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Protract   Listen
verb
Protract  v. t.  (past & past part. protracted; pres. part. protracting)  
1.
To draw out or lengthen in time or (rarely) in space; to continue; to prolong; as, to protract an argument; to protract a war.
2.
To put off to a distant time; to delay; to defer; as, to protract a decision or duty.
3.
(Surv.) To draw to a scale; to lay down the lines and angles of, with scale and protractor; to plot.
4.
(Zool.) To extend; to protrude; as, the cat can protract its claws; opposed to retract.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Protract" Quotes from Famous Books



... answered Chiffinch, confused; yet willing to protract the time for the chance of assistance, or to put Peveril off his guard. "I know nothing of what you mean. If you are a man of honour, let me draw my sword, and I will do you right, as a gentleman should ...
— Peveril of the Peak • Sir Walter Scott

... in their merriment forget they would shortly be themselves such as that was,—though it was a sight not so acceptable (as may be supposed),—had yet this conveniency and use, to incite the spectators not to luxury and drunkenness but to mutual love and friendship, persuading them not to protract a life in itself short and uncertain by ...
— Essays and Miscellanies - The Complete Works Volume 3 • Plutarch

... had never before experienced. It had aroused him from the monotony of mere sensual life, and stimulated him with the charm of adventure. He had become an epicure in pleasure; and now that he had this coy beauty in his power, he was determined to protract his enjoyment, by the gradual conquest of her scruples and downfall of her virtue. He was vain of his person and address, which he thought no woman could long withstand; and it was a kind of trial of skill to endeavour to gain, by art ...
— Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists • Washington Irving

... in all our thoughts to- day. And yet, my Lords—putting that one figure aside—to me, at any rate, this is not an occasion for absolute and entire and unreserved lamentation. Were it, indeed, possible so to protract the inexorable limits of human life that we might have hoped that future years, and even future generations, might see Mr. Gladstone's face and hear his matchless voice, and receive the lessons of his unrivaled ...
— Public Speaking • Irvah Lester Winter

... now we know how to deal with it. We must look first to the foreign drain, and raise the rate of interest as high as may be necessary. Unless you can stop the foreign export, you cannot allay the domestic alarm. The Bank will get poorer and poorer, and its poverty will protract or renew the apprehension. And at the rate of interest so raised, the holdersone or more-of the final Bank reserve must lend freely. Very large loans at very high rates are the best remedy for the worst malady of the money market when a foreign drain is added to a domestic drain. Any ...
— Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market • Walter Bagehot

... cannot contend against such an overwhelming array of force as was here displayed. * * * The Fort of Kinburn surrendered, not because it was breached—not because the defenders were so far diminished by their losses as to be unable to protract the contest,—but simply because the guns and gunners, exposed in all possible ways, were put hors-du-combat, and the calibres (of the guns in Kinburn) were incapable of doing any great damage to the vessels, at ...
— Elements of Military Art and Science • Henry Wager Halleck

... though we did not mention it in our letters, always hoping that by the next time we wrote he would be better. But he has not left his room till he contrived to go in the cab yesterday. Oh! Annie, he has sold his business to Dr. Capes. He—father—said it was no use to protract the struggle, it was only doing more mischief; he would never be able, at his age, to go about again so as to act fairly by his patients. He has given up everything to the bank's creditors, and will ...
— A Houseful of Girls • Sarah Tytler

... I ran upstairs and found the gamblers all eager in storming the Pharaoh Bank: a young Englishman of distinction seemed the most likely to raise the siege, which increased every instant in turbulence; but not feeling the least inclination to protract or to shorten its fate, I left the knights to their adventures, and returned ingloriously to ...
— Dreams, Waking Thoughts, and Incidents • William Beckford

... my desire to protract litigation. Does my having done all in my power to have the affair referred to a third party—to any impartial tribunal you might prefer—evince the truth of such a charge? Or does your refusing to agree to any such reference ...
— The Story of My Life - Being Reminiscences of Sixty Years' Public Service in Canada • Egerton Ryerson

... and subjugate a vast territory, inhabited by millions of warlike people, the assailants must always have four times as many men as the assailed; therefore we stand on an equal footing with the United States in this war, and they may, if they be insane enough, protract it indefinitely, and in the end reap no substantial benefit. On the contrary, the fortune of war may shift the scene of devastation to their own homes. Perhaps Lee may follow up this blow until he ...
— A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital • John Beauchamp Jones

... with President Cleveland. The people, both Republicans and Democrats, expected that the political control of the more important offices would be changed when a new party came into power, and considered Mr. Edmunds's Constitutional argument as a mere ingenious device to protract the day when their political fate ...
— Autobiography of Seventy Years, Vol. 1-2 • George Hoar

... she will then be mine, she must suffer them, if I so decree; but what avails your promise, so long as you—in this matter a child yourself—suffer her to protract and put off at her pleasure. Me she receives with scorn and contempt, you with tears and entreaties; and you allow their influence; in the hope, doubtless, that some lucky chance—the pistol-shot or the hangman's collar—will rid you ...
— Guy Rivers: A Tale of Georgia • William Gilmore Simms

... which dictated the law of six years' service for the Israelite, assigned as the general rule, a much longer period to the Gentile servant, who, instead of being tempted to a brief service, had every inducement to protract ...
— The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus • American Anti-Slavery Society

... Nor let a mother's curse my name pursue: Thy pious parent, who, for love of thee, Forsook the coasts of friendly Sicily, Her age committing to the seas and wind, When ev'ry weary matron stay'd behind." To this, Euryalus: "You plead in vain, And but protract the cause you cannot gain. No more delays, but haste!" With that, he wakes The nodding watch; each to his office takes. The guard reliev'd, the gen'rous couple went To find the ...
— The Aeneid • Virgil

... this stupendous victory needs not many words to tell. On land and sea the Russians had been fought to a finish. To protract the war would have been but to add to their disasters. Peace was imperative and it came in the following September, the chief result being that the Russian career of conquest in Eastern Asia was stayed and Japan became the master spirit in that ...
— Historic Tales, Vol. 8 (of 15) - The Romance of Reality • Charles Morris

... amusing himself with a cat-and-mouse game. But now he too was at ease and became quietly civil as he filled another pipe, and with an air of despair which altogether deceived Grey said, "I see that I can do nothing, Henry. There is no reason to protract an unpleasant matter." ...
— Westways • S. Weir Mitchell

... sentenced to death, at such time and place as Gen. Hooker shall designate. The penitentiary at Columbus, Ohio, is designated as the place of confinement of Walsh and Semmes. The trial has been long, mainly by reason of the course pursued by the defense, whose aim has been to protract it, so as to tire out the perseverance of the prosecution and the patience of the court and people. The court have performed their arduous duties with great ability and fairness. The result will doubtless be satisfactory to ...
— The Great North-Western Conspiracy In All Its Startling Details • I. Windslow Ayer

... therefore less note-worthy—countless swords In judgment drawn against a man unarmed; Yea, and a man unarmed with brow unmoved Confronting countless swords. These things I saw; Fair sight that tells me how to act, and when; For I was minded to protract the time, Which strangles oft best purpose. At the font Of Christ—it stands a bow-shot from this spot, As late we learned—at daybreak I and mine Become henceforth Christ's lieges. Earls and Thanes, I heard but late a railer who affirmed That kings were tyrants o'er ...
— Legends of the Saxon Saints • Aubrey de Vere

