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Refrain   Listen
verb
Refrain  v. t.  (past & past part. refrained; pres. part. refraining)  
1.
To hold back; to restrain; to keep within prescribed bounds; to curb; to govern. "His reason refraineth not his foul delight or talent." "Refrain thy foot from their path."
2.
To abstain from. (Obs.) "Who, requiring a remedy for his gout, received no other counsel than to refrain cold drink."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Refrain" Quotes from Famous Books



... the might of Gabriel fought, And with fierce Ensigns pierc'd the deep array Of Moloc, furious King, who him defy'd, And at his chariot wheels to drag him bound Threatened, nor from the Holy one of Heavn Refrain'd his tongue blasphemous; but anon Down cloven to the waste, with shatter'd arms ...
— The Spectator, Volume 2. • Addison and Steele

... beg of you to refrain. I told you that I was a blunt body. I don't think for a moment that Miss Reed took the money. In that case, one of my remaining two suppositions must have happened; either the note is still in the drawer, pushed out of sight, or under some loose change—hidden, the Lord knows where—or ...
— Good Luck • L. T. Meade

... said Maud, with so sudden an air of sorrow and unhappiness that Howard could hardly refrain from taking her into his arms like a tired child and comforting her. "I don't understand at all. You came here, and you fitted in at once, seemed to understand everyone and everything, and gave us all a lift. ...
— Watersprings • Arthur Christopher Benson

... Some of the streets that appeared so well at first glance, seemed, upon inspection, more like theatrical flats than realities; and there was always a consciousness of everything being wide open and uncovered. Indeed, so strongly did I feel this that it was with difficulty I could refrain from wearing my hat in the house. Nor could I persuade myself that it was quite safe to go out alone after dark, lest unwittingly I should get lost, and lift up in vain the voice of one crying in the wilderness; for the blank and weird spaces about there ...
— Over the Rocky Mountains to Alaska • Charles Warren Stoddard

... of his heart. He himself would feel the better for using the whistle he wore, in derision of her, and for seeing her faithlessness punished by the crowd. But now? When the insolent uproar went up from the "Greens," whose color he himself wore, he had found it difficult to refrain from rushing on the cowardly crew and knocking some ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... music out in the street, A popular martial strain; While the constant patter of countless feet Keeps time to the strokes of the drum's quick beat, And the echoing voices that mix and meet Swell out in a glad refrain. ...
— Continental Monthly , Vol IV, Issue VI, December 1863 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy. • Various

... pretty fool, a pretty fool, a pretty fool!" the refrain sang itself unceasingly in my ears. I was disgusted with the episode, more disgusted yet with my own role. Why was I lying, why making myself by my present silence as well as by my former density the flagrant confederate of ...
— The Firefly Of France • Marion Polk Angellotti

... peace, and experienced the most kind and respectful treatment; and though their duty was a most vexatious and oppressive one, they performed it in general with moderation. On this account they could not refrain from expressing their astonishment at the reports made to them by the authorities at Nismes, declaring, "They had found a population suffering great misfortunes, but no rebels; and that compassion was the only feeling that prevailed ...
— Fox's Book of Martyrs - Or A History of the Lives, Sufferings, and Triumphant - Deaths of the Primitive Protestant Martyrs • John Fox

... this chapter indicates to whom it is addressed. All others please refrain from reading, for it is strictly private and confidential, and is intended only for those who ...
— Diet and Health - With Key to the Calories • Lulu Hunt Peters

... 20^th of October I awoke in a neat room, from which I had a gay view upon the river that was now inundated with the rays of the sun of Kachmyr. As it is not my purpose to describe here my experiences in detail, I refrain from enumerating the lovely valleys, the paradise of lakes, the enchanting islands, those historic places, mysterious pagodas, and coquettish villages which seem lost in vast gardens; on all sides ...
— The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ - The Original Text of Nicolas Notovitch's 1887 Discovery • Nicolas Notovitch

... happening out there? Were those men planning some new attempt? Or had they decided it was better to wait for a larger force? The silence and uncertainty were harder to combat than the violence of assault; she struggled to refrain from screaming. Cavendish never moved, his gun flung forward across the improvised barricade, the very grip of his hand proving the intensity of nervous strain. Something caused him to ...
— The Strange Case of Cavendish • Randall Parrish

... referring to her in private as "Mother Schwellenposch!" Edna, who was scarcely more beloved, was known as "Princess Four-eyes," in allusion to her pince-nez. Daphne found it hard at times to refrain from joining them in this irreverence, but, while she saw the Queen's and Edna's weak points as clearly as her companions—and indeed more clearly than any of them—her sense of loyalty kept her silent. She might laugh when she was alone, and frequently did, but that was a relief to her feelings ...
— In Brief Authority • F. Anstey

... one brief interruption when Hansel's voice could be heard in an impatient whisper bidding Grettel refrain from moving her head so that he could not see. ...
— Everychild - A Story Which The Old May Interpret to the Young and Which the Young May Interpret to the Old • Louis Dodge

... with jealous circumspection, restricted the authority of the State legislatures in this particular, had not imposed a single restraint on that of the United States. If he happened to be a man of quick sensibility, or ardent temper, he could now no longer refrain from regarding these clamors as the dishonest artifices of a sinister and unprincipled opposition to a plan which ought at least to receive a fair and candid examination from all sincere lovers of their country! How else, he would say, ...
— The Federalist Papers • Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison

... water from the well for you, at least, Poor soul! There, drink! Then sleep. See, I remain, And I will sing a slumberous refrain, And you shall murmur ...
— Poems of Paul Verlaine • Paul Verlaine

... presence of the true poetical spirit which it is often impossible to find for years together in other periods of poetry. For instance, if ever there was a "dull dog" in verse it was Richard Edwards. Yet in The Paradise of Dainty Devices Edwards's poem with the refrain "The falling out of faithful friends renewing is of love," is one of the most charming things anywhere to be found. So is, after many years, the poem attributed to John Wooton in England's Helicon (the best of the whole set), beginning "Her ...
— A History of English Literature - Elizabethan Literature • George Saintsbury

... of the planters and merchants petitioned Charles II to forbid the planting of tobacco in Maryland and Virginia for one year.[400] At first this appeal was rejected and the colonists were commanded to refrain from presenting similar petitions in the future. Later, however, the Privy Council secured a reversal of this decision and an order was issued authorizing the Assembly to appoint commissioners to confer with the Marylanders upon the ...
— Virginia under the Stuarts 1607-1688 • Thomas J. Wertenbaker

... interest of the present. As soon as the choice is determined, this ardor is dispelled; and as a calmer season returns, the current of the State, which had nearly broken its banks, sinks to its usual level: *a but who can refrain from astonishment at ...
— Democracy In America, Volume 1 (of 2) • Alexis de Tocqueville

... into the world beyond. By this tragic circumstance our thoughts are sobered and we find ourselves face to face with a sad and bitter incident—the termination of a life while it was still incomplete and unformed. I hope that the whole school will refrain from useless comment and will form no harsh or unjust judgments. This is a time for charity ...
— The Mark of the Knife • Clayton H. Ernst

