"Poser" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... a companion in a coach with Charles Lamb, kept boring him to death with questions, in the jargon of agriculturists, about crops. At length he put a poser—"And pray, sir, how are turnips this year?" "Why that, sir," stammered out Lamb, "will depend upon the boiled legs ...
— The Book of Three Hundred Anecdotes - Historical, Literary, and Humorous—A New Selection • Various
... This was a poser to March. It was so totally subversive of all his preconceived ideas, that it reduced him ...
— The Wild Man of the West - A Tale of the Rocky Mountains • R.M. Ballantyne
... present connection? Carteret's imagination shied. For, to have the existence of an illegitimate son of your oldest and dearest friend thus suddenly thrust upon you, and that by a young lady of the dearest friend's family, is, to say the least of it, a considerable poser for any man. It may be noted as characteristic of Carteret that, without hesitation, he recognized the sincerity and fine spirit of Faircloth's letter. Characteristic, also, that having seized the main bearings of it, his feeling was neither of cynical acquiescence, or of covert and cynical ...
— Deadham Hard • Lucas Malet
... Maiden Forlorn, 'tis a poser you put to the country, the cliques, and the classes, The Landlord, The Farmer, the Labourer! Say they agree, what response may you hope from "the Masses." Those tiresome "Consumers"? Old myths and new rumours are like the East wind, Maiden, mighty unfilling; Bucolic ideas and crude panaceas ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 103, December 17, 1892 • Various
... This question was a poser. The blacksmith supposed that Kit might be ignorant that papers were required, but he ...
— The Young Acrobat of the Great North American Circus • Horatio Alger Jr.
... did I get out doorth?" demanded Tommy triumphantly. This was something of a poser. Harriet said Grace did not appear to be fully awake when she reached her ...
— The Meadow-Brook Girls Under Canvas • Janet Aldridge
... in some sort of a house-light first, in a barn or shed, or, if it be a small animal, in your studio. Study as you would any other thing, from a chair to a man. The principles of drawing do not change with the character of anatomy. The animal may be less amiable a poser, but you must ...
— The Painter in Oil - A complete treatise on the principles and technique - necessary to the painting of pictures in oil colors • Daniel Burleigh Parkhurst
... to rule, in this arbitrary manner, it has a right to set its dogmas above the commandments, and to legalize theft, murder, adultery, and all the other sins denounced in the twentieth chapter of Exodus. This was a poser to the demagogue, but he made an effort to get rid of it, by excepting the laws of God, which he allowed that even majorities were bound to respect. Thereupon, the governor replied that the laws of God were nothing but the great principles which ought to govern human conduct, ...
— The Crater • James Fenimore Cooper
... parties on instruments of Broadwood's, we may conclude that he also appreciated the pianos of this firm. In a letter dated London, 48, Dover Street, May 6, 1848, he writes to Gutmann: "Erard a ete charmant, il m'a fait poser un piano. J'ai un de Broadwood et un de Pleyel, ce qui fait 3, et je ne trouve pas encore le temps pour les jouer." And in a letter dated Edinburgh, August 6, and Calder House, August 11, he writes to Franchomme: "I have a Broadwood piano in my room, ...
— Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician - Volume 1-2, Complete • Frederick Niecks
... "Now, that's a poser!" He ruminated a minute, then said, "It's useful, certainly, but not just what you'd call ornamental. One wouldn't save it for an ornament—not this one, anyway, ...
— All Aboard - A Story for Girls • Fannie E. Newberry
... This was a poser for us. Why should he, indeed? But the Story Girl was quite equal to it. Leaning forward, and throwing an indescribable witchery into tone and eyes and smile, ...
— The Story Girl • Lucy Maud Montgomery
... that is based upon an organised wrong?" That was the simple question that Verena desired to propound, and Basil smiled across the room at her with an amused tenderness as he gathered that she conceived it to be a poser. He didn't think it would frighten him much if she were to ask him that, and he would sit down with her for as ...