... by this diagram, it is apparent that the only thing required for an advance from one type to another in the generative process is that, for example, the fish embryo should not diverge at A, but go on to C before it diverges, in which case the progeny will be, not a fish, but a reptile. To protract the STRAIGHTFORWARD PART OF THE GESTATION OVER A SMALL SPACE—and from species to species the space would be small ...
— Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation • Robert Chambers

... the Indians, contrary to their usual custom of taking a whiff or two, smoked long and slowly. We knew it was a ruse to protract the ceremony and gain time; while we—I answer for Seguin and myself—were chafing ...
— The Scalp Hunters • Mayne Reid

... 'Your uncle's time is very valuable, my dear; and however desirous you may be—and naturally desirous, as I am sure any affectionate relations who have seen so little of your uncle as we have, must naturally be to protract the pleasure of having him among us, still, we are bound not to be selfish, but to take into consideration the important nature of ...
— The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby • Charles Dickens

... Dorn answered, delighted to protract the conversation, "is a vivid sort of imbecile suffering from vacuous complexities. An hour alone in a room with her would drive even a philosopher to madness. She's one of the kind of people given to inappropriate silences. She reminds me of an emotion undergoing a ...
— Erik Dorn • Ben Hecht

... trustees; his father would remonstrate, and James might be able to think and to apologize. He was hardly a rational being to-night, and probably would have driven away any other companion; but long habit, and external coolness, enabled Louis to stand his ground, and to protract matters till the clock, striking eleven, relieved him, as much as it exasperated James, by proving it so late that the last train ...
— Dynevor Terrace (Vol. II) • Charlotte M. Yonge

... so unreasonable? And how, after knowing that I have harrangued for more than 'seven hours by Westminster clock'—how can you have the conscience to call upon me to protract the oration? The night has already melted into morning; and I suppose grey twilight is discoverable upon the summit of the hills. I am exhausted; and long for repose. Indeed, I must wish you all a ...
— Bibliomania; or Book-Madness - A Bibliographical Romance • Thomas Frognall Dibdin

... fact, the trunk containing them was without delay brought to the inn. The Colonel courteously expressed his regret that Flinders had adopted such a tone in his letters to the General, thinking "that they might tend to protract rather than terminate" his confinement. The complaint respecting the seamen was attended to forthwith, and they were treated exactly on the same footing as were French sailors on service.* (* St. ...
— The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders • Ernest Scott

... father of truth and virtue. Gloss. in l. 1. cod. de servit. authent. de restit. et ea quae pa. et spec. tit. de requisit. cons. Therefore is it that, after the manner and fashion of your other worships, I defer, protract, delay, prolong, intermit, surcease, pause, linger, suspend, prorogate, drive out, wire-draw, and shift off the time of giving a definitive sentence, to the end that the suit or process, being well fanned and winnowed, tossed and canvassed to and fro, narrowly, ...
— Gargantua and Pantagruel, Complete. • Francois Rabelais

... their forest-covered tops glistening in the sunshine was very attractive, and there was a blossomy perfume in the outside air which mingled charmingly with the hay-scents from within; but Dora felt that it would not do to protract her pleasure in these things, especially as she noticed signs of a slight uneasiness on the face of her companion. Probably he wanted to go and look for his sister, so they walked slowly over the floor of the great hayloft, ...
— The Girl at Cobhurst • Frank Richard Stockton

... as understood) direction as to what to do by way of preparation for the act of coitus is: do as lovers do when they are "courting." And everybody knows what that is! And note this—that nobody ever hurries when they are courting! They delay, they protract, they dilly-dally, they "fool around," they pet each other in all sorts of possible and impossible ways. They kiss each other—"long and passionate kisses, they again and again give and receive"—they hug each other, ...
— Sane Sex Life and Sane Sex Living • H.W. Long

... December had nearly passed away: the famine became extreme, and there was no hope of any favorable event within the term specified in the capitulation. Boabdil saw that to hold out to the end of the allotted time would but be to protract the miseries of his people. With the consent of his council he determined to surrender the city on the sixth of January. He accordingly sent his grand vizier, Yusef Aben Comixa, to King Ferdinand to make known his intention, bearing him, at the ...
— Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada • Washington Irving

... this unheard-of pledge of Thomson, to regard his work with that "wonder which is the natural product of ignorance!" If they were so in his case, why not in every other? All poets pledge themselves to be poetical, but too many of them are wretchedly prosaic—die and are buried, or what is worse, protract a miserable existence, in spite of their sentimental commonplaces, false ornaments, and a vicious style. But Thomson, in spite of all these, leapt at once into a glorious life, and ...
— Recreations of Christopher North, Volume 2 • John Wilson

... the young plants are choked and generally destroyed. The exceptions only occur in high lands, in unusually propitious seasons, and ought never to be relied upon except when the earlier sowings have failed. To protract the manufacturing season, some planters begin sowing upon low lying lands in the hot season, for the chance of a crop at the commencement of the rains; and they sow at the close of the rains with the hope of, as it were, stealing another in ...
— The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom • P. L. Simmonds

... broken his word with safety to all but his own conscience and honor. Although the obligations which he had to discharge were most burdensome, he found means to relieve his people, and make his kingdom prosper. The Duke de Mayenne, in Burgundy, and the Duke de Mercoeur in Brittany, were the last to protract an unavailing resistance; but the former was reduced in 1596, and the latter in 1598, and thenceforth France enjoyed almost uninterrupted peace till Henry's death. But the Protestants gave him almost as much uneasiness ...
— Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 1 of 8 • Various

... pacification was so ardently desired by all, and when the disturbance of the balance of power among the contracting parties might at once annihilate the work of years, destroy the fruit of long and tedious negociations, and indefinitely protract the repose of Europe. If France sought to restrain the Swedish crown within due bounds, and measured out her assistance according to her successes and defeats, the Elector of Bavaria silently undertook ...
— The History of the Thirty Years' War • Friedrich Schiller, Translated by Rev. A. J. W. Morrison, M.A.

... Owing to this a controversy arose between Albuquerque and Almeyda, the former demanding possession of the government, which the latter refused to demit; which became a precedent for succeeding governors to protract the time of their command. Albuquerque, much offended by this conduct of Almeyda, retired to Cochin, where he appears to have lived in private till the ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume VI - Early English Voyages Of Discovery To America • Robert Kerr

... made notorious, it is scarce conceivable that America, composed as she is, will continue efforts under French direction, and protract the distresses and calamities, which it is well known that war has subjected her to. It is to be presumed, that from that moment she will look with jealousy on the French troops in that country, who may from allies ...
— The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. VIII • Various

... natures, and so ordering his providence that sin, dissipation, anger, and revenge shall not only destroy happiness, but shorten life, so certain as men pursue such a wretched course. And that the opposite course of conduct shall not only communicate happiness, but protract life so certain as ...
— Twenty-Four Short Sermons On The Doctrine Of Universal Salvation • John Bovee Dods

... prolong life, and improve it, are nearly the same. If to have all that riches can purchase, is to be rich; if to do all that can be done in a long time, is to live long; he is equally a benefactor to mankind, who teaches them to protract the duration, or shorten the ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson, Vol. 6 - Reviews, Political Tracts, and Lives of Eminent Persons • Samuel Johnson

... would allow me. When we reflect that the exotics with which this new plantation is supplied are chiefly the refuse of our domestic nurseries; and duly consider that, however beneficial the act of transplantation may finally be found, it must for a time retard the growth, and will generally protract the fruit for a season, however fertile the original stock, we ought, perhaps, considerably to moderate our expectations. By patient culture, skillfully directed, in a climate so propitious, and a soil so favourable, much may yet be effected: after experience shall have ...
— An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Vol. 2 • David Collins