... presently found her. She was indeed a blonde hussy, short-skirted, low-necked, pitifully rouged, depraved beyond redemption. She stood at the end of the piano, and in company with another of the dance-hall girls who played the accompaniment, she was singing a ballad the refrain of which he caught as "God calls them Angels in Heaven, we ...
— Merton of the Movies • Harry Leon Wilson

... that to place him in any one of the other camps, where the ban was on whisky, and where each smuggled bottle was ferreted out and smashed, would be no test. It is no credit to a man to refrain from whisky ...
— The Promise - A Tale of the Great Northwest • James B. Hendryx

... Place Maubert and the other in St. John's cemetery, as Lutherans, which they were. They had handed over to their host at Paris some Lutheran books to take care of, saying, 'Keep this book for us while we go into the city, and show it to nobody.' When they were gone, this host was not able to refrain from showing this book to a certain priest, the which, after having looked at it, said incontinently, 'This is a very wicked book, and proscribed.' Then the said host went to the commissioner of police to reveal that he had ...
— A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times - Volume IV. of VI. • Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot

... CHAMBERLAIN: I suppose your view is that the Imperial Government should adopt the same policy as the Cape Government, and should refrain from even friendly representations as not being calculated to advance the cause ...
— Lord Milner's Work in South Africa - From its Commencement in 1897 to the Peace of Vereeniging in 1902 • W. Basil Worsfold

... for nothing else. No extraordinary discourse of any thing, every man being intent upon his dinner, and myself willing to have drunk some wine to have warmed my belly, but I did for my oath's sake willingly refrain it, but am so well pleased and satisfied afterwards thereby, for it do keep me always in so good a frame of mind that I hope I shall not ever leave this practice. Thence home, and took my wife by ...
— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys

... harps upon a tree in the strange land. For it gives to songs, sad or gay, the minor, low clear note of exile. It rings out unexpectedly in strange places. The boatmen of the Malabar Coast face the surf singing no other than the refrain that the Basque women murmur over the cradle. "It keeps Marcos ...
— The Velvet Glove • Henry Seton Merriman

... cheerless-looking house, painted a garish yellow, having staring windows, and devoid of a front porch, or slightest attempt at shade to render its uncomely front less unattractive. Hampton could scarcely refrain from forming a mental picture of the woman who would most naturally preside within so unpolished an abode—an angular, hard-featured, vinegar-tempered creature, firm settled in her prejudices and narrowed by her creed. Had the matter been ...
— Bob Hampton of Placer • Randall Parrish

... She could not refrain from smiling at the perfect nonchalance of his manner, and, passing her fingers over the keys, sang a beautiful air from "Lucia." Her guest listened attentively, and, when the song was ended, approached the piano, and ...
— Beulah • Augusta J. Evans

... more frequent. She could not but see that she held the hearts of the people in her hands to mould them like wax; and her intimate knowledge of their conditions and needs made it impossible for her to refrain from sometimes speaking the words she knew they ought to hear. Whenever she did so at any length, she laid her manuscript on the table, that they might know the truth. Her sense of honesty would not let her do otherwise. It was long before anybody but Angy Plummer understood the ...
— Saxe Holm's Stories • Helen Hunt Jackson

... of the party on the omnibus, a good-looking slim young fellow with a little moustache, took off his hat, raised his right arm, and began to sing the war-hymn of the Revolution. The stanza finished, the whole assembly took up the refrain. ...
— My Days of Adventure - The Fall of France, 1870-71 • Ernest Alfred Vizetelly

... then be sure you take covenant paper and ink to God before you sleep. And let all fashionable young ladies hear what Miss Rossetti expects for herself, and for all of her sex with her who shall subscribe her covenant. 'True,' she admits, 'all our life long we shall be bound to refrain our soul, and keep it low; but what then? For the books we now refrain to read we shall one day be endowed with wisdom and knowledge. For the music we will not listen to we shall join in the song of the redeemed. For the pictures from which ...
— Bunyan Characters - Third Series - The Holy War • Alexander Whyte

... in his honour. It was about ten o'clock in the morning when he rode into the public square, followed by about two hundred ragged Filipinos, armed with all sorts of guns and pistols. Archie saw the arrival from the roof of the building which was his mock prison, and he could scarcely refrain from laughing outright when he saw the boasted Filipino "army." It was the poorest excuse for a body of ...
— The Adventures of a Boy Reporter • Harry Steele Morrison

... slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered and brought to naught. After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, wore dispersed. And now, I say unto you, refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to naught; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to ...
— A Series of Letters In Defence of Divine Revelation • Hosea Ballou

... by the light of the fire. Tom in the mean time could not refrain from now and then looking out for an ...
— The Three Admirals • W.H.G. Kingston

... already been at work upon this multitude. Their skins were dry, their lips black and cracked. They were all thirsty, weary, and footsore. And amid the various cries one heard disputes, reproaches, groans of weariness and fatigue; the voices of most of them were hoarse and weak. Through it all ran a refrain: ...
— The War of the Worlds • H. G. Wells

... words, 'I love you!' I have since ascertained that these disks may be bought for five cents a dozen—or at considerably less than one half cent for the single lozenge. Yes, gentlemen, the words 'I love you!'—the oldest legend of all; the refrain 'when the morning stars sang together'—were presented to the plaintiff by a medium so insignificant that there is, happily, no coin in the republic low ...
— Openings in the Old Trail • Bret Harte

... an interjectional refrain. The frequent introduction of the particle on is intended to add strength and gravity ...
— Ancient Nahuatl Poetry - Brinton's Library of Aboriginal American Literature Number VII. • Daniel G. Brinton

... of the corners of the cell, the old chief surgeon lost not a word, not a gesture, of the murderer. And he could hardly refrain from rubbing his hands with delight as he noticed the marvellous skill of the magistrate in seizing upon all those little signs, which, when summed up at the end of an investigation, form an overwhelming mass of evidence against the criminal. The magistrate, in the meantime, ...
— The Clique of Gold • Emile Gaboriau

... is, the better), I have made friendly overtures (musical, of course) to the Sheepsdoor Purveyors of Brassharmony, with the flattering result that they now conclude every performance with my specially composed "Election War Cry"—the refrain of which is most effective when given by a ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 103, July 9, 1892 • Various

... to Woolwich with the tide and coasted along the east coast of England till "at the last with a good wind they hoisted up sail and committed themselves to the sea, giving their last adieu to their native country—many of them could not refrain from tears." Richard Chancellor himself had left behind two little sons, and his poor mind was tormented with ...
— A Book of Discovery - The History of the World's Exploration, From the Earliest - Times to the Finding of the South Pole • Margaret Bertha (M. B.) Synge

... mud, and the cold, The cold, the mud, and the rain; With weather at zero it's hard for a hero From language that's rude to refrain. With porridgy muck to the knees, With sky that's a-pouring a flood, Sure the worst of our foes Are the pains and the woes Of the RAIN, the COLD, ...
— Rhymes of a Red Cross Man • Robert W. Service

