"Croak" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... know what her affections are,' said Mark. 'You did not see her when she lost her mother, and there had been no strain on her powers then. However, I've no business to croak. Many a child gets over troubles of this kind, and, as Annaple says, little Jenny will be all the more to us for what ...
— Nuttie's Father • Charlotte M. Yonge
... chirp of cricket, croak of frog and the rush of waters through the valley were the only sounds, and I darted across to the camp shadow. Lying flat, I began to crawl cautiously and laboriously towards my horses. One gave a startled snort as I approached and this set the dogs going again. ...
— Lords of the North • A. C. Laut
... old croak," interrupted one of the younger men, smiling encouragement. "Don't waste your time on him,—talk to me. He is such a grouch that he gives the bugs a regular bed to sleep in. He'd have been well years ago if ...
— Sunny Slopes • Ethel Hueston
... almost a year after? 700 AUGUSTUS having, b' oversight, Put on his left shoe 'fore his right, Had like to have been slain that day By soldiers mutin'ing for pay. Are there not myriads of this sort, 705 Which stories of all times report? Is it not ominous in all countries When crows and ravens croak upon trees? The Roman senate, when within The city walls an owl was seen 710 Did cause their clergy, with lustrations, (Our Synod calls humiliations), The round-fac'd prodigy t'avert From doing town or country hurt ...
— Hudibras • Samuel Butler
... of here in a minute. Listen, popper, mommer's done the best she could. It ain't easy to nurse a dying child who is liable to croak at any moment. But she's done that, popper, she's often went without her dill pickle so I could have my spavin cure. She thought I might get well and strong and maybe get a job as a safe mover. But I've been so busy dying I couldn't go to work. (Shakes fist at ALGERNON.) Don't believe that man, ...
— Writing for Vaudeville • Brett Page
... rancher, surnamed Crosby, hatchet-faced, slow of speech, who spoke, "Ain't that question a bit superfluous, pard? We're all with you—that is, as many as you want, I reckon. None of us ain't cats, so we can't croak but once—and that might as well be now as ...
— Where the Trail Divides • Will Lillibridge
... out of the child's hand, carried it up into a tree; the child suddenly began to cry, and the mother, hearing it, left her washing, and running to the child, forthwith missed the ring, but hearing the raven croak in the tree, she lifted up her eyes, and saw it with the ring in its beak. The woman, in great terror, called her brother, and told him what had happened, adding that she durst not approach the king if the raven took away the ring. Gaspar, seizing ...
— The Romany Rye • George Borrow
... the red sort, owned it, But later to Uncle Sam they loaned it, Who afterwards made no bones, but boned it In the fine Autolycus way; And though life wasn't a matter vital He kept with the lake its rasping title, Which recalls the croak of an amorous frog Or a siren heard ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 153, Sept. 26, 1917 • Various
... shook her head as if the silver lining of that cloud was hard to find; but she had no time to croak again, for just then Mr Laurie came in looking ...
— Jo's Boys • Louisa May Alcott
... A tendency to croak caused a certain roughness in his speech, but his voice was not disagreeable, and what he said, although conveying little enlightenment, did ...
— Lilith • George MacDonald
... the element he inhabiteth, such solitude of station, that verily he doth remind me of the Virgin Queen herself. Of the heron I have less to say, not having him about me; but I never heard his lordly croak without the conceit that it resembled a chancellor's ...
— Citation and Examination of William Shakspeare • Walter Savage Landor
... "Tut, man! croak not," said York. "I have no intent to leave it other than alive—thou canst do as it ...
— The White Rose of Langley - A Story of the Olden Time • Emily Sarah Holt
... croaked away lustily, but no one listened to him. "The jury must vote by ballot," he said as he finished the last croak. ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 152, April 4, 1917 • Various
... "Don't croak, Mr. Stubbs," said Hal. "Barring accidents, we'll reach General Petain at Verdun in time to deliver these despatches before it's ...
— The Boy Allies At Verdun • Clair W. Hayes
... twilight, with his feet noiselessly treading down the yielding carpet of pine needles, it seemed to the master that he was passing through the woods in a dream. There was no sound but the dull intermittent double knock of the wood-pecker, or the drowsy croak of some early roosting bird; all suggestion of the settlement, with all traces of human contiguity, were left far behind. It was therefore with a strange and nervous sense of being softly hailed by some woodland sprite that he seemed to hear his ...
— Cressy • Bret Harte
... heart be like unto the bullet of my big gun, and obey me! When I throw up in the air this cigarette, thou shalt run and plunge into the river, but not into the depth; lie hidden in the reeds of the bank until thou shalt hear a frog croak thrice and then once. Come out and go to the frog, and be not afraid, for thou shalt see me in the spirit form. ...
— Witch-Doctors • Charles Beadle
... gain enough merit for all my kingdom." Then the old woman got very angry and cursed the queen, saying, "You will become half a frog and half a human being, and you will stand outside your co-wife's bath-room and croak like a frog." But the queen did not mind her the least little bit, and she laughed so loud at the old woman that the noise was like two chains rattling together. Mahalaxmi went off in a great rage and entered Queen Chimadevrani's part of the palace. There she saw all ...
— Deccan Nursery Tales - or, Fairy Tales from the South • Charles Augustus Kincaid
... according to a new Samana rules. A heron flew over the bamboo forest—and Siddhartha accepted the heron into his soul, flew over forest and mountains, was a heron, ate fish, felt the pangs of a heron's hunger, spoke the heron's croak, died a heron's death. A dead jackal was lying on the sandy bank, and Siddhartha's soul slipped inside the body, was the dead jackal, lay on the banks, got bloated, stank, decayed, was dismembered by hyaenas, was skinned by vultures, turned ...
— Siddhartha • Herman Hesse
... irresistible power, and melted all before it. Ice and snow quickly dissolved, and set free the waters of swamp and river, lake and sea, to leap and sparkle in their new-found liberty. Birds renewed their visits to the regions of the north; frogs, at last unfrozen, opened their leathern jaws to croak and whistle in the marshes; and men began their ...
