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Silent   Listen
adjective
Silent  adj.  
1.
Free from sound or noise; absolutely still; perfectly quiet. "How silent is this town!"
2.
Not speaking; indisposed to talk; speechless; mute; taciturn; not loquacious; not talkative. "Ulysses, adds he, was the most eloquent and most silent of men." "This new-created world, whereof in hell Fame is not silent."
3.
Keeping at rest; inactive; calm; undisturbed; as, the wind is silent.
4.
(Pron.) Not pronounced; having no sound; quiescent; as, e is silent in "fable."
5.
Having no effect; not operating; inefficient. (R.) "Cause... silent, virtueless, and dead."
Silent partner. See Dormant partner, under Dormant.
Synonyms: Mute; taciturn; dumb; speechless; quiet; still. See Mute, and Taciturn.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Silent" Quotes from Famous Books



... Morey, I'll swear we just received a silent cheer!" exclaimed Arcot, as they stood inside the airlock of the ship once more. It seemed home to them now! In a moment they had taken off the uncomfortable ventilating suits and stepped once more into the room where ...
— The Black Star Passes • John W Campbell

... Neither of the two spoke. Lady Helena's face was still hidden. He knew that she was crying—silent, miserable tears—tears that were for him. He stood pale, composed, ...
— A Terrible Secret • May Agnes Fleming

... back and stands a moment as if in silent appeal at the open door. Mrs. Granahan rushes forward to her husband as if to entreat mercy. He angrily ...
— The Turn of the Road - A Play in Two Scenes and an Epilogue • Rutherford Mayne

... springs that come and go, At noon, at night, at early dawn, Through summer's heat and winter's snow, That silent army ...
— Canadian Wild Flowers • Helen M. Johnson

... not one of your pensive maidens. One silent member in a family is enough, or it would stagnate. Clara sustains the dignity, I the life, of the house, my dear. Oh, I wish somebody would come in. I guess half a score of idle young women in the other houses of this Crescent are consumed with the same desire. But nobody ...
— The Guinea Stamp - A Tale of Modern Glasgow • Annie S. Swan

... in a lava cave. I had brought with me some tools that my brother gave me, and I left them there. Something told me that I might need them again. (He is silent.) ...
— Modern Icelandic Plays - Eyvind of the Hills; The Hraun Farm • Jhann Sigurjnsson

... oil, pastel, water color, pencil and charcoal, many without frames and most of them bearing the signature of some poor, stranded painter, preceded by the suggestive line, "To my dear friend, the landlord"—silent reminders all of a small cash balance which circumstances quite beyond their control had prevented their liquidating at the precise hour ...
— The Veiled Lady - and Other Men and Women • F. Hopkinson Smith

... the left was the lusty red-faced tai fish with its gills wide open, singing at the top, or rather at the bottom, of his throat, and beating time by flapping his wide fins. Just back of him was a little gudgeon, silent and fanning himself with a blue flat fan, having disgracefully broken down on a high note. Next behind, on the right, was a long-nosed gar-fish singing alto, and proud of her slender form, with the ...
— Japanese Fairy World - Stories from the Wonder-Lore of Japan • William Elliot Griffis

... she fell silent, yawned, fingered a score, and yawned again. Seeing he made no move to go, she told him she had to go out ...
— The Gods are Athirst • Anatole France

... deny the fulfilment of their prophecies? Has not Virgil himself quoted the predictions of the sibyls? If we have not the first examples of the Sibylline Books, written at a time when people did not know how to read or write, have we not authentic copies? Impiety must be silent before such proofs." Thus did Houttevillus speak to Sejan. He hoped to have a position as augur which would be worth an income of fifty thousand francs, and he ...
— Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary • Voltaire

... as if he weighed the meaning of the words. "No, perhaps you're right. But her engagement has changed her. Naturally," he added, "one would expect that to be so." He waited for Henry to confirm this statement, but Henry remained silent. ...
— Night and Day • Virginia Woolf

... But the silent woman did not look for solace. She had a vehement pride which caused her to seek comfort only in her own heart; and when, against her will, heavy tears rolled down her cheeks, she shook her head impatiently. She drew a long breath and set ...
— The Explorer • W. Somerset Maugham

... around her was silent save when the rude blast Howl'd dismally round the old pile; Over weed-cover'd fragments she fearlessly passed, And arrived at the innermost ruin at last, Where the ...
— The Children's Garland from the Best Poets • Various

... shop-shutters of a neighbouring grocer on his back. He was chastised for this gratuitous unwarrantable yarn, and stuck to it Perhaps he had dreamed it and believed it true, but on that point memory was silent. Anyway it was fixed and decided that he was a liar, and 'A liar we can ne'er believe, though he should speak the thing that's true.' So nobody believed Paul under any conditions, not even when ...
— Despair's Last Journey • David Christie Murray

... guarding that gruesome room which was empty now and silent,—since the clock had not been wound and had run down,—he sat long upon the narrow platform before the kitchen door and smoked and stared straight before him. Once he thought he saw a man move cautiously from the corner of the shed where the youngest calf slept ...
— Jean of the Lazy A • B. M. Bower

