"Ma'am" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... he gives you no trouble, ma'am," said Edwards, who had seen something of the meek and submissive way the Russian ...
— Sunrise • William Black
... time for Ellen's departure drew nigh, I could hear neighbors and friends saying to her, "Good by, Ellen. I hope your poor mother will find you out. Won't you be glad to see her!" She replied, "Yes, ma'am;" and they little dreamed of the weighty secret that weighed down her young heart. She was an affectionate child, but naturally very reserved, except with those she loved, and I felt secure that my secret would be safe with her. I heard the gate close after her, with ...
— Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - Written by Herself • Harriet Jacobs (AKA Linda Brent)
... name, ma'am; she said she didn't wish to, ma'am. She wished to see Mr. Hilary just a ...
— The Quality of Mercy • W. D. Howells
... been taught in a public refreshment room. Then, thinking that he would give a display of his learning, he elevated his sulphur crest and gabbled off, "Go to Jericho! Twenty to one on the favourite! I'm your man! Now then, ma'am; hurry up, don't keep the coach waiting! Give 'um their 'eds, Bill! So long! Ta-ra-ra, ...
— Dot and the Kangaroo • Ethel C. Pedley
... had some very cold mornings. One day Sandy said, "Please, ma'am, do they send shoes? 'cause I has far to come. I needs ebery ting, but I wants dem shoes." Poor little boy, he does indeed need "ebery ting." And there are many others that would fare very badly were it not for the barrels. There are more than four hundred ...
— The American Missionary - Volume 49, No. 5, May 1895 • Various
... a look round, most respectable Madam; New Year's Day is an excellent time for the task, When serious thoughts come to each son of Adam Who dares to peep under Convention's smug mask. Your sword looks a little bit rusty and notched, Ma'am; Your scales now and then hang a trifle askew; A lot of your Ministers need to be watched, Ma'am! Punch isn't quite pleased with the prospect—are you? If one could but take a wide survey, though summary, Of all the strange "sentences" passed in one year ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Volume 102, Jan. 2, 1892 • Various
... stealing diamond rings," retorted the landlady, recovering herself. "I've long suspected there was something wrong about you and your husband, ma'am, and now I know it. I don't want no thieves nor jail birds in my house, and the sooner you pay your bill and leave, the better I'll ...
— Paul the Peddler - The Fortunes of a Young Street Merchant • Horatio Alger, Jr.
... but this is very irregular, and, in fact, unprecedented!' said Jos. Larkin. 'I think—I suppose, you can hardly be aware, Ma'am, that I am here as the Rev. Mr. Wylder's confidential solicitor, acting solely for him, in a matter ...
— Wylder's Hand • J. Sheridan Le Fanu
... chicken and glass of wine, and in the meantime her victimizer had been watching his opportunity, slipped down stairs, jumped into the vehicle, and drove off. Mrs. Edbrooke finished her lunch and waited in vain; ten minutes, twenty, thirty, passed, and then she rang the bell: 'Very sorry, ma'am, but Mr. Sheridan went out on important business half an hour ago.' 'And the carriage?'—'Oh, ...
— The Wits and Beaux of Society - Volume 2 • Grace & Philip Wharton
... "No ma'am, I hope not," said Preston, looking at his package demurely. "Old Uncle Lot, you know, always has a cough; and I purpose delighting him with some of my purchases. I will go and put ...
— Daisy • Elizabeth Wetherell
... and no 'at. Very good, ma'am." And the cabman whipped up at once in the most matter-of-fact way, as if he drove to this address every day in ...
— The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents • H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
... floor, next their mother, and play in the day-time in the servants' 'all, they'll be no manner of difficulty nor bother to me and the maids. We shall love to 'ave 'em, the darlin's. And they'll serve to cheer you up a bit ma'am till ...
— Mrs. Warren's Daughter - A Story of the Woman's Movement • Sir Harry Johnston
... "Easy, ma'am," said he. "Maitland is one of the most notorious coiners in England, and your husband is his confederate and assistant. We've been watching, just to get a case that there would be no trouble ...
— The Recollections of Geoffrey Hamlyn • Henry Kingsley
... name!" Mrs. Berry exclaimed. "I been that flurried by the man, I didn't mind it at first. He come every evenin', and your husband out o' sight! My goodness me! it's gettin' worse and worse. And what do he come for, now, ma'am? Now tell me candid what ye do together here in the ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... cook, who had the story from the butler, "and she spoke loike a quane. 'I can take nothing for returning what doesn't belong to me, ma'am. I am but doing my jooty. But if ye plaze, would ye be lookin' over these recommends av mine—they're from furriners—and if yez be havin' ony friends who be wanting a maid and yez might be so good as to recommind me, I'd be ...
— A Man and His Money • Frederic Stewart Isham
... there at that moment, but in another minute all would be known. The wheels of the old Squire's carriage had been heard upon the gravel. 'No, ma'am, no; you shall not leave the room,' said the nurse. 'Stay here and let him come ...
— John Caldigate • Anthony Trollope
... with her for nothing,—so I gave her my Orphanage dress. She was pleased with it, and said it was worth quite ten shillings, and gave me a ragged old dress in exchange,—and something to buy a bit of print with to run up a dress for going out in the mornings to look for a place. And oh, ma'am, it was such a wretched, dismal, dark place she lived in; I didn't know how to abide it after the Orphanage; and yet I wouldn't ...
— Daybreak - A Story for Girls • Florence A. Sitwell
... ma'am! It may be your turn next," said the landlord with a scowl. "If it is I won't wait for ...
— The Erie Train Boy • Horatio Alger
... "If you please, ma'am," said Seppi, his eyes shining, "up on the mountain when we were lost, we saw your house and we just supposed that maybe you might ...