... fenced though well cultivated plain without a habitation, that the resemblance to level prairies which have been planted and sown is more striking than would be imagined. But the growing crops are too cleanly and carefully weeded and too uniformly good to protract the illusion. Sometimes hundreds of acres are unbrokenly covered with Wheat, which has the largest area of any one staple; but more commonly a breadth of this is succeeded by one of Rye, that by one of Potatoes, ...
— Glances at Europe - In a Series of Letters from Great Britain, France, Italy, - Switzerland, &c. During the Summer of 1851. • Horace Greeley

... December, perceiving the drift of our Portuguese Fabius cunclator, to protract and avoid fighting, that by delays and the advantage of his frigates, he might hinder us from prosecuting your business in Persia, we determined to attempt closing with him. About one o'clock there sprung ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume IX. • Robert Kerr

... perfectly what a curious disposition she naturally had, and she did not think it advisable to start any lengthy discussion with her. Nor did she feel justified to protract her stay, so after sipping her tea, she intimated to Pao-ch'ai her intention to go, ...
— Hung Lou Meng, Book II • Cao Xueqin

... South had begun to be acutely perilous, Jefferson Davis neither devised for himself, nor allowed his generals to devise, any bold policy by which the chance that still remained could be utilised. His energy of will showed itself in the end in nothing but a resolution to protract bloodshed after it ...
— Abraham Lincoln • Lord Charnwood

... yet still he charms the eye, While England lives his fame shall never die; But he who struts his hour upon the stage Can scarce protract his fame thro' half an age; Nor pen nor pencil can the actor save— Both art and ...
— Obiter Dicta • Augustine Birrell

... sensitized neck throws him into convulsions, attains this blessed momentary respite of insensibility by an unexplained special machinery of the nervous currents, OR A SENSIBILITY TOO EXQUISITELY ACUTE FOR ANIMAL ENDURANCE? Better that I or my friend should die than protract existence through accumulated years of torture upon animals whose exquisite suffering we cannot fail to infer, even though they may have neither voice nor feature ...
— An Ethical Problem - Or, Sidelights upon Scientific Experimentation on Man and Animals • Albert Leffingwell

... Thrace and Macedonia with one hundred thousand foot, ten thousand horse, and ninety scythe-bearing four-horse chariots, summoned Archelaus, who was still lying with his ships near Munychia,[225] and was neither inclined to give up the sea nor ready to engage with the Romans: his plan was to protract the war and to cut off the supplies of the enemy. But Sulla was as quick as Archelaus, and moved into Boeotia from a niggardly region, which even in time of peace could not have maintained his troops. Most people thought that he had made a false calculation in leaving ...
— Plutarch's Lives, Volume II • Aubrey Stewart & George Long

... Hindoo and Tibetan, and the uneasy distrustful look of the Dewan, who understands the latter language only, was very evident. He was as anxious to hurry over the interview, as Dr. Campbell and Tchebu were to protract it; it was clear, therefore, that nothing satisfactory could be ...
— Himalayan Journals (Complete) • J. D. Hooker

... general effect of permitting bequests of this sterilised kind would differ from the effect of prohibiting bequests altogether, not because it would tend to render accumulated fortunes permanent, but only because it would protract for a decade or two the process of their ...
— A Critical Examination of Socialism • William Hurrell Mallock

... episodal in the lives of nations as of individuals; while the vast advances in antiseptic surgery have caused even the effects of wounds and dismemberments to become only very partially fatal to human life. All these changes have tended to diminish human mortality and protract human life; and they have today already made it possible for a race not only to maintain its numbers, but even to increase them, with a comparatively small expenditure of woman's vitality in ...
— Woman and Labour • Olive Schreiner

... joy" reception may not be united with the "no root in myself"! I have thought of the Israelitish wanderings, caused by faithless folly in refusing to "go up and possess the land." Oh, that lack of living appropriating faith may not thus protract the period ere my own passage through the spiritual Jordan, the river of self-renunciation, and death of the "old man," into the Beulah of a thorough introduction to the sheepfold! It is easy to say that it would be too presumptuous ...
— A Brief Memoir with Portions of the Diary, Letters, and Other Remains, - of Eliza Southall, Late of Birmingham, England • Eliza Southall

... resorteth to the top of the next house, which she will the rather doe, if there be any pigeons already sitting there, and after a short space falleth downe, either starke dead, or greatly astonished: but in the meane time, the Iugler vseth words of art, partly to protract time, and partly to gaine credit, and ...
— The Art of Iugling or Legerdemaine • Samuel Rid

... saw it—reined his steed; dismounting, stood Calm and inflexible. "Old chap! you see There is but ONE escape. You know it? Good! There is ONE man to take it. You are he. The horse won't carry double. If he could, 'Twould but protract this bother. I shall stay: I've business with these devils, they with me; I will occupy them till you get away. Hush! quick time, forward. There! God bless ...
— Complete Poetical Works of Bret Harte • Bret Harte

... Helen died; Leda, the beloved of Jupiter, went before. It is better to repose in the earth betimes than to sit up late; better, than to cling pertinaciously to what we feel crumbling under us, and to protract an inevitable fall. We may enjoy the present while we are insensible of infirmity and decay: but the present, like a note in music, is nothing but as it appertains to what is past and what is to come. There ...
— On The Art of Reading • Arthur Quiller-Couch

... earth, that I think they will plead their client's causes hereafter, some of them in hell. [515] Simlerus complains amongst the Swissers of the advocates in his time, that when they should make an end, they began controversies, and "protract their causes many years, persuading them their title is good, till their patrimonies be consumed, and that they have spent more in seeking than the thing is worth, or they shall get by the recovery." So that he that goes to law, as the proverb is, [516]holds a wolf by the ears, ...
— The Anatomy of Melancholy • Democritus Junior

... non-appearance of a fresh twenty miles lower down; unless the marshes which we have traced for the two last days, at a distance from the river, should have absorbed the waters in passing, or unless the extremely winding course should so protract and retard the current of them as to cause a considerable time to elapse before a flood in the upper parts could reach the lower. We considered ourselves as extremely fortunate in having quitted our station of the 8th a day or two before it was originally intended, as ...
— Journals of Two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales • John Oxley

... assuming a dislike she did not feel, or giving him slights that neither good breeding nor good nature could justify. At one time, indeed, she had expressed a wish to return to Clara; but this Mrs. Wilson thought would only protract the evil, and she was compelled to wait his own time. The peer himself did not rejoice more in his ability to make the offer, therefore, than Emily did to have it in her power to decline it. Her rejection was firm and unqualified, but uttered with a grace and a tenderness to ...
— Precaution • James Fenimore Cooper

... Rochefoucauld and the Duke de Nemours, confirmed him in seeking it; but, on the other hand, his sister, who sought to break off his connection with Madame de Chatillon, joined with the Spaniards, to whom he had bound himself by so many ties, to lead him away from Paris, and to protract the war. Gaston's daughter, too, Mademoiselle de Montpensier, mingled in all these intrigues, and took the same unwise means to force herself as a bride upon the young King, which De Retz took to force himself as minister upon his mother. ...
— Political Women, Vol. 2 (of 2) • Sutherland Menzies

... centers of day-consciousness to be trampled and wasted into dreams and inertia by the heavy flow of the blood-automatism in the morning sleeps. Then we arise with a feeling of the monotony and automatism of life. There is no good, glad refreshing. We feel tired to start with. And so we protract our day-consciousness on into the night, when we do at last begin to come awake, and we tell ourselves we must sleep, sleep, sleep in the morning and the daytime. It is better to sleep only six hours than to prolong sleep on and on when the sun has risen. Every ...
— Fantasia of the Unconscious • D. H. Lawrence