... She kept silent. But her eyes ran over him with contempt. According to her, she had given him no right to ...
— Who Cares? • Cosmo Hamilton

... They come to the surface with a prolonged sigh accompanied by the throwing of a small jet of water; the perfectly white bodies writhe into view as the small round heads disappear. Sometimes the beluga makes a noise like the half suppressed lowing of oxen and, since the aquatic world is so silent, sailors have christened the beluga, for this slender achievement, the "sea canary." It is a playful creature and is apparently attracted by man's presence. Before its confidence in him was shaken it used to linger about wharves and ships. But, in spite of the ...
— A Canadian Manor and Its Seigneurs - The Story of a Hundred Years, 1761-1861 • George M. Wrong

... be induced to give the slightest clue to their names. The moment any attempt at their discovery was made, all her feelings seemed to be startled; she shrank at once, looked distressed, and became silent. Hannah More's "Tale of Woe," was therefore a well-meant effort to attract attention to an unhappy creature, who was determined to give no knowledge of ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 364, February 1846 • Various

... others to whom the judge's garments offered themselves mutely, but no one glanced that way and the clock was discreetly silent. The breeze died down and the trousers and the coat hung with a sort of homeless, homesick, and wistful air. One might have thought they were trying to conceal themselves when the next person appeared, so still were they. He was not an inviting person—not ...
— The Landloper - The Romance Of A Man On Foot • Holman Day

... lip hurt him a good deal while he ate. He wanted to grumble about something; but the fear of being compared to Sylvia Courtney kept him silent about the broken glass. Priscilla ...
— Priscilla's Spies 1912 • George A. Birmingham

... at last he reached the house. It was quite silent, but in one of the windows a light was burning. No doubt its occupants found it impossible to sleep in that wild gale. The next thing to consider was how to make himself heard. To knock at the door would be useless in that turmoil. ...
— Colonel Quaritch, V.C. - A Tale of Country Life • H. Rider Haggard

... his hand. They were all silent. He stood up amongst them, by far the tallest man there, with his back to the chimney piece, and his eyes ...
— The Malefactor • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... said McNerney; "for he will go grimly silent to the chair, a thug and a murderer, in ...
— The Midnight Passenger • Richard Henry Savage

... have had their part in the loves of men and women. Do you think that our Clovelly roses have come to be of themselves? Do you think that the actual hurt of their beauty—the restless, nameless quest that comes spurring to our hearts from their silent leaning over the rim of a vase—is nothing more than a product of soil and sun? Has their great giving to human romances been dead as moonlight? Have roses taken nothing in return?... I would not insist before the world ...
— Child and Country - A Book of the Younger Generation • Will Levington Comfort

... was working along this slope down the watercourse, when the noise of the first avalanche startled the gorge. A little later a far shout came to his quick ear. He answered, but when another call reached him from a different point, high up beyond the ridge, he was silent. He knew a company, separated in the neighborhood of the slide, was trying to get into communication. Then, in the interval that he waited, listening, began the ominous roar of the mightier cataclysm. The mountain he had descended seemed to heave; its front gave way; the ridge on ...
— The Rim of the Desert • Ada Woodruff Anderson

... for the present.—For the credit of my calling I should be glad to be, hereafter, for ever silent upon it. But, unfortunately, this is a matter upon which, after all that has occurred, no mistake or confusion of terms is possible—and in affirming that the posterior lobe, the posterior cornu, and the hippocampus minor exist in certain Apes, I am ...
— Lectures and Essays • T.H. Huxley

... on the desk, and the feeling of the pages seemed to restore all the papers that had been torn so long ago. It was the atmosphere of the silent room that returned, the light of the shaded candle falling on the abandoned leaves. This had been painfully excogitated while the snowstorm whirled about the lawn and filled the lanes, this was of the summer night, this of the harvest moon rising like a fire from the tithebarn on the hill. How ...
— The Hill of Dreams • Arthur Machen

... the lawyer's senses partially returned, and Veitel enjoined him to be silent, and to follow him, and he would ...
— Debit and Credit - Translated from the German of Gustav Freytag • Gustav Freytag

... about a month, inspecting and adjusting; thence to Breslau, for Winter-quarters. His Winter is like to be a sad and silent one, this time; with none of the gayeties of last Year; the royal heart heavy enough with many private sorrows, were there none of public at all! This is a word from him, two days after finishing Daun for ...
— History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. XVIII. (of XXI.) - Frederick The Great—Seven-Years War Rises to a Height.—1757-1759. • Thomas Carlyle

... ask for an explanation; I could only sign her to be silent, and help her quickly to the door. As we passed the bread tray on the table, she stopped and pointed ...
— The Lock And Key Library - Classic Mystery And Detective Stories, Modern English • Various

... Odo sat silent, his eyes fixed on the cloud. It was growing visibly now. With every moment its outline seemed to shift and spread, till its black menace dilated to the zenith. The bright water still broke about them in diamond spray; but as the shadow travelled the lake beneath it turned to lead. Then ...
— The Valley of Decision • Edith Wharton

... taught a geology class during the winters. It was in the winter of the year four on Ragnarok that a nine-year-old boy entered his class; the silent, scar-faced Billy Humbolt. ...
— Space Prison • Tom Godwin