— The Swiss Twins • Lucy Fitch Perkins
... "And did you notice, ma'am," he asked, "that during his tirade he mentioned about a cove fishing-village? Might I suggest that that is where Mr. Paul is and Mr. Locke will not be ...
— The Master Mystery • Arthur B. Reeve and John W. Grey
... "Indeed, ma'am, I—you—" The cook stopped helplessly, and eyed with frightened fascination the little old lady as she crossed to the table and picked ...
— Across the Years • Eleanor H. Porter
... dear young friend of hers. Yes, yes! They have been kept in cotton-wool forty years, madam. Little candle holders, you perceive. A pretty fancy, eh? I happened to remember them the other day,—hunted 'em up,—the result, thanks to Mrs. Grahame and Elizabeth Beadle. Mrs. Beadle, ma'am, I desire that you will come in, and not skulk in the doorway there, as if you had reason to be ashamed of your handiwork. My housekeeper, Mrs. Beadle, ladies and gentlemen: a good woman, if she will allow me to say so, ...
— Hildegarde's Neighbors • Laura E. Richards
... "Miss Charlotte asked for a large piece of plum cake, ma'am," and Aunt Lavvy added a large piece of plum cake to the plate of thin ...
— Mary Olivier: A Life • May Sinclair
... and actually with bright buttons on it. It nearly took her breath away; so did the new boots on the floor, and the funny long stocking like a grey sausage, with a wooden doll staring out at the top, as if she said, politely, 'A Merry Christmas, ma'am!' Tessa screamed and danced in her delight, and up tumbled all the children to scream and dance with her, making a regular carnival on a small scale. Everybody hugged and kissed everybody else, offered sucks of orange, bites of cake, and exchanges of candy; every one tried ...
— Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag • Louisa M. Alcott
... "Wal, now, ma'am, I'm glad you spoke as you did. I'm glad to know that you've got a kind heart," said Uncle Solon. "Kind-heartedness to man and beast is one of the best things in life. It's what holds this world together. Anybody that uses Cayenne pepper to torture an animal, or play tricks on it, is ...
— A Busy Year at the Old Squire's • Charles Asbury Stephens
... the lawyer blandly. "And one who can ill afford to lose her rights. She as heir of old Peter Warburton Blayne who lived in that house where you now reside for a great many years. He died. His heirs were not informed. The place was sold for taxes—for a nominal sum, ma'am. Of course, a tax-deed has no standing in court if the real owner of the property comes forward ready to pay the back taxes, accrued interest, and the ...
— Janice Day, The Young Homemaker • Helen Beecher Long
... I'll carry you," said Roger Trew, lifting up the hen hornbill; but the bird fought so desperately that he was glad to put her down again. "We must tie your legs and put your nose in a bag, ma'am," said Roger, "or you will be doing some ...
— In the Eastern Seas • W.H.G. Kingston
... to the window and putting down the poker]. Yes, ma'am? Here I am, ma'am. What is ...
— Augustus Does His Bit • George Bernard Shaw
... a letter, ma'am, which has come for you by post this morning," said the nice old stewardess, producing an envelope from her pocket, and eying her patient ...
— What Katy Did Next • Susan Coolidge
... and honoured wife," continued Mr. Sagittarius, in a loud and anxious voice, "more to me than any lunar guide or starry monitor! Madame Sagittarius, a lady of deep education, ma'am." ...
— The Prophet of Berkeley Square • Robert Hichens
... "Please, ma'am, it was the snail on the wall that taught me how to do it," said Tommy. At this the other pupils laughed aloud, but the teacher said: "You need not laugh, boys, for we may learn much from such things as snails. How did the snail teach ...
— How to Succeed - or, Stepping-Stones to Fame and Fortune • Orison Swett Marden
... "No, ma'am! We must part, we must part! Understand that, understand it! I cannot endure any more," he said, and left the room. Then, as if afraid she might find some means of consolation, he returned and trying to appear calm added: "And don't imagine I have said this ...
— War and Peace • Leo Tolstoy
... "Five dollars apiece, ma'am," said Skidmore, "and they're cheap at the price." And they were, since the cost of something universally desired is dependent on the supply rather ...
— The Free Range • Francis William Sullivan
... Buck nodded. "Yes, ma'am, he ought. I've done the best I could, and the chances are he'll get along all right; but a regular doctor ought to look him over as soon ...
— Shoe-Bar Stratton • Joseph Bushnell Ames
... a big drop—it quite splashed my face. Ma'am said the rain would drown us." Then the man, whose wits had been wool-gathering, looked up in alarm, and began ...
— Herb of Grace • Rosa Nouchette Carey
... I hope, ma'am?" said the young fellow anxiously, as his half-written letter fluttered to the ground, and Christie sat looking at that fateful strip of paper with all the strength and color stricken out of her face by the ...
— Work: A Story of Experience • Louisa May Alcott
... the Twins and then almost before they found breath to say, "Thank you, ma'am," she and her gay company had gone on to another part of the Fair. The Judge made a mark on Diddy's back to show that she had ...
— The Irish Twins • Lucy Fitch Perkins
... the owner, who was proud of his paper. "No ma'am! We have never stopped it but you won't lose nothing, we will run you five weeks over on the next year's subscription." And he took another ...
— Watch Yourself Go By • Al. G. Field
... think, ma'am? When I finds he's been a-setting that there child to slide up to where he'd be drownded as sure as he's alive, and you see, if we gets ill news of Master Archfield (which God forbid), there's naught but the boy atween him and this ...
— A Reputed Changeling • Charlotte M. Yonge
... Maine—Cock Robin, as we called him—was being hugged to his mother's breast. "Now go down on your knees, and beg the ladies' pardon," says Harry laughing. Down goes the elephant, and stops there, making a queer chuntering noise the while. "Says he's very sorry, ma'am, and won't do so no more," says Harry, serious as a judge; and in a moment, half laughing, half crying, Mrs Maine caught hold of Harry's hand, and kissed it, and then held it for a moment to her breast sobbing hysterically as she ...