— The Bostonians, Vol. II (of II) • Henry James
... had given too many years to this chimera of royalty now suddenly grown into a monster to be sated only by the sacrifice of her son! But she mourned as if he was already dead, and a lump rose in Alec's throat. He had always loved his mother; his father had ever been remote, a dignified trifler, a poser. The three held nothing in common. It could hardly be doubted that every good quality of mind and body the boy possessed was a debt to the brokenhearted woman now clinging to him in a very frenzy of lamentation. Small wonder if his eyes were misty and his voice choked. Ah! if Joan but knew ...
— A Son of the Immortals • Louis Tracy
... That was a poser; but Jenny Wren was ready with her answer, old-fashioned as could be, and she says: "I should think it's toz they ...
— Begumbagh - A Tale of the Indian Mutiny • George Manville Fenn
... complexity &c 59; cross fire; awkwardness, delicacy, ticklish card to play, knot, Gordian knot, dignus vindice nodus [Lat.], net, meshes, maze; coil &c (convolution) 248; crooked path; involvement. nice point, delicate point, subtle point, knotty point; vexed question, vexata quaestio [Lat.], poser; puzzle &c (riddle) 533; paradox; hard nut to crack, nut to crack; bone to pick, crux, pons asinorum [Lat.], where the shoe pinches. nonplus, quandary, strait, pass, pinch, pretty pass, stress, brunt; critical situation, crisis; trial, rub, emergency, exigency, scramble. ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget
... ruffling her plumage somewhat for an argument, of which she was fond; "but, as a case in hand, suppose a highly educated and refined man for some reason swept a store out every morning, what would you call him?" and she looked around as if she had given a poser. ...
— Barriers Burned Away • E. P. Roe
... cet ordre, un joli pigeon blanc vint se poser sur un arbre, tout prs de la fentre de la cuisine, et poussa un petit cri plaintif. La ngresse vit le pigeon, le montra au chef, et dit: "Chef, prenez votre grand couteau, coupez la tte ce pigeon, et faites-le rtir ...
— Contes et lgendes - 1re Partie • H. A. Guerber
... didn't love me, why did you ask me to marry you?' It was his nature to be more or less satisfied when he had put any one opposed to him proportionally in the wrong; and now his exultation at having put a poser manifested itself in his tone. This, however, braced up Stephen to cope with a difficult and painful situation. It was with a calm, seemingly genial frankness, that she ...
— The Man • Bram Stoker
... Dorpat, where he died. At the parish school the boys of fourteen to fifteen years were being examined in arithmetic one day, when Gauss stepped forward and, to the astonishment of Buttner, requested to be examined at the same time. Buttner, thinking to punish him for his audacity, put a 'poser' to him, and awaited the result. Gauss solved the problem on his slate, and laid it face downward on the table, crying 'Here it is,' according to the custom. At the end of an hour, during which the master ...
— Heroes of the Telegraph • J. Munro
... maid-of-all-work of the Ministry. Deputising for the PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE he had an opportunity of displaying an encyclopaedic knowledge which fully justified his position as President-elect of a Canadian University. Mr. JOYNSON-HICKS probably thought he had floored him with a poser on "gas-scrubbing," but Sir ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 156, May 14, 1919 • Various
... these startling and exceptional things in nature. Thoreau saw none. White saw none. Charles St. John saw none. John Muir reports none, Audubon none. It is always your untrained observer that has his poser, his shower of frogs or lizards, or his hoop snakes, and the like. The impossible things that country people see or hear of would make a book of wonders. In some places fishermen believe that the loon carries its egg under its wing till it hatches, ...
— Ways of Nature • John Burroughs
... This was a "poser." Born to a full realization of the vast gulf which providence has fixed between the Highlands and the rest of the world, Janet recognized it as such. Pausing, she leaned on her hoe, anxiously waiting, while Timmins chewed a straw ...