... said thrice daily at his expense by some Dominicans. After the defenders were armed they sent for the judges to inspect their weapons and armor. The German knight, Arnoldo, had a disabled hand, but he declared he would rather die than refrain from jousting. His arms and horse were approved, although the latter was superior to that of Quinones. The judges had provided a body of armed soldiers whose duty it was to see that all had fair play in the field, and had a pile of lances of various ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. XXVI., December, 1880. • Various

... last, and sinks in a moment. Captain Paget's wardrobe was in its Indian summer in these days; and when he felt how fatally near the Bond-street pavement was to the soles of his feet, he could not refrain from a fond admiration of the boots that were ...
— Birds of Prey • M. E. Braddon

... piece of meat in her fingers. But it was the custom here in the wild, and she rather enjoyed it. And as she ate, the two Indians watched her with much interest. Such a novelty did she seem to them, that she could not refrain ...
— The King's Arrow - A Tale of the United Empire Loyalists • H. A. Cody

... of Guides does not form part of the enquiry entrusted to the Commission, but they have in the course of their enquiries had the extreme gallantry of the bearing of these men so forcibly brought to their notice that they cannot refrain from placing on record their humble tribute ...
— The Story of the Guides • G. J. Younghusband

... extent it was exhibited by Barbarossa in the Prevesa campaign. In his intellectual outlook on all that was passing, both inside and outside of the Gulf of Arta, in this September of 1538, we see Kheyr-ed-Din at his best. Ever a fighter, he knew when to give battle and when to refrain, when to sweep headlong upon the foe, but also when to hold back and to baffle by waiting till the psychological moment should arrive. Around him Sinan-Reis, Mourad-Reis, and half a hundred others of ...
— Sea-Wolves of the Mediterranean • E. Hamilton Currey

... belongs to him, or how it came into the tomb of his father. Henceforward, let him not deceive himself, or fancy thus, "I have now done with it; there's nothing that he can say to me." I recommend him not to be mistaken, and to refrain from provoking me. I have many other points, as to which for the present he shall be pardoned, which, {however}, shall be brought forward hereafter, if he persists in attacking me, as he has begun to do. After the AEdiles had purchased the Eunuch of Menander, {the Play} which ...
— The Comedies of Terence - Literally Translated into English Prose, with Notes • Publius Terentius Afer, (AKA) Terence

... composed the richest lordship in the world; I spoke of gold and pearls and precious stones, of spices and the traffic that might be carried on in them; and because all these things were not forthcoming at once I was abused. This punishment causes me to refrain from relating anything but what the natives tell me. One thing I can venture upon stating, because there are so many witnesses of it, viz., that in this land of Veragua I saw more signs of gold in the first two days than I saw in Espanola during fours ...
— The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot, 985-1503 • Various

... let Tiberius Caesar be heir to two-thirds of my estate." These words countenanced the suspicion of those who were of opinion, that Tiberius was appointed successor more out of necessity than choice, since Augustus could not refrain from prefacing his will ...
— The Lives Of The Twelve Caesars, Complete - To Which Are Added, His Lives Of The Grammarians, Rhetoricians, And Poets • C. Suetonius Tranquillus

... stretch; at some runnel along its nearer margin, where upon one side the more broken swamp recommenced, a rosy flamingo stood and fished, and, still remoter, the melancholy note of a bird tolled its refrain, answered by an echoing voice from some yet inner depth of forest far away. Save for this, the silence was as intense as the vastness and color of the scene, till it opened and resolved itself into one broad insect hum. The children took a couple of steps forward, ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 96, October 1865 • Various

... cousin, Miss Ibbotson, that Mr Hope is engaged to," said Sophia, unable to refrain from disclosures which she yet saw were not cared for:—"the beautiful ...
— Deerbrook • Harriet Martineau

... Mrs Miller did not refrain from a short expostulation in private at their first meeting, yet the occasion of his being summoned downstairs that morning was of a much more agreeable kind, being indeed to perform the office of a father to Miss Nancy, and to give her ...
— The History of Tom Jones, a foundling • Henry Fielding

... hear her sing—with folded eyes, It is, beneath Venetian skies, To hear the gondoliers' refrain, ...
— Riley Love-Lyrics • James Whitcomb Riley

... Hercules, who threw men about. I always knew that Morey was a brainless brute, but I never realized the marvelous divining powers of those Greeks so perfectly—now, the Incarnation of Dumb Power!" Dramatically Wade pointed to Morey, unable even now to refrain from ...
— Invaders from the Infinite • John Wood Campbell

... Khorre. Let us drink and laugh, Khorre. That organist lies. Sing something for me, Khorre—you sing well. In your hoarse voice I hear the creaking of ropes. Your refrain is like a sail that is torn by the ...
— The Crushed Flower and Other Stories • Leonid Andreyev

... of boys at play. At length, after becoming tired, there was the return home an hour before nightfall. And now the little fellows tripped along; thirty fagot bundles were carried on thirty heads; and the thirty sang, as on setting out, the same carol, with the same refrain. ...
— Jasmin: Barber, Poet, Philanthropist • Samuel Smiles

... to refrain from using my deadliest weapon against you for the sake of keeping my word. Now you, if you are not the basest wretch living, ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... the father of thy child; truly they will all know it by seeing him, for they shall not grieve thee with impertinence." Now the woman had made it known that she would not be questioned, and she gave them all what they needed; yet, for all this, they could not refrain nor restrain themselves from talking to her on what they well knew she would fain be silent. And one day when they had angered her, she thought, "Truly Katahdin was right; these people are in nowise worthy of my son, neither shall he serve them; he shall not lead them to victory; they ...
— The Algonquin Legends of New England • Charles Godfrey Leland

... with them the eggs of the flukes, and the spores of the amoebae that produce chronic tropical dysentery. As they are probably never grown under such conditions as to preclude the possibility of this danger, it would be the part of wisdom to absolutely refrain from their use. ...
— Health on the Farm - A Manual of Rural Sanitation and Hygiene • H. F. Harris

... Miss Pringle deprecatingly. Her tone seemed to imply that there were other disadvantages which she would refrain from mentioning. ...
— The Land of Promise • D. Torbett

... repeat it. Hasty speech hurts hearer and speaker. In the beginning, think on the end. You tell a man a secret, and he'll betray it for a drink of wine. Mind what you say. Avoid backbiting and flattering; refrain from malice, and bragging. A venomous tongue causes sorrow. When words are said, regret is too late. Mind what you say. Had men thought of this, many things done in England would never have been begun. To speak aright observe six ...
— Early English Meals and Manners • Various

... Winford could scarcely refrain from shouting treachery. Then the marines lowered their shields and rays. Next instant they went down under the charge of ...
— The Space Rover • Edwin K. Sloat

... To be temperate in all things, to be continent, and to refrain from loose living of any sort, are acts of the will. They require self-denial, and a foregoing of that which may be more attractive, in favor of the thing which should be done. Granted that there are a few individuals who are so thin-blooded that they never feel tempted to digress morally, ...
— The Armed Forces Officer - Department of the Army Pamphlet 600-2 • U. S. Department of Defense

... entered the cellar at the O. L. Paris home last week and stole about a peck of pickles. Mr. Paris says that if the pickles are returned or paid for he will refrain from publishing the name on an envelope found in his cellar and supposed to have been dropped ...
— News Writing - The Gathering , Handling and Writing of News Stories • M. Lyle Spencer