... no Line escapes his Rage, And furious Foot-notes growl 'neath every Page: See St-ph-n next take up the woful Tale, Prolong the Preaching, and protract the Wail! "Some forage Falsehoods from the North and South, But Pope, poor D-l, lied from Hand to Mouth; {5} Affected, hypocritical, and vain, A Book in Breeches, and a Fop in Grain; A Fox that found not the high Clusters sour, The Fanfaron of Vice beyond his ...
— Letters to Dead Authors • Andrew Lang

... Instrument, by which the pulse of Light is convey'd from the lucid body to the enlightn'd. But that it being a digression from the Observations I was recording, about the Pores of Kettering Stone, it would be too much such, if I should protract it too long; and therefore I shall proceed to ...
— Micrographia • Robert Hooke

... to have him continue the publisher without interruption; but Scott was led to suspect, that if he were called upon to conclude a bargain for a fourth novel before the third had made its appearance, his scruples as to the matter of printing might at least protract the treaty; and why Scott should have been urgently desirous of seeing the transaction settled before the expiration of the half-yearly term of Whitsunday is sufficiently explained by the fact, that though so much of the ...
— Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Volume V (of 10) • John Gibson Lockhart

... longer then let us protract the time, But scale the bulwark of this fortress high, Through sweat and labor gainst those rocks sublime Let us ascend, which to the southward lie; Hard will it be that way in arms to climb, But yet the place and passage both know I, And that high wall by site strong on that part, Is ...
— Jerusalem Delivered • Torquato Tasso

... blue-eyed Pallas interposed. 420 O antient King! well hast thou spoken all. But now delay not. Cut ye forth the tongues,[8] And mingle wine, that (Neptune first invoked With due libation, and the other Gods) We may repair to rest; for even now The sun is sunk, and it becomes us not Long to protract a banquet to the Gods Devote, but in fit season to depart. So spake Jove's daughter; they obedient heard. The heralds, then, pour'd water on their hands, 430 And the attendant youths, filling the cups, Served them from left to right. Next all the tongues They cast into the fire, ...
— The Odyssey of Homer • Homer

... stripes of Elis and the bribes of Persia; they never showed either resentment or gratitude; they abstained from no injury, and they revenged none. Above all, they looked on a citizen who served them well as their deadliest enemy. These are the arts which protract the existence ...
— The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 1 (of 4) - Contibutions to Knight's Quarterly Magazine] • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... hospitals were established in the principal cities, for the cure of the sick, and the permanent refuge of the disabled soldier; and surgeons were placed over them, "who were so far better than those in Europe," says an old chronicler, "that they did not protract the cure, in ...
— The World's Greatest Books, Vol XII. - Modern History • Arthur Mee

... quarter the elders of our party wished to return to the hotel. But now, instead of rejoicing in this, as I had done beforehand, I felt a sudden overpowering impulse to go on at once to the bridge, and put an end to the suspense I had been wishing to protract. I declared, with unusual decision, that I would get out of the carriage and walk on alone; they might return without me. My father, thinking this merely a sample of my usual "poetic nonsense," objected that I should only do myself harm by walking in the heat; but when I ...
— The Lifted Veil • George Eliot

... had never liked Lord Wellesley, and he had, in common with Colebrooke, keenly wounded them by proposing a free trade movement against their monopoly. They ordered that his favourite college should be immediately abolished. He took good care so to protract the operation as to give him time to call in the aid of the Board of Control, which saved the institution, but confined it to the teaching of languages to the civilians of the Bengal Presidency only. The Directors, when thus overruled chiefly by Pitt, ...
— The Life of William Carey • George Smith

... twitching mouth and experienced one instant's throbbing desire to catch it and hold it and beg her to have mercy on him and help him throw off the hellish despair that rested on him. It was a significant fact that she said nothing to protract the conversation on the line of Bates's proposal. To her the proposal and rejection of a king by her would have found no place in her thoughts, facing the incomprehensible mood of the man she loved. It was growing dark when they reached the hotel. As he aided her to alight ...
— Westerfelt • Will N. Harben

... de Lerin next possessed himself of the fortress and town of Andarax; and, exasperated at the resistance of the inhabitants, who continued to protract the defence, although without any chance of success, he at length blew up the Mosque, where a considerable number had fled for shelter, along with ...
— Gomez Arias - The Moors of the Alpujarras, A Spanish Historical Romance. • Joaquin Telesforo de Trueba y Cosio

... the curtain and the play protract! Behold our Sharon in his last mad act. With man long warring, quarreling with God, He crouches now beneath a woman's rod Predestined for his back while yet it lay Closed in an acorn which, one luckless day, He stole, unconscious of its foetal twig, From ...
— Black Beetles in Amber • Ambrose Bierce

... "Why protract this painful conversation? It is sufficient for me to say that we must part.—(Excitedly.) Good heavens, sir! am I not the guardian of my daughter, and warranted in accepting or rejecting acquaintances for her? Must I make long explanations ...
— Round the Block • John Bell Bouton

... the people. There have been too many things that looked to them like want of heart, want of earnestness, want of energy, want of wisdom, particularly in the earlier conduct of the war—too many indications of a disposition, if not to protract the struggle, yet to make this terrible crisis of the nation a time for political combinations and contractors' gains. They have seen these things with grief and stern displeasure. But the acts you denounce meet their sovereign approval. They are in favor of all earnest and vigorous measures ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 5, November, 1863 • Various

... the days and nights slowly passed. The solitude which her previous empty deceit had enabled her to fill with such charming visions now in her awakened remorse seemed only to protract her misery. Had she been a more experienced, though even a more guilty, woman she would have suffered less. Without sympathy or counsel, without even the faintest knowledge of the world or its standards of morality to guide her, she accepted her isolation and friendlessness as a necessary ...
— Sally Dows and Other Stories • Bret Harte

... consciousness of their own absurdities, a keen sense of the humorous possibilities of the original blunder, and a mischievous recognition of the mortification of Trigg—whose only safety now lay in accepting the mistake in the same spirit—had determined these grown-up schoolboys to artfully protract a joke that seemed to be providentially delivered into their hands. But NOW an odd change crept on them. The light from the open window that gave upon the enormous pines and the rolling prospect up to the dim heights of the Sierras ...
— Openings in the Old Trail • Bret Harte

... (But) you came not so to purchase silk;-You came to make proposals to me. I convoyed you through the Kh [1], As far as Tun-khi [2], 'It is not I,' (I said), 'who would protract the time; But you have had no good go-between. I pray you be not angry, And let ...
— The Shih King • James Legge

... few, have been widely and extensively circulated, not only at home, but have been spread throughout Mexico and the whole world. A more effectual means could not have been devised to encourage the enemy and protract the war than to advocate and adhere to their cause, and thus give them "aid and comfort." It is a source of national pride and exultation that the great body of our people have thrown no such obstacles in the way of the Government in prosecuting the war successfully, but have shown ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Polk - Section 3 (of 3) of Volume 4: James Knox Polk • Compiled by James D. Richardson

... celebrate In the good old way and classic; Come, let us lard our skins with nard, And bedew our souls with Massic! With fillets of green parsley leaves Our foreheads shall be done up; And with song shall we Protract our ...
— Echoes from the Sabine Farm • Roswell Martin Field and Eugene Field

... were singing his praises from morning till night. And when he had sufficiently won them over to him, he commenced paying his addresses to me, and so earnestly did he press his suit, that my mother declared it would not do to protract so excellent a chance. And notwithstanding my hand had been pledged to Milando, which was the name of the young painter, my mother insisted, and our nuptials were celebrated, though much against my will. It seems ...
— The Life and Adventures of Maj. Roger Sherman Potter • "Pheleg Van Trusedale"

... morning of the 5th of May, 1789, the solemn opening of the States-General of France was to occur at Versailles. This early date was appointed for the convocation of the estates, in order to be able to protract as much as possible the ceremonial proceedings. But at the same time this occasion was to be improved in preparing a sensible humiliation for the ...
— Marie Antoinette And Her Son • Louise Muhlbach

... would be neglected. Works undertaken on the spur of the moment, not because they were needful, but merely to employ the people, were in many cases ill chosen, and the execution equally defective. The labourers, desirous to protract their employment, were only anxious to give as little labour as possible, in which their overlookers or gangers in many cases heartily agreed. The favouritism, the intimidation, the wholesale jobbing practised in many cases ...
— The Land-War In Ireland (1870) - A History For The Times • James Godkin

... thanksgivings were offered up for their return; while every bell in the village sent forth a joyous peal in honor of the glorious event. The admiral was too desirous of presenting himself before the sovereigns, to protract his stay long at Palos. He took with him on his journey specimens of the multifarious products of the newly discovered regions. He was accompanied by several of the native islanders, arrayed in their simple barbaric ...
— The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella The Catholic, V2 • William H. Prescott

... I must not protract a tale already far too long, by the recital of my acquaintance with the gallant Twenty-sixth. It is sufficient that I should say that, having given Mike orders to follow me to Cove, I joined the regiment on their march, and accompanied them to Cork. Every hour of each day brought ...
— Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon, Volume 2 (of 2) • Charles Lever

... leaders thought it folly to attempt to cross the bridge, exposed as it, was to the enemy, but that a chosen body should cross a ford, attack them in the flank, and clear the way. Cressingham thought this policy timid. "Why," said he to Warrenne, "should we protract the war, and spend the King's money? Let us pass on, and ...
— Cameos from English History, from Rollo to Edward II • Charlotte Mary Yonge

... whatever injury the cause of religion and morality might sustain by the relaxation of a divine law. Of course, this being the end in view, the tendency on the part of the authorities at Rome would be to protract the negotiations, so as to obtain from the suitor's impatience better terms in the end. The embassadors and commissioners, too, on William's part, would have no strong motive for hastening the proceedings. ...
— William the Conqueror - Makers of History • Jacob Abbott

... sorrow, dissolution—such is not my taste. I wish to foster, not to blight—to earn gratitude, not to wring tears of blood—no, nor of brine: my harvest must be in smiles, in endearments, in sweet—That will do. I think I rave in a kind of exquisite delirium. I should wish now to protract this moment ad infinitum; but I dare not. So far I have governed myself thoroughly. I have acted as I inwardly swore I would act; but further might try me beyond my strength. Rise, Miss Eyre: leave me; the ...
— Jane Eyre - an Autobiography • Charlotte Bronte

... typhoid fever more quiet, and cause him to say he feels better, but if it at the same time diminishes the internal distribution of oxygen, retards the oxidation and elimination of waste and toxic products through the kidneys and lungs, and lessens vasomotor force, it cannot fail to protract the duration of disease, and increase the ratio of mortality."—Dr. N. S. Davis, A. M. T. ...
— Alcohol: A Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine, How and Why - What Medical Writers Say • Martha M. Allen

... a monster, Ever such a wretched wife? Ah! how long must I endure it, How protract this hateful life? All day long, quite unprotected, Does he leave his wife at home; And she cannot see her cousins, Even when they ...
— The Bon Gaultier Ballads • William Edmonstoune Aytoun

... "That will protract our happiness for some minutes." Valenglard went away on foot, and the fair Mdlle. Roman sat on my knee. I dared to be bold with her, and contrary to expectation she shewed herself so kind that I was half sorry I was going; ...
— The Memoires of Casanova, Complete • Jacques Casanova de Seingalt

... the commonest necessaries, and able to protract his defence no longer, he beat a parley, signed a capitulation on the 9th of December, obtaining all he asked, and retired from Lille. Prince Eugene, to whom he surrendered, treated him with much distinction and friendship, invited ...
— Marguerite de Navarre - Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois Queen of Navarre • Marguerite de Navarre

... vigorous efforts for the attainment of the long desired object. The antagonistic policy was now rather to hinder the progress of the Abolition Bill than to oppose the ultimate extinction of the trade. Of the supporters of this policy it was remarked by Mr. Pitt, that "they who wished to protract the season of conflict, whatever might be their professions, really ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 8, No. 50, December, 1861 • Various

... Then gray and solemn, amid the lingering shadows of darkness, dawned the third dread day of unequal conflict. All understood that it was destined to be their last on this earth unless help came. It seemed utterly hopeless to protract the struggle, yet they held on grimly, patiently, half-delirious from hunger and thirst, gazing into each other's haggard faces, almost without recognition, every man at his post. Then it was that old Gillis received ...
— Bob Hampton of Placer • Randall Parrish

... persuaded the nations of Syria to desire of the governors, in the same manner as they had done formerly in the days of Cyrus, and again in the days of Cambyses afterwards, to put a stop to the building of the temple, and to endeavor to delay and protract the Jews in their zeal about it. Now at this time Sisinnes, the governor of Syria and Phoenicia, and Sathrabuzanes, with certain others, came up to Jerusalem, and asked the rulers of the Jews, by whose grant it was that they built the temple in this manner, since ...
— The Antiquities of the Jews • Flavius Josephus

... been known to protract an already lost battle to lengthen out the delectation of his offspring. The Caesars gave to their people "Bread and the circus!" But they did not usually enter the arena themselves—save in the case of the incomparable bowman of Rome, and then only when he knew that ...
— The Dew of Their Youth • S. R. Crockett

... rags & hunger & thirst, sport of the sun- flames of summer & the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave & denied it—for our sakes, who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask of one who is the Spirit of love & who is the ever-faithful refuge & friend of all that are sore beset, ...
— Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, Complete - The Personal And Literary Life Of Samuel Langhorne Clemens • Albert Bigelow Paine

... I have spent in expostulating, have their value [he said] because they protract the crisis and the short period in which alone we may resolve to escape it. Yet I have, perhaps, as little personal interest in the event as any one here. There is, I believe, no member, who will not think his chance to be a ...
— George Washington • William Roscoe Thayer

... 113) makes the latter her distinct object in the negotiations: "The queen, to protract the time till supplies of men and other necessary provisions arrived, and to abate the fervor of the enemy, being constrained to have recourse to her wonted arts, excellently dissembling those so ...
— History of the Rise of the Huguenots - Volume 2 • Henry Baird

... when talking, his right elbow on a mantel-piece, if there was one near, his fingers going through their strange palmistry; and in this manner, never once stirring from his position, he would not unfrequently protract his discourse till long past midnight. An inexhaustible, undemonstrative, noiseless, passionless man, scarcely evident to you by physical qualities, and impressing you, for the most part, as ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 21, July, 1859 • Various

... successes; but as these produced no material change in the state of affairs, it is unnecessary to give any particular account of them. Though several of these encounters ended in favour of the Araucanians, yet Caupolican resolved to protract the war, as his troops were daily diminishing in numbers from being continually exposed to the fire arms of their enemies, while the Spaniards were constantly receiving recruits from Peru and Europe. With this intention, ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 5 • Robert Kerr