— Begumbagh - A Tale of the Indian Mutiny • George Manville Fenn
... "I do not, ma'am," ses Bill, "but I think you'd find 'im somewhere in Australia. He keeps changing 'is name and shifting about, but I dare say you'd 'ave as good a chance of finding 'im ...
— Short Cruises • W.W. Jacobs
... "Yes, ma'am, my poor sister has lived in this place for sixteen years, and paid the rent regularly, three pounds a year: I've sent her the money since she lost her husband," said the retired servant, in reply to some question of Mrs. Chiverton's. "Blagg is such a miser that he won't spend a penny on ...
— The Vicissitudes of Bessie Fairfax • Harriet Parr
... royal master's orders, ma'am. And inasmuch as late rising is a favorite vice of the youth of today, it has been ordered that the reveille be played at six o'clock every morning before the doors of the royal ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. VII. • Various
... or, as you might say, of the sex as a whole. Mind you, I won't go so far as to deny that the gentleman here—or the constable, for that matter—had some excuse to be suspicious. But to think o' me liftin' a hand against poor old Danny Coffin! Why, ma'am, the times I've a-led him home from the public when incapable is not to be numbered; and only at this very moment in my little shop, home in Falmouth, I've a corner cupboard of his under repair that he wouldn't trust to another living soul! And ...
— Poison Island • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (Q)
... long harangue I stood gazing on the floor, blushing painfully. I wanted to tell my mistress why I had no longer dresses, but could only stammer 'yes, ma'am' and 'no, ma'am,' and was very glad to escape from the room as soon as my ...
— An Anarchist Woman • Hutchins Hapgood
... "Yes, ma'am, about a hundred years old, more or less. Oh, I beg your pardon. I didn't mean it just that way," stammered Chunky, coloring again ...
— The Pony Rider Boys in the Grand Canyon - The Mystery of Bright Angel Gulch • Frank Gee Patchin
... the quaint remark, and, rising from her seat, said: "I shall not soon forget our little talk, but must leave you now for the 'school ma'am's' duties. One of them will be to endeavor to persuade Pauline that it was not Henry VIII. who sought to reduce the American Colonies to submission, nor Lafayette who won the battle of Waterloo. Good-bye," and away tripped Miss Howard over the ...
— Caps and Capers - A Story of Boarding-School Life • Gabrielle E. Jackson
... I hope, Ma'am; none meant, certainly. Wish you good-afternoon, Ma'am. Call and see you again some day, and hope to ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 2, Issue 10, August, 1858 • Various
... they disclose nothing dishonourable in any sort of way to any of the participants. Instead, they bear out Lord Melbourne's aphorism. A lady is reported to have addressed him in the following terms: "I suppose, Lord Melbourne, that as Prime Minister you found mankind terribly venal." "No, no, Ma'am; not venal, only damned vain." I might, during my inspection of the Arcana of the Constitution and my first-hand knowledge of our leading politicians, have been inclined to vary it, "Not venal, not self-seeking-only damned foolish, or ...
— The Adventure of Living • John St. Loe Strachey
... the same who brought you here to-night. Not much to look at, madam, but promising, very promising. But I doubt if even he can discover the young lady you mean, with no other aid than is given by this parasol. New York is a big place, ma'am, a big place. Do you know how Sweetwater came to find you? Through your virtues, ma'am; through your neat and methodical habits. Had you been of a careless turn of mind and not given to mending your dresses when you tore ...
— The Circular Study • Anna Katharine Green
... two, Ma'am," said little Jane, as she let a tempting odor escape from the tin oven. "The black hen got over the fence last night; she's down in the lot. And ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 75, January, 1864 • Various
... stranger, for he was intimately acquainted with a man as soon as he saw him. Introductions were useless ceremonies to him, for he cared nothing about names. He called a woman "ma'am" and a man "mister," and if he could sell either of them a few goods, he never troubled himself or them with impertinent inquiries. Sometimes he had a habit of learning each man's name from his next neighbor, and possessing ...
— Western Characters - or Types of Border Life in the Western States • J. L. McConnel
... "Yes, ma'am, for ladies as well as gentlemen. Sweet potatoes I have heard well spoken of, and peaches are really making some ...
— Home as Found • James Fenimore Cooper
... avoided the Great White Road—the broad, smooth turnpike—rock-bottomed and rolled by a State—without so much as a loitering curve to whet one's curiosity, nor a thank-you-ma'am to laugh over, nor a sinful hill to test your endurance—not so much as a dreamy valley! It pursues its hard, unshaded, practical way directly from some particular place to some other particular place and from time to time a motor-car shoots in at one end of it and out at the other, leaving its ...
— The Friendly Road - New Adventures in Contentment • (AKA David Grayson) Ray Stannard Baker
... heard that Boswell is going to publish a life of your friend Dr. Johnson?' 'No, ma'am!' 'I tell you as I heard, I don't know for the truth of it, and I can't tell what he will do. He is so extraordinary a man that perhaps he will devise something extraordinary.' Mme. D'Artlay's Diary, ii. 400. 'Dr. Johnson's ...
— Life Of Johnson, Vol. 1 • Boswell, Edited by Birkbeck Hill
... here, ma'am, told me you might maybe swing a hammock for me somewhere in your house. I liked his ...
— Jack's Ward • Horatio Alger, Jr.
... metal, with the name GERRISH cut into it in black letters; the sills of the wide windows were of metal, and bore the same legend. At the threshold a very prim, ceremonious little man, spare and straight, met Mrs. Munger with a ceremonious bow, and a solemn "How do you do, ma'am I how do you do? I hope I see you well," and he put a small dry hand into the ample ...