... I refrain from attempting a full analysis of Sir John's character, till I encounter him at the noontide of his glory, stealing, drinking, lying, recruiting, warring, and discoursing of wine, wit, valour, and honour, with ...
— Shakespeare: His Life, Art, And Characters, Volume I. • H. N. Hudson

... seem that it is unnecessary to caution against contracting relationships at the period of the monthly flow, thinking that the instinctive laws of cleanliness and delicacy were sufficient to refrain the indulgence of the appetites; but they are little cognizant of the true condition of things in this world. Often have I had husbands inform me that they had not missed having sexual relations with their wives once or more ...
— Plain Facts for Old and Young • John Harvey Kellogg

... illnesses, to deal insolently or lawlessly through their desires, but will keep to their usual habits, which acquire their power and force by attention. For if the body can by training make itself and its members so subject to control, that the eyes in sorrow can refrain from tears, and the heart from palpitating in fear, and the passions can be calm in the presence of beautiful youths and maidens, is it not far more likely that the training of the passions and emotions of the soul will ...
— Plutarch's Morals • Plutarch

... I sing, nor can from song refrain, In honour of that blissful Maiden free, Till from my tongue off-taken is the grain; And after that thus said she unto me; 215 "My little Child, then will I come for thee Soon as the grain from off thy tongue they take: Be not dismayed, I will not ...
— The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Vol. II. • William Wordsworth

... it is true; but even these may be largely overcome by careful early training in right ways of eating and drinking. It is possible to teach very young children to use such food as is best for them, and to refrain from the eating of things harmful; and it should be one of the first concerns of every mother to start her children on the road to manhood and womanhood, well trained in correct ...
— Science in the Kitchen. • Mrs. E. E. Kellogg

... Third Series and Third Volume. It is noticeable for Lord CATHCART's appeal for the wild birds, which, as addressed to farmers and farm-labourers and armed ploughboys, may be summed up by an adaptation of the refrain of the remonstrance—so frequently urged by one of Lieutenant COLE's funny figures—"Can't you let the birds alone?" Then Mr. HASTING "On Vermin," which doesn't sound nice, though better than if the title were vice versa,—is most interesting, especially where he tells us that "shrews ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 103, July 23, 1892 • Various

... the sight, Brunehaut, compassionating the evil case of one of her lieges unjustly persecuted, assumed quite a manly courage, and threw herself amongst the hostile battalions, crying, "'Stay, warriors; refrain from this wicked deed; persecute not the innocent; engage not, for a single man's sake, in a battle which will desolate the country!' 'Back, woman,' said Ursion to her; 'let it suffice thee to have ruled under thy husband's sway; now 'tis thy son who reigns, ...
— A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times - Volume I. of VI. • Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot

... of. O'erword, the refrain; catchword. Onie, any. Or, ere, before. Orra, extra. O't, of it. Ought, aught. Oughtlins, aughtlins, aught in the least; at all. Ourie, shivering, drooping. Outler, unhoused. Owre, over, too. Owsen, oxen. Owthor, author. Oxter'd, held up under ...
— Poems And Songs Of Robert Burns • Robert Burns

... she ought carefully to refrain from boasting or flaunting her superiority in the face ...
— Right Above Race • Otto Hermann Kahn

... by no means demonstrative, could not refrain from laying her head on her friend's shoulder as she said, "Well then, dear Laura, we are beggars! Dear papa has failed in business, and we have not a ...
— Under the Waves - Diving in Deep Waters • R M Ballantyne

... 'Listen! listen! listen!' The words seemed to form part of an eager, hissed refrain. He ...
— The Fifth Queen • Ford Madox Ford

... was just now anxiously watching Norman, especially his father, who strove in vain to keep back all manifestation of his earnest desire to see him retain his post. Resolutely did the doctor refrain from asking any questions, when the boys came in, but he could not keep his eyes from studying the face, to see whether it bore marks of mental fatigue, and from following him about the room, to discover whether ...
— The Daisy Chain, or Aspirations • Charlotte Yonge

... as it was the custom of kings and great personages at that time to keep a fool (as he was called) to make them sport after serious business—this poor fool clung to Lear after he had given away his crown, and by his witty sayings would keep up his good-humor, though he could not refrain sometimes from jeering at his master for his imprudence in uncrowning himself and giving all away to his daughters; at which time, as he rhymingly expressed it, ...
— Tales from Shakespeare • Charles and Mary Lamb

... songs and hear the notes repeated once again His ear has caught when listening to the mocking-bird's refrain, And interwoven with the sense a mystic something rings That fills the soul with ecstasy when ...
— The Old Hanging Fork and Other Poems • George W. Doneghy

... in their behalf put a point which themselves would be the last to suggest. I hope they will acquit me of impertinence in doing this. You, in your turn, must acquit me of sentimentalism. The Jews are a minority, and as such must take their chances. But may not a majority refrain from pressing its rights to the utmost? It is well that we should celebrate Christmas heartily, and all that. But we could do so without an emphasis that seems to me, in the circumstances, 'tother side good taste. "Good taste" is a hateful phrase. ...
— A Christmas Garland • Max Beerbohm

... ready to express regret," he said in a toneless voice, "since that would seem to be gratification to you, and moreover seems to be the tacit condition on which you will refrain from turning me out. I ought indeed to have abstained from referring, however vaguely, to past events, for the plain reason that anything I could say would already have come too late to prevent the grievous deed you have now pledged ...
— The Light of Scarthey • Egerton Castle

... of the men were getting played out on the march. The first thing I knew a sick man was on the Major's horse (he was Major then), and he was trudging along in the mud with the rest of us, and carrying the muskets of three other men who were badly used up. [Footnote: I cannot refrain here from paying a tribute to my old schoolmate and friend, Major James Cromwell, of the 124th New York Volunteers, whom I have seen plodding along in the mud in a November storm, a sick soldier riding his horse, while he carried the accoutrements of other men ...
— A Knight Of The Nineteenth Century • E. P. Roe

... molasses; he steals some. His master, in many cases, goes off to town, and buys a large quantity; he returns, takes his whip, and commands the slave to eat the molasses, until the poor fellow is made sick at the very mention of it. The same mode is sometimes adopted to make the slaves refrain from asking for more food than their regular allowance. A slave runs through his allowance, and applies for more. His master is enraged at him; but, not willing to send him off without food, gives him more than is ...
— The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass - An American Slave • Frederick Douglass

... the parrot before I went up to it. It was asleep and appeared to be all over of a dull grey color, to match the Nuns, one might have said. I stood for quite a little while regarding it. Suddenly it stirred, shook itself, awoke and seeing me, immediately broke out into frantic shrieks to the old refrain "And for goodness sake don't say ...
— Crowded Out! and Other Sketches • Susie F. Harrison

... said Cassandra, with a nod at Helen. "With such testimony I cannot see how you can refrain from taking my advice in this matter; and I tell you, ladies, that this man Kidd has made his story up out of whole cloth; the men of Hades had no more to do with our being here than we had; they were as ...
— The Pursuit of the House-Boat • John Kendrick Bangs