... order to allow the occasional absence of one or two for coaling or repairs, besides as many lighter cruisers as could be mustered for purposes of lookout, or, by merely remaining quietly at anchor, protected from attack by the lines of torpedoes, he might protract a situation which tended not only to wear out our ships, but also to keep them there into the hurricane season,—a risk which was not, perhaps, adequately realized by the people ...
— Lessons of the war with Spain and other articles • Alfred T. Mahan

... did leave the presence of my Love, Many long weary dayes I have outworne, And many nights, that slowly seemd to move Theyr sad protract from evening untill morn. For, when as day the heaven doth adorne, I wish that night the noyous day would end: And when as night hath us of light forlorne, I wish that day would shortly reascend. Thus I the time with expectation spend, And faine my griefe with chaunges to beguile, That further ...
— The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, Volume 5 • Edmund Spenser

... desperately desirous of killing the other,—with no one to keep them apart, but a score of spectators to encourage them in their intent of reciprocal destruction,—were not likely to be long in coming to the end of the affair. It was not a question of swords, where skilful fencing may protract a combat to an indefinite period of time; nor of pistols, where unskilful shooting may equally retard the result. The combatants knew that, on closing within arms' length, one or other must receive a wound that might in a moment ...
— The Ocean Waifs - A Story of Adventure on Land and Sea • Mayne Reid

... the compensation be demanded? Undoubtedly from that power which alone has made some conquests. That power is England. Will the allies then give away their ancient patrimony, that England may keep islands in the West Indies? They never can protract the war in good earnest for that object; nor can they act in concert with us, in our refusal to grant anything towards their redemption. In that case we are thus situated. Either we must give Europe, bound hand and foot, ...
— Political Pamphlets • George Saintsbury

... the plain. The story of their plunder of Lahore is rendered hideous by every outrage that humanity can suffer, and by a promiscuous carnage, for which the ferocity of unreasoning animals might pant, but which the untiring fury of the wildest of brutes, the human savage, alone could protract beyond satiety. The finger of their murderous rage pointed to every assailable European officer, of whom some were assassinated, some very narrowly escaped. Months rolled on under the terrible dominion of these ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 367, May 1846 • Various

... The auxiliary forces at New York were ready and eager to depart by the 5th of October; but the ships were delayed by the slowness and obstinacy of Admiral Arbuthnot. Sir Henry Clinton writes: "We had the misfortune to see almost every succeeding day produce some naval obstruction or other to protract our departure; and I am sorry to add, that it was the afternoon of the 19th before the fleet was fairly at sea. This was the day of Lord Cornwallis's capitulation. Five days afterwards the fleet with the 5,000 ...
— The Loyalists of America and Their Times, Vol. 2 of 2 - From 1620-1816 • Edgerton Ryerson

... wrote, she had been nine years a widow, and was obliged to have her breasts drawn daily, the secretion of milk being so copious. When, therefore, it is desirable, on account of the feebleness of the child, to protract the period of nursing, a wet-nurse should relieve the mother at the end of ...
— The Physical Life of Woman: - Advice to the Maiden, Wife and Mother • Dr. George H Napheys

... by the passage of their army. Nowhere can they get supplies, and without commissariat no army can be kept together. The German troops are their strongest fighting arm, but their constitutions will not be strong enough to stand the change of weather, if we protract the war into the summer. It has often happened that a force, which seemed irresistible at first, has dwindled to nothing through the ...
— Tacitus: The Histories, Volumes I and II • Caius Cornelius Tacitus

... outside; while some traitorous spy was being hanged, drawn, and quartered in some other part of the city, for betraying the secrets of the Court. And forth from the outskirts of Oxford rides Rupert on the day we are to describe, and we must still protract our pause a little longer ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 3, No. 20, June, 1859 • Various

... in Elizabeth's nature to protract a vain resistance; she rose, and passed on, and as she approached the room intended for her, the heavy doors along the corridor were locked and barred behind her. At the grating of the iron bolts ...
— The Reign of Mary Tudor • James Anthony Froude

... his arrival in Valparaiso. He had had a meagre supper, and now possessed but money enough to pay for one glass of whiskey, and having procured this, he seated himself on a stool in a corner, determined to protract his enjoyment as long as possible. Where he would sleep that night he knew not, but it was not yet bedtime, and he did not concern himself ...
— The Adventures of Captain Horn • Frank Richard Stockton

... inevitable, collected all his courage and though he had formerly made use of many mean artifices, such as feigning madness, sickness, and a variety of diseases, in order to protract his examination, and procure his escape, he now resolved to act his part with bravery and resolution, "'Tis a sharp remedy," he said, "but a sure one for all ills," when he felt the edge of the axe by which he was to be beheaded.[*] His ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part D. - From Elizabeth to James I. • David Hume

... seeks to influence in favour of his client. He may proceed to call witnesses to disprove the facts adduced on the other side, or to show that the character of the accused stands too high for even a suspicion of the alleged clime; he has the utmost liberty of speech and action He may indefinitely protract the proceedings, and there seems to be scarcely any limit, in point of law, beyond which the ultimate event of the trial may not be, by these means, deferred. Whenever the defence closes, in those cases in which the ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV. • Various

... any such plan. He was earnestly desirous of continuing to prosecute the war. The other Latin chieftains reproached him then with being the cause of all the calamities which they were enduring, and urged the unreasonableness on his part of desiring any longer to protract the sufferings of his unhappy country, merely to gratify his own private resentment and revenge. Turnus ought not any longer to ask, they said, that others should fight in his quarrel; and they proposed that he should himself decide the question between him and ...
— Romulus, Makers of History • Jacob Abbott

... cured many other diseases, both of the body and mind, besides those which I have mentioned in this work: the nature and causes of all which diseases, whosoever would intend to enquire into, must of necessity compile a body of physic, which was not my present design. But if providence protract my life, I am not without hopes of laying more of my thoughts on this subject before the public, for the honour which I bear ...
— Medica Sacra - or a Commentary on on the Most Remarkable Diseases Mentioned - in the Holy Scriptures • Richard Mead

... the hand of fortune, near the person of the tyrant, yet has my heart in secret been thy friend. If I am the messenger of evil, impute it to him only by whom it is devised. The rack is now preparing to receive thee; and every art of ingenious cruelty will be exhausted to protract and to increase the agonies of death.' 'And what,' said HAMET, 'can thy friendship offer me?' 'I can offer thee,' said ALMORAN, 'that which will at once dismiss thee to those regions, where the wicked cease from troubling, and the ...
— Almoran and Hamet • John Hawkesworth

... himself to precipitate a quarrel from which, if possible, he would gladly escape. He had a powerful party in England, which it was unwise to alienate by hasty, injudicious measures; and he could gain all which he himself desired by a simple policy of obstruction. His object was merely to protract the negotiation and prevent a decision, in the hope either that Henry would be wearied into acquiescence, or that Catherine herself would retire of her own accord, or, finally, that some happy accident might occur ...
— The Reign of Henry the Eighth, Volume 1 (of 3) • James Anthony Froude

... I pictured myself as having discovered her faithlessness on the eve of my own departure for the Embassy at Constantinople, and I addressed to her the following epistle, which I could not, with all my ingenuity, manage to protract beyond ...
— Memoirs of Life and Literature • W. H. Mallock

... at him with a supercilious glance, that it seemed not worth her while to protract, and turned away her ...
— Dombey and Son • Charles Dickens

... Parliament will be acceptable to what is called the Irish people. It is now averred that the extension of the borough franchise to counties must be carried before a Parliament adequate to deal with the Irish question is formed. This appears a strong demand, and one likely to protract the present distracted state of the country. But I hear, on the best authority, that the Land League and the associated farmers can wait. They are in no hurry. England can take her own time and they will wait patiently, meanwhile of course ...
— Disturbed Ireland - Being the Letters Written During the Winter of 1880-81. • Bernard H. Becker

... Woodstock, who insisted, that what was called Rosamond's Tower, was merely an interior keep, or citadel, to which the lord or warden of the castle might retreat, when other points of safety failed him; and either protract his defence, or, at the worst, stipulate for reasonable terms of surrender. The people of Woodstock, jealous of their ancient traditions, did not relish this new mode of explaining them away; and it is even said, that ...
— Woodstock; or, The Cavalier • Sir Walter Scott

... have your Voyage home to England to tell me of: and how you find yourself and all in the Old Country. I suppose you include my Old Ireland in it. Donne wrote that you were to be there till this Month's end; that is drawing near; and, if that you do not protract your Visit, you will [be] very soon within sight of dear Donne himself, who, I hear from Mowbray, is ...
— Letters of Edward FitzGerald to Fanny Kemble (1871-1883) • Edward FitzGerald

... He proceeded in this expedition with his usual celerity, and arrived in Spain before the enemy thought him yet departed from Rome. Cne'ius Pompey, and Sextus, Pompey's sons, profiting by their unhappy father's example, resolved, as much as possible, to protract the war; so that the first operations of the two armies were spent in sieges and fruitless attempts to surprise each other. 19. However, Caesar, after taking many cities from the enemy, and pursuing his adversary with unwearied ...
— Pinnock's Improved Edition of Dr. Goldsmith's History of Rome • Oliver Goldsmith

... few hours, at the best little worth lamenting, and much oftener hours of labour and fatigue, of pain and sorrow. One of the Roman poets, I remember, likens our leaving life to our departure from a feast;—a thought which hath often occurred to me when I have seen men struggling to protract an entertainment, and to enjoy the company of their friends a few moments longer. Alas! how short is the most protracted of such enjoyments! how immaterial the difference between him who retires the soonest, and him who stays the latest! This is seeing life in the best view, and this unwillingness ...
— The History of Tom Jones, a foundling • Henry Fielding

... and sketches of the new places, or they protract their field-books, working very hard and very slowly. I have but little confidence in their route-surveys: sights are taken from mule-back, and distances are judged by the eye. True, the protractions ...
— The Land of Midian, Vol. 1 • Richard Burton

... that previously to any agreement, he and his adherents should be restored to their possessions: and as the legates had no power to pronounce a definitive sentence on either side, the negotiation soon after came to nothing. The Cardinal of Pavia also, being much attached to Henry, took care to protract the negotiation; to mitigate the pope, by the accounts which he sent of that prince's conduct; and to procure him every possible indulgence from the see of Rome. About this time, the king had also the address to obtain a dispensation ...
— The History of England, Volume I • David Hume

... angle. Lastly look for that distance (which is the chord of the angle) in the annexed table, where the corresponding number of degrees will be found, where the corresponding number of degrees will be found. If it be desired to protract a given angle, the same operation is to be performed in a converse sense. I need hardly mention that the chord of an angle is the same thing as twice the sine of half that angle; but as tables of natural sines are not now-a-days commonly to be met with, I have thought it well ...
— The Art of Travel - Shifts and Contrivances Available in Wild Countries • Francis Galton

... executions, the estates of his victims being confiscated; and it was his choice delight to have these victims tortured and slain in his presence while at dinner, the officers being bidden to protract their sufferings, that they might "feel themselves die." On one occasion he expressed the mad wish that all the Roman people had but one neck, that he might strike it off ...
— Historic Tales, Volume 11 (of 15) - The Romance of Reality • Charles Morris

... that doleful place, a small touch of kindness breaks the monotony of cruelty, if it be not merely apart of the ordinary routine of executions. The stupefying potion would diminish, but would therefore protract, the pain, and was possibly given for the latter rather than the former effect. But Jesus 'received it not.' He will not, by any act of His, lessen the bitterness. He will drink to the dregs the cup which His Father hath given Him, and therefore He ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture - St. Mark • Alexander Maclaren

... and out of them, could be replaced by tea-rooms, and for the elaborate lunches and dinners of private life the informality and simplicity of the afternoon tea were substituted, we should all be healthier, wealthier, and wiser; and I should not be obliged to protract this contention for the superior ...
— Imaginary Interviews • W. D. Howells

... late, the latter very late; and therefore it is no wonder that they protract their song; for I lay it down as a maxim in ornithology, that as long as there is any incubation going on there is music. As to the red-breast and wren, it is well known to the most incurious observer that they whistle the year round, hard ...
— The Natural History of Selborne • Gilbert White

... immediately against the enemy. These were the Praenestines and Volscians, who, with large forces, were laying waste the territory of the Roman confederates. Having marched out with his army, he sat down and encamped near the enemy, meaning himself to protract the war, or if there should come any necessity or occasion of fighting, in the mean time to regain his strength. But Lucius Furius, his colleague, carried away with the desire of glory, was not to ...
— Plutarch's Lives • A.H. Clough

... before, fought with the instinctive fierceness of panthers in the deepening twilight darkened by the trees. The delicate-handed gentleman was a match for the workman in everything but strength, and Arthur's skill enabled him to protract the struggle for some long moments. But between unarmed men the battle is to the strong, where the strong is no blunderer, and Arthur must sink under a well-planted blow of Adam's as a steel rod is broken by an ...
— Adam Bede • George Eliot

... clutching at life as a man clutches at roots and branches when he is sliding down a precipice, the conduct of Raleigh has given cause to his critics to blaspheme. He wriggled like an eel, he pretended to be sick, he pretended to be mad, in order to protract his examination. He prevaricated about his mine, about the French alliance, about the Spanish treaties, about his stores and instruments. Did he believe, or did he not believe, in the Empire of the Inca, in the Amazons or Republic of Women, in ...
— Some Diversions of a Man of Letters • Edmund William Gosse

... another about their grievances; there was many a promise exchanged, that they would stand by each other in their future resistance to what they considered an unlawful impost. When the rent-day came, by disposing of his two pigs, and by borrowing a little, he was enabled to pay the full amount, and thus protract for some time the fear "ov bein' turned out ...
— Ellen Duncan; And The Proctor's Daughter - The Works of William Carleton, Volume Two • William Carleton

... recollect a curious instance. I was very intimate with Baron Woght, a man of talent and information, and exceedingly amiable manners. One day he called to make us a farewell visit as he intended to set out on the following day for Paris. On Madame de Bourrienne expressing a hope that he would not protract his absence beyond six months, the period he had fixed upon, he replied, "Be assured, madame, nothing shall prevent me getting home on the day I have appointed, for I have invited a party of friends to dine with me on the day after my return." The Baron returned at the appointed time, and none of ...
— The Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte • Bourrienne, Constant, and Stewarton

... history, to those ideas that our people South and North have entertained for more than two centuries, and to the laws of Nature herself. An agreement such as is desired by the discontented would only intensify our alienations, embitter the strife, and protract the war upon subordinate and insignificant issues. Separation does not settle one difficulty at present existing in the country; while it furnishes occasion, and necessity even, for other controversies and wars, as long as the line of ...
— Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs, Vol. 1 • George Boutwell

... British Grammar, Bicknell, Buchanan, William Ward, Alexander Murray the schoolmaster, Mennye, Fisher, Lindley Murray, Penning, W. Allen, Grant, David Blair, Lennie, Guy, Churchill. To attempt any thing like a review or comparative estimate of these, would protract this introduction beyond all reasonable bounds; and still others would be excluded, which are perhaps better entitled to notice. Of mere modifiers and abridgers, the number is so great, and the merit or fame so little, that I will ...
— The Grammar of English Grammars • Goold Brown

