into the moonlit garden, the prairie around them like an endless waste of sea. There they placed themselves in a half circle around Patsy, who sat upon a little bench, with his back to the big spreading elm-tree, which by some special gift had grown alone over the myriad years, defying storm and winter's frost, until it seemed to have an honoured permanence, as stable ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker

... interference. The morning sunshine was slowly thickening again in an indolent mist that seemed to rise from the saturated plain. A stray lounger shuffled over from the blacksmith's shop to the store to take the place of another idler who had joined an equally lethargic circle around the slumbering forge. A dull intermittent sound of hammering came occasionally from the wheelwright's shed—at sufficiently protracted intervals to indicate the enfeebled progress of Sidon's vehicular repair. A yellow dog ...
— A First Family of Tasajara • Bret Harte

... until three in the afternoon. They were inside of the cabin, and managed to keep the savages at a safe distance by firing at them through the crevices whenever they came within rifle-shot. The Indians kept riding in a circle around the cabin for several hours, and, finding they could not dislodge the three brave men, they abandoned the attempt, after losing one of their ponies, which received a rifle-bullet in ...
— The Great Salt Lake Trail • Colonel Henry Inman

... was in the open, Woofer began to circle around him on a lope, steadily increasing the pony's speed, at the same time keeping the rope swinging about ...
— Ted Strong in Montana - With Lariat and Spur • Edward C. Taylor

... is great, that is, 25 or 30 diameters, it might be well to draw a small circle around each characteristic and then draw the line from the circle to the number, since the ridge will be much thicker than the illustrating line. All lines and numbers should be checked for absolute accuracy. The expert should also study the enlargements for apparent discrepancies in the ...
— The Science of Fingerprints - Classification and Uses • Federal Bureau of Investigation

... outside, no inclosing wall, no circumference to us. The man finishes his story,—how good! how final! how it puts a new face on all things! He fills the sky. Lo, on the other side rises also a man and draws a circle around the circle we had just pronounced the outline of the sphere. Then already is our first speaker not man, but only a first speaker. His only redress is forthwith to draw a circle outside of his antagonist. And so men do by themselves. The result of to-day, which haunts the mind ...
— Essays • Ralph Waldo Emerson

... the sound of a conch shell at the beginning of the feast, march quickly back and form a circle around us and the people of Yap, but let not one of ye be seen. Then when there comes a second blast rush in, and see that no one escapes. Spare no ...
— The Call Of The South - 1908 • Louis Becke

... wails, at which the doors of the Temple were thrown open. A light streamed down the pathway, lighting up the fierce combat between man and beasts. The priests uttered a peculiar call, and every hound was immediately obedient; not one left its post, but drew up in a circle around Chios, preventing any chance of escape. Torches flamed, and many men came ...
— Saronia - A Romance of Ancient Ephesus • Richard Short

... and lightning.) I write this sitting by the creek watching my two kingfishers at their sundown sport. The strong, beautiful, joyous creatures! Their wings glisten in the slanted sunbeams as they circle and circle around, occasionally dipping and dashing the water, and making long stretches up and down the creek. Wherever I go over fields, through lanes, in by-places, blooms the white-flowering wild-carrot, its delicate pat of snow-flakes crowning its ...
— Complete Prose Works - Specimen Days and Collect, November Boughs and Goodbye My Fancy • Walt Whitman

... afraid, we stood mute and motionless. The animal caught up with us, played with us. It made a full circle around the frigate—then doing fourteen knots—and wrapped us in sheets of electricity that were like luminous dust. Then it retreated two or three miles, leaving a phosphorescent trail comparable to those swirls of steam that shoot behind the ...
— 20000 Leagues Under the Seas • Jules Verne

... its discovery, Joyce and Wichter had left the moon—which they had found to be as dead and cold as it had been surmised to be—and returned summarily to Earth. They had replenished their supplies and their oxygen tanks, and had come back—to circle around the moon and point the sharp prow of the shell toward Zeud. The gift of the moon to Earth was a dubious one; but the gift of a possibly living planet-colony to mankind might be the solution of the overcrowded conditions ...
— Astounding Stories, April, 1931 • Various

... formed a half circle around her, watching every movement that helped to prepare the dinner. They were all much younger than Gyp, and only one, a girl, ...
— Princess Polly's Gay Winter • Amy Brooks

... between it and the ears of the transported listeners without ruining the ethereal creation. But M. Gunsbourg's fancy has accomplished the miraculous. Out of the river bank he constructs a floral bower rich as the magical garden of Klingsor. Sylphs circle around the sleeper and throw themselves into graceful attitudes while the song is sounding. Then to the music of the elfin waltz, others enter who have, seemingly, cast off the gross weight which holds mortals in contact ...
— A Book of Operas - Their Histories, Their Plots, and Their Music • Henry Edward Krehbiel

... deck. Lingard on his own side stopped in his walk and also gazed absentmindedly before him. In the waist of the brig, in the narrow spars that were lashed on each side of the hatchway, he could see a group of men squatting in a circle around a wooden tray piled up with rice, which stood on the just swept deck. The dark-faced, soft-eyed silent men, squatting on their hams, fed decorously with an earnestness that did not ...
— The Rescue • Joseph Conrad

... mile or so away," he said, "and they've stopped. They're gathered in a semi-circle around one man who seems to be a chief, and I suppose he's talking ...
— The Great Sioux Trail - A Story of Mountain and Plain • Joseph Altsheler

... glass palace was quite big enough for the horse and buggy to enter, so Zeb drove straight through it and the children found themselves in a lofty hall that was very beautiful. The people at once followed and formed a circle around the sides of the spacious room, leaving the horse and buggy and the man with the star to occupy the ...
— Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz • L. Frank Baum.

... the opening they placed some light brushwood, that would easily sink with the weight of any big beast, and in the center placed one of the dead wildcats. The other they dragged in a circle around the hole, and then let it ...
— Out with Gun and Camera • Ralph Bonehill



Words linked to "Circle around" :   circle



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