— Quaint Courtships • Howells & Alden, Editors
... difficulties were stated. These, with a little thought, he also met. He had evidently scarcely any other quality than presumption. I told him at last that, from the inhabitants in the vicinity, it was necessary that he should speak Dutch. This seemed a poser, but, after some hesitancy and hemming, and the re-mustering of his cardinal presumption, he thought he could shortly render himself qualified to speak. I admired the very presumption of the theory, and finally told him to call the next day on my agent, Mr. Schenck, at such a number (Martin Baum's) ...
— Personal Memoirs Of A Residence Of Thirty Years With The Indian Tribes On The American Frontiers • Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
... then on the ocean bound for the United States and the delicate task of presenting this document to Sir Edward Grey fell upon Mr. Laughlin, who was now Charge d'affaires. Mr. Laughlin is a diplomat of great experience, but this responsibility at first seemed to be something of a poser even for him. He had received explicit instructions from Washington to present this resolution, and the one thing above all which a diplomatic officer must do is to carry out the orders of his government, but Mr. Laughlin well knew that, should he present this paper in the usual manner, the ...
— The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page, Volume II • Burton J. Hendrick
... "Cousin Peregrine, you said in your letters that it was very cold in the north of China. If Chinamen know nothing about gloves, how can they keep their hands warm?" Maggie had a little the air of regarding this question as a poser, but Cousin Peregrine was ...
— Miscellanea • Juliana Horatia Ewing
... This was a poser, but I rallied stoutly. "Well," I said, "you see, there are two equinoxes a year, the vernal and the autumnal. They are well known by coal dealers. The first one is when he delivers the coal and the second is when he gets ...
— Mince Pie • Christopher Darlington Morley
... poser to me as well as to you. But I suppose Wallace could explain it as erosion. He claims this whole western country was once under water, except the tips of the Sierra Nevada mountains. There came an uplift of the earth's crust, and the ...
— The Last of the Plainsmen • Zane Grey
... a poser. I had laid myself open to suspicion by one thoughtless admission, and what was worse, it was but the beginning in all probability of many other possible mistakes. I had never taken the trouble to measure my words and the whole ...
— The House of the Whispering Pines • Anna Katharine Green
... sentinels cannot stop them. The real hobby-horses won't allow them to ride with them, however. There was a meeting on the subject. Every stick was put through an examination. "Where is your nose? Where is your mane? Where are your wheels?" The last was a poser. Some of them had got noses, but none of them had got wheels. So they were not true hobby-horses. Something of the kind occurred ...
— The Brownies and Other Tales • Juliana Horatia Ewing
... considere le regne animal d'apres les principes que nous venons de poser en se debarrassant des prejuges etablis sur les divisions anciennement admises, en n'ayant egard qu'a l'organisation et a la nature des animaux, et non pas a leur grandeur, a leur utilite, au plus ou moins de connaissance que nous en avons, ni a toutes ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 09, No. 51, January, 1862 • Various
... contented with his little family, untroubled by any haunting fear of the hand of the law, enjoying the respect of all men, and a veritable hero the length of the three rivers. And beside him, of his own flesh and blood, was himself, a bold figure of a man, a roisterer and a poser, who had sought to gain the admiration and respect of the men of the rivers without earning it, and who had failed—and failed most miserably. The sullen rage grew in his heart, and he plotted vengeance by the hour—but his ...
— Connie Morgan in the Fur Country • James B. Hendryx
... that the question went to the very root of weather knowledge. The query was a poser to Anton. ...
— The Boy with the U. S. Weather Men • Francis William Rolt-Wheeler
... conversazione, propounded to PUNCH the following classical poser:—"How would you translate the Latin words, puella, defectus, puteus, dies, into four English interjections?" Our wooden Roscius hammered his pate for full five minutes, and then exclaimed—"A-lass! ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, Complete • Various
... might be, It don't seem to agree With one thing which, I own, is a poser to me,— I mean, as the miracle, wrought at the shrine Containing the bones brought from far Palestine Were so great and notorious, 'tis hard to combine This fact with the reason these people assign, Or suppose that the head of the murder'd Divine Could be aught ...
— The Haunted Hour - An Anthology • Various
... moment a perfect "poser" to Ishmael. He wasn't interested in bonnets! But, however, as he had the faculty of seeing, understanding, and remembering everything that fell under his observation in his own limited sphere, he blew out his candle, sat down and complied with his aunt's ...
— Ishmael - In the Depths • Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth
... and partly for others that I scarce know how to state, A Midsummer-Night's Dream is a most effectual poser to criticism. Besides that its very essence is irregularity, so that it cannot be fairly brought to the test of rules, the play forms properly a class by itself: literature has nothing else really like it; nothing therefore with which it may be compared, and its ...
— Shakespeare: His Life, Art, And Characters, Volume I. • H. N. Hudson
... taken great pains to teach him not to answer. Every one will say, "The stone falls because it is heavy." "And what do you mean by heavy?" "That which falls." "So the stone falls because it falls?" Here is a poser for my little philosopher. This is his first lesson in systematic physics, and whether he learns physics or no it is ...
— Emile • Jean-Jacques Rousseau
... poser. It certainly seemed like a hopeless task, but Dick Dare was not a youth to be easily discouraged. He had come here to spy on the British and learn their plans, and he would do so, if such a thing ...
— The Dare Boys of 1776 • Stephen Angus Cox
... This was a poser, but when he did summon an answer it came right out from the heart, his eyes devouring the beautiful girl before him ...
— Officer 666 • Barton W. Currie
... "Lord, that's a poser! Do you mean to say she married and retired—landed some simp? They do once in a while. Could tell you queer things about certain ancestries ...
— The Avalanche • Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton
... to the paper. The examiner, evidently unconscious of anything but his own precise self, went officially to the blackboard and took up next the writing of another set of questions. He wrote impromptu and with considerable readiness, pausing occasionally to think up a poser. ...
— The Wrong Woman • Charles D. Stewart
... a poser. I think you were nicest when you were two and knew your alphabet up to G but fell over at H. No, you were best when you were half-past three; or just before you struck six; or in the mumps year, when I asked you in the early morning how you were ...
— Dear Brutus • J. M. Barrie
... That question was a poser; and perhaps it was just as well that Dr. Vince was nearing the steps of his home. "I must go in now, Samuel," he said. "But we will talk about ...
— Samuel the Seeker • Upton Sinclair
... consent, and Sheykh Yussuf who heard me begged me by all means to make him read it carefully so as to guard him against the heretical inventions he might be beset with among the English 'of the vulgar sort.' What a poser for a missionary! ...
— Letters from Egypt • Lucie Duff Gordon
... addled my head with writing all day, and have barely wit enough left to send my love to my cousin, and—there's a genealogical poser—what relation of mine may the dear little child be? At present, I desire to be commended to her ...
— The Letters of Charles Dickens - Vol. 1 (of 3), 1833-1856 • Charles Dickens
... but now that I know him he doesn't seem interesting in the least. He's priggish and conceited; he's a poser, too. It is too bad, Pat, for you to tire yourself out and get such a—a dry ...
— The Shield of Silence • Harriet T. Comstock
... Benedictus, De gnomonum usu; Georgius Schomberg, Exegesis fundamentorum gnomonicorum; Joan. Solomon de Caus, Horologes solaires; Joan. Bapt. Trolta, Praxis horologiorum; Desargues, Maniere universelle pour poser l'essieu, &c.; Ath. Kircher, Ars magna lucis et Umbrae; Hallum, Explicatio horologii in horto regio Londini; Joan. Mark, Tractatus horologiorum; Clavius, Gnomonices de horologiis. Also among more modern ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 3 - "Destructors" to "Diameter" • Various
... him they returned to the prisoner, most of the men giving vent to exclamations of anger in tones that made the greaser squirm, while Trinidad expressed the prevailing admiration of the Sheriff's poser by ...