— Annie Kilburn - A Novel • W. D. Howells
... it—shave. Razor runs over the face like a steam-carriage along a railroad, you don't know how; beard disappears like grass before the sickle, or a regiment of Britishers before Yankee rifles. Great vartue in the sarve—uncommon vartue! Ma'am!" cried he to a lady who, like ourselves, was looking on from a short distance at this farcical ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 349, November, 1844 • Various
... "City's doomed, ma'am. Thirty fires broke out simultaneous, and the wind blowing from the southeast. A chimney fell on the fire-chief's bed and he can't live. People runnin' round like their heads was cut off and thousands pouring ...
— The Sisters-In-Law • Gertrude Atherton
... ma'am," said Morrice, "I must own her appearance is rather against her: I had myself a great aversion to her at first sight. But the house is chearful,—very chearful; I like to spend a few days there now and then of all things. Miss Bennet, too, ...
— Cecilia Volume 1 • Frances Burney
... experunce'd prove to ye, ez easy 'z pull a trigger, It takes the Southun pint o' view to raise ten bales a nigger; You'll fin' thet human natur, South, ain't wholesome more 'n skin-deep, An' once't a darkie's took with it, he wun't be wuth his keep." "How shell I git it, Ma'am?" sez I. "Attend the nex' camp-meetin'," Sez she, "an' it'll come to ye ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. IX., March, 1862., No. LIII. - A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics, • Various
... must mind my hits here, or shall get myself into a confounded scrape—ready to do what, did you say, ma'am, ...
— The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor - Vol I, No. 2, February 1810 • Samuel James Arnold
... thing, ma'am," replied Mr Turnbull, who, with his coat off, was squeezing lemons for the punch—"there's no forbidden ...
— Jacob Faithful • Captain Frederick Marryat
... particular to speak to Mrs. Lirriper." If you'll believe me my dear the Consols at the bank where I have a little matter for Jemmy got into my head, and I says "Good gracious I hope he ain't had any dreadful fall!" Says Winifred "He don't look as if he had ma'am." And ...
— Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy • Charles Dickens
... of course they must be, miss. Thrue for ye, ma'am. Dear, dear, though only to think now; it seems only the other day the dear young lady was married to Mister Beresford. But you aren't eating a bit, miss," anxiously; "you haven't tasted a morsel, ma'am. What can I get ...
— Rossmoyne • Unknown
... "Please, Ma'am," said the servant, "there's a man at the door, who looks quare, and says, if he can't see Mr. Sandford, ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 3, Issue 17, March, 1859 • Various
... boy I had a full suit of company manners which I wore only when guests were present, and so was always sorry to have guests come. I sat back on the chair instead of on its edge; I didn't swing my legs unless I had a lapse of memory; I said, "Yes, ma'am," and, "No, ma'am," like any other parrot, just as I did at rehearsal; and, in short, I was a most exemplary child save for occasional reactions to unlooked-for situations. The folks knew I was posing, and were on nettles all the while from fear of a breakdown; the guests ...
— Reveries of a Schoolmaster • Francis B. Pearson
... pardon, ladies; I didn't see you. Been asleep, haven't I? Perhaps, sence you seem to think I'm not fit for rowin', one of these ladies will do me the favor to help me put myself in order. Have you a piece of court-plaster, or a healing salve, ma'am?"—to the elder woman. "Ladies mostly keep sech ...
— The New Penelope and Other Stories and Poems • Frances Fuller Victor
... giving me time to reply. Every now and then she would pause and look at me with the greatest tenderness. We might have continued thus until the next morning had not Dame Gredel Dick begun to call from the foot of the stairs: "Annette! Annette! Are you never coming?" "Right away, ma'am!" answered the poor child reluctantly. She tapped me lightly on the cheek and ran toward the door; but just as she was crossing the threshold, she suddenly stopped. "By the way," she cried, "I was forgetting to tell you; but perhaps you have heard about ...
— The Dean's Watch - 1897 • Erckmann-Chatrian
... herself as she pulled it, "sum of all villanies!" then "enormous wrong," with another pull, and then "stupendous injustice," with another. Several times she says Judith has rushed up to the parlor with "Ma'am, whath the matter! the bell rung three timth right off." She thinks that her nervous system will last longer without the papers than with them. As she told me this, she was shutting down the lid of the piano ...
— The Sable Cloud - A Southern Tale With Northern Comments (1861) • Nehemiah Adams
... daughter:—'Desirous from civility to take some notice of her, and finding she was reading Shakespeare, I asked her if she was not delighted with many parts of King John. "I never read the Kings, ma'am," was the truly characteristic reply.' See post, April 13, 1773, and ...
— Life Of Johnson, Vol. 1 • Boswell, Edited by Birkbeck Hill
... ma'am!' exclaimed the old man, starting from his chair, while sympathizing friends gathered round her with words ...
— Parables from Flowers • Gertrude P. Dyer
... then, an indication that when the pancreas may be suspected plenty of succulent food and plenty of liquid are nature's remedies? We looked over at the pigs in the sty. They were rooting about in a mess of garbage. 'Oh, what dirty things pigs are!' said a lady. 'Yes, ma'am; they're rightly named,' said he. Some scientific gentleman in the district had a large telescope with which he made frequent observations, and at times would let a labouring man look at the moon. 'Ah,' said our friend, shaking his head in a solemn, impressive way, 'my brother, he ...
— Field and Hedgerow • Richard Jefferies
... one-horse brougham with the driver not in livery. We didn't notice it until we opened the front door. Then Bee sailed in. 'Why are you not in livery?' she demanded. 'I shall certainly report you to Mr. Overman. He ought to be ashamed to send out a driver without a livery!' 'If you please, ma'am,' said the man, 'I'm Mr. Overman, and rather than disappoint you ladies, as all my men are out, I thought I'd drive you myself.' Well, that was too much for even Bee. So she thanked him, and in we got. The first house we went to was that of a haughty society ...