... impossible to refrain from telling all this, and from making a little innocent fun out of the superexcellencies of these schools; but the total result on my mind was very greatly in their favor. And indeed the testimony came in both ways. Not only was I ...
— Volume 1 • Anthony Trollope

... on grumbling and nagging and grudging every day, if you want to. I haven't asked you to refrain. I've merely explained that, as a result of your husbandly behaviour, you've ceased to attract me, and I don't want to live ...
— Married Life - The True Romance • May Edginton

... matter," Leo would say, "so long as the songs make them a little happier?" And they would go down the road and begin again on the old, old refrain—that whatever came or did not come the children of men must not be afraid. It was heavy teaching at first, but in process of years Leo discovered that he could make men laugh and hold them listening to him even when the rain fell. Yet there were people who would ...
— Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II • Rudyard Kipling

... Duchess De Langeais" e sets his central character amidst the frivolities of fashion and behold, yet another beautiful type of the sex! As Richardson drew his Pamela and Clarissa, so Balzac his Eugenie and the Duchess: and let us not refrain from carrying out the comparison, and add, how feeble seems the Englishman in creation when one thinks of the half a hundred other female figures, good and bad, high and low, distinctly etched upon the memory by the mordant pen of ...
— Masters of the English Novel - A Study Of Principles And Personalities • Richard Burton

... subject? We have each learned what had better been left unknown. You understand my position. Surely you will be good enough to look upon me ever afterward as a princess and forget that I have been a woman unwittingly. I ask you, for your sake and my own, to refrain from a renewal of this unhappy subject. You can see how hopeless it is for both of us. I have said much to you that I trust you will cherish as coming from a woman who could not have helped herself and who has given to you ...
— Graustark • George Barr McCutcheon

... circus" methods of the Roman emperors at times. On the occasion of the celebration of his coronation, there were distributed to the populace thirteen thousand poultry, bread, and wine ran freely in the public squares, so that the streets echoed to this cheerful refrain: ...
— Paris from the Earliest Period to the Present Day; Volume 1 • William Walton

... attached to each other, and fond of each other's society; that either would have been ready to take up the other's quarrel, or endorse his notes, had circumstances required it. Yet Harry could never refrain from laughing before third parties at Gerard's ignorance of books, and making him the hero of all the Mrs. Malaprop-isms he could pick up or invent; or, as we have seen, speaking very disrespectfully of the motives which ...
— The International Monthly, Volume 2, No. 4, March, 1851 • Various

... and recited very well, giving due emphasis to each fine sentence. Then, unable to refrain from what she considered her greatest effort, she burst into Juliet's balcony scene, ending with the poison and the tomb. She felt sure that she surpassed herself, and waited for applause. A ringing laugh made her tingle with indignation and disappointment, ...
— Jo's Boys • Louisa May Alcott

... fear from impotent childhood, easily affords to refrain from cruel inflictions; and if cold and hunger do not pierce the tender frame, the first seven or eight years of the slave-boy's life are about as full of sweet content as those of the most favored and petted white children of the slaveholder. The slave-boy ...
— My Bondage and My Freedom • Frederick Douglass

... came such a ride as still lingers in the gossip of the lowly country folk and forms the rude jingle of that old Surrey ballad, now nearly forgotten, save for the refrain: ...
— Sir Nigel • Arthur Conan Doyle

... and submissive; admitted that their lives were forfeited, and if we said they were to die, they were prepared; although, they explained, they were equally willing to live. They promised to refrain forever from piracy, and offered ...
— The Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. Dido - For the Suppression of Piracy • Henry Keppel

... physical exercise tends to develop an ambition to excel, to become physically strong and robust. With such an ambition, boys realize, intuitively to a certain extent, that to succeed they must refrain from vice. Physical exercise has a fourfold moral value: it substitutes wholesome activity for vice; it serves as an outlet for excess of nervous energy; it develops the will; it develops ambition to be virile. All wholesome ...
— The Social Emergency - Studies in Sex Hygiene and Morals • Various

... elicits with real pleasure. On the 4th of July the hearts of the people seem to awaken from a three hundred and sixty-four days' sleep; they appear high-spirited, gay, animated, social, generous, or at least liberal in expense; and would they but refrain from spitting on that hallowed day, I should say, that on the 4th of July, at least, they appeared to be an amiable people. It is true that the women have but little to do with the pageantry, the splendour, or the gaiety ...
— Domestic Manners of the Americans • Fanny Trollope

... replied, going to look for pass book and check book. But when he returned he could not refrain from asking, "What are you going to do with ...
— The Short Cut • Jackson Gregory

... (in The Phoenix and the Turtle), Herbert's Trinity Sunday, Quarles' Shortness of Life, Browning's A Toccata of Galuppi's, Tennyson's The Two Voices, Swinburne's After a Reading, and Clear the Way; and (with a simple refrain) Cowper's ...
— The Principles of English Versification • Paull Franklin Baum

... paid for tobacco in the city was sufficient to support the public preaching. A gentleman there, who has recently given up tobacco, said he would not go back to its use for a thousand dollars, although it cost him a great effort to refrain from it. A young man, after receiving a private lecture from an anti-tobacco friend, committed to the flames half a dozen cigars he had by ...
— A Disquisition on the Evils of Using Tobacco - and the Necessity of Immediate and Entire Reformation • Orin Fowler

... and tendencies which are beneficial (as, indeed, is mainly true), there is no warrant for assuming that these are either adequate to secure a prosperous community or dependent upon the social arrangements which happen to exist. Let us, therefore, refrain from premature polemics and examine in a spirit of detachment some further aspects of the elaborate, but yet unorganized, cooperation of which so much has been ...
— Supply and Demand • Hubert D. Henderson

... her flicker!" cried Fred, as he rushed forward. "Everybody join in!" he added, and then boomed out with this well-known Hall refrain: ...
— The Rover Boys at Big Horn Ranch - The Cowboys' Double Round-Up • Edward Stratemeyer

... delivering his presidential address to the Iron and Steel Institute, the lecturer had ventured to suggest that "time will probably reveal to us effectual means of carrying power to great distances, but I cannot refrain from alluding to one which is, in my opinion, worthy of consideration, namely, the electrical conductor. Suppose water power to be employed to give motion to a dynamo-electrical machine, a very powerful electrical current will be the result, which may be carried ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 384, May 12, 1883 • Various

... "are in the first place a Christian: I am in the first place a historian. There is a gulf between us." 67 He was the first eminent writer who exhibited what Michelet calls le desinteressement des morts. It was a moral triumph for him when he could refrain from judging, show that much might be said on both sides, and leave the rest to Providence 68. He would have felt sympathy with the two famous London physicians of our day, of whom it is told that they could not make up their minds on a case and ...
— Lectures on Modern history • Baron John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

... Republic's forces, but failing in this wish he put his arm again at the service of the Milanese. A little later, however, Venice afforded him the coveted honour, and for the rest of his life he was true to her, although when she was miserably at peace he did not refrain from a little strife on his own account, to keep his hand in. Venice gave him not only honours and money but much land, and he divided his old age between agriculture and—thus becoming still more ...
— A Wanderer in Venice • E.V. Lucas

