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Prove   Listen
verb
Prove  v. t.  (past proved; past part. proven; pres. part. proving)  
1.
To try or to ascertain by an experiment, or by a test or standard; to test; as, to prove the strength of gunpowder or of ordnance; to prove the contents of a vessel by a standard measure. "Thou hast proved mine heart."
2.
To evince, establish, or ascertain, as truth, reality, or fact, by argument, testimony, or other evidence. "They have inferred much from slender premises, and conjectured when they could not prove."
3.
To ascertain or establish the genuineness or validity of; to verify; as, to prove a will.
4.
To gain experience of the good or evil of; to know by trial; to experience; to suffer. "Where she, captived long, great woes did prove."
5.
(Arith.) To test, evince, ascertain, or verify, as the correctness of any operation or result; thus, in subtraction, if the difference between two numbers, added to the lesser number, makes a sum equal to the greater, the correctness of the subtraction is proved.
6.
(Printing) To take a trial impression of; to take a proof of; as, to prove a page.
Synonyms: To try; verify; justify; confirm; establish; evince; manifest; show; demonstrate.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Prove" Quotes from Famous Books



... violations of the Constitution by which encroachments are made upon the personal rights of the citizen. The sentence of condemnation long since pronounced by the American people upon acts of that character will, I doubt not, continue to prove as salutary in its effects as it is ...
— Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present • Various

... his hand with a smile, "it is my happy lot to give you what I know will prove a joyful surprise. This lady"—and he bowed to Mrs. Le Mescam, who was sitting looking at him with a bright expectancy in her dark eyes—"is your own cousin, Adela Channing. There, I'll leave you now. She has much to tell ...
— Rodman The Boatsteerer And Other Stories - 1898 • Louis Becke

... stared on; such was their fear of him, they dared not speak or move, lest it should prove to have been but a doze, and Tom should wake up and proceed forthwith to gratify his temper and ...
— J.S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 5 • J.S. Le Fanu

... "This will prove a spirited beginning of your winter engagements, sir. Something new for your coachman and horses to be making their way ...
— Persuasion • Jane Austen

... inspired by Divine Wisdom would be a most atrocious crime. It is, therefore, a happy circumstance for our frail species, that it is a crime which no man can possibly commit. If we admit the Jews to seats in Parliament, we shall, by so doing, prove that the prophecies in question, whatever they may mean, do not mean that the Jews ...
— Critical and Historical Essays Volume 2 • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... of this Province separated last week, to meet again the next week. The Provinces have given their agreement to the mediation offered by Russia. This affair, I fear, will prove a lingering business, as well as that of the decision of the Court of Justice of Holland, which, I am told, is drawn up in a manner that will not at all satisfy the Regency of Amsterdam, and consequently will not be suffered to be delivered; and so things will remain in statu quo, God knows how ...
— The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. IX • Various

... at Gibraltar—Mr Sawbridge rejoined the ship—so did Mr Jolliffe—they remained there a fortnight, during which Jack was permitted to be continually on shore—Mr Asper accompanied him, and Jack drew a heavy bill to prove to his father that he was still alive. Mr Sawbridge made our hero relate to him all his adventures, and was so pleased with the conduct of Mesty that he appointed him to a situation which was particularly suited to him, —that of ship's corporal. Mr Sawbridge knew that it was ...
— Mr. Midshipman Easy • Frederick Marryat

... left me in bad shape. I consulted as good a physician as there was in the county, and he told me that I was suffering from enlargement of the heart and that I must be very careful about taking: any violent exercise, and I must not allow myself to get excited, as excitement of any kind might prove fatal. He gave me remedies for my trouble which made me feel some better; but being a farmer I was obliged to work hard and soon began to run down. I began to have spells of a terribly deathly sinking feeling at my stomach and a terrible pressure at the heart—in the region ...
— The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English • R. V. Pierce

... form of verbal abuse among ignorant men and women is 'Do thou meet with death,' or, 'Go thou to Yama's house.' What Bhishma says is that as these words are uttered in vain, even so the verbal accusations of wicked men prove perfectly abortive. ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 - Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 • Unknown

... lifetime from taking any active part in affairs of state, he had turned his energies into the pursuit of pleasure, and had been leading a gay and dissolute life. His accession to power was, however, speedily to prove that he was possessed of great abilities, a masterful will and a keen and eager ambition. He had strongly disapproved of the trend of the peace negotiations at Muenster, and would have preferred with the help of the French to have attempted to drive the Spaniards out of the southern Netherlands. ...
— History of Holland • George Edmundson

... that," he continued. "Those aren't the really wonderful things. And no doubt people will tell you it hasn't changed; but you'll know better! It's much more wonderful that I should be there than that they should be able to prove it, isn't it?... And, of course, I don't know exactly how it will happen, for I've never done this before.... You have the letter for the S.P.R.? They can photograph it if they want.... By the way, you don't think the ...
— Widdershins • Oliver Onions

... of the materials and technicalities of construction and decoration seem to me to prove that the majority of the tombs were built by a small number of contractors or corporations, lay or ecclesiastical, both at Memphis, under the Ancient, as well as at Thebes, ...
— History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 2 (of 12) • G. Maspero

... suspended, permitting an excess of the official limit for the note issue, but the banks could have been empowered to demand authority to change the proportion enacted by the law creating National Banks. They had no recourse to any of these violations of the Statutes, which prove only too often under such circumstances that regulation by law is impossible; they satisfied themselves, without having the public powers intervene, with issuing clearing-house certificates, that is to say, promises, which they were bound to accept as cheques ...
— A Brief History of Panics • Clement Juglar

... judges who would be burnt. So little fear had the witches themselves, that before the audience they would sink into the Sabbatic slumber, and affirm on awaking that, even in court, they had enjoyed the blessedness of Satan. Many said, they only suffered from not being able to prove to him how much they burned to ...
— La Sorciere: The Witch of the Middle Ages • Jules Michelet