— At Home with the Jardines • Lilian Bell
... looking from one animal to the other. "Ah cyant see nothin' I'se done fergot, Miss Ste'son. What it look lak ain't on de hawses, ma'am?" ...
— A Dixie School Girl • Gabrielle E. Jackson
... ma'am," said Gray Cock, "you do me injustice. But when a hen gives way to temper, ma'am, and no longer meets her husband with a smile—when she even pecks at him whom she is bound ...
— Queer Little Folks • Harriet Beecher Stowe
... possessed the characteristic veneration of the bred and born New Englander for his native or imported school-ma'am, resented persistently their somewhat patronizing attitude toward the profession second only to the ministry in her stanch respect. A little of the simple grandeur of those childhood days when "the teacher boarded with them" ...
— Julia The Apostate • Josephine Daskam
... offer money. "We don't need your money, Ma'am, we can support ourselves in other ways; my girls can braid straw, and bind shoes, but they a'n't going to be ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 84, October, 1864 - A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics • Various
... uncomfortable somehow at the rencontre between the Captain and the object of his affection. "HE'S not in the profession, Mrs. C. This is my friend Captain Walker, and proud I am to call him my friend." And then aside to Mrs. C., "One of the first swells on town, ma'am—a regular tiptopper." ...
— Men's Wives • William Makepeace Thackeray
... — N. convexity, prominence, projection, swelling, gibbosity^, bilge, bulge, protuberance, protrusion; camber, cahot [U.S.]. thank-ye-ma'am [U.S.]. swell. intumescence; tumour [Brit.], tumor; tubercle, tuberosity [Anat.]; excrescence; hump, hunch, bunch. boss, embossment, hub, hubble; [convex body parts] tooth [U.S.], knob, elbow, process, apophysis^, condyle, bulb, node, nodule, nodosity^, ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget
... the Transvaal has imposed upon me the duty of taking military measures with a view to the prompt vindication of my authority." To this the Queen replied: "I cannot see how my 'authority' has been 'vindicated' in the Transvaal." "There was nothing else to be done, Ma'am," says Spencer. "I quite understand that," says Her Majesty, "but still I do not see how my ...
— The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke V1 • Stephen Gwynn
... calm tone of mild authority. "I'm the sheriff of Uinta County, ma'am, and I'm looking for a man who's been hiding out in this basin. I was trailin' him close when the snow came on yesterday, and I didn't know but what ...
— They of the High Trails • Hamlin Garland
... "Now, ma'am," said O'Toole politely, "I hate to contradict a lady, but you never murdered him at all. This man here murdered him, and I've got ...
— Philo Gubb Correspondence-School Detective • Ellis Parker Butler
... Mrs. Donovan murmured helplessly. "Will you come down to my rooms, ma'am," she said to Mrs. Black, as she tried to remember her manners and not think how she was to tell Larry the truth. Why, this child was undersized rather than over. Her mother might have weighed a hundred ...
— Mary Rose of Mifflin • Frances R. Sterrett
... he once explained to Sister Angela, "that 'tain't all gold as glitters, but dis year yaller in my mouth, ma'am, is right sure gold an' it's like layin' up treasure in heaven, for no moth nor rust ain't ever going to distroy anythin' in my mouth. No, ma'am! No ...
— The Shield of Silence • Harriet T. Comstock
... sprang to assist her; He picked up her glove and her wrister; "Did you fall, Ma'am?" he cried; "Did you think," she replied, "I sat down for the fun of ...
— Toaster's Handbook - Jokes, Stories, and Quotations • Peggy Edmund & Harold W. Williams, compilers
... ma'am," said Tom, assuming his natural posture; "I couldn't help it, I felt so excited. I never ...
— The Young Explorer • Horatio Alger
... lesson of that day, and he feared to be humiliated in the presence of his cousin; he felt embarrassed to that degree that he could n't have "bounded" Massachusetts. So he stood up and raised his hand, and said to the schoolma'am, "Please, ma'am, I 've got the stomach-ache; may I go home?" And John's character for truthfulness was so high (and even this was ever a reproach to him), that his word was instantly believed, and he was dismissed without any medical ...
— Baddeck and That Sort of Thing • Charles Dudley Warner
... taking her music lesson, ma'am,' faltered the girl who had ventured diffidently to impart this information ...
— The Golden Calf • M. E. Braddon
... "Beg pardon ma'am, but is your name Boyd, and have you a son called Donald, who went out on a bicycle ...
— Twilight Stories • Various
... said: "No doubt 'Twill be extremely fine, ma'am, Though sure 'tis long to be without— I beg to ...
— Shapes of Clay • Ambrose Bierce
... Lyng, had been gradually discarded as too ineffectual for imaginative use. Mary had, indeed, as became the tenant of a haunted house, made the customary inquiries among her few rural neighbors, but, beyond a vague, "They du say so, Ma'am," the villagers had nothing to impart. The elusive specter had apparently never had sufficient identity for a legend to crystallize about it, and after a time the Boynes had laughingly set the matter down to their profit-and-loss ...
— The Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton, Part 2 (of 10) • Edith Wharton
... once, and with a touch of his rough forelock, looked sheepish, and said, "Please ma'am, he was meddling ...
— The Clever Woman of the Family • Charlotte M. Yonge
... him, an' made a speech to him that was full iv slaughther and bloodshed. Pretty soon in come a little woman, with a shawl over her head,—a little German lady. Says she, 'Where's me hoosband?' in a German brogue ye cud cut with an ax. 'I don't know ye'er husband, ma'am,' says I. 'What's his name?' She told me, an' I seen she was Casey's wife; 'He's in there,' I says. 'In back,' I says, 'talking to Doolan, th' prolotoorio.' I wint back with her, an' there was Casey whalin' away. 'Ar-re ye men or ar-re ...