... with every man and every woman the world over. The slothful even—those who seem impelled to nothing—refrain from effort because they put their faith in idleness as the one thing above all ...
— The Elements of Character • Mary G. Chandler

... auguries connected with it survive. Burns particularises very fully the formulae of Hallowe'en, as practised in Ayrshire in his day, and as this poem is well known, it would be superfluous to follow it in detail here; but I cannot refrain from drawing attention to the suggestions which one of the practices which he mentions affords in favour of the supposition that it is a relic of an ancient form of appeal to the fire god—I refer to the practice of burning nuts. It seems likely that in ancient times ...
— Folk Lore - Superstitious Beliefs in the West of Scotland within This Century • James Napier

... very pathetic song, being all about coons spooning in June under the moon, and so on and so forth, but Gussie handled it in such a sad, crushed way that there was genuine anguish in every line. By the time he reached the refrain I was nearly in tears. It seemed such a rotten sort of world with all that kind of thing ...
— The Man with Two Left Feet - and Other Stories • P. G. Wodehouse

... so beastly that they could not refrain from laying and abusing the Indian women, which gave them the verole picot or French pox, surely the just iudgement of god, wt a iudgement not knowen to former ages, punishing men wt shame in this world. The Spaniards brought it from America to Naples, infected ...
— Publications of the Scottish History Society, Vol. 36 • Sir John Lauder

... weep or complain no more, and do not refer to my misfortune. I should die if I did not suppress this anguish, and I would become strong and active. Seek not to enfeeble me, but aid me to harden myself; refrain from complaint, that I may be silent. I think only of him, and I ask nothing further than to yield my life to free him. Let us never speak of it again, for I feel that all the firmness which I had gained has been swept from me ...
— Old Fritz and the New Era • Louise Muhlbach

... of his native grace of character, his smiling geniality. If he yielded some credence to the most naive inventions, this does not mean that he was always and entirely their dupe. They simply gave him the utmost delight. He did not refrain from piquant allusions; and the commentary on the Pentateuch presents a number of pleasantries, some of which are a bit highly-spiced for modern taste. Fundamentally, they are a heritage of the old Midrashic spirit grafted upon the gaiety of "mischievous and ...
— Rashi • Maurice Liber

... this country being involved in hostilities during your absence, you will take care never to be surprised; but you are to refrain from any act of aggression towards the vessels or settlements of any nation with which we may be at war, as expeditions employed on behalf of discovery and science have always been considered by all civilised communities as acting under a ...
— Thomas Henry Huxley; A Sketch Of His Life And Work • P. Chalmers Mitchell

... excellent; but who ever heard of a calculator always exempt from error?' These phrases were, it seems, rigorously required under the circumstances by Chinese politeness. Whenever any person in China is compromised by any awkward incident, those present always carefully refrain from any observation which may make him blush, or, as the Chinese call it, take away his face. A further proof of Chinese cupidity was afforded by the admission of a gentleman, whom we may take ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 451 - Volume 18, New Series, August 21, 1852 • Various

... request of thee. But since by reason I cannot persuade thee to it, to what purpose do I defer my last hope?' And with these words herself, his wife and children, fell down upon their knees before him: Martius seeing that, could refrain no longer, but went straight and lifted her up, crying out, 'Oh mother, what have you done to me?' And holding her hard by the right hand, 'Oh mother,' said he, 'you have won a happy victory for your country, but mortal and unhappy for your son: ...
— Characters of Shakespeare's Plays • William Hazlitt

... come to see us and dined with us, and we kept her all the day with us, I going down to Deptford, and, Lord! to see with what itching desire I did endeavour to see Bagwell's wife, but failed, for which I am glad, only I observe the folly of my mind that cannot refrain from pleasure at a season above all others in my life requisite for me to shew my utmost care in. I walked both going and coming, spending my time reading of my Civill and Ecclesiastical Law book. Being returned ...
— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys

... breaks out in the neighborhood the farmer should maintain a strict quarantine against the infected herds. He should refrain from visits to farms where they are located, and should insist on requiring that his neighbors stay out of his hog lots. Visiting of all kinds at this time should be carefully restricted. Dogs, cats, crows, and buzzards are very active carriers of infection ...
— Pratt's Practical Pointers on the Care of Livestock and Poultry • Pratt Food Co.

... conflict between his ideas of right and her own. Domestic discord was to her mind a vulgar, no less than an unhappy, state of things. Yet, in the step she was now about to take, could she feel any assurance that Dr. Derwent would afford her the help of his sympathy—or even that he would refrain from censure? Reason itself was on her side; but an otherwise reasonable man might well find difficulty in acknowledging it, under ...
— The Crown of Life • George Gissing

... refrain from again expressing my surprise at the frequency and the undoubting positiveness of this assertion in so great a scholar, so profound a Patrician, as Jeremy Taylor was. He appears 'bona fide' to have believed the absurd fable of this Creed having been a pic-nic ...
— The Literary Remains Of Samuel Taylor Coleridge • Edited By Henry Nelson Coleridge

... rich Sumptuous central grain, This mutable witch, This one refrain. This laugh in the fight, This clot of light, This ...
— Georgian Poetry 1911-12 • Various

... rhythmic sense in different poems, the verse forms that he uses, the tendencies in rhyme, his use of refrain, of ...
— Contemporary American Literature - Bibliographies and Study Outlines • John Matthews Manly and Edith Rickert

... had been wonderfully moved by the papers Franz left. The ten letters she had written during the spring-time of their love went to the grave with him, but the rest were of such an extraordinary nature that Louis could not refrain from showing them to his cousin, and then at her request leaving them for her to dispose of. They were indeed letters written to herself under every circumstance of her life, and directed to every place in which she had sojourned. In all of them she was addressed as "Beloved Wife of my Soul," ...
— Winter Evening Tales • Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr

... of husband, Sir Everard could not refrain from imprinting another kiss on the lips that uttered it. He then gently disengaged himself from his lovely but suffering charge, whom he deposited with her head resting on the bed; and making a significant motion of his hand to the woman, who, as well as old Morrison, ...
— Wacousta: A Tale of the Pontiac Conspiracy (Complete) • John Richardson

... the cathedral next day by ten o'clock, to answer divers matters of heresy and schism laid to his charge; and the man having delivered the summons, said to the seneschal that he was ordered by Sir Andrew Oliphant to bid him refrain from visiting the prisoner, and to retire to his ...
— Ringan Gilhaize - or The Covenanters • John Galt

... gently raise the veil that's worn by Love; Love, that impatient guide!—too proud to think Of vulgar wants, of clothing, meat, and drink, Urges our amorous swains their joys to seize, And then, at rags and hunger frighten'd, flees: Yet not too long in cold debate remain; Till age refrain not—but if old, refrain. By no such rule would Gaffer Kirk be tried; First in the year he led a blooming bride, And stood a wither'd elder at her side. Oh! Nathan! Nathan! at thy years trepann'd, To take a wanton harlot ...
— The Parish Register • George Crabbe

... together, "is the voice of Balthazar," and they hastened to meet him, for he was now almost at the summit, and the refrain of his song was still upon his lips. At that moment Balthazar sprang up from the sloping path into full view of the two men, and, giving each a hand, exclaimed: "Gaspard, Melchoir, beloved companions, I have found you ...
— Christmas Stories And Legends • Various