— The Young Fur Traders • R.M. Ballantyne
... the Congo, which much disappointed their expectations, on account of the shallowness of its channel. The river, however, was then at a low ebb; its banks were marshy, and its waters moved slowly and silently between forests of mangrove trees. The air was filled with the discordant croak of innumerable parrots, diversified somewhat by the notes of a few singing birds. As they proceeded, the river, instead of diminishing, seemed to increase in volume. At Embomma, much interest was excited among the natives, by the discovery that their cook's mate ...
— Life and Travels of Mungo Park in Central Africa • Mungo Park
... the enemy too confident. Then I held out the palm of my hand for inspection and tried to look like a man pretending he does not believe in magic. Whatever Maga thought, the old hag was delighted. She began to croak an incantation, shuffling first with one foot, then with the other, and finally with both together in a weird dance that almost shook her old frame apart. Then she went through a pantomime of finger-pointing, as if transferring from herself to ...
— The Eye of Zeitoon • Talbot Mundy
... critical glance upon the parrot. She heartily approved of his attitude toward the raven, and although the old cynic cared nothing for Mrs Gummidge's opinion, he found a sour satisfaction in warning her of her enemy's hostile intentions. This he always did with a croak, causing Mrs Gummidge to look up just in time, and the ...
— In the Quarter • Robert W. Chambers
... their sonorous, bell-like booming can be heard coming up from the marshes, and when they are unseen, the song of the bull-frogs would suggest creatures full of solemn dignity. The croak of their lesser brethren is less impressive, yet there is no escape from it on those evenings when the dragon-flies' iridescent wings are folded in sleep, and the birds in the branches are still, when the lilies on the pond have ...
— A Book of Myths • Jean Lang
... one of them mischievous bantams, ma'am," said the cook, a countrywoman who had made a study of cocks and hens. "They always give that sort of catchy croak at the end of their crows. But, to be sure, what a fright it's gave us all! And ...
— Hoodie • Mary Louisa Stewart Molesworth
... old man, being a rice-farmer, went daily with hoe or spade into the fields, working hard from the first croak of the raven until O Tento Sama (as the sun is called) had gone down behind the hills. Every day the dog followed him to work, and kept near by, never once harming the white heron that walked in the footsteps of the old man ...
— Harper's Young People, September 14, 1880 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various
... the birds crowded on the gibbet; not one was on the corpse. They were talking among themselves. The croaking was frightful. The howl, the whistle and the roar, are signs of life; the croak is a satisfied acceptance of putrefaction. In it you can fancy you hear the tomb breaking silence. The croak is night-like ...
— The Man Who Laughs • Victor Hugo
... landskip the dim light, And thro' the open'd lattice hung my head To view the snow-drop's bud: and thence at eve When mildly fading sunk the summer sun, Oft have I loved to mark the rook's slow course And hear his hollow croak, what time he sought The church-yard elm, whose wide-embowering boughs Full foliaged, half conceal'd the house of God. There, my dead father! often have I heard Thy hallowed voice explain the wonderous works Of Heaven to sinful man. Ah! little deem'd Thy virtuous bosom, that thy shameless ...
— Poems • Robert Southey
... great ones scorn his Raven's croak, And well may mock his mystifying cloak Inscribed with runes from tongues he has not read To make the ignoramus turn his head. The artificial glitter of his eyes Has captured half-grown boys. They think him wise. Some shallow ...
— General William Booth enters into Heaven and other Poems • Vachel Lindsay
... was sure it could not have been wind. And when the brook ran close under one of these overhanging places the running water made a singular, indescribable sound. A crack from a hoof on a stone rang like a hollow bell and echoed from wall to wall. And the croak of a frog—the only living creature he had so far noted in the canyon—was a weird ...
— The Rainbow Trail • Zane Grey
... merry croak From river, pond, and stream; O, now I know that Spring has come, And all ...
— The Tiny Picture Book. • Anonymous
... discouraged me, but I watched for it to reach the foremost bird. He was surprised by it, but made one step sideways, and, lifting his great right leg, the stone rolled under him without any damage. He gave a queer, guttural croak, accompanied by a most violent motion of the head and neck. The other birds, thus warned, dodged quickly sidewise, and avoided the slowly rolling boulder; but all three of the riders were thrown by the swift lateral movement of the birds. ...
— Pharaoh's Broker - Being the Very Remarkable Experiences in Another World of Isidor Werner • Ellsworth Douglass
... former opinion when Eleanor called her late friend Charlotte a base, designing woman. She re-echoed all the abuse that was heaped on Mr. Slope's head and never hinted that she had said as much before. "I told you so, I told you so!" is the croak of a true Job's comforter. But Mary, when she found her friend lying in her sorrow and scraping herself with potsherds, forbore to argue and to exult. Eleanor acknowledged the merit of the forbearance, and at length allowed herself to ...
— Barchester Towers • Anthony Trollope
... your mouth And don't grumble nor croak; Go put your poor head And your poor heart in soak; Lay all of your sorrows And sins on the shelf, For the world is all right If you're all ...
— Oklahoma Sunshine • Freeman E. (Freeman Edwin) Miller
... with the sun and the soft breeze, an unwonted heaviness pervaded the male-bird's body. Formerly he used to fly or roost, croak or sit silent, fly swiftly or slowly, because there were causes both around and within him: when hungry he would find a hare, kill, and devour it; when the sun was too hot or the wind too keen, he would ...
— Tales of the Wilderness • Boris Pilniak
... to proceed with great caution, for fear of a mis-step on the part of the animals, but fortunately we reached the island without an accident, but as we did so we heard a shrill croak from beneath the very palms where we had encamped. The call was repeated in a dozen different directions, and then all was quiet, and not the rustling of a leaf could be heard to show that a large body of men were all tending ...
— The Gold Hunter's Adventures - Or, Life in Australia • William H. Thomes
... folds on the sides of the back. In the bull frog, Rana catesbeana, these folds are very small and indistinct. The green frog is found in large numbers in many of the ponds and streams of the eastern United States, and its peculiar rattling croak may be heard from early spring until fall. It is more active, and apparently quicker in its reactions, than the bull frog, but they are in many respects similar in their habits. Like the other water frogs it feeds on small ...
— Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1 • Various
... May, when the joy of living fairly intoxicates one, and every bird's throat is swelling with happy music, who but a Calvinist would croak dismal prophecies? In Ireland, old crones tell marvelous tales about the hawthorns, and the banshees which have a predilection for them. So ...