— Mr. Dooley: In the Hearts of His Countrymen • Finley Peter Dunne
... with a family who were staying there. One morning we had been pasting something, and the bell was rung by one of the daughters, a very fair girl with flaxen hair, who wanted some water to wash her hands. An Irish waiter answered the bell. "Did you ring, ma'am?"—"Yes, Peter, I want a little warm water."—"Is it to shave with, miss?" inquired ...
— Diary in America, Series Two • Frederick Marryat (AKA Captain Marryat)
... ready, Mrs. Stanley," he said in imitation of a servant girl they had had when they were in better circumstances. "The water is jest comin' on to a bile, ma'am, an' the eggs am ...
— The Young Treasure Hunter - or, Fred Stanley's Trip to Alaska • Frank V. Webster
... like downright stealing. Do you hear him walking up there, Ma'am? Back and forth, back ...
— Plays: The Father; Countess Julie; The Outlaw; The Stronger • August Strindberg
... "No, ma'am, he only bowed. You see some people are not so presuming as other people thought they were; for we are not the most attractive beings on the planet; therefore a gentleman can be polite and then forget us without breaking any of the Ten Commandments. Don't be offended with him yet, for ...
— A Modern Cinderella - or The Little Old Show and Other Stories • Louisa May Alcott
... to his own taste, and finally said, 'Poor missus sick'; then more chirruping among themselves, and finally a fearful gesture of incantation, accompanied by 'God bless poor missus. Soon well now'. The wrath of the cockney housemaid became majestic: 'There, ma'am; you see how saucy they have grown- -a nasty black heathen Mohamedan a ...
— Letters from the Cape • Lady Duff Gordon
... kind of you, ma'am; but perhaps if you'd be looking out you might hear of some one that would take me, and give me whatever I was worth," said Nelly, in whom the instinct of ...
— Lucy Raymond - Or, The Children's Watchword • Agnes Maule Machar
... "Yes, ma'am," said Mabel, in the meekest voice imaginable, though her eyes looked like diamonds, and her cheeks reddened to the tints of two roses, as she placed the forbidden garment over her well-turned shoulders, where she kept it a minute, as if to try its fitness, and then ...
— The Pathfinder - The Inland Sea • James Fenimore Cooper
... tark, 'tis nobody's business and I wanting to plant a few pumpkins for me cow in among me cabbages. I 've got the right to plant whatever I may choose, if it's the divil of a crop of t'istles in the middle of me ground.' 'No ma'am, you ain't,' says Biddy Con'ly; 'you ain't got anny right to plant t'istles that's not for the public good,' says she; and I being so hasty wit' me timper, I shuk me fist in her face then, and ...
— The Queen's Twin and Other Stories • Sarah Orne Jewett
... (with a heavy sigh.)—"The feelings, ma'am!" Then, after a pause, taking his wife's hand affectionately—"But you did quite right to think of the shirts; ...
— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 2, No. 12, May, 1851. • Various
... started up, and putting down his book, exclaimed, in a voice which showed at once that he was conscious of thinking of some particular person, and determined to persist in the thought, "As if your son could possibly think of her!——Of whom, ma'am?" ...
— Tales and Novels, Vol. V - Tales of a Fashionable Life • Maria Edgeworth
... "Thank you, ma'am. You never made me wait. But I am sorry you had the trouble to come to my shop. I would have called at your house if you had sent me ...
— The Store Boy • Horatio Alger, Jr.
... go below, ma'am," said the second mate, who was standing near, talking to Otway, "there's some ...
— By Rock and Pool on an Austral Shore, and Other Stories • Louis Becke
... ma'am, I did," said Ephraim slowly. "I made a nice bed for it right there under the lew wall there in the far corner. But—well, whatever has come to it since, it passes me to know; when I went away that there bed was so smooth and tidy as my hand; when I comes back to ...
— The Carroll Girls • Mabel Quiller-Couch
... "Quite so, ma'am. Sir Charles has not left his room yet. He did not reach home till late, and he sat up with Miss Damaris the ...
— Deadham Hard • Lucas Malet
... oh certainly, ma'am! Pay for it, of course, ma'am! 'Twas only to frighten the woman, ma'am; oh certainly, certainly—oh! yes, ma'am, pay for ...
— Trumps • George William Curtis
... ma'am," he began again, and ceasing his labor stood up leaning on the spade, which was nearly as high as himself, "that many of the seeds which fall upon the ground do not grow, yet, strange to tell, retain the power of growth. I suspect myself, ...
— Paul Faber, Surgeon • George MacDonald
... have, ma'am?" asked the clerk, coming forward, more anxious to shut out the cold air from his comfortable snuggery than ...
— May Brooke • Anna H. Dorsey
... (very politely)—Not necessarily, ma'am; it will probably accomplish more if you put it ...
— The New Pun Book • Thomas A. Brown and Thomas Joseph Carey
... hull lot of seemin' impossible things in this world that come to pass just the same," the substitute storekeeper made answer, with some tartness. "Here's the needle drawer. Find what you want, ma'am." ...
— Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper • James A. Cooper
... to the afflicted hearts that heard them, and the lady and gentleman, whose lives he had saved at cost of his own, wept aloud over their departed friend. But his messmate's eye was dry. When all was over, he just turned to the mourners and said gravely, "Thank ye, sir; thank ye kindly, ma'am." And then he covered the body decently with the spare canvas, and lay quietly, down with his own head pillowed upon those ...
— Foul Play • Charles Reade
... I showed him into the parlor, but he kinder shivered his shoulders, and reckoned ez how he'd go inter the kitchen. Ye see, ma'am, he was all wet, and his shiny big boots was sloppy. But he ain't one o' the stuck-up kind, and he's willin' to make hisself cowf'ble ...
— Mr. Jack Hamlin's Mediation and Other Stories • Bret Harte
... "Why, Ma'am," replied he, "I've no stories. There's Smith of the 'Wittenagemot' can tell them by the hour; ...