... first election and at the re-election of Mr. Lincoln, when the whole nation stood breathless, as it were, and reverentially waited for that vox populi, which is theoretically vox Dei in a republic, but which, alas! does not always prove so. If all parts of the Republic were intelligently educated, it would doubtless be so without fail; but demagogues will always flourish and rule where there is ignorance and superstition, and the schoolmaster has not ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 100, February, 1866 • Various

... is to prove that the Government possesses ample power, according to the law of nations, to suppress the Rebellion, and secure the country against the danger of another, by Emancipation, through the military power; that, though Emancipation is a policy, ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 12, August, 1863, No. 70 - A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics • Various

... and unopened. I've seen rows of them in some houses, all ranged together with their little silk markers hanging out at the bottom, as smooth and uncrumpled as if they had never been moved; and the owners take them down and show you the inscription on the first page, to prove how good and clever they were ...
— Pixie O'Shaughnessy • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey

... determined to speculate no more, to give her no hopes that might prove groundless. The future was uncertain: the patient might have convulsions, paralysis, locomotor ataxia, mere imbecility with normal physical functions, or intermittent insanity. It was highly unprofessional ...
— The Web of Life • Robert Herrick

... I cayn't prove I didn't." The old cattleman looked at the end of his cigar thoughtfully. "Nor I cayn't prove I went out to Dick Grein's place in that three-four ...
— Gunsight Pass - How Oil Came to the Cattle Country and Brought a New West • William MacLeod Raine

... as we find in terrestrial nature. It is useless to hide our eyes to the state of matters which meets us here. Most of the instances of special design which are relied upon by the natural theologian to prove the intelligent nature of the First Cause, have as their end or object the infliction of painful death or the escape from remorseless enemies; and so far the argument in favour of the intelligent nature ...
— Thoughts on Religion • George John Romanes

... who is borne on his way in some dirty little craft, contrasting so strangely with the Mississippi steamer. Yet, in admirable keeping with everything else, all these present a grand contrast to the valley of the Mississippi, and only prove the latter has no equal in all that pertains to grandeur, beauty, and abundance, on the globe. To appreciate all these, you must know and mingle with the population who have thus ornamented, with labor and taste, the margin of this ...
— The Memories of Fifty Years • William H. Sparks

... that marriage is based upon love, and when I give voice to a doubt as to the existence of any other love than sensual love, you prove to me the existence of love by marriage. But in our day marriage is ...
— The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories • Leo Tolstoy

... supplied the New West Hotel, purchased with Anka's shyest smile and glance, were secured a considerable accumulation of shank bones and ham bones, pork ribs and ribs of beef, and other scraps too often despised by the Anglo-Saxon housekeeper, all of which would prove of the greatest value in the enrichment of the soups. For puddings there were apples and prunes, raisins and cranberries. The cook of the New West Hotel, catching something of Anka's generous enthusiasm, offered pies by the dozen, and even the proprietor himself, ...
— The Foreigner • Ralph Connor

... demobilised "Ministerial angels" will soon be released, and are meditating fresh outlets for their benevolent energies. Many of them are young and some beautiful. The romance of commerce and of the stage will prove a potent lure. Never has the demand for an elegant deportment and urbane manners in our great shops and stores been more clamant; never has the standard been higher. Our ex-officials may have to stoop, but it will be to conquer. We can confidently ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 156, May 28, 1919. • Various

... be spared; but as to Lord J. Russell and Lord Palmerston, they are public men, and their public conduct requires no reserve in the discussion of it;—the Queen herself, in her own Journals, speaks of them and of Gladstone in terms that prove how little reserve she thought necessary. It is amazing to me that a man who lived so much in the world [as Greville], and who had great curiosity and a taste for gossip, should so carefully have ...
— Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Henry Reeve, C.B., D.C.L. - In Two Volumes. VOL. II. • John Knox Laughton

... once adopted, the daughter of Raymond Berenger hastened to prove the experiment, and by repeated efforts succeeded, though with difficulty, in changing her posture, so as to admit of her inspecting her place of confinement all around, but particularly the passage by which she had entered, and by which she now attempted again to return to the light ...
— The Betrothed • Sir Walter Scott

... place where she could pray and free her soul by confession. Amid her former surroundings nothing had afforded her any support, except her religion. A worthy priest, who was also her instructor, had zealously striven to prove to her, that the new religion threatened to destroy the mystical consecration of life, the yearning for the beautiful, every ideal emotion of the human soul, and with them art also; so Henrica preferred to see her native ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... Prudence got married so long ago, or he might have wanted her instead of me. I don't suppose the mansers could possibly object to a complexion like mine. I can get a certificate from father to prove it is genuine, if they don't ...
— Sunny Slopes • Ethel Hueston

... his church, where he held services in Magyar. During one night, at all events, this church caused the Magyars much annoyance. It was at the beginning of the Great War—they had accused Raji['c] of making signals from the tower, which is very high; and in order to prove their accusation they sent a large body of soldiers, who surrounded the church, on a boisterous winter's night. Sure enough, the signals were seen to be flashing up there. The church was locked and a blast of the bugles had ...
— The Birth of Yugoslavia, Volume 1 • Henry Baerlein

... give for nothing, he will go away wretched and sorrowful, and since he can complain to no one he will cry and call to heaven, — then beware (I say again) as of the devil himself. For such groaning and calling will be no jest, but will have a weight that will prove too heavy for you and all the world. For it will reach Him who takes care of the poor sorrowful hearts, and will not allow them to go unavenged. But if you despise this and become defiant, see whom you have brought upon you: if ...
— The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther

... are you going to prove to me that you can make good paper that costs nothing out of nothing, eh?" asked the ex-printer, giving his son a glance, vinous, it may be, but keen, inquisitive, and covetous; a look like a flash of lightning from a sodden cloud; for the old "bear," faithful to his traditions, ...
— Lost Illusions • Honore De Balzac