... by his own noble example, while the messengers of death shrieked thickly about him. On the right of the corps, Hill had already forced back the line, and now the Eleventh corps having left him, both flanks of his division were exposed. It was useless to protract the hopeless struggle, and these sturdy troops also fell back, retiring slowly and firmly, while the rebels, flushed with victory, were pouring into front and flank the most deadly fire. It was a moment of vital importance to our army and our cause. A rout of ...
— Three Years in the Sixth Corps • George T. Stevens

... this is a splendid climate, and one is refreshed and ready to rise with the sun after very little sleep. The tropic mornings are glorious. There is such an abrupt and vociferous awakening of nature, all dew-bathed and vigorous. The rose-flushed sky looks cool, the air feels cool, one longs to protract the delicious time. Then with a suddenness akin to that of his setting, the sun wheels above the horizon, and is high in the heavens in no time, truly "coming forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber, and rejoicing as a giant to run his course," and as truly "There is nothing hid ...
— The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thither • Isabella L. Bird (Mrs. Bishop)

... his glance hard on me. "You are playing for time. Is that worthy your very evident intelligence, monsieur, since you can protract the game only the matter of a few hours at most? I have Cadillac's ...
— Montlivet • Alice Prescott Smith

... he will rally. Still man is born to die, Mr Wilmot, and your uncle has already lived beyond the threescore years and ten allotted to the average age of man. Depend upon it, everything shall be done which can protract a life so ...
— The Mission; or Scenes in Africa • Captain Frederick Marryat

... ensure his gaining easily and early Dunbarton, the town where were the head-quarters of his regiment. But still his mother's entreaties, his own natural disposition to linger among scenes long dear to him, and, above all, his firm reliance in his speed and activity, induced him to protract his departure till the sixth day, being the very last which he could possibly afford to spend with his mother, if indeed he meant to comply with ...
— Chronicles of the Canongate • Sir Walter Scott

... constantly attacking its prerogative.... I find that neither dissolutions nor fair means can produce from them such Effects as will tend to a publick good or their own preservation. They will neither act for themselves nor assist their neighbors.... Few but hirelings have a seat in the Assembly, who protract time for the sake of their wages, at a great expence to the Province, without contributing anything material for its welfare, credit, or safety." And he declares that unless Parliament takes them in hand ...
— A Half-Century of Conflict, Volume II • Francis Parkman

... care of nature, and depend so little on our own management, that something more than negligence is necessary to discompose their structure, or impede their vigour. But our minds are committed in a great measure first to the direction of others, and afterwards of ourselves. It would be difficult to protract the weakness of infancy beyond the usual time, but the mind may be very easily hindered from its share of improvement, and the bulk and strength of manhood must, without the assistance of education and instruction, be informed ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D, In Nine Volumes - Volume the Third: The Rambler, Vol. II • Samuel Johnson

... relate to you, Signors (for that would needlessly protract my story), the various stratagems and contrivances by which the duke and myself, at the end of two years, were at length enabled to bring about that union, our desire for which had received birth at those nuptials. Neither guards, nor seclusion, nor remonstrances, ...
— The Exemplary Novels of Cervantes • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

... with Prette Janni, so he calls the king of Abyssinia, and all the court, during all which time he had never confessed his sins, except to GOD in secret, because the priests of that country were not in use to keep secret what had been committed to them in confession. This would protract the residence of Covilham in Abyssinia, at least to the year 1521, or 1522; but how long he may have lived there ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. II • Robert Kerr

... and reward." The harrowing details of his six long hours of torture have been preserved for us by his friend Alesius, himself a sorrowing witness of the fearful tragedy. "He was rather roasted than burned," he tells us. It may be that his persecutors had not deliberately planned thus horribly to protract his sufferings—though such cruelty was not unknown in France, either then or in much later times. They were as yet but novices at such revolting work, and all things seemed to conspire against them. The execution ...
— The Scottish Reformation - Its Epochs, Episodes, Leaders, and Distinctive Characteristics • Alexander F. Mitchell

... it—reined his steed; dismounting, stood Calm and inflexible. "Old chap! you see There is but ONE escape. You know it? Good! There is ONE man to take it. You are he. The horse won't carry double. If he could, 'Twould but protract this bother. I shall stay: I've business with these devils, they with me; I will occupy them till you get away. Hush! quick time, forward. ...
— Complete Poetical Works of Bret Harte • Bret Harte

... resumed their vigour, with interest, under another Cardinal, profoundly imbued with the Italian spirit—the celebrated Mazarin. This minister, independently of his particular taste that way, knew how to ally gaming with his political designs. By means of gaming he contrived to protract the minority of the king under whom ...
— The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims - Volume I (of II) • Andrew Steinmetz

... ruin, as it is entirely in the power of the Emperor's servants. You will not, therefore, be surprised at my repeating that you are not to proceed to sentence, under any pretext, without express commission; but to protract the matter as long as possible."[608] Clement himself wrote to Charles that nothing would be done to Catherine's detriment, that Campeggio had gone merely to urge Henry to do his duty, and that the whole case would eventually be referred to Rome.[609] Such were the secret instructions with ...
— Henry VIII. • A. F. Pollard

... Zanoni rose. "Well, gentlemen," said he, "we have not yet wearied our host, I hope; and his garden offers a new temptation to protract our stay. Have you no musicians among your train, prince, that might regale our ears while we inhale the ...
— Zanoni • Edward Bulwer Lytton

... can banish thee from joy, And chase thy crimson colour from thy cheeks. Why speak'st thou not? I pray thee, Little John, Let the short story of my long distress Be utter'd in a word. What, mean'st thou to protract? Wilt thou not speak? then, Marian, list to me. This day thou wert a maid, and now a spouse, Anon, poor soul, a widow thou must be! Thy Robin is an outlaw, Marian; His goods and land must be extended on, Himself exil'd from thee, thou kept from him By the long distance of unnumbered ...
— A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. VIII (4th edition) • Various

... Civilized Tribes, is in a precarious position. The recent investigation by the Committee under ex-Senator Dawes has brought out the facts in startling distinctness. The recommendations of the Senator are very clear and radical, but it is feared that delay in the settlement of the question will only protract and ...
— The American Missionary, Volume 49, No. 4, April, 1895 • Various

... methods of the colonists, when facing a demand from the king, were evasion and delay. "Avoid or protract" were Winthrop's own words in 1635. In 1684 the General Court wrote advising their attorney, employed in England in defending the charter, "to spin out the case to the uttermost."[4] Once and once only until the Revolution—in ...
— The Siege of Boston • Allen French

... hour of midnight, and still Isabel detained the nurse; for a vague and foreboding fear, she could not account for, made her seek to protract the ...
— Zicci, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... Doubtlesse he shriues this woman to her smock, Else ne're could he so long protract ...
— The First Folio [35 Plays] • William Shakespeare

... Chancery may perhaps put in Force your Threat. I have always understood it formed a Sanction for legal plunderers to protract the Decision of Justice from year to year, till weary of spoil it at length condescended to give Sentence, but I never yet understood even its unhallowed Hands preyed upon the Orphan it was bound to protect. Be it so, only let me have ...
— The Works Of Lord Byron, Letters and Journals, Vol. 1 • Lord Byron, Edited by Rowland E. Prothero



Words linked to "Protract" :   spin, carry, extend, temporise, protraction, draw out, prolong, spin out, temporize, lengthen



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