... and, as the parties were not now before the public, that horror of gunpowder, vitriol, and life-preservers, which figured in their notices and resolutions, did not appear in their conversation. Grotait alone was silent and doubtful. This Grotait was the greatest fanatic of the four, and, like all fanatics, capable of vast cruelty: but his cruelty lay in his head, rather than in his heart. Out of Trade questions, the man, though vain and arrogant, was of a genial and ...
— Put Yourself in His Place • Charles Reade

... defective in sense, mind, and speech, nervous, clean, dainty, dirty, orderly, obedient, disobedient, disorderly, teasing, buoyant, buffoon, cruel, selfish, generous, sympathetic, inquisitive, lying, ill-tempered, silent, dignified, frank, loquacious, courageous, timid, whining, spoiled, ...
— Youth: Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene • G. Stanley Hall

... we all baptized.' The Assembly's Annotations, 1657, infers that 'one' means 'once,' and refers to the Nicene creed, which says, 'one baptism for the remission of sins'; this surely cannot mean that the application of water remits sins. Diodati, 1648, is silent on this subject. Dr. Hammond, 1653, says, 'the same vow to be administered to all.' Very similar to this is the Dutch annotations ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... and submitted to live under the surveillance of the police till the affair should be settled. Then he would be able to go where he listed, with two thousand pounds in his pocket. He was a humble, silent, and generally obedient man, but in this affair he had managed to thrive better than any of the others. Anna Young was afterwards allowed to fill the same position; but she failed in getting any of the money. While the women were in London together, ...
— John Caldigate • Anthony Trollope

... objected to me, that as time went on, I often in my writings hinted at things which I did not fully bring out, I submit for consideration whether this occurred except when I was in great difficulties, how to speak, or how to be silent, with due regard for the position of mind or the feelings of others. However, I may have an opportunity to say more on this subject. But to return ...
— Apologia pro Vita Sua • John Henry Newman

... center of moral and spiritual power, and its power is used, not only to protect the widow and orphan, but also, and still more important, to remove the cause of their woe and need by making men just, gentle, and generous to all their fellow mortals. Who can measure such a silent, persistent, unresting labor; who can describe its worth in a world of feud, of bitterness, ...
— The Builders - A Story and Study of Masonry • Joseph Fort Newton

... across the hidden waters. That same inner concentration upon the mere phenomenon of a presence, an existence, which had given the childlike note to Mildred's speech, froze a compliment upon his lips; and they stood silent, eying each other gravely. A junior footman appeared, carrying a bottle of champagne in a bucket, and the young man addressed him in a vague, distracted tone, ...
— The Invader - A Novel • Margaret L. Woods

... any one who has "said that the evolution of species depends only on natural selection." The letter closes with an imaginary scene between Sir Wyville and a breeder, in which Sir Wyville criticises artificial selection in a somewhat similar manner. The breeder is silent, but on the departure of his critic he is supposed to make use of "emphatic but irreverent language about naturalists." The letter, as originally written, ended with a quotation from Sedgwick on the invulnerability of those who write on what they do not understand, but ...
— The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume II • Francis Darwin

... along as far as the navyyard of Kittery, and there we dismounted and walked among the vast, ghostly ship-sheds, so long empty of ships. The grass grew in the Kittery navy-yard, but it was all the pleasanter for the grass, and those pale, silent sheds were far more impressive in their silence than they would have been if resonant with saw and hammer. At several points, an unarmed marine left his leisure somewhere, and lunged across our path with a mute appeal for our permit; ...
— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells

... I was silent a moment. "Mr. Chelm, when he comes here at twelve, I want you to tell him that he shall not fail, and that ...
— A Romantic Young Lady • Robert Grant

... persecution against the clergy of Toulouse, and as one of the causes of all the blood that flowed in consequence. A coward as well as a traitor, after the death of Louis XVI. he never dared ascend the tribune of the National Convention, but always gave a silent vote to all the atrocious laws proposed and carried by Marat, Robespierre, and their accomplices. It was in 1795, when the Reign of Terror had ceased, that he first displayed his zeal for anarchy, and his hatred to royalty; his contemptible and disgusting vices were, ...
— The Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte • Bourrienne, Constant, and Stewarton

... encampment, where it spread along the gentle slope of the mountains. The lances of the warriors were fixed in the ground before their tents, and the Indian soldiers were loitering without, gazing with silent astonishment at the Christian cavalcade, as with clangor of arms and shrill blast of trumpet it swept by, like some fearful apparition, on the ...
— History Of The Conquest Of Peru • William Hickling Prescott

... for sale beneath, it was very quaint and lovely. All this was much set off, too, by the glimpses one caught, through a rusty gate standing ajar, of quiet sleepy court-yards, having stately old houses within, as silent as tombs. It was all very like one of the descriptions in the Arabian Nights. The three one-eyed Calenders might have knocked at any one of those doors till the street rang again, and the porter who persisted in asking questions—the man who had the delicious purchases put into his basket ...
— Seeing Europe with Famous Authors, Volume 3 • Various