... these things, their endeavor is to prove that nature is absolutely and wholly irresistible; and yet the same people allow that we take greater grief on ourselves than nature requires. What madness is it, then, in us to require the same from others? But there are many reasons for our taking grief on us. The first is from ...
— Cicero's Tusculan Disputations - Also, Treatises On The Nature Of The Gods, And On The Commonwealth • Marcus Tullius Cicero

... River irrigation works in Arizona was, when all is said, rather discouraging. The authors believe that for work of any size where the concrete must be supported for 24 hours or more, forms of sectional construction will prove cheaper and more expeditious than any ...
— Concrete Construction - Methods and Costs • Halbert P. Gillette

... shouted. "Or Satan himself has carried him away! At the least let his name be erased from the Golden Book of Venice, and until he prove himself innocent, let no noble of Venice stretch out to him the hand of fellowship. Men of Venice, for you Cattrina ...
— Red Eve • H. Rider Haggard

... made it—gave a thousand dollars for a pair of dogs before they were born. The terms were one half cash and the balance when they were old enough to ship to him. And for fear they were not the proper mustard, he had that dog man sue him in court for the balance, so as to make him prove the pedigree. Now Bob, there, thinks that old hound of his is the real stuff, but he wouldn't do now; almost every year the style changes in dogs back in the old States. One year maybe it's a little white dog with red eyes, and the very next ...
— The Log of a Cowboy - A Narrative of the Old Trail Days • Andy Adams

... influencing those who are younger than themselves. The torch is being offered to them; and it is of vital importance to the unborn future that they should grasp and hand it on, without worrying about whether their fingers are going to be burnt. If they do grasp it, they may prove to be the bringers in of a new world, a fresh and vigorous social order, which is based upon true values, controlled by a spiritual conception of life; a world in which this factor is as freely acknowledged by all normal persons, as is the movement of the ...
— The Life of the Spirit and the Life of To-day • Evelyn Underhill

... strengthened our hands! That glorious example, those results attained in your country—how we have brought them before our legislators to awaken their sense of justice! I sincerely wish that the news of the victory achieved in our country may prove an impetus to you in your work. To be assured of this would give us the great satisfaction of feeling that at all events a small fraction of our great debt ...
— The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume V • Ida Husted Harper

... themselves by turns deeply in human nature. I can understand that you, as a woman, should be influenced more by moral than by sober scientific views; but I am afraid that results which are based less upon nature than upon—certainly very admirable—moral experiments, will prove ...
— Freeland - A Social Anticipation • Theodor Hertzka

... themselves satisfy the requirements of the public, and at the same time do not make a very high dividend. If a new grocer required an Act of Parliament to set up as a tea-retailer in Canterbury, could not all the existing tea-retailers there prove most triumphantly that an additional grocer was not wanted, and that their own profits were reasonable? It is not too much to say that the greater part of the evidence admitted by Parliamentary Committees against proposed new railways is foolery: without wasting ...
— Speculations from Political Economy • C. B. Clarke

... was a true one, and Hector was a thief. As for Jim, his surprise was of a very disagreeable nature. Knowing as he did that, he himself had taken the money, he was alarmed lest his offense was to be made known, and that the pit which he had digged for another should prove to ...
— Hector's Inheritance - or The Boys of Smith Institute • Horatio Alger

... insensible to the greatness of the merits which they possess in common, or to the specific excellencies which give to each of the three a worth of his own,—I confess, that one main object of this Lecture was to prove that Shakspeare's eminence is his own, and not that of his age;—even as the pine-apple, the melon, and the gourd may grow on the same bed;—yea, the same circumstances of warmth and soil may be necessary to their full development, yet do not account for the golden hue, the ambrosial ...
— Literary Remains (1) • Coleridge

... is 30 grains, and it is claimed that with this charge Walsrode powder will prove second to none. A large cap is necessary, as the grains of this powder are very hard, and require a large flame to properly ignite them. In loading cartridges for sporting purposes, an extra felt wad is required to compensate ...
— Nitro-Explosives: A Practical Treatise • P. Gerald Sanford

... Woggle-Bug strutted proudly along the street, swinging a cane in one hand, flourishing a pink handkerchief in the other, fumbling his watch-fob with another, and feeling his necktie was straight with another. Having four hands to use would prove rather puzzling to you or me, I imagine; but the Woggie-Bug was thoroughly ...
— The Woggle-Bug Book • L. Frank Baum

... he had written her a decisive letter, in which he acknowledged his guilt, and his readiness to atone for it; but at the same time he pronounced their relations to be at an end, for her own good, as he expressed it. To this letter he had as yet received no answer. This might prove a good sign, for if she did not agree to break off their relations, she would have written at once, or even come herself, as she had done before. Nekhludoff had heard that there was some officer who was paying her marked attention, and ...
— Resurrection • Count Leo Tolstoy

... they waited, Bending looked again at the hole in the wall where the Converter had been. And it suddenly struck him that, even if he had reported the loss of the Converter to the police, it would be hard to prove. The thief had taken care to burn off the ends of the old leads that had originally come into the building. Bending himself had cut them a week before to install the Converter. Had they been left as they were, Bending could have proved by the oxidation of the surface that they ...
— Damned If You Don't • Gordon Randall Garrett

... of a piece with the rest of his life: it was due to no sudden, desperate resolve. He went out to the war as deliberately as he had ridden out to the hunting-field. The realities of battle might prove his anticipations mere unnecessary ...
— Ensign Knightley and Other Stories • A. E. W. Mason

... the motor sledges did good work, and hopes that they might prove to be reliable began to increase. Infinite trouble had been taken to obtain [Page 229] the most suitable material for Polar work, and the three motor sledge tractors were the outcome of experiments made at Lantaret in France and at Lillehammer and Fefor in Norway, with sledges built ...
— The Voyages of Captain Scott - Retold from 'The Voyage of the "Discovery"' and 'Scott's - Last Expedition' • Charles Turley