— Wild Flowers, An Aid to Knowledge of Our Wild Flowers and - Their Insect Visitors - - Title: Nature's Garden • Neltje Blanchan
... complained of this robbery of night and sleep in the night. They were so tired, so tired, they said: and so did the muffawully patter of their poor feet. The lambs said most; and the sheep agreed with a husky croak. ...
— An Englishwoman's Love-Letters • Anonymous
... warm and pleasant. No sound, except the soft lapping of the waves on the shore, the chirp of a cricket or the occasional croak of a tree frog, disturbed the quiet of the night. As the time wore on, without any disturbance, the watches began to doze until Gerald was suddenly roused with a start by a splash in the water and saw a boat gliding silently toward ...
— The Boy Scouts Patrol • Ralph Victor
... dollars. That's mine, anyhow. It's in that bag there. I'm working on a new set of tools now in my shop. I'm going to get that money back from the two thieves who stole it from me by law. I'll take it by force, the way they took it. If I can croak them both in the fight—well, there'll be two thieves less to rob honest men ...
— The Foolish Virgin • Thomas Dixon
... little girl holding out her apron to receive the sticks with which the crone's skinny arms unsparingly filled it. The child trembled, and seemed half-crying; while the old woman, in a harsh, grating croak, was muttering ...
— Eugene Aram, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... fine night, In a friendly throng, From the swampy places where They have slept so long Hop the frogs, and all Loudly croak together, Then there will be, we are sure, ...
— Harper's Young People, March 23, 1880 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various
... co-worker, shrugged her bony shoulders and laughed; but not with the upward glee of a bird—downward, rather, until it died in a croak in her throat. But then Hattie Krakow was ten years older than Sara Juke; and ten years in the arc-lighted subcellar of the Titanic Department Store can do much to muffle the ring in ...
— Every Soul Hath Its Song • Fannie Hurst
... running up aft and hung for a moment over us with a curling top; then crashed down under the counter and spread out on both sides into a great sheet of bursting froth. Above its fierce hiss we heard Singleton's croak:—"She is steering!" He had both his feet now planted firmly on the grating, and the wheel spun fast as he eased the helm.—"Bring the wind on the port quarter and steady her!" called out the master, staggering to his feet, the first man up from amongst our prostrate heap. One or two ...
— The Nigger Of The "Narcissus" - A Tale Of The Forecastle • Joseph Conrad
... cried the obstinate frog with an angry croak, "nor shall any of your people advance another step while that insulting umbrella is ...
— Sky Island - Being the further exciting adventures of Trot and Cap'n - Bill after their visit to the sea fairies • L. Frank Baum
... to pass the winter, with only a coverlid of wet matted leaves between it and zero weather. Forthwith I set up as a prophet of warm weather, and among other things predicted a failure of the ice crop on the river; which, indeed, others, who had not heard frogs croak on the 31st of December, had also begun to predict. Surely, I thought, this frog knows what it is about; here is the wisdom of nature; it would have gone deeper into the ground than that if a severe winter was approaching; so ...
— A Year in the Fields • John Burroughs
... wandering "with a vague surmise" over the nearest hilltops in search of Boers, nor measuring unconsciously the range from the top of Table Mountain, which I find myself doing even as I write this, looking up at it through the window. The trekking, the fighting, the croak of the invisible rifle, the glare of the sun, the row of swarthy determined faces, the roar of horse hoofs, all this, and the lounging days by river banks (shooting guinea-fowl and springbuck), will drop back and be shut off from one's ...
— With Rimington • L. March Phillipps
... line Richard Yorke had read, perhaps, but certainly had not understood. He heard the bare branch creak and sway above his head as the wind slowly took it; he heard the night-jar croak, as it flew by on silent wing; and now and then he heard, or thought he heard, the sound of the voices of his fellow-watchers a great way off, which was his only touch of fancy. They were all silent, ...
— Bred in the Bone • James Payn
... Cardiff only a hamlet, there was a boy of this name, who tended sheep on the hill sides. His father was a hard working farmer, who every year tried to coax to grow out of the stony ground some oats, barley, leeks and cabbage. In summer, he worked hard, from the first croak of the raven to the last hoot of the owl, to provide food for his wife and baby daughter. When his boy was born, he took him to the church to be christened Gruffyd, but every body called him "Gruff." In time several little sisters came to ...
— Welsh Fairy Tales • William Elliot Griffis
... the thrush, and we laughed together - Laughed till the woods were all a-ring; And he said to me, as he plumed each feather, "Well, people must croak, if they cannot sing!" ...
— Maurine and Other Poems • Ella Wheeler Wilcox
... went strolling, Down by the rolling, down by the rolling sea. You may keep your croak for other folk But you can't ...
— Kindred of the Dust • Peter B. Kyne
... challenge ringing Shrill, and each headpiece lined with fence of proof. Alternate clack the strokes in whirling strife; Sore buffeted, quakes and shivers heart of oak. But when grasshopper feels the vulture's talons, Then the storm-boding ravens croak their last, Prevail the mules, butts his swift foals ...
— Works, V3 • Lucian of Samosata
... through his upland valley, of the ‘ridged wolds’ that rose above his home, of the mountain-glen and snowy summits of his early dreams, and of the beings, heroes and fairies, with which his imaginary world was peopled. Then was heard the ‘croak of the raven,’ the harsh voice of ...
— Old Familiar Faces • Theodore Watts-Dunton
... meaching ways at any time and in anybody," said the thin croak, made more husky by snuff, a pinch of which she held between thumb and finger, the joined digits punctuating her strictures. "And she's one of the fair-and-softy sort. A pleasant word to this one, ...
— The Secret of a Happy Home (1896) • Marion Harland
... been studying elocution under a graduate of the Old Bowery, and has acquired a most tragic croak, which, with a little rouge and burnt cork, and haggard hair, gives him a truly awful aspect, remarked that the soil of the South was clotted with blood by fiends in human shape, (sensation in the diplomatic gallery.) The metaphor might be meaningless; but it struck him ...
— Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 2, April 9, 1870 • Various
... my feet It is not all easy. But as far as I ken, or yet as I go, We silly wed-men dree mickle woe;[95] We have sorrow then and then, it falls often so, Silly capyl, our hen, both to and fro She cackles, But begin she to croak, To groan or to cluck, Woe is him, say of our cock, For he is in the shackles. These men that are wed, have not all their will, When they are full hard sted,[96] they sigh full still; God wait they are led full hard and full ill, In bower nor in bed they say not there ...
— Everyman and Other Old Religious Plays, with an Introduction • Anonymous
... want my notion, Miss Frome, that's the kind of a man that breeds anarchy. I've seen his paper. He fills it full of stuff that makes the workingman discontented with his lot. A trouble maker, that's what he is. Stops the wheels of industry. Gets in the road of the boosters to croak hard times." ...
— The Vision Spendid • William MacLeod Raine
... him fixedly). I hear a raven's croak; I feel The icy breath of some strange body when Thou standest burning by my side, thou fool! Thou ...
— The German Classics, v. 20 - Masterpieces of German Literature • Various
... penguin, skiing on its breast from the north, surprised us suddenly by a loud croak at the rear of the sledge. As astonished as we were, it stopped and stared, and then in sudden terror made off. But before starting on its long trek to the land, it had to be ...
— The Home of the Blizzard • Douglas Mawson
... trembling, and the Vere began to sing, or rather croak, a low comic song, while she threw over her shoulders a rich mantle glittering with embroidered trimmings, and poised a coquettish Paris model hat on her thick untwisted coils of hair. Thus attired, she passed out of her dressing-room, locking the door behind her, ...
— Thelma • Marie Corelli
... but one croak heard in all the applause. It came from Murger's father. He could not believe his eyes and his ears, when they avouched to him that his son's name and praises filled every paper and every mouth. It utterly confounded him. The day of the second performance ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 12, No. 74, December, 1863 • Various
... mankind lie slain On Armageddon's field, When the last red west has ta'en The last day's flaming shield, There shall sit when the shadows run (D'you doubt, good Sirs, d'you doubt?) His last rogue son on an empty gun To see an old world out; And he'll croak (as to Robinson, Brown and Jones) The song of ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, July 15, 1914 • Various
... I have been loitering out in the garden here this golden day of Spring. The woodpigeons coo in the covert; the frogs croak in the pond; the bees hum about some thyme, and some of my smaller nieces have been busy gathering primroses, 'all to make posies suitable to this present month.' I cannot but think with a sort of horror of being in London now: but I doubt I must be ere long. . . . I have abjured ...
— Letters of Edward FitzGerald - in two volumes, Vol. 1 • Edward FitzGerald
... the frog had preserved his polite attentiveness in a manner highly creditable to his upbringing, but this proved too much; his over-charged feelings burst from him in a hoarse croak, and he disappeared into the river ...
— My Lady Caprice • Jeffrey Farnol
... "Croak 'em, of course. But don't make no noise doin' it. Better use a blackjack. We're not sure about the cop ...
— And Thus He Came • Cyrus Townsend Brady
... longest night Rose ever spent, but joy came in the morning with the early message: "He is better. You are to come by and by." Then Aunt Plenty forgot her lumbago and arose; Aunt Myra, who had come to have a social croak, took off her black bonnet as if it would not be needed at present, and the girl made ready to go and say "Welcome ...
— Rose in Bloom - A Sequel to "Eight Cousins" • Louisa May Alcott
... the autumn. The leaves in the forest turned yellow and brown; the wind caught them so that they danced about, and up in the air it was very cold. The clouds hung low, heavy with hail and snowflakes, and on the fence stood the raven, crying, "Croak! croak!" for mere cold; yes, it was enough to make one feel cold to think of this. The poor little Duckling certainly had not a good time. One evening—the sun was just setting in his beauty—there came a whole flock of great handsome ...
— Types of Children's Literature • Edited by Walter Barnes
... frogs, though in the dark pocket of the coach, had found it out; and with one accord, all twelve of them had begun their morning song. As if at a given signal, they one and all of them began to croak as loud as ever they could. The noise their united concert made, seemed, in the closed compartment of the coach, quite deafening. Well might the Germans look angry: they wanted to throw the frogs, bottle and all, out of the window; but I gave the bottle a good shaking, and made the ...
— Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol 6 • Various
... surface. No longer did he see Arthur; no longer was he a mortal boy. Instead of this, a frog—a green speckled frog, with great bulging eyes and a fishy mouth—looked up at him. He tried to call, to shout, but in vain; he could only croak, and this in the most dismal manner. What was he to do? Sit and stare about him, try to catch flies, plunge down into the mud—charming amusements for the rest of his life! A little brown bird hopped down for a drink from the rivulet; she stooped and ...
— Prince Lazybones and Other Stories • Mrs. W. J. Hays
... "Don't croak, Joses," whispered Bart; and then they were both silent and remained watching, for the chief held up his hand, pointing towards the rocks beyond, which they knew that their enemies were passing, and whose tops they scanned lest at any moment some of the painted ...
— The Silver Canyon - A Tale of the Western Plains • George Manville Fenn
... was so nervous that she felt as though her throat had suddenly closed up, and only a faint, quavering note issued from her lips, breaking off abruptly in a hoarse croak. ...
— The Splendid Folly • Margaret Pedler
... smelts! Think what a very shocking fate, Caught and killed, and used as bait, To take those harmless little fishes To multiply man's dainty dishes." Now, as the Frog this sentence spoke, Each brother gave a solemn croak. The gentleman in bottle-green Was quite exhausted by his theme; He paused a moment, wiped his brow; Then said, "I think you will allow We've been a persecuted race, Since first on earth we had a place. ...
— The Ducks and Frogs, - A Tale of the Bogs. • Fanny Fire-Fly
... hogs turned out in the woods will come grunting and squealing, colts will rub their backs against the ground, crows will gather in crowds, crickets will sing more loudly, flies come into the house, frogs croak and change color to a dingier hue, dogs eat grass, and rooks soar like hawks. It is probable that many of these actions are due to actual uneasiness, similar to that which all who are troubled with corns or rheumatism experience before ...