... past dreading for himself. He prayed that Hermione might be spared a long life of tears, and that Artemis might slay her quickly by her silent arrows. To follow his thoughts in all their dark mazes were profitless. Suffice it that the night which had brooded over his soul from the hour he fled from Colonus was never so dark as now. He was ...
— A Victor of Salamis • William Stearns Davis

... degree of grateful regard which it is possible for language to convey. He was addressed as their preserver, their deliverer, their restorer; and it was easy to perceive that, even when they were silent, their great minds meditated some noble reward. Nor were the substantial services of Sir William Hamilton, though of a less brilliant nature than those of his heroic friend, passed over without the most grateful acknowledgments of their Sicilian ...
— The Life of the Right Honourable Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson, Vol. II (of 2) • James Harrison

... Sheila, sitting there so pale and silent, and realized that on her head all this was falling, the old woman rose up, burst into tears, and threw herself ...
— Sheila of Big Wreck Cove - A Story of Cape Cod • James A. Cooper

... the ground, and remained silent. His brother repeated the query; the little fellow only shrugged his shoulders. With greater insistence ...
— The Delight Makers • Adolf Bandelier

... Whitey had retired, silent, after the first old slipper landed heavily on his tail; but he was admiring Mr. Black's prowess with his whole heart. Nevertheless he was glad when the excitement was over with the "song," and they settled down by the chimney once more. The crisp air made him hungry, ...
— The Book of the Cat • Mabel Humphrey and Elizabeth Fearne Bonsall

... were there, darting up and down in the pretty, busy waters. Here came a Cambridge boat; and where, indeed, will not the gentlemen of that renowned University be found? Yonder were the dandy dragoons, stiff, silent, slim, faultlessly appointed, solemnly puffing cigars. Every now and then a hound would he heard in the wood, whereon numbers of voices, right and left, would begin to yell in chorus—Hurroo! Hoop! Yow—yow—yow! ...
— Seeing Europe with Famous Authors - Vol. II Great Britain And Ireland, Part Two • Francis W. Halsey

... trying to make his kitchen fire burn properly instead of sending all the smoke pouring out into the room; the old man's slovenly figure was just visible in a clearing in the smoke, and he returned Nibet's salutation with nothing more than a silent salute. ...
— Fantomas • Pierre Souvestre

... pellets backwards and forwards. Montague sat profoundly listening,—or ready to listen when anything should be said. As the chairman had risen from his chair to commence his statement, Paul felt that he was bound to be silent. When a speaker is in possession of the floor, he is in possession even though he be somewhat dilatory in looking to his references, and whispering to his neighbour. And, when that speaker is a chairman, of course some additional latitude must ...
— The Way We Live Now • Anthony Trollope

... and father noticed that Russ was rather silent at the lunch table; but he said he was all right. He had something to think about, he told them. Daddy and Mother Bunker looked at each other and smiled. Russ had a way of thinking over things before he put ...
— Six Little Bunkers at Mammy June's • Laura Lee Hope

... have digged with jealous slime. The other is like the dome of the firmament, inlaid with constellations. Is it possible God ever said: "If a prophet deceive when he hath spoken a thing, I, the Lord, hath deceived that prophet?" Compare that passage with the poet, a pagan: "Better remain silent the remainder ...
— Lectures of Col. R. G. Ingersoll, Volume I • Robert Green Ingersoll

... that he received the welcome merited by the important results obtained in this memorable expedition. Although contemporary historians are silent upon the incidents of his life after his return, recent research has been rewarded by the discovery of his tomb at Santarem, and M. Ferdinand Denis has happily proved that, like Vasco da Gama, he received the title of Dom as a reward for ...
— Celebrated Travels and Travellers - Part I. The Exploration of the World • Jules Verne

... force Usurping his just meed; thou, therefore, Jove, Supreme in wisdom, honor him, and give 625 Success to Troy, till all Achaia's sons Shall yield him honor more than he hath lost! She spake, to whom the Thunderer nought replied, But silent sat long time. She, as her hand Had grown there, still importunate, his knees 630 Clasp'd as at first, and thus her suit renew'd.[34] Or grant my prayer, and ratify the grant, Or send me hence (for thou hast none to fear) Plainly ...
— The Iliad of Homer - Translated into English Blank Verse • Homer

... both silent, and she seemed to have followed his devious thought in the same muse, for when he spoke again she did not reproach him with an equal inconsequence. "I don't know whether I could write a novel, and, besides, I think the drama is the supreme literary form. It stands on its own ...
— The Story of a Play - A Novel • W. D. Howells

... spoke up Chester, who up to this time had remained silent, "Hal and I went to the American Embassy immediately after dinner to-night to learn, if possible, what difficulties we were likely to encounter in leaving Germany. Since the Kaiser's declaration of war against Russia all Americans ...
— The boy Allies at Liege • Clair W. Hayes

... Grace's arm in silent understanding. "Good-bye," she said, "we shall see you again before ...
— Grace Harlowe's Second Year at Overton College • Jessie Graham Flower

... I was silent and paused for an explanation. I soon got it, considered as before, as the sympathetic owner ...
— The Dew of Their Youth • S. R. Crockett

... darkened, and the red-eyed servant-girl ran up and down, and the doctor shook his head. This time it was the old gentleman by whose bed Anton sat, holding both his hands. But there was no keeping him back; and after repeatedly blessing his son, he died, and Anton was left alone in the silent dwelling, at the ...
— Debit and Credit - Translated from the German of Gustav Freytag • Gustav Freytag

... Suppose Frank was on the verge of a long prison term, which meant an atmosphere like this? Heavens! For a moment, he trembled, then for the first time in years he made a silent prayer. ...
— The Financier • Theodore Dreiser

... were silent, the one busily engaged writing, the other engrossed with a book. At last Mr Welton senior heaved a deep sigh, and said, while he carefully dotted an ...
— The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands • R.M. Ballantyne

... in the several countries at which they touched in this voyage. Purchas tells us, in the title of this article, that it was translated out of Dutch; but whether by himself or some other, and whether from print or manuscript, he is silent. He informs us likewise, that Floris was cape merchant, or chief factor, in this voyage, and that he died in London in 1615, two months after his arrival from the expedition. This author is remarkable for several notable particulars respecting the affairs of the countries ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. VIII. • Robert Kerr

... windows of the Banqueting House at Whitehall; the streets and roofs were thronged with spectators; and a strong body of soldiers stood drawn up beneath. His head fell at the first blow, and as the executioner lifted it to the sight of all a groan of pity and horror burst from the silent crowd. ...
— History of the English People, Volume VI (of 8) - Puritan England, 1642-1660; The Revolution, 1660-1683 • John Richard Green

... expecting her to give some sort of denial to this observation. But Mrs. Bunting was an honest and truthful woman. It never occurred to her to question his statement. Mr. Sleuth's habits were somewhat peculiar. Take that going out at night, or rather in the early morning, for instance? So she remained silent. ...
— The Lodger • Marie Belloc Lowndes

... man astonished the whole table with his appearance. He was slow, solemn, and silent in his behaviour, and wore a raiment curiously wrought with hieroglyphics. As he came into the middle of the room, he threw back the skirt of it, and discovered a golden thigh. Socrates, at the sight of it, declared against keeping ...
— Isaac Bickerstaff • Richard Steele

... and bracing up were matters of frequent occurrence, as Frank grew more and more silent and abstracted, and now after he had sat through a funny story told by Mr. St. Claire and had not even smiled, or given any sign that he heard it, he suddenly caught Dolly's eye and saw that both ...
— Tracy Park • Mary Jane Holmes

... Elsa too had her thoughts, which may be guessed. They were silent all of them, till of a sudden, Elsa seated in the stern-sheets, saw Adrian suddenly let fall his oar, throw his arms wide, and pitch forward against the back of Martin. Yes, and in place of where he ...
— Lysbeth - A Tale Of The Dutch • H. Rider Haggard

... remote part of the Battery a sound cut the silent air. It was a human voice, masculine, powerful, tender and pleading, lifted in a sacred song. That sound was the first element of the objective world which had penetrated the consciousness of the ...
— The Redemption of David Corson • Charles Frederic Goss

... First Day. The hand clasp of neighbor with neighbor which signaled its close had just been given. From the doorways on either side, the men's and the women's, these silent worshipers were now issuing; the men to seek the vehicles waiting beneath the long shed and the women to gossip a moment of ...
— Dorothy's House Party • Evelyn Raymond

... Also plenty which was ready for the plow. It was almost a farm, made to order by the most perfect Workman. The soil, unsurpassed in richness and fertility, was a safe and sure depository for his seeds, telling him, in its silent, but unmistakable language, of the rich harvest in store for him. His stock was the best which heart could wish; and last, but with him not least, he was within a stone's throw of splendid hunting grounds, which, to his unerring rifle, as the reader has already ...
— The Life and Adventures of Kit Carson, the Nestor of the Rocky Mountains, from Facts Narrated by Himself • De Witt C. Peters

... by the camp-fire's flicker, Deep in my blanket curled, I long for the peace of the pine-gloom, Where the scroll of the Lord is unfurled, And the wind and the wave are silent, And world is ...
— Giant Hours With Poet Preachers • William L. Stidger

... tells us, however, that each Hindoo "finds himself cribbed and confined in all his movements, bound and fettered in all he does by minute traditional regulations. He sleeps and wakes, dresses and undresses, sits down and stands up, goes out and comes in, eats and drinks, speaks and is silent, acts and refrains from acting, according to ancient rule."[114] As yet, therefore, this people assumes competition with the English without giving up its ancient burdensome social ritual. It ...
— Folkways - A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals • William Graham Sumner

... long pins like nails. They are called "Silent Death," and are dropped from German aeroplanes. Boys pick them up and give them to ...
— My War Experiences in Two Continents • Sarah Macnaughtan

... went to the door, but did not quit the room. She merely stood there with her back turned to me, exhibiting a strange, silent patience while I slowly opened the letters and read that my father and I had ...
— Dross • Henry Seton Merriman

... chapel bell goes tolling— Knolling for a soul that's sped; Silent and sad the shepherd lad Hears the ...
— John Smith, U.S.A. • Eugene Field