— The Girl of the Golden West • David Belasco
... Farmer Wainsby, a farmer with a grievance, fixing his elbow on his knee for serious utterance. "There's to ask, and t' ask again. Sport, I grant ye. All in doo season. But," he performed a circle with his pipe stem, and darted it as from the centre thereof toward Stephen's breast, with the poser, "do we s'pport thieves at public expense for them to keep thievin'—black, white, or brown—no matter, eh? Well, then, if the public wunt bear it, dang me if I can see why individles shud bear it. It ent no manner o' reason, net as I can see; let gentlemen ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... siren charms and forgetting home ties, the usual sequel, to bask in the loved one's smiles. The eternal question of the life connubial, needless to say, cropped up. Can real love, supposing there happens to be another chap in the case, exist between married folk? Poser. Though it was no concern of theirs absolutely if he regarded her with affection, carried away by a wave of folly. A magnificent specimen of manhood he was truly augmented obviously by gifts of a high order, as compared with the other military ...
— Ulysses • James Joyce
... This was a poser, and they gave up the puzzle, though Jamie confided to Rose that he did not think he could live till Monday without knowing what this remarkable ...
— Eight Cousins • Louisa M. Alcott
... leaning back in his chair, as if about to administer a poser.] By the way, Mr. Dunning, you tell us you have a strong conviction that Messrs. Hopwood & Co. are a myth, and their offices a sham—[caustically] may I ask whether you've tried to ascertain who is the actual tenant of the room and ...
— The Big Drum - A Comedy in Four Acts • Arthur Pinero
... somewhat of a poser, as Louise and I really have not much in common, and I was at a loss where to begin. But something had to be done, and so I made a venture ...
— Hepsey Burke • Frank Noyes Westcott
... a poser, and for a moment he stared at Jethro, blankly, until he decided how to take it. Then he crossed his legs and blew smoke toward ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill
... "You've got a poser this time. 'Fraid your curiosity won't be gratified, so far as that map is concerned, but I reckon you'll find so much doing before long that you will forget all about this particular mystery. We are not being watched out of mere curiosity, ...
— Grace Harlowe's Overland Riders on the Great American Desert • Jessie Graham Flower
... not time to answer this poser for along the road came the ambulance, pell-mell. Surely, the boys thought, Artie could not have spoken of Blythe's identity over the 'phone, yet following the ambulance came the touring car of Bridgeboro's police department with ...
— Roy Blakeley in the Haunted Camp • Percy Keese Fitzhugh
... so, now, here is only one distinct leg to the eye, .. yet two to the soul. Where thou feelest tingling life; there, exactly there, there to a hair, do I. Is't a riddle? I should humbly call it a poser, sir. Hist, then. How dost thou know that some entire, living, thinking thing may not be invisibly and uninterpenetratingly standing precisely where thou now standest; aye, and standing there in thy spite? In thy most solitary hours, ...
— Moby-Dick • Melville
... was a poser for the angry woman, and mother and daughter ceased their wrangling and devoted themselves to the ...
— Molly Brown's Orchard Home • Nell Speed
... his new life had improved him, but it had not made him happy. It would be absurd to say that he looked sad. A boy of his age cannot look sad continually, unless sadness is a pose with him, which he is enjoying very much indeed. But Bonbright was no poser.... And he did not look happy. There were even times when there was a worn, haggard look about his eyes when he came down in the morning. This was when he had allowed ...
— Youth Challenges • Clarence B Kelland
... point; vexed question, vexata quaestio, poser, puzzle, &c. (see riddle); paradox; hard-, nut to crack; bone to pick, crux, pons asinorum, ...
— Journalism for Women - A Practical Guide • E.A. Bennett
... suddenly remembered the peculiarity of Mr. Weiss's spectacles. And here I met with a real poser. I had certainly seen through those spectacles as clearly as if they had been plain window-glass; and they had certainly given an inverted reflection of the candle-flame like that thrown from the surface of a concave lens. Now they ...
— The Mystery of 31 New Inn • R. Austin Freeman |