— Harper's Young People, November 4, 1879 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various
... flowers that spring up round a scaffold over which the hungry ravens croak and hover, so here, in the midst of death and horror, joy and hope began to blossom in thankful hearts. Diodoros lived! No word-only a fleeting pressure of the hand and a quick look passed between ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers
... croak, half cry, which only hill dwellers know, but 'tis an eery noise in the wilderness. It came again, less near, and a third time from a great distance. I thought it queer, for a hawk does not scream twice in the same hour. I looked at Shalah, who stood by the gate, every sinew in his body taut with ...
— Salute to Adventurers • John Buchan
... those, then, the fools who see only the pleasant side? Are they alone the visionaries who see the best rather than the worst? It is strange that the critics see only weakness in the "pleasant- spoken," and only truth and safety in those who croak. ...
— Manners and Social Usages • Mrs. John M. E. W. Sherwood
... world? Shall she not—as well first as last—wander forth, homeless as she is, into the night? And true to these despairing thoughts, she hurries away farther and farther from the town. The frogs croak monotonously in all the marshes, as if in mockery of her grief. On some near tree an owl is hooting, with a voice that is strangely and pitifully human. Presently an outlying farm-house shows its cheery, hospitable light through ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 102, April, 1866 • Various
... in the silence of a cell, I should not miss even the foolish cawing of those black jackdaws that croak without pause," he went on, looking up with a smile at the cloud of birds that settled on the towers; and he recalled a legend which tells that since the fire in 1836 these birds quit the cathedral every evening at the very hour when the conflagration ...
— The Cathedral • Joris-Karl Huysmans
... human voice, and that some woman had asked to purchase his cow: upon which he said, "Reverend mother of Solomon, dost thou wish to buy my cow?" The bird croaked again. "Well," replied he, "what wilt thou give if I will sell her a bargain." The bird repeated her croak. "Never mind," said the foolish fellow, "for though thou hast forgotten to bring thy purse, yet, as I dare say thou art an honest woman, and hast bidden me ten deenars, I will trust thee with the cow, and call on Friday for the money." The bird renewed her ...
— The Arabian Nights Entertainments Complete • Anonymous
... remnants of the eighteenth century; the survivors of Hosea Biglow's Cornwallis; the sole remaining protestants against a banker's Olympus which had become, for five-and-twenty years, more and more despotic over Esop's frog-empire. One might no longer croak except to vote for King Log, or — failing storks — for Grover Cleveland; and even then could not be sure where King Banker lurked behind. The costly education in politics had led to political torpor. Every one did not share it. Clarence King and John ...
— The Education of Henry Adams • Henry Adams
... croak, his Irishwoman, his real wife. Now we'll see if he'll marry the other one. Forty-five years old Mistress Maranne is, and not a shilling. You ought to see how afraid she is that he'll turn her out. Marry her, not marry her—kss-kss—what a laugh we'll have." And the more they ...
— The Nabob, Volume 1 (of 2) • Alphonse Daudet
... you are building a house, do not leave it rough-hewn, or a cawing crow may settle on it and croak. ...
— Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns, and Homerica • Homer and Hesiod
... a bad night for us, Frederick," she said out loud, "it air. But you'll not sleep in the log to-night, but in Daddy's bed. And I'll just pretend ye air Daddy, and when ye croak with the daylight ye can have all the flies lightin' on the sugar, and then we air goin' after Daddy and bring him home ...
— Tess of the Storm Country • Grace Miller White
... woodman as he strikes the branches of the trees, nor the sharp jingle of the rings of the rattlesnake (not an aggressive reptile, it is true, but one of the most venomous); neither the bawling voice of the horned toad, the most hideous of its kind, nor even the solemn and sonorous croak of the bellowing frog, which, though it cannot equal the bull in size, can surpass him ...
— Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon • Jules Verne
... Kelson whispered—and whilst he was speaking there came a dismal croak, croak, and the swaying and crying of ...
— The Sorcery Club • Elliott O'Donnell
... fall With a dim forethought of rain, And the robins richly call To their mates mercurial, And the tree-boughs creak and strain In the wind; When the river's rough with foam, And the new-made clearings smoke, And the clouds that go and come Shine and darken frolicsome, And the frogs at evening croak Undefined Mysteries of monotone, And by melting beds of snow Wind-flowers blossom all alone; Then I know That the bitter winter's dead. Over his head The damp sod breaks so mellow,— Its mosses tipped with points of ...
— Rose and Roof-Tree - Poems • George Parsons Lathrop
... the battle-field, gilt with the gore Of slain reputations. No more he defies His "lying opponents" with deadlier lies. His trumpet is hushed and his belt is unbound— His enemies' characters cumber the ground. They bloat on the war-plain with ink all asoak, The fortunate candidates perching to croak. No more he will charge, with a daring divine, His foes with corruption, his friends by the line. The thunders are stilled of the horrid campaign, De Young is triumphant, and never again Will he need, with his ...
— Black Beetles in Amber • Ambrose Bierce
... could find. Desmond, giving a wink to Tom, put among them a couple from a nest over which the mother bird had fought stoutly, and which certainly did not look very fresh. "I can almost hear it croak," he said, placing an egg to his ear. "I intend these as a bonne-bouche for Billy. We won't show the others, and will make him suppose that we especially favour him by bringing these, knowing how fond he ...
— The Three Admirals • W.H.G. Kingston
... the margin of a pool. Unfortunately, however, the sides of the pool were very steep, and the ass of the Cogia, on seeing the water, not being able to restrain himself, ran forward to the pool. Just as he was falling in, the frogs of the pool began to croak violently; their voices frightening the ass, he ran back. The Cogia, however, seized hold of him, and exclaiming, 'Bravo, ye birds of the pool!' he took out a handful of aspres, and flung them into the pool, saying, 'Here's something ...
— The Turkish Jester - or, The Pleasantries of Cogia Nasr Eddin Effendi • Nasreddin Hoca
... at that word of "calmness," exclaims vehemently. Death is the great unfairness! Once a man dead, the survivors croak, "Respect him." And so one must—it is the formidable claim, "immunity of faultiness from fault's punishment." That is why he, Aristophanes, has always attacked the living; he knew how they would hide their heads, once dead! Euripides had chosen the other way; "men pelted ...