... with great weights of cacao on their heads. "Women and children, light-hearted, chattering and cheerful, bear their 60 lbs. head-loads with infinite patience. Heavier loads, approaching sometimes two hundredweight, are borne by grave, silent Hausa-men, often a distance of thirty ...
— Cocoa and Chocolate - Their History from Plantation to Consumer • Arthur W. Knapp

... Agda was rich. And he must conceal his love; but as only he lived in it, only he knew of it; so he became mute and still, and after months had passed away, the town's folk called him Oluf Tyste (Oluf the silent). ...
— Pictures of Sweden • Hans Christian Andersen

... York and opened a "daguerrean saloon" at Washington, and the dim portraits produced on burnished metal were regarded with silent astonishment. Up to that time the metropolis had been visited every winter by portrait and miniature painters, but their work required long sittings and was expensive. The daguerreotypes, which could be produced in a few moments and at a comparatively small cost, became very popular, and ...
— Perley's Reminiscences, Vol. 1-2 - of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis • Benjamin Perley Poore

... silent. After a moment the girl spoke again. "I think I would rather be alone, Larry," she said. "I am very unhappy and nervous. Possibly I could ...
— The Mucker • Edgar Rice Burroughs

... made him silent; he was in the upper fifties, but long absence from the sun had pinched his face into the white mask of ...
— The Angel of Lonesome Hill • Frederick Landis

... not the accursed gallows prepared for you by the New Men; believe me, the masked and silent hangman stands waiting to throw the rope of shame around ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6, December 1864 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various

... the officer. "What has he got to do with it?" He turned to MacNair as if expecting an answer. But MacNair remained silent. "Why don't you charge Lapierre with the crimes you told me he was guilty of?" taunted the girl. Again she saw that baffling twinkle in the grey eyes of the ...
— The Gun-Brand • James B. Hendryx

... upon six years elapsed, until I myself had almost forgotten in the Bourgeois Broussel—the name I assumed—the once brilliant Chevalier d'Orrain. Pierrebon alone knew my secret, and he was as silent as the grave. At times the honest fellow would speak hopefully of a good day to come; but I poured cold water on that, and, pointing to my lute and my copy of "Plutarch's Lives," was wont to say that there was enough happiness ...
— Orrain - A Romance • S. Levett-Yeats

... know that, in every smiling, comfortable sin, thou art hatching an adder to sting thee in the days of old age, to poison thy cup of sinful joy, even when it is at thy lips; to haunt thy restless thoughts, and dog thee day and night; to rise up before thee, in the silent, sleepless hours of night, like an angry ghost! An awful foretaste of the doom that is to come; and yet a merciful foretaste, if thou wilt be but taught by the disappointment, the unsatisfied craving, the gnawing shame of a guilty conscience, to see the heinousness ...
— Twenty-Five Village Sermons • Charles Kingsley

... out of Grandfather Frog's big mouth. Grandfather Frog hitched this way and hitched that way on his big green lily-pad, trying his best to swallow. Twice he tumbled off with a splash into the Smiling Pool. Each time he scrambled back again and rolled his great goggly eyes in silent appeal to Little Joe Otter to come to ...
— The Adventures of Grandfather Frog • Thornton W. Burgess

... those innocent days, Ever sweet their remembrance to me; When often, in silent amaze, Enraptured, I'd gaze upon thee! Whilst arching adown the black sky Thy colours glowed on the green hill, To catch thee as lightning I'd fly, But aye you eluded ...
— Cottage Poems • Patrick Bronte

... It was as if she felt it her duty to atone to Mary by her lightness and gaiety for the gloom that had overspread the lunch; as if she wished to assure Mary that she wouldn't allow her to suffer for other people's ill-temper,—Mrs. Upton had certainly been very silent for the rest of that uncomfortable meal,—as if it were for Mary's sake that she were assuming the mask, behind which, as Jack must ...
— A Fountain Sealed • Anne Douglas Sedgwick

... the Republicans succeed next time, I know, and everybody knows, that they will never rest easy until they get the Democrats out. They will shout "offensive partisanship." The truth is, the theory is wrong. Every citizen should take an interest in politics. A good man should not agree to keep silent just for the sake of an office. A man owes his best thoughts to his country. If he ought to defend his country in time of war, and under certain circumstances give his life for it, can we say that in time of peace he is under no obligation to discharge what he believes to be a duty, if he happens ...
— The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Volume VIII. - Interviews • Robert Green Ingersoll

... that I, who am pretty punctual, even when I have little to say, should have been so silent at the beginning of a session: I will tell you some reasons why; what I had to tell you was not finished; I wished to give you an entire account: besides, we have had so vigorous an attendance, that with that, and the fatigue, it was impossible to write. Before ...
— The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2 • Horace Walpole

... wondered who might be abroad at that hour. He glanced at the ruined chapel that towers above the Chateau de Vasselot on its rocky promontory, and peered curiously down into the black valley, where the charred remains of his ancestral home are to be found to this day. Murato was asleep—a silent group of stone-roofed houses, one of which, however, had seen the birth of a man notorious enough in his day—Fieschi, the would-be assassin of Louis Philippe. Every village in this island has, it would seem, ...
— The Isle of Unrest • Henry Seton Merriman