... who art thyself this kind, forgiving, bountiful Father, grant of thine infinite mercy that every reader may prove himself this ...
— Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. I • Francis Augustus Cox

... our orthodox friends which I have felt to be extremely harmful to our cause; but I should no more consent to a resolution denouncing them than I shall consent to this. Who is to draw the line? Who can tell now whether these commentaries may not prove a great help to woman's emancipation from old superstitions which have ...
— The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV • Various

... As if to prove by experiment where the fault lay, in "the school or the scholar," Gibbon had no sooner left Oxford for the long vacation, than his taste for study returned, and, not content with reading, he attempted original composition. The subject ...
— Gibbon • James Cotter Morison

... the white light of the moon he had seen the beginning of the path. Men were said to be selfish. People, especially women, often talked as if selfishness were bred in the very fiber of men, as if it were ineradicable, and must be accepted by women. He meant to prove to one woman that even a man could be unselfish, moved by something greater than himself. Up there on Drouva he had definitely dedicated himself to Rosamund. His acute pain when, coming back to ...
— In the Wilderness • Robert Hichens

... Satanic; Tartaran. Adv. malevolently &c adj.; with bad intent &c n.. Phr. cruel as death; hard unkindness' alter'd eye [Gray]; homo homini lupus [Lat.] [Plautus]; mala mens [Lat.], malus animus [Lat.] [Terence]; rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind [Hamlet]; ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget

... must come again to Cathay. In other chapters dealing with the monarchist plot we see the official mind at work, the telegraphic despatches exchanged between Peking and the provinces being of the highest diplomatic interest. These documents prove conclusively that although the Japanese is more practical than the Chinese—and more concise— there can be no question as to which brain ...
— The Fight For The Republic In China • B.L. Putnam Weale

... to-night, and should like to tell you something. I feel an absolute need to unbosom myself, and Fate points to you as the only safe receptacle of my confidence. After to-morrow, the Atlantic will be between us, and if my secret should prove too explosive for your reticence, your indiscretion will do me no harm. Listen, then. You have probably heard the town gossip connecting my name with that ...
— Ilka on the Hill-Top and Other Stories • Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen

... some cases, because of the abundance of spindle fibers and sphere substance which were stained by haematoxylin. The safranin-gentian combination used by Miss Wallace and others in the study of the accessory chromosome did not prove to be especially helpful with these forms. Thionin was found to be a very useful stain for distinguishing between the accessory chromosome and an ordinary nucleolus. Licht-gruen was often used in ...
— Studies in Spermatogenesis (Part 1 of 2) • Nettie Maria Stevens

... Champlain, and here the four ships of De Monts lay in calm and secure harbor for two weeks in 1604, while the adventurers were examining the shores of Nova Scotia,—explorations in which the discovery of iron pyrites deluded them with the belief that this would prove an El Dorado. ...
— Over the Border: Acadia • Eliza Chase

... of course it is a delicate matter to nominate my own successor, but from my knowledge of everybody's capacities I should most decidedly suggest Winona Woodward. She is a good all-round player herself, and has a particular aptitude for organization, which should prove invaluable. She thoroughly appreciates the advantage of having reserves to fall back upon, and is most keen on keeping up the standard. I do hope the dear old "High" will have a splendid year. I shall be frantic to hear how you get on. Send me a p.c. ...
— The Luckiest Girl in the School • Angela Brazil

... "These figures prove that the yield of the furnace is considerably increased. The Crane trial was too short to settle the question to what extent the increase in product may be carried. This increase in output, of course, means a reduction in the cost of labor and ...
— Edison, His Life and Inventions • Frank Lewis Dyer and Thomas Commerford Martin

... to the dowager from his mother. At any other time the sound of his name would have made a discord for her. The prejudices of Judithe were so decided, and so independent of all accepted social rules, that the dowager hoped when she did choose a husband he would prove a diplomat—they would need ...
— The Bondwoman • Marah Ellis Ryan

... town, lived a little girl named Hansi Herzchen. She was the seventh child of a family of seven, and she lived at No 7 —— Street. So you see she was a lucky child, for seven is always a lucky number; but nothing had happened to prove her ...
— Fairy Tales from the German Forests • Margaret Arndt

... we do not find peculiar kinds of atoms which occur exclusively in living matter; the materials are exactly the same as those of the outer world. In short, the elements of both the organic and inorganic divisions of the universe prove to be the same. Carbon is carbon, whether it is part of the substance of a living brain cell, or black inert coal, or the glistening diamond, or an incandescent part of the fiery sun. Hydrogen is the same, ...
— The Doctrine of Evolution - Its Basis and Its Scope • Henry Edward Crampton

... end of the day, and I cannot restrain a frivolous spirit even in the discussion of such fundamental things.... No, do not, as you put it, 'stop living.' It hurts, and no one has the least conception of whether it is a remedy. What is more, the life in front of you will prove, after a few years, as entertaining as the life ...
— On Nothing & Kindred Subjects • Hilaire Belloc

... the underlying theory. The color of a tiny flower has its effect upon even the most hardened prisoner; while the minds of children in school are quickened by a touch of brightness here and there in the room. It needs no argument to prove the beneficial effect of the right kind of colors in the ...
— The Human Aura - Astral Colors and Thought Forms • Swami Panchadasi

... long before the boats could reach there. Mr. Hunt had not proceeded far before the chief came galloping along the shore and made signs for a parley. He said, his people could not go home satisfied unless they had something to take with them to prove that they had met with the white men. Mr. Hunt understood the drift of the speech, and made the chief a present of a cask of powder, a bag of balls, and three dozen of knives, with which he was highly pleased. While the chief was receiving these presents an Indian came ...
— Astoria - Or, Anecdotes Of An Enterprise Beyond The Rocky Mountains • Washington Irving