— The Atlantic Monthly , Volume 2, No. 14, December 1858 • Various
... before the King of Hanover, and she consulted me about it, and how it should be arranged. I told her majesty that I supposed it should be settled as we did at the Congress of Vienna. 'How was that,' said she, 'by first arrival?'—'No, ma'am,' said I, 'alphabetically, and then, you know B comes before H.' This pleased her very much, and it ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan
... four of them—spoke of her as "the ould cat" or in moments of extreme exasperation "that divil Biddy O'Halloran." When they spoke to her they called her "Mrs. O'Halloran," or even "Mrs. O'Halloran, ma'am." Even Lady Devereux, though nominal mistress of the house, did not dare to call her "Biddy," She would as soon have addressed an archbishop as "Dickie," if, indeed, there is an arch-bishop whose Christian ...
— Our Casualty And Other Stories - 1918 • James Owen Hannay, AKA George A. Birmingham
... "Don't worry, ma'am," said the old sailor. "She's just down the street a few houses. I saw her as I came past. She's playing with Sadie West, in ...
— Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue • Laura Lee Hope
... you would not mind having me, instead of Martha, to-night, ma'am," she said, "for I did so want to speak to you about Miss Griselda. The poor, dear young lady has gone to bed ...
— The Cuckoo Clock • Mrs. Molesworth
... than with a fist," said Mr. Petulengro; "that is, if the look comes from a woman: not that I am disposed to doubt that this female gentlewoman is able to knock him down either one way or the other. I have heard of her often enough, and have seen her once or twice, though not so near as now. Well, ma'am, my wife and I are come to pay our respects to you; we are both glad to find that you have left off keeping company with Flaming Bosville, and have taken up with my pal; he is not very handsome, but a better . ...
— The Romany Rye - A Sequel to 'Lavengro' • George Borrow
... require formal introductions before extended conversations may be carried on. The New England school ma'am and the German professor were in a deep discussion ten minutes after they had met for the first time. Many on the ship were going especially "to do Europe," so there were themes for ...
— Story of Chester Lawrence • Nephi Anderson
... a damn, ma'am, so to speak. But I'll get by if any one can. This is one of the best locations in the valley. Me and Sim Gage; and Sim, ...
— The Sagebrusher - A Story of the West • Emerson Hough
... Pine! How can you?" interjected Mrs. Vickers. "'Pon my soul, ma'am, some of them have mixed in good society, I can tell you. There's pickpockets and swindlers down below who have lived in ...
— For the Term of His Natural Life • Marcus Clarke
... "Thank you, ma'am, I had my breakfast before I started, all alone by myself—but," looking at the nice beefsteak, "I think I could eat a ...
— Red, White, Blue Socks, Part First - Being the First Book • Sarah L Barrow
... sorry for Pole, who reddened and replied, "Fact is, ma'am, I don't always do the weighing myself, and the boys they are real careless. What with Hannah's asthma keeping me awake and a lot of fools loafing around and talking politics, I do wonder I ever get things right. It's Fremont and it's ...
— Westways • S. Weir Mitchell
... "I should think, ma'am, I did, when I was brought up in a dairy all my life, till I went to live with Mrs. Willoughby, and mother's been sick two months at a time, and I made all the butter and ...
— A Book For The Young • Sarah French
... of yourself, ma'am, to abuse a poor dumb animal, ma'am, as knows no better than to take food when he sees it, ma'am? He only follows the nature which God has given, ma'am; and it's a pity your nature, ma'am, which I've heard, is of the stingy saving species, does ...
— The Grey Woman and other Tales • Mrs. (Elizabeth) Gaskell
... said Mrs. Mackridge. "They say he was extremelay popular in New South Wales. They looked up to him greatlay. I knew him, ma'am, as a young man. A ...
— Tono Bungay • H. G. Wells
... sparklers. That ain't nothin' to be ashamed of. Come on, please; a little more speed. Easy there, partner; don't take both them hands down at once. You can peel the stuff out of your pockets with one hand, I figure. Conductor, just lemme see your wallet. Thanks! Hate to bother you, ma'am, but you sure ain't traveling on this train with only eighty-five cents in your pocketbook. Just lemme have a look at the rest. See if you can't find it in your stocking. No, they ain't anything here to make you blush. ...
— Way of the Lawless • Max Brand
... ma'am," was the response, and then unconsciously lapsing into his rhythmical way of expressing himself, the old man added: "Though flying through the air so high they'll come back ...
— The Girl Aviators on Golden Wings • Margaret Burnham
... "No, ma'am," Pearson said confidently. "The boy's got sense enough to have changed his course after it gets dark, though whether he'll make for shore or go out toward the other side is more than I can say. You see, they'll know that the Injuns are all ...
— True to the Old Flag - A Tale of the American War of Independence • G. A. Henty
... Then he made his way up to the cottage door and knocked. His summons was immediately answered by a respectably dressed middle- aged woman, who opened the door somewhat slowly and cautiously, and then asked him civilly what was his business with her. "Well, if you please, ma'am," said the butler, "I'm just come to know if you can tell me anything about my young master, Mr Amos. He ought to have come home last night, and none of us has set eyes on him up to the time when I left home, ...
— Amos Huntingdon • T.P. Wilson
... go back to Monkhaven," said Tim; "they'd be sure to cotch me, and they'd give it me for a-climbing out o' window and a-running away. Nor I dursn't go back to Mick. But you've only to say the word, ma'am, and I'm off. I'll hide about, and mayhap somehow I might get a chance among the boat-people. It's all I can think of; for I've no money—leastways this is master's and missy's, and you'd best take it ...
— "Us" - An Old Fashioned Story • Mary Louisa S. Molesworth
... his amazement; then he turned and roared to the gaping and snickering soldiers, "Get out of here, every doodle of you, and be—to you!" Keeping his back to the bed, he said, "I pray your pardon, ma'am, for disturbing you; our spies assured us that ...