... silence, and again there fell Upon the Rabbi's ears the sweet refrain, With the glad tumult of a marriage bell, Now rising like a bird, now low again. "Her daughter weds," he said. "Ah! woe is me, Who robbed her ...
— Fleurs de lys and other poems • Arthur Weir

... and not at all for myself. I grieved for him, the spellbound old man! No, Sylvanus; since we feel assured that no power of ours, no power on earth, can turn him from his purpose, we must do our duty by him. We must refrain from giving him pain or making him angry; for his own poor old sake, we must do this! Sylvan, I must attend his bride to the altar; and you must attend him—as he desired ...
— For Woman's Love • Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth

... coupled with soul-searing reprimand, and absolute prohibition of further original writing. His translation of the Testament was confiscated, and he was commanded to destroy all notes referring to it, and to refrain from making further translations. His little room was searched, and all references and papers which might be construed as unevangelical were seized and burned. He was then transferred to another room for the remainder ...
— Carmen Ariza • Charles Francis Stocking

... method of making a well had been invented, there was almost as much of a rush to Pennsylvania for oil. With every penny that they could beg or borrow, people from the East hurried to the westward to buy or lease a piece of land in the hope of making their fortunes. A song of the day had for its refrain,— ...
— Diggers in the Earth • Eva March Tappan

... experiences he had never known so much good fruit from the publication of any book"; and, not least, "Live and let Live: or domestic service illustrated," of which Dr. Channing wrote, "I cannot, without violence to my feelings, refrain from expressing to you the great gratification with which I have read your 'Live and let Live.' Thousands will be better and happier for it.... Your three last books, I trust, form an era ...
— Daughters of the Puritans - A Group of Brief Biographies • Seth Curtis Beach

... upon, as to his subjective heat sensations during the experiments. He found that after the first impression due to the application of cold is overcome, it was quite easy to maintain himself in a perfectly passive condition; subsequently it required a distinct effort of the will to refrain from shivering and throwing the muscles into activity, and finally even this became no longer possible, and involuntary shivering and muscular contraction supervened, as soon as the body temperature ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 717, September 28, 1889 • Various

... and paraphrases of the song exist. Several are referred to in Notes and Queries, and, amongst them, a broadside of the date of 1670, and another dated 1672 (both printed before Erskine was born), presenting different readings of the First Part, or original poem. In both these the burthen, or refrain, differs from that of our copy by the employment of the expression 'DRINK tobacco,' instead of 'SMOKE tobacco.' The former was the ancient term for drawing in the smoke, swallowing it, and emitting it through the nostrils. A correspondent ...
— Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of England • Robert Bell

... perhaps to the disgust, of the two Methodist ladies, Dr. Ferrolan struck up this refrain, singing with a vigor which proved his earnestness. Sir Modava, the engineers, and the cook immediately joined in with him. Dr. Hawkes, Uncle Moses, Mr. Woolridge, and others, because they approved the sentiment of the words, struck in at the second line, and it ...
— Across India - Or, Live Boys in the Far East • Oliver Optic

... was not a judge to keep the high-roads safe, and make crime tremble. Old Judge Harbottle was the man to make the evil-disposed quiver, and to refresh the world with showers of wicked blood, and thus save the innocent, to the refrain of the ancient saw he ...
— Green Tea; Mr. Justice Harbottle • Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

... writing a long and vehement treatise against negro slavery, which I wanted to publish with my Journal, but was obliged to refrain from doing so, lest our fellow-citizens should tear our house down, and make a bonfire of our furniture—a favorite mode of remonstrance in these parts with those who advocate the rights of ...
— Records of Later Life • Frances Anne Kemble

... "Am[^a][']y[)i] [)A][']tawasti[']y[)i]." He then repairs to some convenient spot with his paint, beads, and other paraphernalia and proceeds to adorn himself for the dance, which usually begins about an hour after dark, but is not fairly under way until nearly midnight. The refrain, y[^u]['][n]w[)e]h[)i], is probably sung while mixing the paint, and the other portion is recited while applying the pigment, or vice versa. Although these formula are still in use, the painting is now obsolete, beyond an ...
— The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees • James Mooney

... frisky little man. He began with what is known as 'patter,' then gave melodious account of a romantic meeting with a damsel whom he had seen only once to lose sight of for ever. And the refrain was: ...
— Thyrza • George Gissing

... head and feet some three or so feet into the clearing, he knelt down, and, touching the ground three times in succession with his forehead, looked up at a giant kulpa-tree opposite him, chanting as he did so some weird and monotonous refrain, the meaning of which was unintelligible to me. Up to then it had been light—the sky, like all Indian skies at that season, one blaze of moonbeams and stars; but now it gradually grew dark. An unnatural, awe-inspiring shade seemed to swoop down ...
— Werwolves • Elliott O'Donnell

... celebration. In due course a copy of this volume will be sent to each of our guests. The celebration itself, I think you will all agree with me, has been a moving one, with an underlying note of philanthropic endeavor as high as the stars. You heard its refrain in the pageant on the lawn this afternoon. As I have listened to-day to these words of profound wisdom, uttered in so noble a spirit of human ministry, my mind has gone back to the sentence from Cicero's plea for Ligarius,[18] which formed the text for Dr. ...
— A Psychiatric Milestone - Bloomingdale Hospital Centenary, 1821-1921 • Various

... observed at once by reference to the text that in form the two poems are identical. They contain the same number of lines and feet as surely as all sonnets do. Each travels upon two rhymes with the members of a broken couplet in widely separated refrain. To the casual reader this much is obvious, but there are many subtleties in the verse which made the authorship inevitable. It was a form upon which he had worked for years, and made his own. When the moment arrived ...
— In Flanders Fields and Other Poems - With an Essay in Character, by Sir Andrew Macphail • John McCrae

... as to the Duc d'Anjou's intended campaign. The Flemings were too hostile to the duke to receive well a Frenchman of distinction, and were too proud of their position to refrain from humiliating a little this gentleman who came from France and questioned them in a pure Parisian accent, which always seemed ridiculous to the Belgians. Henri began to conceive serious fears with reference to this expedition, in which his brother was to bear so prominent a part, and he ...
— The Forty-Five Guardsmen • Alexandre Dumas

... after it. And all the time he never let go my hand, but held it and kissed it. And then he took me by the waist, and kissed me, oh, so often. And all the while his tears were running like the tears of a girl." And Lady Fitzgerald, as she told the story, could not herself refrain ...
— Castle Richmond • Anthony Trollope

... Jehovah, still we refrain from crying to the infamous gates That open easily into the heavens thy mind of jealousy hates. Power is in them: hast thou no power? Wilt thou not beware Lest thy mood now press our minds ...
— Emblems Of Love • Lascelles Abercrombie

... of Dotty's tone. Susy, though by no means unfeeling, could scarcely refrain from laughing at the child's unreasonableness; but Prudy, who "was exceeding wise" in reading the heart, knew that Dotty's anger was not very real; that it was partly assumed to hide her wretchedness. Therefore ...
— Dotty Dimple At Home • Sophie May