... surrounding a portion of the wire in circuit with the galvanometer. The current in the helix magnetizes the circuit wire inclosed, and the galvanometer exhibits the presence of electricity. The experiment helps to prove that magnetism is connected with some molecular change ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 384, May 12, 1883 • Various

... next, to the effect following:—Sir, to prove the malignity of the intention with which this libel was inserted in the daily paper, it cannot be improper to observe, that the embargo has been for many days past the favourite topic of this printer, and that, therefore, it was not by accident that he admitted ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson, Vol. 10. - Parlimentary Debates I. • Samuel Johnson

... course; but the tide had now carried him out of sight of it, and in its stead 'a bright star stood over where' his hopes of safety rested. With his eyes steadfastly fixed upon it, he continued swimming on, calculating the time when the tide would turn. But his trials were not yet past. As if to prove the strength of human fortitude, the sky became suddenly overclouded, and 'darkness was upon the face of the deep.' He no longer knew his course, and he confessed, that for a moment he was afraid; yet he felt, that 'fear is but the betraying of ...
— The World of Waters - A Peaceful Progress o'er the Unpathed Sea • Mrs. David Osborne

... Archie, "I have seen a good many boats like these in New York, but I don't think they will do much here. That schooner may show some fine sailing qualities, but that sloop will prove to be the slowest boat about the village; she is altogether too short. Take it where the waves are long and regular, and she will do well enough but here in the river, where the waves are all chopped up, she ...
— Frank, the Young Naturalist • Harry Castlemon

... to prove or disprove Tom's theory that a fellow ought to feel most at home in his old working ...
— The High School Boys' Training Hike • H. Irving Hancock

... Little John, "you are a bold man and hardy to come thus between me and my meat. So defend yourself and see that you prove the better man." And he drew his own sword and crossed weapons with ...
— Robin Hood • J. Walker McSpadden

... bonds, mortgages, all went into the lawyers' pockets. Then John began to borrow money upon Bank Stock and East India Bonds. Now and then a farm went to pot. At last it was thought a good expedient to set up Esquire South's title to prove the will forged and dispossess Philip Lord Strutt at once. Here again was a new field for the lawyers, and the cause grew more intricate than ever. John grew madder and madder; wherever he met any of Lord Strutt's servants he tore off their ...
— The History of John Bull • John Arbuthnot

... expressionless blue eyes were taking in the whole studio, and the Painter could feel that she was distinctly disappointed by her inspection. She had evidently anticipated something much grander, and this bare room was not the ideal place she had fancied the studio of a world-renowned painter would prove to be. ...
— Different Girls • Various

... his. What did he mean? What was the purport of this offer which he made so seriously, like a friend who asks nothing but to prove his devotion? ...
— The Eight Strokes of the Clock • Maurice Leblanc

... VOORHIS: We have a number of witnesses to prove what occurred at the time of registry, and what advice was given by these federal supervisors, but under your Honor's ruling it is not necessary for us to call them. Inasmuch as Mr. Hall is absent, I ask permission to put in ...
— An Account of the Proceedings on the Trial of Susan B. Anthony • Anonymous

... how long it is since I have written to you, and how changed I am since then—the mother of three children! Well, if I have not kept the reckoning of old times, let this last circumstance prove my apology, for I have been hand, heart, and head ...
— The Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe • Charles Edward Stowe

... first of these two voyages, he was no higher in command than he had been in his earlier ones, and only accompanied the expedition as one whose intimate acquaintance with all nautical matters might prove of service under certain circumstances. During this voyage the ships coasted along the American shores from Cape St. Augustine to 52 degrees of south latitude. The fourth voyage of Vespucius was marked by the wreck of the flag-ship off the Island of Fernando de Noronha, which ...
— Celebrated Travels and Travellers - Part I. The Exploration of the World • Jules Verne

... same principle be applied to the rendition of fugitives from service? We cannot surrender—but we can compensate. Why not, then, avoid all difficulties on all sides, and show respectively good faith and good will by providing and accepting compensation where masters reclaim escaping servants and prove their right of reclamation under the Constitution? Instead of a judgment for rendition, let there be a judgment for compensation, determined by the true value of the services, and let the same judgment assure freedom to the fugitive. The cost to the National Treasury would be as nothing in comparison ...
— A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention • Lucius Eugene Chittenden

... modern court, again, the feudal court did not require the accuser to prove his case by calling witnesses and having them give testimony. The burden of proof lay on the accused, who had to clear himself of the charge, if he could do so. In one form of trial it was enough for him to declare his innocence under oath, and then to bring ...
— EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY • HUTTON WEBSTER

... blood boiling in my veins, I would turn, thinking to go back and at all risk defying my tormentors, prove to myself I was no coward. But before I had retraced my steps a dozen paces, I would see in imagination the whole scene again before me: the laughing crowd, the halting passers-by, the spiteful, mocking little faces every way I turned; and so instead would ...
— Paul Kelver • Jerome Klapka, AKA Jerome K. Jerome

... novelist without a great idea. Perhaps this is true, but the clairvoyance of genius which seems to manifest itself in the two characters which I have already examined, and the cautious manner in which he has treated them, would appear to prove that he possessed a rarer gift than that of 'great ideas'—the power of controlling them. Such ideas may make reformers, critics, politicians, essayists—but they generally ruin a novelist—and ...
— Continental Monthly, Vol. III, No IV, April 1863 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy • Various

... why Mr. Allison's countenance expressed so much agitation when he first saw me? The next moment this latter lifted her head and looked directly at me, but with no change in her mobile features; at which token of blindness I almost fell on my knees, so conclusively did it prove that I was really looking upon Mrs. Ransome and ...
— The House in the Mist • Anna Katharine Green

... since none is vouchsafed—he continues; "Dona Carmen Montijo, you and I are old acquaintances; though, it may be, you do not remember my voice. With the sound of the sea so long echoing in your ears, that's not strange. Perhaps the sense of sight will prove more effectual in recalling an old friend. Let me give ...
— The Flag of Distress - A Story of the South Sea • Mayne Reid

... enchantress and visionary who had "voices" and apparitions too, and who was admitted to all the councils and gave her advice in contradiction of the Maid, a certain Catherine de la Rochelle, who was ready to say anything that was put into her mouth, but who had done nothing to prove any mission for France or from God. We have little light however upon the state of affairs in those castles, which one after another were the abode of the Court during this disastrous winter. They were safe enough ...
— Jeanne d'Arc - Her Life And Death • Mrs.(Margaret) Oliphant

... a cent, and don't know where my next meal is to come from. But my luck may turn—it must turn—it has turned!" he exclaimed with energy, as his wandering glance suddenly fell upon a silver quarter of a dollar, nearly covered up with the dust of the street. "That shall prove a good omen!" ...
— Driven From Home - Carl Crawford's Experience • Horatio Alger

... up the steps of the pavilion, Upton came down, drawing on his gloves and ready to prove that Erasmus could exhibit very creditable pedagogues, as well as Bramhall. This slender, grey-haired master with the ruddy countenance was much favoured by the ladies. He looked a young and blooming veteran. The boys of Erasmus gave him a cheer (for he was a good man) and prayed that he might not ...
— Tell England - A Study in a Generation • Ernest Raymond

... considered their arguments, and they went out to report to the mass meeting in progress on the grounds of the Capitol. The following Tuesday he made public his answer, which was that, while the arguments proved that there was a strong desire for a special session, they did not prove the existence of the "special emergency" mentioned in the constitution and he felt ...
— The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume VI • Various

... man," says he, "must be learned from himself; concerning his practice, it is safer to trust to the evidence of others. When the testimonies concur, no higher degree of historical certainty can be obtained; and they apparently concur to prove that Browne was a zealous adherent to the faith of Christ, that he lived in obedience to His laws, and died in con- fidence ...
— Religio Medici, Hydriotaphia, and the Letter to a Friend • Sir Thomas Browne

... Lombardy poplar rising slim against it,—you say, to your satisfied soul, "Yes, it is the real thing!" and then all at once a sense of that Northern sky strikes in upon you, and makes the reality a mere picture. The sky is blue, the sun is often fiercely hot; you could not perhaps prove that the pathetic radiance is not an efflux of your own consciousness that summer is but hanging over the land, briefly poising on wings which flit at the first dash of rain, and will soon vanish in long retreat before the snow. ...
— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells

... theories; and there are those who would a thousand times rather see these shattered into hopeless fragments than any other result which could possibly transpire in the national affairs of all Christendom. Let our democracy prove shallow, weak, inefficient, unfitted for emergencies, and incapable of sustaining itself under the test of determined opposition, to them it is enough. Our great national axiom, is, per se, the eternal foe of all monarchies, ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume II • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage

... as seamen might say, on an even keel. True, it committed a violent assault on a tree at starting, which sent it spinning round, and went crashing through a mass of drowned bushes, which rendered it again steady; but these mishaps only served to prove the seaworthiness of her ark, and in a few minutes the brave little woman revived. Splashing off the bed and spluttering across the room, she tried to open the door with a view to see what had happened and ...
— The Red Man's Revenge - A Tale of The Red River Flood • R.M. Ballantyne

... remarks, collected from Mr F.'s work, may prove useful to the reader:—"In the tropical isles they have but four species of quadrupeds, two of which are domestic; and the remaining ones are the vampyre and the common rat. This last inhabits the Marquesas, ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 14 • Robert Kerr

... terrible possibility of mercy. Is God continually becoming man for the love of His image? This is the joyful secret of God's sad fourth syllable. I clothe it in words to guard it from my intellect. Infinite incarnations prove time an illusion, since they make it eternity. God's Sacred Heart is the silent ocean beyond the universe. It reflects. The Incarnation is its flood. The Host tonight was more white than shining silver in a lonely ...
— The Forgotten Threshold • Arthur Middleton

... especially toward his fellow man. For the courtesies of ordinary life, he must substitute unselfishness, forbearance, and tolerance. Thus, and thus only, can he gain that pearl of great price—true comradeship. He must not say 'thank you'; he must mean it without opening his mouth, and prove it by responding in kind. In short, he must substitute the deed for the word, ...
— The Son of the Wolf • Jack London

... volume of the new edition of the Garner for which I am responsible or can take credit. I have eaten at least one dinner intended for my friend Mr. A.F. Pollard; my wastepaper basket has received applications for subscriptions which prove his reputation for generosity; I have even received a cheque, which the fact that it is reckoned forgery under some circumstances for a man to sign his own name forbade my cashing; and I have recently been more congratulated ...
— Fifteenth Century Prose and Verse • Various

... business with as little scandal as possible, and avoided staining her own hands in the blood of a foster-brother. Had she ordered his death forthwith, they said, it would have been supposed also that she had put him away because he was of a royal race, one who, in the future, might prove a rival, or at ...
— Morning Star • H. Rider Haggard

... pleasure, and may breathe a little of it, even as much as thirty per cent, for a short time, without serious harm. But carbonic oxide, which is also liberated from burning anthracite, is an active poison, and one per cent of it in the air we breathe may prove instantly fatal. Now it is fully proven that these gases laugh at cast-iron and pass through it freely whenever they choose. Wrought-iron plates are supposed to be more impervious. The popular notion that foul air must ...
— Homes And How To Make Them • Eugene Gardner

... I cannot say whether the crossed offspring of the several species within the same genus differ in their degree of superiority over their self-fertilised brethren; but I should expect that this would often prove to be the case from what was observed with the two species of Lobelia and with the individuals of the same species of Nicotiana. The species belonging to distinct genera in the same family certainly differ in this respect. The effects of cross- ...
— The Effects of Cross & Self-Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom • Charles Darwin