— Browning's Heroines • Ethel Colburn Mayne
... and gloom of a thundery sky that has not yet begun to growl, and hears no sounds but that of an occasional big rain-drop, plashing on the bare bent; the crag high overhead sometimes utters a sullen groan—the pilgrim, starting, listens, and the noise is repeated, but instead of a groan, a croak—croak—croak! manifestly from a thing with life. A pause of silence! and hollower and hoarser the croak is heard from the opposite side of the glen. Eyeing the black sultry heaven, he feels the warm plash on his face, but sees no bird on the wing. By-and-by ...
— Recreations of Christopher North, Volume 2 • John Wilson
... specimens, sits the 'watch-bird,' or apateplu, so called from his cry; he is wary and cunning, but we bagged two. The 'clock-bird,' supposed to toll every hour, has a voice which unites the bark of a dog, the caw of a crow, and the croak of a frog: he is rarely seen and even cleverer than 'hair grown.' More familiar sounds are the roucoulement of the pigeon and the tapping of the woodpecker. The only fourfooted beast we saw was the small bush-antelope ...
— To The Gold Coast for Gold, Vol. II - A Personal Narrative • Richard Francis Burton and Verney Lovett Cameron
... his last legs. He's goin' to croak. He's sent back to Missouri for a niece—a young girl—an' he means to leave his ranches an' sheep—all his stock to her. Seems he has no one else.... Them ranches—an' all them sheep an' hosses! You know me an' Al were pardners in sheep-raisin' for years. He swore I cheated him an' he ...
— The Man of the Forest • Zane Grey
... of its humorous verbiage this means: 'Come across or we'll croak the old man. And you needn't think you would profit by his death because we'd come down on you ...
— The Deaves Affair • Hulbert Footner
... the black-browed Queen gave a cry that changed, even as she uttered it, to a croak, and a moment after she was nothing but a great black raven that spread its wings, and flew away over the heads of the dwarfs, out of the window and on out ...
— The Counterpane Fairy • Katharine Pyle
... of French possess the Court, Pimps, priests, buffoons, i' the privy-chamber sport. Such slimy monsters ne'er approached the throne Since Pharaoh's reign, nor so defiled a crown. I' the sacred ear tyrannic arts they croak, Pervert his mind, his good intentions choke; Tell him of golden Indies, fairy lands, Leviathan, and absolute commands. Thus, fairy-like, the King they steal away, And in his room a Lewis changeling lay. How oft have I him to himself restored. ...
— Andrew Marvell • Augustine Birrell
... crouched behind the fence to watch him, but the moon took that inopportune moment to sink into a bank of clouds, and the yard was left in darkness. No sound broke the stillness save the far-off bark of a dog or an occasional croak from a bullfrog. Mr. Opp waited and listened in a state of intense suspense. Presently he heard the unmistakable sound of a window being cautiously raised, and then just as cautiously lowered. Summoning all his courage, he skirted the yard and hid in the ...
— Mr. Opp • Alice Hegan Rice
... gardens of the house, where the doves were murmuring fondly among the mulberries and lotus trees. Beyond it a valley wound its way between the shallow hills, and from a pool fringed with sedges and bullrushes above which a great stork was majestically sailing came the harsh croak of frogs. ...
— The Sea-Hawk • Raphael Sabatini
... away," mutters Khorre. "Thus will they cook hot soup on the wrecks of our ship, too. Eh, Dan! Do you know he ordered me to drink no gin for three days. Let the old dog croak! Isn't that ...
— The Crushed Flower and Other Stories • Leonid Andreyev
... as he rose to his knees, and caught hold of one of the forelegs; "he arn't going to croak, is he?" ...
— The Vast Abyss - The Story of Tom Blount, his Uncles and his Cousin Sam • George Manville Fenn
... into another way of living: he breathes, or rather swallows air, and must, as he swims about with his beautifully webbed feet, come to the surface of the water now and then, or he would die. I am sure you know the frog well enough, and you may even have heard the harsh croak from which it has its name, as you have passed some damp meadow or weedy pond, on a summer evening. But I wonder whether you know frogs' eggs ...
— Twilight And Dawn • Caroline Pridham
... eyes saw dimly the Sergeant's menacing shadow, before he could scream his alarm, or spring upright, the revolver butt struck with dull thud, and he went tumbling backward into the ditch, his cry of alarm ending in a hoarse croak. From somewhere, out of the dense darkness in front a voice called, sharp and guttural, as if its owner had been startled by the mysterious sound of the blow. It was the language of the Arapahoes, and out of his vague memory of the tongue, ...
— Molly McDonald - A Tale of the Old Frontier • Randall Parrish
... with. A raven, who saw the glittering ring, came flying, and plucking it out of the child's hand, carried it up into a tree; the child suddenly began to cry, and the mother, hearing it, left her washing, and running to the child, forthwith missed the ring, but hearing the raven croak in the tree she lifted up her eyes, and saw it with the ring in its beak. The woman, in great terror, called her brother, and told him what had happened, adding that she durst not approach the king if the raven took away the ring. Gaspar, seizing his cross-bow ...
— The Romany Rye - A Sequel to 'Lavengro' • George Borrow
... positively be the last," she declared reluctantly. "I'm so hoarse now I can scarcely croak. You see, I don't pretend ...
— Miss Billy's Decision • Eleanor H. Porter
... leaping fish Send through the tarn a lonely cheer; The crags repeat the raven's croak, In symphony austere; Thither the rainbow comes, the cloud— And mists that spread the flying shroud, And sunbeams; and the sounding blast, That if it could would hurry past; But that enormous barrier ...
— The Children's Garland from the Best Poets • Various
... have to buck myself up if I am to reduce the damages to any reasonable amount, and that he had been desirous from the first to brief WITHERINGTON. But this is to croak like a raven, for the cross-examining is, after all, of very minor importance compared to the Gift of the Gab—in which I am notoriously ...
— Baboo Jabberjee, B.A. • F. Anstey
... block descended from on high (As sings thy great forefather Ogilby[289]), Loud thunder to its bottom shook the bog, And the hoarse nation croak'd, ...
— Poetical Works of Pope, Vol. II • Alexander Pope
... there are more reasons than one; if there is a bad reason, Elder Semple will be sure to croak about it. I could wish that just now he had ...