... of disjointed friendship, the faint tones of the sick, The judge with hands tight to the desk, his pallid lips pronouncing a death-sentence, The heave'e'yo of stevedores unlading ships by the wharves, the refrain of the anchor-lifters, The ring of alarm-bells, the cry of fire, the whirr of swift-streaking engines and hose-carts with premonitory tinkles and color'd lights, The steam-whistle, the solid roll of ...
— Leaves of Grass • Walt Whitman

... conducted, has either perished, or still remains locked up in the archives of the Lusitanian monarchy. But when we look into the expeditions, which have been projected of late years into the interior of Africa, we cannot refrain from drawing the conclusion, that the character of the African people must have undergone a change considerably for the worse, or that our expeditions are not regulated on those principles ...
— Lander's Travels - The Travels of Richard Lander into the Interior of Africa • Robert Huish

... this decision made than there came over her a strange thrill of joy and exultation. He should live! he should live! this was the refrain which rang in her thoughts. He should live; and she would be the life-giver. At last he would be forced to look upon her with eyes of gratitude at least, if not of affection. It should no longer be in his ...
— The Cryptogram - A Novel • James De Mille

... He did not, however, lose his hopes; he cracked the filbert, and it presented him with a cherry-stone. The lords of the court, who had assembled to witness this extraordinary trial, could not, any more than the princes his brothers, refrain from laughing, to think he should be so silly as to claim the crown on no better pretensions. The prince, however, cracked the cherry-stone, which was filled with a kernel; he divided it, and found in the ...
— The Fairy Book - The Best Popular Stories Selected and Rendered Anew • Dinah Maria Mulock (AKA Miss Mulock)

... terror into my soul. You may tell them that we are to be married in a month or two from now—in Austria—but that I shall do nothing to interfere with his career; nor protest against his passing a part of each year in the United States. Ask them kindly to refrain from congratulations, or any allusion to the subject whatever. We have only eight days here, and I should like it to be as nearly ...
— Black Oxen • Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton

... the waves lapping musically against the rocks below, and the moonlight glistening on a million reflectors. The great stretch of water in front, and the great city behind me sang low in concord, while the stars looked down smiling at the refrain. "Be calm, little mortal, be calm," they said; "calm, tiny mortal, calm," repeated endlessly, until the mood took hold of me, and in sympathy I smiled ...
— A Breath of Prairie and other stories • Will Lillibridge

... have become more buoyant in a more nervous atmosphere a sort of youthful giddiness. The robust nature of Jansoulet, that civilized savage, was more susceptible than another to these strange refinements; and he had to exert all his strength to refrain from inaugurating with a joyful hurrah an unseasonable out-pouring of words and gestures, from giving way to the impulse of physical buoyancy which stirred his whole being; like the great mountain dogs which are thrown into convulsions of epileptic frenzy by inhaling ...
— The Nabob, Volume 1 (of 2) • Alphonse Daudet

... pretty often, requested him in a particularly Manner to refrain Drinking; (tho' indeed there was no necessity for that Caution) Sheppard says, Doctor, You set an Example and I'll follow; this was a smart Satyr and Repartee upon the ...
— The History of the Remarkable Life of John Sheppard • Daniel Defoe

... tramp of feet, a hurrying this way and that, a confusion of happy voices. And over all the clamour, the big bell in the tower continued to fling out far over the town and the lake and the woods the joyous refrain that the day's work was done, was done, ...
— The End of the Rainbow • Marian Keith

... followed the reception; and the same people who a few days before had been singing her praises on the Pont-neuf, were equally, if not better pleased with the ballad of "La Reine moqueuse," of which the cruel refrain ...
— Joseph II. and His Court • L. Muhlbach

... conversing with Lady Latimer, he happened to raise his eyes, and saw opposite to him a young lady of such remarkable beauty, that he could scarcely refrain from an admiring exclamation.—"And who," he asked, recovering himself, "is that lady? It is strange that even I, who go so little into the world, should be compelled to inquire the name of one whose beauty must already have made ...
— Ernest Maltravers, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... with warm true heart, And then from love refrain? Who say 'tis fit we now should part And ...
— The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume IV. - The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century • Various

... obvious in the particular branch or geste of William with the Short Nose, appearing even in the finest and longest of the subdivisions, Aliscans, which some have put at the head of the whole. In fact, as we might expect, the esprit gaulois can seldom refrain altogether from pleasantry, and its pleasantry at this time is distinctly "the humour of the stick." But still the poem is a very fine one. Its ethical opening is really noble: the picture of the Court at Aix has ...
— The Flourishing of Romance and the Rise of Allegory - (Periods of European Literature, vol. II) • George Saintsbury

... for writing about "Beautiful Spring" Live upon the property of their heirs so long Morality is all the better for his humor Morals: rather teach them than practice them any day Never been in jail, and the other is, I don't know why Never to smoke when asleep, and never to refrain when awake Patriotism is usually the refuge of the scoundrel Please state what figure you hold him at—and return the basket Principles is another name for prejudices She bears our children—ours as a general thing Some civilized women would lose half their charm without dress The Essex ...
— Quotes and Images From The Works of Mark Twain • Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

... and refused to move,—she who was usually so docile that Queen Mab's whip, made of a cricket's bone with a spider's thread for a thong, was enough to start her into a gallop,—I could not repress a slight shudder or refrain from peering into the darkness rather anxiously, while at times the harmless trunks of ash or birch trees would appear to me as spectral-looking as one ...
— My Private Menagerie - from The Works of Theophile Gautier Volume 19 • Theophile Gautier

... appeared a shocking sight. 'Poor creatures!' thought I, 'we surely need not grudge you such miserable habitations.' But when we came according to orders to cut down the fields of corn, I could scarcely refrain from tears; for who could see the stalks that stood so stately, with broad green leaves and gaily tasseled shocks, filled with the sweet milky flour, the staff of life,—who, I say, could see without grief these sacred plants sinking under our swords with all ...
— Daniel Boone - The Pioneer of Kentucky • John S. C. Abbott

... newer gossip, Justine Delande was cheering the lonely girl, whose silent mutiny as to her shining prison life now reached almost an open revolt. It was a grateful relief to the Swiss woman, whose agitated heart was softly beating the refrain: "To-morrow! to-morrow! I shall see him again!" ...
— A Fascinating Traitor • Richard Henry Savage

... right of protecting the Christians of Turkey, and the Great Powers should pronounce on the results of the war; (2) Russia would annex no land on the right (south) bank of the Danube, would respect the integrity of Roumania, and refrain from touching Constantinople; (3) if Russia formed a new Slavonic State in the Balkans, it should not be at the expense of non-Slavonic peoples; and she would not claim special rights over Bulgaria, which was to be governed by a prince who ...
— The Development of the European Nations, 1870-1914 (5th ed.) • John Holland Rose



Words linked to "Refrain" :   tra-la-la, forbear, chorus, leave behind, save, consume, music, keep off, avoid, let it go, help oneself, fast, desist, abstain, act, vocal, teetotal, spare, help, stand by, hold back, tra-la, leave alone, sit out, leave



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