... for {a reason} why it should be much sooner believed— because he is just like you in disposition, you will easily prove that he is your child; for he is exactly like you; why, he has not a single vice left him but you have just the same. Then, besides, no woman could have been the mother of such a son but yourself. But he's coming out of doors, {and} how demure! When you understand ...
— The Comedies of Terence - Literally Translated into English Prose, with Notes • Publius Terentius Afer, (AKA) Terence

... out Drood's condition, if he really was not killed, in this way: I had supposed him to escape, in a very mixed frame of mind, when he would be encountered by Grewgious, who, of course, could make little out of him in his befogged state. Drood could not even prove that it was not Landless who attacked him. The result would be that Drood would lie low, and later, would have reason enough for disguising himself as Datchery, and playing ...
— The Puzzle of Dickens's Last Plot • Andrew Lang

... quietly, "if the lady prefers keeping silent. Only, as matters now stand, the result may prove an ...
— Beth Norvell - A Romance of the West • Randall Parrish

... without personal experience. W. O—- has been two years in my employ, and a more truthful, upright, honest boy, I would not wish to have; he has left now to learn further about farming, and I immediately applied for another one from Marchmont, and believe W. S—- will prove as successful and honest a servant.' Then the Rev. William Bell stood up and bore testimony to your favourite Tommy—one of the rescues from Mr. Holland's Shelter, in 1869. 'I have boarded now over a year in the good farmer's home, ...
— God's Answers - A Record Of Miss Annie Macpherson's Work at the - Home of Industry, Spitalfields, London, and in Canada • Clara M. S. Lowe

... man, from the age of fifteen years upward, found away from his place of habitation, who does not prove a justified reason therefor, ...
— Cuba, Old and New • Albert Gardner Robinson

... to proceed up the river from its mouth to its junction with the Ugong Passer; and should it prove to have sufficient water for vessels on the bar, nothing more ...
— The Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. Dido - For the Suppression of Piracy • Henry Keppel

... nothing, but the strangeness is compounded when you look down and discover that not only is the leg gone but that another, mechanical one has taken its place. Dr. Erics, who had performed the operation, said this difficulty would ultimately prove a blessing but I often had ...
— Man Made • Albert R. Teichner

... stamp of the same monarch who built the lower story and this is sufficient to show that the two stories are a part of the original design, and therefore that the idea of building in stages belongs to the first kingdom and to primitive times. There is no evidence to prove whether the original edifice had, or had not, a third story; since the chamber seen by the Arabs was no doubt a late Babylonian work. The third story of the accompanying sketch must therefore ...
— The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 1. (of 7): Chaldaea • George Rawlinson

... eggsile," as Sophia Jane had called him. It did not matter. Encouraged by her companions Susan soon became as rude, as careless, and as troublesome as they were. If Monsieur had had any hope that she would prove a better pupil than the rest he was sadly mistaken. "Soyez sage, Mademoiselle," he said to her pleadingly, but it was of no use. Susan had forgotten for the time how to behave wisely. And it was the same on every occasion: the French lesson was always a scene of impertinence ...
— Susan - A Story for Children • Amy Walton

... error.[231] "It will lie heavy on your conscience," he writes to the Duke of Saxony, "if you tolerate the Catholic worship; for no secular prince can permit his subjects to be divided by the preaching of opposite doctrines. The Catholics have no right to complain, for they do not prove the truth of their doctrine from Scripture, and therefore do not conscientiously believe it."[232] He would tolerate them only if they acknowledged themselves, like the Jews, enemies of Christ and of the Emperor, and ...
— The History of Freedom • John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

... does not quite achieve the distinction of reason, and which is not altogether instinct, but which produces results that might be ascribed to either. Baree did not add two and two together to make four. He did not go back step by step to prove to himself that the man to whom this trap line belonged was the cause of all hit, griefs and troubles—but he DID find himself possessed of a deep and yearning hatred. McTaggart was the one creature except ...
— Baree, Son of Kazan • James Oliver Curwood

... language. He was to have left us at the well, but followed us this evening; and when we decamped I determined, therefore, if possible, to come to some arrangement with him through En-Noor, as he might prove ...
— Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51, Volume 1 • James Richardson

... Ditmar," Siddons gracefully conceded. "But what does it prove? Merely the cruelty of an economic system based on ruthless competition. The great majority who are unable to survive the test pay the price. And the community also pays the price, the state and nation pay it. And we have ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill

... me,' sobbed Psyche; 'yet I have shown you that I can be silent! Let me prove it again by suffering Zephyr to bring my sisters once more, and then never, never will I crave another ...
— The Red Romance Book • Various

... way; if they be pertinent to that for which they are intended, it is enough; and to that it answereth well, being brought to prove no more but the natural consequence of a true and infallible foresight. And now as to what is objected further, as that God might have chose whether sin should have come into the world by Adam, to the destruction of so many: to ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... not forbid it, or at least, not now. But I can not consent to a marriage in the early future, as you have both begged me to do. You will have to wait a while longer, Felix, and prove yourself worthy. I don't like ...
— The Fate of Felix Brand • Florence Finch Kelly

... that we say In a single day, With never a word left out, Were printed each night In clear black and white, 'Twould prove queer ...
— More Toasts • Marion Dix Mosher

... terraces on both sides of the valley, from the manner in which the bottom of the valley near the Andes expands into a great estuary-like plain with sand-hillocks on it, and from the occurrence of a few sea-shells lying in the bed of the river. If I had space I could prove that South America was formerly here cut off by a strait, joining the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, like that of Magellan. But it may yet be asked, how has the solid basalt been removed? Geologists formerly would have brought into play ...
— A Naturalist's Voyage Round the World - The Voyage Of The Beagle • Charles Darwin

... remained silent; then he replied, struggling to preserve his calmness, "Hold, Martial; I know that you will laugh at me; but I wish to tell you all, so that, if anything should happen to me, this at least will prove that I was ...
— Mysteries of Paris, V3 • Eugene Sue