— The Bow of Orange Ribbon - A Romance of New York • Amelia E. Barr
... incurious; they spend all their leisure time in striking and cuffing each other on the wing in a kind of playful skirmish, and, when they move from one place to another, frequently turn on their backs with a loud croak, and seem to be falling to the ground. When this odd gesture betides them, they are scratching themselves with one foot, and thus lose the centre of gravity. Rooks sometimes dive and tumble in a frolicsome manner; crows and daws swagger in their walk; wood-peckers fly volatu undoso, ...
— The Natural History of Selborne, Vol. 2 • Gilbert White
... doing a croak. Giving up the ghost for all he's worth—he is. Better come and take a look for yourself if ...
— The Dop Doctor • Clotilde Inez Mary Graves
... murder anybody?" he gasped finally in a hoarse croak. "You'll have to prove it to me that ...
— The Lamp That Went Out • Augusta Groner
... daughter was delighted to see her pretty plaything once more, and picked it up, and ran away with it. "Wait, wait," said the frog; "take me with thee; I can't run as thou canst." But what did it avail him to scream his croak, croak, after her, as loudly as he could? She did not listen to it, but ran home and soon forgot the poor frog, who was forced to go ...
— The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: - Masterpieces of German Literature Translated into English, Volume 5. • Various
... goin' back and have a chance to give us away to that bunch, not if I knows it. I've about made up my mind to croak him. He knows too much. Go on and find a ...
— Troop One of the Labrador • Dillon Wallace
... dispelled the fog, came from the north and blew colder and colder as the night wore on. In the morning the Captain woke stiff and chilled and with a very sore throat. "I'm all right," he protested when Aunt Clara came in to administer remedies, but his voice was a mere croak. Aunt Clara felt of his head and found a high fever. She promptly ordered him to stay in bed and set herself to the task of breaking up the cold. Hinpoha wandered ...
— The Campfire Girls on Ellen's Isle - The Trail of the Seven Cedars • Hildegard G. Frey
... allied, To frogs by kinship tied; For water drinking is no joke, Ere long you all will hear me croak Quack water! ...
— Jewish Literature and Other Essays • Gustav Karpeles
... beautiful, the guests went out upon the lawn, and gazed at the starry heavens. All seemed especially impressed by the beauty of the moon, which was at the full, when Carlyle, fastening his eyes upon it, was heard to croak out, solemnly and bitterly, "Puir ...
— Volume I • Andrew Dickson White
... in all the great ring of men; and only the rustle of the wind in the thick-standing ash trees around us—that seemed to hem us in like a gray wall round the clearing—and the quick croak and flap of broad wings as the ravens wheeled ever ...
— Wulfric the Weapon Thane • Charles W. Whistler
... retorted Gayford; "a lot you've done for the public good. There are plenty of seagulls about without you to croak, too." ...
— Parkhurst Boys - And Other Stories of School Life • Talbot Baines Reed
... dense foliage of coloured rosettes, calico banners, and Japanese-lanterns, the congested Stream of Custom oozes slowly along, with an occasional overflow into the backwaters of the shops behind, while the Stall-keepers keep up a batrachian and almost automatic croak of invitation. ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 103, December 24, 1892 • Various
... to walk slow towards a mother an' wife like what mine be, after near a month from 'em; but let's have your news, Billy, an' doan't croak, for God's sake. Say all's well ...
— Children of the Mist • Eden Phillpotts
... nor, in fact, did he appear to take much note of the sense of what she read, but evidently felt the tedium of the lecture, without harvesting its profit. His sister's voice, too, naturally harsh, had, in the course of her sorrowful lifetime, contracted a kind of croak, which, when it once gets into the human throat, is as ineradicable as sin. In both sexes, occasionally, this lifelong croak, accompanying each word of joy or sorrow, is one of the symptoms of a settled melancholy; ...
— The House of the Seven Gables • Nathaniel Hawthorne
... the woman asked her son to read his lesson. The boy opened his Catechism and croaked very loudly. His mother was glad when she heard that her son could croak so well, because she thought that that was the ...
— Filipino Popular Tales • Dean S. Fansler
... and that these cruel people never came out of the water again. They grew very small; their green coats and white vests turned into skin, and their children wear to-day the same kind of suits their parents wore that day they waded into the pool. Though they have the whole pond to themselves, they croak away until their mouths have grown wide and ugly, as mockingly as did ...
— Classic Myths • Retold by Mary Catherine Judd
... in seconds. Rounding the truss, Friday caught the man in the armored crook of his arm. A startled croak preluded the thump of two bodies on the hull; there was the tinkle of a falling hand-flash and a slight squirming which was quickly stopped by ...
— Hawk Carse • Anthony Gilmore
... flings his feet, But the water-sprites are round him still, To cross his path and work him ill. They bade the wave before him rise; They flung the sea-fire in his eyes, And they stunned his ears with the scallop stroke, With the porpoise heave and the drum-fish croak. Oh! but a weary wight was he When he reached the foot of the dog-wood tree; —Gashed and wounded, and stiff and sore, He laid him down on the sandy shore; He blessed the force of the charmed line, And he banned ...
— The Culprit Fay - and Other Poems • Joseph Rodman Drake
... friendship between a duck and a heron, both of which were in the hotel garden. The heron looked very ill and weak, and used to remain in the same spot for a long time, standing first on one leg and then the other, the duck lying a little distance off. When the heron wished to walk about it gave a feeble croak, and the duck would immediately join it, and the two commenced walking round the garden. When the heron was tired, it gave another croak, and the two companions stopped their walk. The only time that the duck left the heron entirely was for its meals, as the two birds ...
— Little Folks (July 1884) - A Magazine for the Young • Various
... of water in the scuppers, for it was still early morning, and under the directions of Hayton, the bo'sun, the swabbers were at work in the waist and forecastle. Despite the heat and the stagnant air, one of the toilers found breath to croak a ribald ...
— Captain Blood • Rafael Sabatini
... lies clean and bright, Prepared in foreign lands to fight: Our ravens croak to have their fill, The wolf howls from the distant hill. Our brave king is to Russia gone,— Braver than he on earth there's none; His sharp sword will carve many feast To wolf and ...
— Heimskringla - The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway • Snorri Sturluson
... church-bells of London ring; The hoarser horns of London croak; The poor brown lives of London cling About the poor brown streets like smoke; The deep air stands above my roof Like water, to the floating stars. My Friend and I—we sit aloof,— We sit and smile, and ...