... not go out, and then one after another retired to the shelter among the bushes. The moon was shining far above the trees and the center of the lake glistened like a mass of silver. Occasionally they heard the hoot of the owl, and the far-off bark of a fox, but otherwise all was silent. ...
— Four Boy Hunters • Captain Ralph Bonehill

... when with joy we sung, Were wont their tuneful parts to bear, With silent strings, neglected hung, On willow trees, ...
— A Journal of a Young Man of Massachusetts, 2nd ed. • Benjamin Waterhouse

... groups of sayings there seems to have elapsed a long interval. From the sixth hour to the ninth Jesus was silent. And during this interval there was darkness over all the land. Of what precise nature this atmospheric effect may have been it is impossible at this distance to say. But the Evangelists, three of whom mention it, evidently consider it to have indicated in some sense the sympathy of ...
— The Trial and Death of Jesus Christ - A Devotional History of our Lord's Passion • James Stalker

... the manner of conducting the debate. Notwithstanding this, and although they accepted a letter directed to them also by the committee, and promised the bearer to return an answer, yet they treated both the invitation and letter with silent contempt." (35.) The repeated endeavors of the Tennessee Synod to draw the false Lutherans out of their holes failed. The Lutheran Church of America was destined to sink even deeper into the mire of indifferentism, unionism, ...
— American Lutheranism - Volume 1: Early History of American Lutheranism and The Tennessee Synod • Friedrich Bente

... Miss Overmore had been bad enough, but this first parting from Mrs. Wix was much worse. The child had lately been to the dentist's and had a term of comparison for the screwed-up intensity of the scene. It was dreadfully silent, as it had been when her tooth was taken out; Mrs. Wix had on that occasion grabbed her hand and they had clung to each other with the frenzy of their determination not to scream. Maisie, at the dentist's, had been heroically ...
— What Maisie Knew • Henry James

... a mysterious sign or two, suggestive of his making a silent promise to give his young master all the music he had intended for Max, and went slowly out ...
— Three Boys - or the Chiefs of the Clan Mackhai • George Manville Fenn

... in the glorious annals of Montenegrin history. The oft-told tale of Prince Nicolas' father, Mirko, "The Sword of Montenegro," who was besieged in that inaccessible cleft in a precipice with a handful of men, is one of the most famous feats of Montenegrin arms. The charred cliffs still bear silent witness to the efforts which the Turks made to burn out the little garrison by throwing bundles of flaming straw ...
— The Land of the Black Mountain - The Adventures of Two Englishmen in Montenegro • Reginald Wyon

... small groups, close-sitting, cast dice upon a sheepskin with muttered growls of laughter. The musky smell of the animals tinged the first chill of Autumn which hung in the air. Around them the moor stretched away, vast and silent, broken into ridges filled with impenetrable shadows until it melted into the mystery of the night. Over the world's darkness a slender moon, ...
— Nicanor - Teller of Tales - A Story of Roman Britain • C. Bryson Taylor

... interest accompanied this drama through every stage of its progress, justly dwelt upon its "grandeur." The busy exuberance of Browning's thinking was not favourable to effects which multiplicity of detail tends to destroy; but the fate of this son of the "lone and silent East," though utterly un-Shakespearean in motive, recalls, more nearly than anything else in Browning's dramas, ...
— Robert Browning • C. H. Herford

... the outer office to watch Major Dampfer driven off in his sergeant-chauffeured, scarlet-and-green BSG Rolls limousine. Then he about-faced without warning to glare at his little command, the eight non-coms, the twenty-seven Other Ranks, the four young lieutenants. They all sat silent, watching him as though waiting for confirmation of an unpleasant rumor. Not a file-cabinet stood open, not a typewriter was moving. "Listen, you people," Winfree growled, pointing his swagger-stick like a weapon, not sparing ...
— The Great Potlatch Riots • Allen Kim Lang

... stood in the window, still staring down at the silent forest, uncertain as to what he should think of these midnight walkers. Then he bethought him that there was one beside him who was fitter to judge on such a matter. His fingers had scarce rested upon Aylward's ...
— The White Company • Arthur Conan Doyle

... silent and still as at attention, the troops lined both sides of the upper and lower decks. As at the funeral of Sir John Moore "not a drum was heard," for who can cheer at the thought of dear ones left behind, with the kiss of fond farewell still lingering in ...
— The Greater Love • George T. McCarthy

... done in judgment, truth, and righteousness. So that a murmuring heart cannot be a good one for the fear of God to grow in. Alas! the heart where that grows must be a soft one; as you have it in Job 23:15, 16; and a heart that will stoop and be silent at the most abstruse of all his judgments—"I was dumb, because THOU didst it." The heart in which this fear of God doth flourish is such, that it bows and is mute, if it can but espy the hand, wisdom, justice, or holiness of God in this ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... left him refreshed, as if from a bath of deep, clear waters. His spirit felt clean and elated as it rose from the depths. It was with a smile that he pushed back his chair and rose from the table where, for a full hour, he had sat in silent self-communing. He still smiled as he entered the motor and ...
— Out of the Ashes • Ethel Watts Mumford

... thanked her—what else could she do?—feeling curiously small. There was something refreshing in the parting hug which Bessie bestowed upon her, ere they separated to follow their respective roads, but Jacinth was very silent ...
— Robin Redbreast - A Story for Girls • Mary Louisa Molesworth

... and, his professional instinct promptly asserting itself, ordered some hot water to be brought to him, and, while it was being prepared, opened his medicine chest and his case of surgical instruments, the rest of the inhabitants of the village gathering round in a wide, silent, awestruck circle. They had often before seen similar sights, and were therefore in a measure accustomed to them; they knew what the patient's condition meant, and there was not one among them who did not regard the injured man as already as good as dead. Nevertheless their curiosity was powerfully ...
— The Adventures of Dick Maitland - A Tale of Unknown Africa • Harry Collingwood

... grave!—we half forget How sunder human ties, When round the silent place of rest A gather'd kindred lies. We stand beneath the haunted yew, And watch each quiet tomb, And in the ancient churchyard ...
— A Walk from London to Fulham • Thomas Crofton Croker

... sure of that," replied the marquise, after a moment of silent thought; "and though I will not admit that I am guilty, I promise, if I am guilty, to weigh your words. But one question, sir, and pray take heed that an answer is necessary. Is there not crime in this world that is beyond pardon? Are ...
— Celebrated Crimes, Complete • Alexandre Dumas, Pere

... Jehosophat was silent. He hadn't understood what 'for fair' had meant at all. Still, he had agreed to play that way, and so, though he wanted to punch Fatty's head for him, he supposed he'd have to take his losses ...
— Half-Past Seven Stories • Robert Gordon Anderson

... 'No,| |ma'am,' answered the lad, 'but they told me to tell | |you he was hurt in a fire and is in the hospital.' | |Jerry, my other boy, had opened the door for the lad| |and was talking to him while I dressed a bit. And | |then I walked down stairs and saw Jerry standing | |silent under the gaslight, and I said again, 'Jerry,| |is Gene dead?' And he said 'Yes,' and he went out. | | | |"After a while I went down to the Oak Street Station| |myself, because I couldn't wait for Jerry to come | |back. The policemen all stopped talking when I came | |in, and ...
— News Writing - The Gathering , Handling and Writing of News Stories • M. Lyle Spencer

... his finding no quarter, he delivered the keys, and they then opened the warehouse, hoisted out the coffee themselves, put it into a trunk, and drove off. A large concourse of men stood amazed, silent ...
— All About Coffee • William H. Ukers

... that has been uplifted on the shoulders of generations, comes now to its Thermopylae, its glory-gate, and needs only stout hearts for its strong hands,—when the eyes of a great multitude are turned upon you, and the fates of dumb millions in the silent future rest with you,—when the suffering and sorrowful, the lowly, whose immortal hunger for justice gnaws at their hearts, who blindly see, but keenly feel, by their God-given instincts, that somehow you are working ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 11, No. 65, March, 1863 • Various

... silent, remembering the departure of these men—the triumph, the glory, and the hope. For a great catastrophe is a curtain that for a moment shuts out all history and makes the human family little children again who can but cower and hold each ...
— Barlasch of the Guard • H. S. Merriman

... I won the second and third holes, and then the fat man went to pieces. I never wanted any of my strokes and downed him by 5 and 3. As we re-entered the club-house my partner, who had become strangely silent, walked up to the board which gives the list of handicaps and looked at them. There was my name with 18 opposite it. 'I thought you said your handicap was 12,' he observed. 'Well,' I answered, 'it wasn't more than that this ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 153, Aug 15, 1917 • Various

... ages to us with so great an influence upon the lives of the leading men of the world. Who can recount the innumerable biographies that begin thus: "In his youth, our subject had for his constant reading, Plutarch's Lives, etc."? Emerson must have had in mind this silent, irresistible force that shaped the lives of the great men of these twenty centuries when he declared, "All history resolves itself very easily into the biography of a ...
— Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Vol. 1 of 14 - Little Journeys to the Homes of Good Men and Great • Elbert Hubbard

... their anthem ceased; The Druids their eyes bent earthward still: On Patrick's brow the glory increased As a sunrise brightening some sea-beat hill. The warriors sat silent: strange awe they felt: The chief bard, ...
— The Legends of Saint Patrick • Aubrey de Vere

... then followed in a strong speech against Robertson. He said that the question was one of peculiar significance. It was whether the colored men of the State were able to lead themselves, and capable of upholding their self-respect. He had remained silent until he had heard the defence entirely exhausted, and he was forced to say that the accused had in his defence done nothing but make an admission that the charges were true. He then read a letter of Robertson's dated June 2d. This, he said, was a confidential ...
— The Journal of Negro History, Volume 7, 1922 • Various

... silent for some minutes, holding his face partly averted, as if ashamed of this evidence of weakness—an evidence which it is safe to say he had not shown for years, young ...
— Adrift on the Pacific • Edward S. Ellis



Words linked to "Silent" :   mum, inarticulate, inaudible, incommunicative, silent movie, quiet, inexplicit, understood, silent partner, uncommunicative, unarticulate, tacit, silent treatment, mute, still, unsounded, silence



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