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Owe   Listen
verb
Owe  v. t.  (past & past part. owed, obs. ought; pres. part. owing)  
1.
To possess; to have, as the rightful owner; to own. (Obs.) "Thou dost here usurp The name thou ow'st not."
2.
To have or possess, as something derived or bestowed; to be obliged to ascribe (something to some source); to be indebted or obliged for; as, he owed his wealth to his father; he owed his victory to his lieutenants. "O deem thy fall not owed to man's decree."
3.
Hence: To have or be under an obigation to restore, pay, or render (something) in return or compensation for something received; to be indebted in the sum of; as, the subject owes allegiance; the fortunate owe assistance to the unfortunate. "The one ought five hundred pence, and the other fifty." "A son owes help and honor to his father." Note: Owe was sometimes followed by an objective clause introduced by the infinitive. "Ye owen to incline and bow your heart."
4.
To have an obligation to (some one) on account of something done or received; to be indebted to; as, to owe the grocer for supplies, or a laborer for services.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Owe" Quotes from Famous Books



... first time that my duty to France has run contrary to my duty to the great, the marvellous man whom you know by that name, and to whom I owe all that I have, all that I am; whose orders I may not and would ...
— The Sins of Severac Bablon • Sax Rohmer

... instance, all attempts thus far economically to oxidize carbon for the production of electricity have failed, yet in observations that at first seemed equally barren have lain the hints to which we owe the incandescent lamp and ...
— Little Masterpieces of Science: - Invention and Discovery • Various

... Money will owe its position of importance, under a producers' society, to the need for a medium of exchange, and until men discover a means more effective than money for the facilitating of exchange, money will continue to play an ...
— The Next Step - A Plan for Economic World Federation • Scott Nearing

... opposite to Catherine-street in the Strand, a very honest man and of great gravity of countenance; who, among other excellent stationery commodities, is particularly eminent for his pens, which I am abundantly bound to acknowledge, as I owe to their peculiar goodness that my manuscripts have by any means been legible: this gentleman, I say, furnished me some time since with a bundle of those pens, wrapped up with great care and caution, ...
— From This World to the Next • Henry Fielding

... set of individuals who will undertake to carry on the Government, and as long as Parliament continues to think the proposal right and equitable. What all this may produce, God only knows. Our reliance can only be on the discharge of what we owe to the King in gratitude and duty, and in the decided manner in which we have put all considerations out of the question which can personally ...
— Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George the Third, Volume 2 (of 2) - From the Original Family Documents • The Duke of Buckingham

... case the ladies must be visible, too: for I entertained them, you know, in my rooms at Commem. They must at least ask me to tea. They owe me tea." ...
— A Country Gentleman and his Family • Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

... seriously, he added: "I tell you frankly, there's every chance of a huge European war in the near future, and you can see the different position we should be in if the Germans had got hold of this new powder of yours. Apart from that, the Government owe you every possible sort of reparation for the shameful way you've been treated. If there's any 'overlooking' to be done, it will be on your side, ...
— A Rogue by Compulsion • Victor Bridges

... house my inn; Call for whate'er you will, you'll nothing pay. [1]I feel a sudden pain within my breast, Nor know I whether it arise from love Or only the wind-cholick. Time must shew. O Thumb! what do we to thy valour owe! Ask some reward, great ...
— Miscellanies, Volume 2 (from Works, Volume 12) • Henry Fielding

... was a miserable note of dejection in Kenleigh's voice. "Yes; that's what I did. And I put them in that safe. You know the rest, and—and, oh, my God, what am I to do! My client, naturally, won't pay for what he does not receive, and I owe Thorpe, LeLand and Company a hundred thousand dollars." He laughed out a little hysterically. "A hundred thousand dollars! It sounds like a joke, doesn't it? I've got a little money, all I've been able to save in ten years' work, a few ...
— The Further Adventures of Jimmie Dale • Frank L. Packard

... stand better what I had to take from him," and in answer to his cousin's questions he revealed the substance of the interview. "I do this," he concluded, "that you and other friends may better understand my course. To-morrow Mr. Houghton becomes my employer, and I shall owe a certain kind of loyalty. The more seldom we mention his name thereafter, the better; and I shall never speak of him except ...
— The Earth Trembled • E.P. Roe

... do it with great pleasure, and the more readily because it was the brother of Vang Khan who asked it. "Indeed," said he to Hakembu, "I owe you all the kind treatment in my power for your brother's sake, in return for the succor and protection for which I was indebted to him, in my misfortunes, in former times, when he received me, a fugitive ...
— Genghis Khan, Makers of History Series • Jacob Abbott

... nearly all specimens of a form of original narrative occupying a middle ground between the anecdote and fable, and abounding in Gipsy traits. Some of them are given word for word as they are current among Gipsies, and others owe their existence almost entirely either to the vivid imagination and childlike fancies of an old Gipsy assistant, or were developed from some hint or imperfect saying or story. But all are thoroughly and truly Rommany; for every one, after being brought into shape, passed through ...
— The English Gipsies and Their Language • Charles G. Leland

... small irregular Turkish levies to which they were opposed, do not warrant the present population in indulging in the vapid boastings too often heard, of their ability to drive the Turks to Constantinople, were they permitted so to do. In a word, they forget that they owe their present position, not to their own prowess, but to foreign intervention; without which the province would probably have shared the fate of Bosnia, Albania, Epirus, and the Pashaliks of Rutschuk and Widdin, all which were as independent as themselves, ...
— Herzegovina - Or, Omer Pacha and the Christian Rebels • George Arbuthnot

... said and held out his left hand, "I owe you a heap. And look here—-" He hesitated a moment and then spoke in tones so low that Everton had to bend over the stretcher to hear him. "My leg's smashed bad, and I'm done for the Front and the old Hotwaters. ...
— Action Front • Boyd Cable (Ernest Andrew Ewart)

... dreaded in Europe; and permitting the strength of Christendom to grow, during that long period, till, when it was seriously assailed in its own home, it was able to defend itself. It may show us what we owe to the valour of those devoted champions of the Cross, who struggled with the might of Islamism when "it was strongest, and ruled it when it was wildest;" and teach us to look with thankfulness on the dispensations of that over-ruling Providence, which causes even the ...
— Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 366, April, 1846 • Various

... Southern war-vessels. Russell might himself feel that a real offence to the North had taken place. He might write, "I confess the proceedings of that vessel [the Alabama] are enough to rile a more temperate nation, and I owe a grudge to the Liverpool people on that account[974]," but this was of no value to the North if the governmental decision was against interference without complete ...
— Great Britain and the American Civil War • Ephraim Douglass Adams

... "Latimer, I owe my child's life probably to you. How shall I repay the debt?" cried Mr. Cavendish, attempting, as he spoke, to clasp Herbert's hand. He winced at the touch, and a sudden contraction passed ...
— Evenings at Donaldson Manor - Or, The Christmas Guest • Maria J. McIntosh

... said Gregory, smiling. "One man's ambition is for high position, another's an illustrious alliance: the former will owe everything to himself, the latter will make a stepping-stone of his wife, then they raise their eyes ...
— CELEBRATED CRIMES, COMPLETE - VANINKA • ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE

... and perfect love, seeing that, without waiting to be asked, thou dost so handsomely come to my aid with so large a sum of money. And albeit I was thine without this token of thy love, yet, assuredly, it has made me thine in an even greater degree; nor shall I ever forget that 'tis to thee I owe my brother's life. But God knows I take thy money from thee reluctantly, seeing that thou art a merchant, and 'tis by means of money that merchants conduct all their affairs; but, as necessity constrains me, and I have good hope of speedily repaying thee, I will even take ...
— The Decameron, Vol. II. • Giovanni Boccaccio

... more than travel in Elizabethan days, when young men quietly settled down for hard study in some German or Italian town. Robert Sidney, for instance, had only L100 a year when he was living with Sturm. "Tearm yt as you wyll, it ys all I owe you," said his father. "Harry Whyte ... shall have his L20 yearly, and you your L100; and so be as mery as you may."[325] Secretary Davison expected his son, his tutor, and their servant to live on this amount at Venice. "Mr. Wo." had ...
— English Travellers of the Renaissance • Clare Howard

... stood against the fireplace, where the frosty air helped to make a glowing bank. "You see, I can leave the whist-table easily enough," he went on, smiling at Lydgate, "now I don't play for money. I owe that to ...
— Middlemarch • George Eliot

... gardens at Buitenzorg. It is only natural that a people so distinguished for horticulture as the Dutch should have turned to account the floral wealth of the Malay Archipelago, perhaps the richest botanical hunting-ground in the world. The Buitenzorg gardens, however, owe their present celebrity more to individual energy than to ...
— A Visit to Java - With an Account of the Founding of Singapore • W. Basil Worsfold

... rattening?"—and laughter.) Arbitration seemed to him the most politic course under the circumstances. (Cheers.) They were accused of eating young moor-chicks. Well, was a Rat to starve? ("No, no!") Did not a Rat owe a duty to those dependent upon it? (Cheers, and cries of "Yes!") He appealed to the opinion of the civilised world to put a stop—At this point in the Chair-rat's address, an alarm of "Dogs!" was raised, and the meeting at once ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 99, Sept. 27, 1890 • Various

... "I owe my son's recovery to GOD, and to you, Mrs. Bundle," said my father, with a certain elaborateness of speech to which he was given on important occasions. "No money could purchase such care as you bestowed ...
— A Flat Iron for a Farthing - or Some Passages in the Life of an only Son • Juliana Horatia Ewing

... present day. I may, however, remark that among a number of primitive races, and in young and progressive nations, whose sexual life is still comparatively pure, prostitution is only feebly developed. It is especially to Napoleon I that we owe the present form of regulation and organization of prostitutes. Like all his legislation on marriage and sexual intercourse, this regulation is the living expression of his sentiments toward woman; oppression of the female sex, contempt ...
— The Sexual Question - A Scientific, psychological, hygienic and sociological study • August Forel

... far up the Boque river during the troublous times when Simiti was burned and devastated. And that, when the troops had gone, they returned to their desolated home, and died, within a month of each other. What do I not owe to them! And can my care of their daughter Ana and her little son ever cancel the ...
— Carmen Ariza • Charles Francis Stocking

... stately lily's silver bells; A passing murmur, a half-whispered sigh, Heard for a moment in the deep repose Of Nature's midnight rest—then hushed for ever! Parent of genius, bright Enthusiasm! Bold nurse of high resolve and generous thought, 'Tis to thy soul-awakening power we owe The preacher's eloquence, the painter's skill, The poet's lay, the patriot's noble zeal, The warrior's courage, and the sage's lore. Oh! till the soul is quickened by thy breath, Wit, wisdom, eloquence, and beauty, fail To make a just impression on the heart; The tide of life creeps lazily along, ...
— Enthusiasm and Other Poems • Susanna Moodie

... France, the beautiful! to thee Once more a debt of love we owe In peace beneath thy Colors Three, We hail ...
— The Complete Works of Whittier - The Standard Library Edition with a linked Index • John Greenleaf Whittier

... pleasant-looking young man. Now he was a very white and shaky being, propped up in an arm-chair by the fire, and inclined to shiver and keep an eye on the door. If however, there were visitors whom he was not prepared to welcome, Mr Eldred was not among them. 'It really is I who owe you an apology, and I was despairing of being able to pay it, for I didn't know your address. But I am very glad you have called. I do dislike and regret giving all this trouble, but you know I could not have foreseen ...
— Ghost Stories of an Antiquary - Part 2: More Ghost Stories • Montague Rhodes James

... course of mathematics which he had been so instrumental in introducing into the University) in his occasional absences: and in all respects I looked to him as to a parent. All my debts to other friends in the University added together are not comparable to what I owe ...
— Autobiography of Sir George Biddell Airy • George Biddell Airy

... Raby is no more belov'd Since he bestow'd his daughter's hand on Douglas: That was a crime the dutiful Elwina Can never pardon; and believe me, madam, My love's so nice, so delicate my honour, I am asham'd to owe my happiness To ties which ...
— Percy - A Tragedy • Hannah More

... could make me change my mind? I'm sorry you misunderstood me. I will write to your husband to-morrow. For Arthur's sake I hope you won't tell him the real explanation of your going back, and of Arthur's staying here. I think you owe that to us ... even if you don't realise that it's also the best for yourself." She turned towards the door. "I think we had better say good-night. There is a train at seven-fifty in the morning. I'm sorry it's so early, ...
— The Tragic Bride • Francis Brett Young

... Cousin, it became not only bearable, but even transformed into one that became proportionately honourable and dignified. This graciousness of yours has undoubtedly contributed towards the change of opinion which has resulted in my favour, and so I owe to you, to the Prince, and to your Government, a fortunate issue out of my calamities. So it is with a heavy heart that I have now left England, not knowing what future lies before me to meet—and only knowing that I shall need the strengthening rest and tranquillity which my stay in England ...
— The Letters of Queen Victoria, Vol 2 (of 3), 1844-1853 • Queen Victoria

... it does," she admitted, though between you and me it wasn't so. "But any man can do the chores, and the planning you can do still—and nobody can write the History of Vandemark Township but Jacobus Teunis Vandemark. You owe it to the ...
— Vandemark's Folly • Herbert Quick

... trained by our cherished mother the Church of Rome; shunning utterly therein all novelty of doctrine, which we desire shall in all things conform to the holy and ecumenical councils and doctors acknowledged by the same Church; teaching them especially that obedience which all Christians owe to die supreme Pontiff and the Church of Rome—which in truth is always the leader, head, and mistress of all other churches of the world—then to their lawful rulers and masters; teaching them at the same time to live under the yoke and discipline of Faith, Hope, and Charity, ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803, Volume II, 1521-1569 • Emma Helen Blair

... meet with the nest of the Streaked Wren-Warbler, and all the information I possess in regard to its nidification I owe to others. ...
— The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1 • Allan O. Hume

... of music. How much do I owe your ladyship now?—three rubbers, I think. Now, though you would not believe it of a young girl," continued Mrs. Broadhurst, "I can assure your ladyship, my daughter would often rather go to a book than ...
— Tales and Novels, Vol. 6 • Maria Edgeworth

... "What favor owe you him?" demanded Spikeman. "Has he not evil entreated thee, and loaded thee with unnecessary and cruel bands of iron, till compelled by me ...
— The Knight of the Golden Melice - A Historical Romance • John Turvill Adams

... certainly, Captain Jekyl. I will own to you I owe you my thanks, for extricating me from that foolish affair at the Well—nothing could have put me to more inconvenience than the necessity of following to extremity a frivolous quarrel at ...
— St. Ronan's Well • Sir Walter Scott

... survey the land; Happier than Crusoe we, a friendly band; Blest be the hand that reared this friendly home, The heart and mind of him to whom we owe Hours of pure peace such as few mortals know; May he find such, should he be led to roam; Be tended by such ministering sprites— Enjoy such gaily childish days, such hopeful nights! And yet, amid the goods to mortals ...
— Summer on the Lakes, in 1843 • S.M. Fuller

... confined to this country. It is the very basis of all government. The bolts Emerson forged, his thought, his wit, his perception, are not provincial. They were found to carry inspiration to England and Germany. Many of the important men of the last half-century owe him a debt. It is not yet possible to give any account of his influence abroad, because the memoirs which will show it are only beginning to be published. We shall have them in due time; for Emerson was an outcome of the world's progress. His appearance ...
— Emerson and Other Essays • John Jay Chapman

... architecture. They are: (1) Wadham is less altered than any other college in Oxford. (2) It is the finest illustration of the fact that the Gothic style survived in Oxford when it was being rapidly superseded elsewhere. (3) No building in Oxford (very few buildings anywhere) owe their effect so completely to their simplicity and ...
— The Charm of Oxford • J. Wells

... replied Nourgehan, "as to the two talismans, and never Prince was possessor of such treasures. I may now truly style myself the sovereign of the sea. What do I owe to thee, the ruler of my soul! But of what use is this one which the beauteous Damake ...
— Eastern Tales by Many Story Tellers • Various

... them, why speak of it now? or renew the bitter recollections of the bootless struggle and victory? O Lafayette! O hero of two worlds! O accomplished Cromwell Grandison! you have to answer for more than any mortal man who has played a part in history: two republics and one monarchy does the world owe to you; and especially grateful should your country be to you. Did you not, in '90, make clear the path for honest Robespierre, and in '30, prepare ...
— The Paris Sketch Book Of Mr. M. A. Titmarsh • William Makepeace Thackeray

... behaviour: I will never ask you where you have been or where you are going. But listen, Dorothea," he said, as his face flushed with anger and anxiety, his voice rising as if by unconscious pressure, "don't you ever dare dishonour my name! It is the only thing I have. I owe humanity an irreparable debt for it. It invests me not simply with what is known as civic honour, it gives me also the honour I feel and enjoy when I stand in the presence of what I have created. ...
— The Goose Man • Jacob Wassermann

... deliberately converted you into an oligarchy and placed you in hostility to the democracy, and then they came with a great force under guise of being your allies, and delivered you over to the majority, so that, for any service they rendered you, you were all dead men; and you owe your lives to our friends here, the ...
— Hellenica • Xenophon

... monopolies in manufacturing, and as such have already been considered in the preceding chapters; but it is proper here to point out the part which our patent system has taken in their formation, and the fact that it is due to their control of patents that many of the existing combinations owe their ...
— Monopolies and the People • Charles Whiting Baker

... to follow the Indian canoes and the bateaux of the French missionaries down the great rivers, was the flatboat—a homely and ungraceful vessel, but yet one to which the people of the United States owe, perhaps, more of real service in the direction of building up a great nation than they do to Dewey's "Olympia," or Schley's "Brooklyn." A typical flatboat of the early days of river navigation was about fifty-five feet long by sixteen ...
— American Merchant Ships and Sailors • Willis J. Abbot

... of white and red, Her faults will ne'er be known; For blushing cheeks by faults are bred, And fears by pale white shown. Then if she fear, or be to blame, By this you shall not know, For still her cheeks possess the same Which native she doth owe. A dangerous rhyme, master, against the reason ...
— Love's Labour's Lost • William Shakespeare [Craig, Oxford edition]

... to the light which God had given them, they threw themselves on our great cities with the ardour of Apostles; spoke of a higher world to thousands who pass the greater part of life in dreaming only of this; and made many of us feel that we owe them at least the debt of an example, which He Who breatheth where He listeth must surely have ...
— Fifteen Chapters of Autobiography • George William Erskine Russell

... elirejo. outline : konturo, skizo. outrage : perfort'ajxo, -i. oval : ovalo, ovoforma. oven : forno. overall : kitelo, supervesto. overcoat : palto. overlook : esplori, pardoni, malatenti. overseer : laborestro, kontrolisto, vokto. overtake : kuratingi. overturn : renversi. owe : sxuldi. owing to : pro, kauxze de. owl : strigo, gufo. own : propra; posedi; konfesi. ox : bovo. oyster ...
— The Esperanto Teacher - A Simple Course for Non-Grammarians • Helen Fryer

... leaped, but I couldn't decide where to put my feet. Whew! Got any grape-juice for a growing boy?" He helped himself to his father's wine-glass and drained it. "You can settle now, dad—one thousand iron men. I owe ...
— The Auction Block • Rex Beach

... oh Conscript Fathers, who owe as much duty to the Republic as we do, pay the taxes for which each one of you is liable, to the Procurators appointed in each Province, by three instalments (trina illatione). Or, if you prefer to do so—and it used ...
— The Letters of Cassiodorus - Being A Condensed Translation Of The Variae Epistolae Of - Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator • Cassiodorus (AKA Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator)

... everything of this sort is so much worse in my position than in yours. You understand that? A gentleman—and a clergyman—has things expected from him which never would be thought of in your case. I have never omitted to acknowledge my obligations to you—and you also owe some obligations ...
— Phoebe, Junior • Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant

... hours young Jacky Custis, only surviving child of Martha Washington. It was Dr. Craik who learned of the Conway Cabal in 1777 and warned Washington of the conspiracy to remove him from command. To him we also owe the Indian legend of Washington's immortality. When Braddock was defeated and killed at Monongahela, Washington, with four bullets through his coat and two horses shot from under him, the chosen target of the Indian chief and his braves, was unharmed, ...
— Seaport in Virginia - George Washington's Alexandria • Gay Montague Moore

... food the deleterious earthy matter is our constant aim. To that alone do we owe immunity from old age far in advance of that period of life when your people become decrepit and senile. The human body is like a lamp-wick, which filters the oil while it furnishes light. In time the wick becomes clogged and ...
— Mizora: A Prophecy - A MSS. Found Among the Private Papers of the Princess Vera Zarovitch • Mary E. Bradley

... sacked Rome a Frenchman?" he continued. "And Charles d'Anjou, who fell upon us to make himself King of the two Sicilies? And Charles VIII, who entered by the Porte du Peuple? Were they Frenchmen? Why did they come to meddle in our affairs? Ah, if we were to calculate closely, how much you owe us! Was it not we who gave you Mazarin, Massena, Bonaparte and many others who have gone to die in your army in Russia, in Spain and elsewhere? And at Dijon? Did not Garibaldi stupidly fight for you, who would have taken from him his country? We are quits on the ...
— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet

... be exceedingly well done," she said to her sister Alicia. "And Mr. Barking entirely agrees with me. I feel I owe it not only to myself, but to the rest of the family to show that none of us see anything extraordinary in Connie's marriage, and that whatever Shotover's debts may have been, or may be, they are really no concern at ...
— The History of Sir Richard Calmady - A Romance • Lucas Malet

... before parting, 'I owe you an awful lot, my life, p'raps; but for every little thing you do for her I'll owe you a thousand times more—a ...
— The Gold-Stealers - A Story of Waddy • Edward Dyson

... we think not ourselves discharged of the duty we owe to our friend when we have brought the breathless body to the earth; for, albeit the eye there taketh his ever-farewell of that beloved object, yet the impression of the man that hath been dear unto us, living an ...
— Hero and Leander and Other Poems • Christopher Marlowe and George Chapman

... voluntarily; to the last of his fields, the good old hero! He is grey with seventy years: he says, 'I was twice called to the Council of him who was my Master, when all the world coveted that honour; and I owe him the same service now, when it has become one which many reckon dangerous.' These two, with a younger Deseze, whom they will select for pleading, are busy over that Fifty-and-sevenfold Indictment, over the Hundred and Sixty-two Documents; Louis ...
— The French Revolution • Thomas Carlyle

... the front door was closed Hester hurried down to her husband, whom she found still in the hall. He took her into his own room, and told her everything that had passed,—everything, as accurately as he could. 'And remember,' he said, 'though I do not owe them money, that I feel bound by my conscience to refund them so much. I should do it, now I know the circumstances, if no charge ...
— John Caldigate • Anthony Trollope

... have said, speak to me not of love; Had you a dispensation I have not; 15 Nor will I leave this home of misery Whilst my poor Bernard, and that gentle lady To whom I owe life, and these virtuous thoughts, Must suffer what I still have strength to share. Alas, Orsino! All the love that once 20 I felt for you, is turned to bitter pain. Ours was a youthful contract, which ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Volume I • Percy Bysshe Shelley

... dress."' 'Indeed; but that is not a fine name!' answered the old lady. Very soon the name of 'gibbet dress' got known all round the room, and every one laughed at the foolish creature who was thus bedecked." This head-dress did in fact owe its name to its summit, ...
— Manners, Custom and Dress During the Middle Ages and During the Renaissance Period • Paul Lacroix

... attribute them to anything else than thy paternal care. I have too often experienced, to my cost, what I should be without Thee, to presume in the least on any cares of my own. It is to Thee, and to Thee only, that I owe everything. O my Deliverer; and my being indebted to Thee for it gives ...
— The Autobiography of Madame Guyon • Jeanne Marie Bouvier de La Motte Guyon

... whom we are bound thankfully to commemorate, many, perhaps most, were savages. For when all is said and done our resemblances to the savage are still far more numerous than our differences from him; and what we have in common with him, and deliberately retain as true and useful, we owe to our savage forefathers who slowly acquired by experience and transmitted to us by inheritance those seemingly fundamental ideas which we are apt to regard as original and intuitive. We are like heirs to a fortune which has ...
— The Golden Bough - A study of magic and religion • Sir James George Frazer

... he said, "I beseech you to pardon me. I have just committed a wrong, sir. You are at my house, you are my guest, I owe you courtesy. You discuss my ideas, and it becomes me to confine myself to combating your arguments. Your riches and your pleasures are advantages which I hold over you in the debate; but good taste dictates that I shall not make use of them. I promise ...
— Les Miserables - Complete in Five Volumes • Victor Hugo

... aristocratic sniff had taken to fierce, no-quarter campaigns in the bitterness of a broken heart. Did the Grays, then, really owe two of their fairest provinces to the lady who had jilted him? Had they to thank the clever wife of him of the Louis XIV. curls, whose intrigues won for her husband command of the army, for another province? It was whispered, too, that ...
— The Last Shot • Frederick Palmer

... writers who admire Bacon as a materialist, the most utter incapacity of philosophising on Bacon's method, the very restless conceit, the hasty generalisation, the hankering after cosmogonic theories, which Bacon anathematises in every page. Yes, I repeat it, we owe our medical and sanitary science to Bacon's philosophy; and Bacon owed ...
— Sermons on National Subjects • Charles Kingsley

... 3363 assigned poverty as the cause; 3154 were "seduced" and drifted on to the street; 1636 were betrayed by promises of marriage and abandoned by lover and relations. On the whole, Merrick states, 4790, or nearly one-third of the whole number, may be said to owe the adoption of their career directly to men, 11,232 to other causes. He adds that of those pleading poverty a large number were indolent and incapable (G.P. Merrick, Work ...
— Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 6 (of 6) • Havelock Ellis

... answer the account which they gave your Majesty about the places and the cases of fuerca. Although I am sure that my cause has been justified before God and those men who know what has happened, I do it to satisfy your Majesty, to whom I owe all obedience and subjection as to my king and lord. I am even bound to explain my conduct; because, by the grace of God, your Majesty has no one in this kingdom who serves you with greater love and zeal. I claim no payment nor temporal interest ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, V7, 1588-1591 • Emma Helen Blair

... he said, as Mrs Dale got up to take her leave; "my very best love. If her old uncle can do anything for her she has only to let me know. She met the man in my house, and I feel that I owe her much. Bid her come and see me. It will be better for her than moping at home. And Mary"—this he said to her, whispering into her ear—"think of what I said to you ...
— The Small House at Allington • Anthony Trollope

... battle. The first started for Paris when Melas' victory was certain; the second, starting four hours later, brought the news of the defeat of the Austrians. Du Bousquier cursed Kellermann and Desaix; he dared not curse Bonaparte, who might owe him millions. This alternative of millions to be earned and present ruin staring him in the face, deprived the purveyor of most of his faculties: he became nearly imbecile for several days; the man had so abused his health by excesses that when the thunderbolt fell upon ...
— An Old Maid • Honore de Balzac

... "My dear, I owe you that at least. If it's for your good, it'll be for mine. Why not start tomorrow? You've got ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy

... "We owe our success to a system of war which has its proofs in twice changing our relations with the Arabs. This system consists altogether in the great mobility we have given to our troops. Instead of disseminating our soldiers ...
— The Prairie Traveler - A Hand-book for Overland Expeditions • Randolph Marcy

... and Lemons, Say the bells of St. Clement's; You owe me five farthings, Say the bells of St. Martin's; When will you pay me? Say the bells of Old Bailey. I do not know, Says the big bell of Bow. Here comes a candle to light you to bed Here comes a chopper to ...
— Games For All Occasions • Mary E. Blain

... not content with ruinin' my business BY DAY, when I took to it at night, YOU took to goin' out at nights too, and so put a stopper on me there! Shall I tell you what else you did? Well, by the holy poker! I owe this sprained foot to your darned foolishness and my own, for it was getting away from YOU one night after the theatre that I got run into ...
— Stories in Light and Shadow • Bret Harte

... You are a lucky young dog; but I don't think that luck is the proper word, for you owe it entirely, first to your knowledge of languages, then to your own behaviour and pluck. It is rare indeed, I can tell you, that a midshipman of two years' standing is passed and promoted. I have ...
— At Aboukir and Acre - A Story of Napoleon's Invasion of Egypt • George Alfred Henty

... in Women Developed by Masculine Selection.—Moreover, we are all now recognizing the fact that we owe to the ownership of woman by man a secondary sex-selection of inestimable value. It may be an extreme statement to say, with at least one sociologist, that the ages of woman's subjection to man was not too great a price to pay for the gift to the race of feminine beauty and charm. We can ...
— The Family and it's Members • Anna Garlin Spencer

... having to leave the Marchioness alone and unprotected in the hands of the Brasses, and little did he dream that to the small servant herself, to the Marchioness, rather than to him, Kit and his mother were to owe their heaviest debt of gratitude—but it ...
— Ten Girls from Dickens • Kate Dickinson Sweetser

... The coal measures owe their origin to this period of profuse vegetation. The yet elastic and yielding crust of the earth obeyed the fluid forces beneath. Thence innumerable fissures and depressions. The plants, sunk underneath the waters, formed by degrees ...
— A Journey to the Interior of the Earth • Jules Verne

... against any of the young ladies," said Link Merwell, with a smirk at Laura that made Dave's sister turn away in disdain. "We are only doing it to square accounts with Dave Porter and his cronies. We owe them a good deal,—and this is ...
— Dave Porter and His Rivals - or, The Chums and Foes of Oak Hall • Edward Stratemeyer

... despise me!" I thought, my cheeks burning, my eyes fastened upon the play-bill. "I owe him ten shillings. If he likes he can point me out to them all and say, 'That is an English girl—lady I can not call her. I found her quite alone and lost at Koeln, and I did all I could to help her. I saved her a great deal of anxiety and inconvenience. She was not above accepting my assistance; ...
— The First Violin - A Novel • Jessie Fothergill

... "I owe everything to Miss Helena," said Martha, half aloud, as she sat alone by the window; she had said it to herself a thousand times. When she looked in the little keepsake mirror she always hoped to see some faint reflection of Helena Vernon, but there was only ...
— The Queen's Twin and Other Stories • Sarah Orne Jewett

... "I owe him no wages," answered George; "on the contrary, he—and every other man of the crew, for that matter—has drawn a month's advance, and owes me three weeks' service yet before we shall be square. Who is to ...
— The Voyage of the Aurora • Harry Collingwood

... eagles meet, When a badger lies dead at their feet— Each would use a spear on his foe, Each an arrow would put to his bow, And bid its goal be his foeman's breast, But the warriors interpose, And delay the vengeance I owe. Thou hear'st ...
— Traditions of the North American Indians, Vol. 3 (of 3) • James Athearn Jones

... in a sense I hardly deserve it. You did—if I may say—rather take charge of me, you know. Not that I mind. This is my picnic, and I don't undertake to carry you farther than Tewkesbury. But is does occur to me that you owe ...
— True Tilda • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... she did well;—nothing too hard or too humble for her, if she thought it her duty. I know what that means; I myself have been a poor, weak creature, compared with her. Don't be offended because I ask you to take pattern by her. I know her value now better than I ever knew it before. I owe her a ...
— In the Year of Jubilee • George Gissing

... dignity; "I think I owe him a personal explanation. Is my hair all right? If you girls reveal this to a single person before I come back, I'll not tell you a thing he says," she added as she ...
— When Patty Went to College • Jean Webster

... history and literature of which owe their perennial charm for all later ages to the fact that they represent the eternal adolescence of the world, best illustrates what this enthusiasm means for youth. Jaeger and Guildersleeve, and yet better Grasberger, would have us believe that the Panhellenic and especially the ...
— Youth: Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene • G. Stanley Hall

... this morning to ask for twenty pounds, and it is given to him in four five-pound notes, which he folds up and puts in his pocket-book and then he goes away. He has just got outside the Bank, when a friend comes up, and says: 'I say, old man, what about that five pounds you owe me?' ...
— The Children's Book of London • Geraldine Edith Mitton

... Doctor Danton has been my friend; I owe him more than I can ever repay. He is the best, and noblest, and most generous of men. He was my friend when I had no friend in the world—when, but for him, I might have died. But he is not the one I ...
— Kate Danton, or, Captain Danton's Daughters - A Novel • May Agnes Fleming

... trust you, and thank you gratefully for this frankness. I never forget that I owe Jasper's life to you, and never expect to repay that debt. Remember this when I seem cold or unkind, and remember also that I say now, had you been spared this affliction, I would gladly have ...
— The Abbot's Ghost, Or Maurice Treherne's Temptation • A. M. Barnard

... not know what to do, and he calls in two sets of Irish experts (we'll say) and asks for their opinions. One set of Irishmen never quarrel with anybody and always pay their debts. The other set quarrel with everybody and don't pay what they owe. One set are successful in everything, the other set are successful in nothing. One set have always been friendly and helpful to Bull, the other set have always been unfriendly and obstructive to him. He proposes to reject the advice of the successful, amicable, helpful men, who have always ...
— Ireland as It Is - And as It Would be Under Home Rule • Robert John Buckley (AKA R.J.B.)

... perhaps," Mr. Shubrick went on; "and I certainly owe it to you. I told you how I got into my engagement with her. It was a boyish fancy; but all the same, I was bound by it; and I should have been legally bound before now, only that Christina always put off that whenever I proposed it. I found ...
— The End of a Coil • Susan Warner

... more and take them at the same time. I think that we clung to that expedition as our last remaining link with the 'Varsity. But there is a link, which those who learn to love Oxford, as Fred, Jack and I loved her, cannot break; it is the debt which we owe to her, for we shall never be able to repay it ...
— Godfrey Marten, Undergraduate • Charles Turley

... on Factories Bill. Not quite certain to whom they chiefly owe it, whether to GORST or MATTHEWS. Question arose on SYDNEY BUXTON's Amendment, raising the age of child-labourers to a minimum of eleven years. Debate lasted all night; a pleasant contrast to the unreality of Irish Debate; Benches crowded; audience interested; ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 100, June 27, 1891 • Various

... one really wants a blaze," remarked Bert, and then he added: "We can make another payment on the engine this week, and then we'll only owe twenty-six dollars." ...
— The Young Firemen of Lakeville - or, Herbert Dare's Pluck • Frank V. Webster

... matters—other matters! I don't want to say too much, but I'd like to have you run over in your mind what those other matters might be. Now, you and I can't afford to be enemies. I got the tough end, and I'm willing to overlook and forget. You owe me a little something. I hope you're going to square it. Let me remind you that I'm a bad man with my tongue. I'm free to say it, I depend on my tongue for what I ...
— The Ramrodders - A Novel • Holman Day

... play of Ibsen is like that of a diagram in Euclid; it is the rhythm of logic, and it produces in us the purely mental exaltation of a problem solved. These people who are seen so clearly, moving about in a well-realised world, using probable words and doing necessary things, may owe some of their manner at least to the modern French stage, and to the pamphleteer's prose world of Dumas fils; yet, though they may illustrate problems, they no longer recite them. They are seen, not as the poet sees his people, naked against ...
— Figures of Several Centuries • Arthur Symons

... occupations. Some we educate as scholars, some laborers, some professional men. In me, dear friend, you see one of the triumphs of our methods. I myself was a foundling—raised and educated in the School of Environment. Whatever I may be, I owe to the School." ...
— When I Grow Up • Richard E. Lowe

... 'it was a promise I made months since that I should attend Bella's wedding, and I never break my word, as I hope you will find. These girls have been good friends and true to us in our need. We all owe them much. I don't suppose we shall cross each ...
— Robbery Under Arms • Thomas Alexander Browne, AKA Rolf Boldrewood

... grandmother's linen-chest upstairs must be used again for you [Impulsively drawing CATHERINE to him.], my house fairy. [Kisses her.] There, I mustn't tease her. But I leave it to Fritz if I don't owe her a fine husband—this girl of mine. Look what she has ...
— The Return of Peter Grimm • David Belasco

... "Go, Lakshmana and seek in Kishkindhya that ungrateful king of the monkeys, who understands well his own interest and is even now indulging in dissipations, that foolish wretch of his race whom I have installed on a throne and to whom all apes and monkeys and bears owe allegiance, that fellow for whose sake, O mighty-armed perpetuator of Raghu's race, Vali was slain by me with thy help in the wood of Kishkindhya! I regard that worst of monkeys on earth to be highly ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Bk. 3 Pt. 2 • Translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli

... no means satisfied, whatever the third may be. The other day we were looking over some of the dear delightful letters you used to write to us. Real letters those were, and not little dry notes at all. Robert said, 'When I write to dear Mr. Kenyon I really do feel overcome by the sense of what I owe to him, and so, as it is beyond words to say, why generally I say as little as possible of anything, keeping myself to matters of business.' An alternative very objectionable, I told him; for to have ...
— The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1 of 2) • Frederic G. Kenyon

... with personal claims for originality and with copyright. Shakspeare did not acknowledge whence he took his plots, because it was unnecessary. Now, if a writer borrow a tale from the French, it is held that he ought at least to owe the obligation, or perhaps even ...
— Life of Cicero - Volume One • Anthony Trollope

... Recounte those deedes and see what he hath don, Subdued those nations which three hundred yeares. Remaynd vnconquered; still afflicting Rome, And recompensed the firy Capitoll, With many Citties vnto ashes burnt: And this reward, these thankes you render him: Here lyes he dead to whome you owe your liues: By you this slaughtered body bleedes againe, 1870 Which oft for you hath bled in fearefull fight. Sweete woundes in which I see distressed Rome, From her pearc'd sides to powre forth streames of bloud, Bee you a witnesse ...
— The Tragedy Of Caesar's Revenge • Anonymous

... said, "how happy we may be. I owe you much care and tenderness. I feel now that I can breathe freely. Your room is bare and small, but it seems to ...
— Jack - 1877 • Alphonse Daudet

... ought not to have!" answered Barbemouche. "I owe them too much for the many favors I've had from them. But they are mystifying creatures. To mistake a maid for her mistress is nothing remarkable. For that matter, I've known women of the lower orders ...
— An Enemy To The King • Robert Neilson Stephens

... intricate, and necessitated much trouble and attention on Tom's part, and the taking of endless cross bearings and observations. At 11.50 we passed the s.s. 'Tannadice,' and exchanged friendly greetings. All navigators owe the commander of this ship gratitude for reporting the reef named after his vessel. It lies in a most dangerous position, and would doubtless have brought many a good ship to grief had it not been ...
— The Last Voyage - to India and Australia, in the 'Sunbeam' • Lady (Annie Allnutt) Brassey

... your wants, infirmities, and scars? Can you then consent to be the only sufferers by this Revolution, and, retiring from the field, grow old in poverty, wretchedness, and contempt? Can you consent to wade through the vile mire of dependency, and owe the miserable remnant of that life to charity which has hitherto been spent in honor? If you can, go; and carry with you the jest of Tories and the scorn of Whigs, the ridicule, and, what is worse, the pity of the world. Go—starve and be forgotten. But if your ...
— Life And Times Of Washington, Volume 2 • John Frederick Schroeder and Benson John Lossing

... to please yourself. (I don't complain, mind, of Lord Winwood, or of his daughters. He is charming; his daughters I shall tame in course of time. You are different. And Mr. Turlington, as I observed before, is a brute.) Very well. Now what do you owe me on your side? You owe it to me at least to know your own mind. You don't know it. You coolly inform me that you daren't run the risk after all, and that you can't face the consequences on second thoughts. I'll tell you what! You don't deserve that nice fellow, ...
— Miss or Mrs.? • Wilkie Collins

... monarch lay on his deathbed, flushed with fever, he called his five-year-old great-grandson and heir, the future Louis XV, to the bedside and said: "My child, you will soon be sovereign of a great kingdom. Do not forget your obligations to God; remember that it is to Him that you owe all that you are. Endeavor to live at peace with your neighbors; do not imitate me in my fondness for war, nor in the exorbitant expenditure which I have incurred. Take counsel in all your actions. Endeavor to relieve the people at the earliest possible moment, and thus ...
— A Political and Social History of Modern Europe V.1. • Carlton J. H. Hayes

... Of the Greeks as they really were, of their difference from ourselves, of the aspects of their outward life, we know far more than Botticelli, or his most learned contemporaries; but for us long familiarity has taken off the edge of the lesson, and we are hardly conscious of what we owe to the Hellenic spirit. But in pictures like this of Botticelli's you have a record of the first impression made [59] by it on minds turned back towards it, in almost painful aspiration, from a world in which it had been ignored so long; and ...
— The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry • Walter Horatio Pater

... return, with the crowds that throng the more gorgeous temple of the idolaters. Side by side, undisturbed and free, do the Pagans and Christians, Greeks, Jews, and Egyptians, now observe the rites, and offer the worship, of their varying faiths. This happiness we owe to the wise and merciful laws of the great Constantine. So was it, long since, in Palmyra, under the benevolent rule of Zenobia. May the time never come, when Christians shall do otherwise than now; when, remembering the wrongs they have received, they shall retaliate torture and death ...
— Aurelian - or, Rome in the Third Century • William Ware

... Every careen of the ambulance over cobble and into shell-hole was a thrust into his hurt. We had to carry him all the way from the Nieuport cellar to Zuydcoote Hospital, ten miles. The driver was one more of the American young men who have gone over into France to pay back a little of what we owe her. I want to give his name, Robert Cardell Toms, because it is good for us to know that we have brave and tender gentlemen. On this long haul, as always, he drove with extreme care, changing his speed without the staccato jerk, avoiding ...
— Golden Lads • Arthur Gleason and Helen Hayes Gleason

... send another five pound note by Tuesday morning. I have spent scarcely anything of that which you sent, except what I owe to Mrs. W., but I wish to have money in my pocket, and Murray and Cooke are going to ...
— Letters to his wife Mary Borrow • George Borrow

... made my deepest reverence, because for her my heart is full of love and gratitude. The other Gods I respect and make them all due worship, but, I feel they are far away from me. Kwan-yin, is the woman's God, and I feel her love for me. She shapes my way, and I know it is to her I owe it that my life flows on as a gentle stream, and I know that she cares for me and guards me now that thou art away and I have no one on whom to lean. When I go before her all fire of passion is extinguished in my heart, and my troubles ...
— My Lady of the Chinese Courtyard • Elizabeth Cooper

... will help us to realise the great debt, unpaid and unpayable, to our immortal dead and to the valiant survivors, to whom we owe freedom ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, November 24, 1920 • Various

... many of the inhabitants of both sexes were introduced to him, at the capitol. The old soldiers of the revolution were among them. One, when he took his hand, said, "General, I owe my life to you; I was wounded at the battle of Monmouth. You visited me in the hospital—you gave me two guineas, and one to a person to nurse me. To this I owe my recovery, and may the blessing ...
— Memoirs of General Lafayette • Lafayette

... which concerns the Order of Wandering Students in general has been attributed to the Archipoeta or head-bard of the guild. Whoever this poet may have been, it is to him that we owe the Confession of Golias, by far the most spirited composition of the whole Goliardic species. I do not think the style of the poem on the Order, though it belongs to a good period, justifies our ascribing it to so inspired and ...
— Wine, Women, and Song - Mediaeval Latin Students' songs; Now first translated into English verse • Various

... and by the united influence of authority, management, and persuasion, succeeded in effecting a rescue. The boy would probably have preferred to owe his safety to any one else, than to the teacher, whom he had so often tried to tease; but he was glad to escape in any way. The teacher said nothing about the subject, and the boy soon ...
— The Teacher - Or, Moral Influences Employed in the Instruction and - Government of the Young • Jacob Abbott

... eagle-beaked individual who condemned you, and whom I have since seen, is the chief priest of this superstition, and within his sphere his power is unlimited. It is solely to the belief—which, through Ala, I have succeeded in impressing upon him—that we are children of the sun that I owe the success of my efforts in your behalf. Without that you would surely have been ...
— A Columbus of Space • Garrett P. Serviss

... ecclesiastical office, the episcopate, we find in Hegesippus, one of the earliest writers on the subject, the statement that the whole of the heretical schools sprang out of Judaism or the Jewish sects; in the later writers, Irenaeus, Tertullian and Hippolytus, that these schools owe most to the doctrines of Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, etc.[330] But they all agree in this, that a definite personality, viz., Simon the Magician, must be regarded as the original source of the heresy. If we try it by these statements of the Church Fathers, we must see at once that ...
— History of Dogma, Volume 1 (of 7) • Adolph Harnack

... I understand that it isn't; and five years ago I suppose I would have married a man if I loved him no matter how poor he was. But to-day I am wiser—that's the word, isn't it? For I recognize that I might not be happy as a mere drudge, and to become one would conflict with what I feel that I owe myself in the way of—shall I call it civilizing and self-respecting comfort? So you see if you hadn't a cent, I might feel it was more sensible and better for us both to wait or to give each other up. But it isn't a case of that at all. We've ...
— The Law-Breakers and Other Stories • Robert Grant

... gentleman of Auvergne, we were notified that the fruit-tithe (percieres) would no longer be paid, and that the example of other provinces was only being followed which no longer, even by royal order, pay tithes." In Franche-Comte "numerous communities are satisfied that they no longer owe anything either to the King or to their lords. . . . The villages divide amongst themselves the fields and woods belonging ...
— The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 2 (of 6) - The French Revolution, Volume 1 (of 3) • Hippolyte A. Taine

... poet of worth and genius, whose name certainly assisted in resuscitating the ancient dignity of the appointment. Alfred Tennyson derives less honor from the title than he confers upon it; to him we owe a debt of gratitude that he has redeemed the laurels with his poetry, noble, pure, and undefiled ...
— Selections from Wordsworth and Tennyson • William Wordsworth and Alfred Lord Tennyson

... my songs, And be the first avenger of your wrongs: Though rude in manners, free I hope to live: This Ale's not mine, no Ale have I to give; Yet, Sir, though Fortune frown'd when I was born, Let's drink eternal friendship from this Horn. How much our present joy to you we owe, Soon our three Bells ...
— Rural Tales, Ballads, and Songs • Robert Bloomfield

... no names," exclaimed Mendoza, "but to those who come here we owe the little railroads we possess. They develop our mines and our coffee plantations. In time they will make this country very modern, very rich. And some you call criminals we have learned to love. Their past does not concern us. We shut our ears. We do not spy. They have come to us as to ...
— The Lost Road • Richard Harding Davis

... daughter and see that she promises to hold her tongue concerning our friend at Hampstead. When that is done, we shall pack off the pair to London and they will carry a good round sum in their pockets. Herr Gessner is not the man to deal ungenerously with them—nor with you to whom he may owe so much." ...
— Aladdin of London - or Lodestar • Sir Max Pemberton



Words linked to "Owe" :   run up, build upon, build on, repose on, rest on, chalk up, be



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