— Twenty • Stella Benson
... which had fought and torn Its captor's hand with savage beak, And which at first could only croak, She taught ...
— On the Tree Top • Clara Doty Bates
... for the day. Now leave me, if you please. When we meet again, stifle that raven's croak. I am not a "Sister of Charity," but neither am I a vulture hovering for the horse in the desert to die. A poor simile!—when it is my own and not another's breath that I want. Nothing in nature, only gruesome German stories will fetch ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... greatly more wonderful than those of Thebes or Petraea, and mayhap a thousand times more ancient. There is no lack of life along the shores of the solitary little bay. The shriek of the sparrow-hawk mingles from the cliffs with the hoarse deep croak of the raven; the cormorant on some wave-encircled ledge, hangs out his dark wing to the breeze; the spotted diver, plying his vocation on the shallows beyond, dives and then appears, and dives and appears again, and we see the silver glitter ...
— The Cruise of the Betsey • Hugh Miller
... stammered the boy, taking off his cap and fumbling with it while he stared wide-eyed at the threatening revolver, "I—I ain't a real thief—cross me heart and hope to die, I ain't! Don't croak me, sir!" ...
— The Definite Object - A Romance of New York • Jeffery Farnol
... whether it was Soane or Callan who was poor old Grogram's "quite irresponsible person," when I caught the sound of Gurnard's name. I turned irritably away. I didn't want to hear that fool read out the words of that.... It was like the warning croak of a raven in ...
— The Inheritors • Joseph Conrad
... heated limbs. A Cicada, a fellow-lodger in the house, attracts me by its domestic chirp back into my bedroom, and is there my social companion, while, in a happy dreaming state, I await the coming day, kept half awake by the buzz of the mosquites, the kettle-drum croak of the bull-frog, or the ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 19, No. - 537, March 10, 1832 • Various
... a large frog who sat upon a stone, looking so wise and grandfatherly that it really did seem quite proper to consult him. At all events, he gave his opinion in the most decided manner, for, with a loud croak, he turned an undignified somersault into the brook, splashing up the water at a great rate. "Well, perhaps it wouldn't be best on the whole. Industry is a good teacher, and money cannot buy happiness, as I know ...
— Marjorie's Three Gifts • Louisa May Alcott
... the water, sometimes totally submerged, then raising their heads above the surface, or swimming upon it. Sometimes they come out upon the bank, but soon leap back again into the water. They still use their base voices in railing, and though they have the water all to themselves, are not ashamed to croak in the midst of it. Their voices are harsh, their throats bloated, their mouths have become stretched by constant railing, their necks have shrunk up and disappeared, and their heads are joined to their bodies. Their backs are green, their disproportioned ...
— TITLE • AUTHOR
... the next night to get away in that darkness which had aided his coming thither. But the night, like the day, passed and brought no news. On the morrow, the pope, tormented by the gloomiest presentiments and by the raven's croak of the 'vox populi', let himself fall into the depths of despair: amid sighs and sobs of grief, all he could say to any one who came to him was but these words, repeated a thousand times: "Search, search; let us know how my unhappy ...
— The Borgias - Celebrated Crimes • Alexandre Dumas, Pere
... I pray, forego; * Nor drive me to death or injurious blow: How e'er can I hope to bear fray and fight * Who quake at the croak of the corby-crow? I who shiver for fear when I see the mouse * And for very funk I bepiss my clo'! I loveno foin but the poke in bed, * When coynte well knoweth my prickle's prow; This is rightful rede, and none other shows * Righteous as this in ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 9 • Richard F. Burton
... so dark—never in her life had she been out at night alone before. The noises frightened her, and the silence was still more terrifying. The cry of the curlews was like a child in pain, and the deep, loud croak of a bullfrog from a water-hole close at hand seemed ominous of disaster. She shrank up close beside the dumb animal for companionship and gave another frightened glance back. Then she pulled herself together—this would never do. For Tom's sake, for Lydia's ...
— The Moving Finger • Mary Gaunt
... sound as if spoken absently, as if she were preoccupied in search for a certain paper. Instead it was an eldritch note in the room, like the croak of an evil bird... He was standing near the outer door. Something of her tumult must have come to him, she thought, for his voice was strangely ...
— Fate Knocks at the Door - A Novel • Will Levington Comfort
... a leaping Fish Send through the Tarn a lonely chear; The Crags repeat the Raven's croak, In symphony austere; Thither the Rainbow comes, the Cloud; And Mists that spread the flying shroud; 30 And Sun-beams; and the sounding blast, That, if it could, would hurry past, But that enormous Barrier binds ...
— Poems In Two Volumes, Vol. 1 • William Wordsworth
... as the witch sat there, a harsh voice began to stir in her throat, and then words came out of her, and she sang in a crow's croak: ...
— The Water of the Wondrous Isles • William Morris
... voice was blithe, her heart was light; The Broom might have pursued Her speech, until the stars of night Their journey had renew'd. But in the branches of the Oak Two Ravens now began to croak Their nuptial song, a gladsome air; And to her own green bower the breeze That instant brought two stripling Bees To ...
— Lyrical Ballads with Other Poems, 1800, Vol. 2 • William Wordsworth
... intervals, for the night was partially clouded. There seemed to be nobody stirring, though his attention was unusually awake, and he could hear the whirr of the bats overhead, and the pulsating croak of the frogs in the distant pools and marshes. Presently he detected the sound of hoofs at some distance, and, looking forward, saw a horseman coming in his direction. The moon was under a cloud at the moment, and he could only ...
— Elsie Venner • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
... arose and then sat down; arose and sat down again. He tried to speak, but only a husky croak came forth. Something seemed to have crawled into his throat—something fuzzy and filling, that would ...
— The Skipper and the Skipped - Being the Shore Log of Cap'n Aaron Sproul • Holman Day
... require?" said Mr. Harley, his voice the same dry, husky croak. "You are to see my daughter? and Mr. Storms is ...
— The President - A novel • Alfred Henry Lewis
... stream, with slippery and marshy banks; here the toad lived with her son. Ugh! how ugly and clammy he was, just like his mother! 'Croak, croak, croak!' was all he could say when he saw the pretty ...
— The Yellow Fairy Book • Leonora Blanche Alleyne Lang |