... what is so curiously rare in English literature, the charm of reverie. As the author said, they 'contain rather suggested thoughts that may fructify in other minds than distinct propositions which it is sought argumentatively to prove.' They have the ever seductive note of meditation and inwardness, which, when it sounds true, as it assuredly did here, moves the spirit like a divine music. There is none of the thunder of Carlyle (which, for that matter, one may easily come in time ...
— Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 3 of 3) - Essay 7: A Sketch • John Morley

... Hence the combination of Gilgamesh's adventures with those of Eabani, and hence also the association of Gilgamesh with Parnapishtim. A trace, perhaps, of scholastic influence may be seen in the purport of Parnapishtim's narrative to prove the hopelessness of man's securing immortality; and yet, while the theology of the schools may thus have had some share in giving to the tale of Parnapishtim its present shape, the problem presented by Gilgamesh's adventures is a popular rather than ...
— The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria • Morris Jastrow

... one over the very centre of the old crater, showing that we were wrong in supposing it to be extinct: it was only slumbering. It is in what vulcanologists term moderate eruption now, and, perhaps, may prove a safety-valve which will prevent a more ...
— Blown to Bits - The Lonely Man of Rakata, the Malay Archipelago • R.M. Ballantyne

... railing against me, will come forward; if any person, male or female, will come forward and establish one act of seduction against me, even from the earliest period of my life, up to this hour; if they will produce one illegitimate offspring of mine, or prove that there ever has been such, even by common report; I hereby solemnly promise not to write, or have published, one more line as long as I remain in this prison. And further; if any one will come forward and prove, that I have ever been the inmate ...
— Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq. Volume 2 • Henry Hunt

... brown eyes, and am seized with madness. I hope. For what? O, Bucephalus! let us try to wake and leave the dream behind. The gratitude of a princess and a dog... and for this a rose. Well, it will prove the substance of many a pipe, many a kindly pipe. You miss a good deal, Bucephalus; smoking is an evil habit only to those who have not learned ...
— The Puppet Crown • Harold MacGrath

... handled, developed and fixed by no hand but mine, gave psychic extras. In each case I saw the extra in the negative when it was still wet in the dark room. I reproduce in Plate I a specimen of the results, which is enough in itself to prove the whole case of survival to any reasonable mind. The three sitters are Mr. Oaten, Mr. Walker, and myself, I being obscured by the psychic cloud. In this cloud appears a message of welcome to me from the late Archdeacon Colley. A specimen of the Archdeacon's own handwriting ...
— The Vital Message • Arthur Conan Doyle

... state—of the Vatican and the Quirinale—that they may thus withstand their common foe. A more amazing and extraordinary turn of affairs could not be imagined; and if the rumor (which is now becoming more coherent in Rome) should prove to be the forerunner of any truth, the situation will be one of the ...
— Italy, the Magic Land • Lilian Whiting

... for the present," Mr Baxter said. "Anyway, Rebecca, you can never prove God; you can only ...
— New Chronicles of Rebecca • Kate Douglas Wiggin

... signs were not wanting that in due season Mr. Peters would rise on stepping-stones of his dead self to higher things, and though never soaring into the class that devours lobster a la Newburg and smiles after it, might yet prove himself a devil of a fellow among the ...
— Something New • Pelham Grenville Wodehouse

... the Government doesn't know that? In creating you a baronet (gazes at her) it would gain two advantages—it would prove how broad-minded it is, and it would turn an enemy ...
— The Title - A Comedy in Three Acts • Arnold Bennett

... distressed by the belief that his failure to get the magazines to accept his verse was due to his obscurity, while outwardly he was harassed to desperation by the junior editor of the rival paper who jeered daily at his poetical pretensions. So, to prove that editors would praise from a known source what they did not hesitate to condemn from one unknown, and to silence his nagging contemporary, he wrote Leonainie in the style of Poe, concocting a story, ...
— The Complete Works • James Whitcomb Riley

... the Chorus should sustain, Gentle in all its office, and humane; Chaunting no Odes between the acts, that seem Unapt, or foreign to the general theme. Let it to Virtue prove a guide and friend, Curb tyrants, and the humble good defend! Ille dapes laudet mensae brevis, ille salubrem Justitiam, legesque, et apertis otia portis: Ille tegat commisia, Deosque precetur et oret, Ut ...
— The Art Of Poetry An Epistle To The Pisos - Q. Horatii Flacci Epistola Ad Pisones, De Arte Poetica. • Horace

... book. Even ignorant persons like this Learned Clerk are apt to be chagrined by being so obviously written down to. On the other hand, naturally, an author who knows his intriguing subject so well and drives so forceful a pen cannot fail to be interesting. The historian seems most concerned to prove, by his familiar and plausible method of going over the ground "in the same season, in the same weather, after the same rains, in the same mist," that the Prussian charge by Valmy Mill miscarried only because the infantry got bogged in marsh that looked like ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. CL, April 26, 1916 • Various

... trifle too chummy to suit Trask, and he thought it high time to bring the discussion to a close. While he felt Doc might be valuable as a friend and an ally, the garrulous steward might prove to be dangerous as a gossip. Trask feared that he had made a mistake by discussing the ship's affairs with him, so he gave the black man a generous tip and dismissed him with a caution against repeating anything ...
— Isle o' Dreams • Frederick F. Moore

... shoulder, to the big biceps muscle on the front of your upper arm. This muscle then contracts, or shortens, and pulls up the forearm and hand, by bending the elbow joint. Just in proportion as the muscle becomes shorter, it becomes thicker in the middle; and this you can readily prove by grasping it lightly with your fingers when it contracts, and feeling ...
— A Handbook of Health • Woods Hutchinson



Words linked to "Prove" :   test, evaluate, ensue, cite, establish, affirm, rise, field-test, bring up, print, inform, prove oneself, try out, verify, negate, substantiate, bear witness, result, demonstrate, testify, float, elevate, show, abduce, leaven, be, mathematics, control, try, attest, confirm, lift, turn up, raise, math, jurisprudence



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