— Janice Meredith • Paul Leicester Ford
... a shiver I exclaimed aloud, "Ugh, you splendid brute!" Realizing my fault, I drew quickly back into the shadow of the curtain; but a man's rough voice had answered instantly, "Make it a beast, ma'am, and I'm with you!" I ...
— Stage Confidences • Clara Morris
... be the hired girl, an' she's got some biscuits in the oven," explained Susan crisply. "If you'll be so good, ma'am, I'll show you ...
— Dawn • Eleanor H. Porter
... ma'am," I answered, "I cannot say. But that he's a bachelor I believe; and that he hates women I have his word over ...
— Sir John Constantine • Prosper Paleologus Constantine
... that night. I was just going to sleep, when I heard a noise in my mistress's room; and she presently called out to inquire if some work was finished that she had ordered Hetty to do. "No, Ma'am, not yet," was Hetty's answer from below. On hearing this, my master started up from his bed, and just as he was, in his shirt, ran down stairs with a long cow-skin[6] in his hand. I heard immediately after, the cracking of the thong, and the house rang to the ...
— The History of Mary Prince - A West Indian Slave • Mary Prince
... see what Ma'am Fontaine says," she thought. (Madame Fontaine told fortunes on the cards for all the servants in the quarter of the Marais.) "Since these two gentlemen came here, we have put two thousand francs in the savings bank. Two thousand francs in eight years! ...
— Cousin Pons • Honore de Balzac
... hunting up the other one, took her from her escort and led her inside also, where I imagine there was a scene. At any rate the stewardess was busy in there for some time, and when I asked what had happened, she said, 'Only hysterics, ma'am; they're common enough.' But as I happened to know where she was, and what had just happened, I did not treat the matter so lightly. Of course it was an exaggeration of the other girl, but it showed that some people who seem very innocent will bear looking after. Too bad ...
— All Aboard - A Story for Girls • Fannie E. Newberry
... and barefooted, standing on the street on a terribly cold day. A lady came along, and looking kindly at him, said, "Little boy, are you cold?" The little fellow, looking up into her face, said, "Yes Ma'am, I was cold till you smiled." He would rather have a smile like that and the simple love of his fellow men than to have all the fame of the earth. He was honored in all parts of the world by the greatest of the great, yet ...
— Russell H. Conwell • Agnes Rush Burr
... about the place had shown so much sympathy in the family trouble, that Mrs. Hogarth specially told her of the approaching visit, and who it was that was coming to the sick-room. "Lawk ma'am!" she said. "Is the young gentleman upstairs the son of the man that put together Dombey?" Reassured upon this point, she explained her question by declaring that she never thought there was a ...
— The Life of Charles Dickens, Vol. I-III, Complete • John Forster
... "Didn't you, ma'am?" exclaimed the first mate, looking up in surprise, for that matter-of-fact seamen seldom recognised a joke at ...
— The Red Eric • R.M. Ballantyne
... their night-clothes. It is reported also that, on the transit, Mrs Barrabell was heard to say, "Go forward, Theophilus! Th' Old Doctor knows all about me, if he don't about you. You can trust en to the ends of the world." "That's right enough, ma'am," said the Doctor in his great way; "but you appear to have gone a bit further." A variant of the story has it that Mrs Barrabell was found beneath the bed, and her spouse alone between the bed-clothes, into which he had plunged with an exhortation, "Look after yourself, darling!" ...
— Nicky-Nan, Reservist • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (Q)
... bless and protect you ma'am for not lettin' her be sent to a hospital! But do you think she can get well? And if that other maid suits, couldn't you keep her here all summer and let her get good and strong? I'm going out to my cousin at Fairfield to stay until next Monday. ...
— A Modern Cinderella • Amanda M. Douglas
... it is your sheep, Not you, that I come to see, ma'am; Their wool is so soft, that I want it oft In my nest for my ...
— Friends in Feathers and Fur, and Other Neighbors - For Young Folks • James Johonnot
... the shopman, "in small packages, which can be very conveniently carried about. You see, ma'am, there is a compartment in the desk for such things; and the ink is very easily made at ...
— The Wide, Wide World • Susan Warner
... on the butt, ma'am," responded John Brien. "Put it up, for God's sake, and let you sit up with it. Sure the ass is able ...
— Mount Music • E. Oe. Somerville and Martin Ross
... "I will, ma'am, in a few words. My granddaughter, you may have heard, is engaged to an Englishman. He's next thing to broke, but he's got a title coming. Naturally he's looking fur money. Naturally he don't care fur the girl. But I'm afraid she's infatuated with him. Now then, if he had a chance at some one with ...
— The Spenders - A Tale of the Third Generation • Harry Leon Wilson
... said Miss Brandon: and her maid entered to say that the carriage, please Ma'am, was at the door to take Miss ...
— Wylder's Hand • J. Sheridan Le Fanu
... her say These words, or thought he did, as plain as day: "O Martha Hilton! Fie! how dare you go About the town half dressed, and looking so!" At which the gypsy laughed, and straight replied: "No matter how I look; I yet shall ride In my own chariot, ma'am." And on the child The Earl of Halifax benignly smiled, As with her heavy burden she passed on, Looked back, then turned ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
... ma'am," said he, for he had heard the waiter call her by some such name, "if you WILL accept a glass of champagne, ma'am, you'll do me, I'm sure, great honor: they say it's very good, and a precious sight cheaper than it is on our side of the way, too—not that I care for money. ...
— The Paris Sketch Book Of Mr. M. A. Titmarsh • William Makepeace Thackeray
... little girl go away for, ma'am, that went on Friday last? My aunt wrote to my mother she ...
— Madam Crowl's Ghost and The Dead Sexton • Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu |
