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Demur   /dɪmˈər/   Listen
Demur

noun
1.
(law) a formal objection to an opponent's pleadings.  Synonyms: demurral, demurrer.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Demur" Quotes from Famous Books



... until after Confederation, despite periodic differences with George Brown. He opposed the Confederation movement. But we must not anticipate his career further than to say that his political attitude was at all times extremely difficult to define. That he himself would not demur to this estimate may be inferred from the fact that he was wont to describe himself, in his younger days, as a 'political Ishmaelite.' Though born and bred a Roman Catholic, he was not commonly regarded as an eminently devout member of that Church, of which he used ...
— The Day of Sir John Macdonald - A Chronicle of the First Prime Minister of the Dominion • Joseph Pope

... anything that Uncle Gilbert and "the others" thought would be for the best. Chester was made to understand that "the others" agreed to the plan, and although the thought sent a keen pang through the young man's heart, he did not demur. ...
— Story of Chester Lawrence • Nephi Anderson

... Miss Carew?" said the land baron deferentially, offering his arm to the young girl, whose pale but observant face disclosed new demur and inquiry. ...
— The Strollers • Frederic S. Isham

... effective. When the final dress rehearsal of "Gtterdmmerung" was reached a number of the principal singers were still uncertain of their music. Miss Lehmann was letter perfect, as usual, but without a demur repeated the ensembles over and over again, singing always, as was her wont, with full voice and intense dramatic expression. This had been going on literally for hours when the end of the second act was reached. ...
— Chapters of Opera • Henry Edward Krehbiel

... and occasionally the room offered me was so filthy that I refused to occupy it, and went on the war-path for myself, followed by a crowd of perplexed servants and coolies. Almost always I found a loft or a stable-yard that had at least the advantage of plenty of fresh air, and without demur my innkeeper made me free of it, although I expect it cut him to the heart to have ...
— A Wayfarer in China - Impressions of a trip across West China and Mongolia • Elizabeth Kendall

... for the ninth column found, Of Lotherengs and those out of Borgoune; Fifty thousand good knights they are, by count; In helmets laced and sarks of iron brown, Strong are their spears, short are the shafts cut down; If the Arrabits demur not, but come out And trust themselves to these, they'll strike them down. Tierris the Duke shall lead them, ...
— The Song of Roland • Anonymous

... draw upon you as fast as purchasers offer for the bills; therefore, I beg you will be prepared to honor my bills, drawn as Superintendent of Finance, whenever they offer; for I would not, on any account, that there should be the least demur; and I am confident, that his Most Christian Majesty's Minister of Finance will enable you punctually to make payment as they fall due. I shall communicate this matter to his Excellency, Benjamin Franklin, Minister Plenipotentiary ...
— The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. XI • Various

... once a brave lad—clever, handsome, generous, the delight of friends, the joy of his parents, the most brilliantly promising of all his circle. He began by being jolly; he was well encouraged and abetted; he found that respectable men drank, and that Society made no demur. But he forgot that there are drinkers and drinkers, he forgot that the cool-headed men were not tainted by heredity, nor were their brains so delicately poised that the least grain of foreign matter introduced in the form of vapour could cause semi-insanity. And thus ...
— The Ethics of Drink and Other Social Questions - Joints In Our Social Armour • James Runciman

... Cadiere would soon see through all this. She made some demur about taking her in. Anon, with some abruptness, she entirely changed her cue. In a charming letter, all the more flattering as sent so unexpectedly from such a lady to so young a girl, she expressed a hope of her leaving ...
— La Sorciere: The Witch of the Middle Ages • Jules Michelet

... came back he told him that he wished to return home no more, and that it would be better thus to miss the pain of farewells. His father consented unwillingly, but, as he was obliged to hurry to the conveyance which was to take him home, there was no time for demur, and they parted at the station. Afterward, when all was settled, Joseph revisited his home, and received his mother's approval ...
— Heroes Every Child Should Know • Hamilton Wright Mabie

... and proceed further down the shore. Margaret replied that occasionally drops of rain fell upon her face, and she feared a storm might suddenly spring up and bar their way back to the vessel. She rather urged the Indian to return, but she saw by his manner that he was inclined to demur to her solicitation. He said there was a brook a short distance further down the shore, where there was always plenty of good fish. Mrs. Godfrey finally consented to follow Paul. He took in his arms the two smallest children, and pressing them closely to his broad chest with his long ...
— Young Lion of the Woods - A Story of Early Colonial Days • Thomas Barlow Smith

... drink went; but there was a lack of friendliness which made itself felt. She had always been cold and selfish, and had not improved with years. By the next morning old Maren saw it was quite time for them to return home, and against this Soerine did not demur. After dinner Lars Peter harnessed the old nag, lifted them into the cart, and off they set homewards, relieved that it was over. Even Lars Peter was different out in the open to what he was at home. He sang and cracked jokes, while home he was ...
— Ditte: Girl Alive! • Martin Andersen Nexo

... indeed, the only point of discussion was raised by Westray, who was disturbed by scruples lest the terms which Miss Joliffe offered were too low to be fair to herself. He said so openly, and suggested a slight increase, which, after some demur, was ...
— The Nebuly Coat • John Meade Falkner

... the previous question, instead of meeting it with a direct negative; and Lord John Russell explained that the amendment of the previous question had been moved without any arrangement with him; if it were withdrawn, he was ready to meet it with a direct negative. After some demur, Mr. Gisborne withdrew his amendment; and the motion was directly negatived by three hundred and seventeen votes against one ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

... pleasant and reasonable, I made a humble petition that Jill might be set free from some of her lessons to help me pack my books and ornaments. She made a little demur at this, and offered Draper's services instead; but it was Jill I wanted, for the poor child was fretting sadly about my going away, and I thought it would comfort her to help me. So after a time Aunt Philippa relented, after extorting a promise from Jill that she ...
— Uncle Max • Rosa Nouchette Carey

... a set of proposals which would have placed her in control of the Russian maritime provinces. The Russian commander asked that these demands should be put in writing, and the Japanese agent, after some demur, agreed, on the understanding that the first demands should not be considered as final but only as an instalment of others to come. The first proposal was that Japan should advance the commander ...
— With the "Die-Hards" in Siberia • John Ward

... said Meredith, laughing. "I only say outright what hundreds think. If I could choose, perhaps I might like the army best, but my father has a comfortable provision in the church for me, and so I, like a dutiful son, don't demur, especially as, if I follow the example of my predecessor, it will be vastly more easy than ...
— Louis' School Days - A Story for Boys • E. J. May

... without a sign of demur. His eyes were burning with some sort of feverish anticipation, but his answer was ...
— Then I'll Come Back to You • Larry Evans

... a duty to preach the truth to every man, woman, and child, was an idea opposed to the deepest instincts of Brahmanism; and when, at the end of the chapter on the first missions, we read the simple words of the old chronicler, "who would demur, if the salvation of the world is at stake?" we feel at once that we move in a new world, we see the dawn of a new day, the opening of vaster horizons—we feel, for the first time in the history of the world, the beating of the great heart ...
— Chips from a German Workshop - Volume IV - Essays chiefly on the Science of Language • Max Muller

... represented either in House or Senate, there was no competent branch to impeach and none to try an officer. "If I were the President's counselor," said he, "I would advise him, if you preferred Articles of Impeachment, to demur to your jurisdiction and to that of the Senate, and issue a proclamation giving you and all the world notice that while he held himself impeachable for misdemeanors in office before the Constitutional ...
— Twenty Years of Congress, Volume 2 (of 2) • James Gillespie Blaine

... there till I could find sureties). They went to a justice at Elstow, one Mr Crumpton, to desire him to take bond for my appearing at the quarter sessions. At the first he told them he would; but afterwards he made a demur at the business, and desired first to see my mittimus, which ran to this purpose: That I went about to several conventicles in the county, to the great disparagement of the government of the church of England, etc. When he had seen it, he said that there might be something more against me than ...
— Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners • John Bunyan

... comes his scholar Plato, a famous orator indeed, that could be so dashed out of countenance by an illiterate rabble, as to demur, and hawk, and hesitate, before he could get to the end of one short sentence. Theo-phrastus was such another coward, who beginning to make an oration, was presently struck down with fear, as if he had seen some ghost, or hobgoblin. Isocrates was so bashful and timorous, ...
— In Praise of Folly - Illustrated with Many Curious Cuts • Desiderius Erasmus

... force dogmas. The one freedom from undue dependence on men and men's opinions lies in this submission to Jesus. Then we can say, when need is, 'I have a Master. To Him I submit; if you seek to be master, I demur: of them who seemed to be somewhat, whatsoever they were, it maketh no ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture - St. Mark • Alexander Maclaren

... Rule open before him, could do full justice to Mr. Broome as a poet every Saturday night. But Broome had a separate account current for pure prose against Pope. One he had in conjunction with Fenton for verses delivered on the premises at so much per hundred, on which there could be no demur, except as to the allowance for tare and tret as a discount in favor of Pope. But the prose account, the account for notes, requiring very various degrees of reading and research, allowed of no such easy equation. ...
— Biographical Essays • Thomas de Quincey

... martial soul. Nor had the youth "Disrob'd him of his virgin dress, when grasp'd "As in his hand the shield and lance he held, "I cry'd'—O, goddess-born! reserv'd for thee "Is Ilium's fate. The mighty Trojan walls "Why to o'erthrow demur'st thou?—Him I seiz'd. "Sent the brave youth, brave actions to atchieve: "And all his actions as my own I claim. "My spear then conquer'd Telephus in fight; "And after heal'd the suppliant vanquish'd foe. "Thebes low by me was laid. I, you must ...
— The Metamorphoses of Publius Ovidus Naso in English blank verse Vols. I & II • Ovid

... pocket, 'Hedzoff, good Hedzoff, seize upon the Prince. Thou'lt find him in his chamber two pair up. But now he dared, with sacrilegious hand, to strike the sacred night-cap of a king—Hedzoff, and floor me with a warming-pan! Away, no more demur, the villain dies! See it be done, or else,—h'm—ha!—h'm! mind shine own eyes!' and followed by the ladies, and lifting up the tails of his dressing-gown, the King entered his ...
— The Rose and the Ring • William Makepeace Thackeray

... therefore, I obeyed all my brother's military commands with the utmost docility; and happy it made me that every sort of doubt, or question, or opening for demur was swallowed up in the unity of this one papal principle, discovered by my brother, viz., that all rights and duties of casuistry were transferred from me to himself. His was the judgment—his was the responsibility; and to ...
— Autobiographic Sketches • Thomas de Quincey

... time, one of the best streets in Portsmouth, as Mr Vanslyperken well knew. This assured him of her respectability. He very gallantly offered his arm which, after a little demur, was accepted, and Mr Vanslyperken conveyed her to her house. Of course she could do no less than ask him to walk up, and Mr Vanslyperken, who had never been in anything approaching to good society, was in astonishment ...
— Snarleyyow • Captain Frederick Marryat

... known then and later as "the new nigger," the target of the plantation jokes, because of his "greenness," being of a fresh importation. He possibly remembered much of Africa, but he accepted without demur and with admiring and submissive meekness stories of the great sights that Caesar protested he had seen there,—Vauxhall Gardens and Temple Bar (which last Caesar thought in his simplicity was a bar for the refreshment of the inner man) and a certain resort indisputably for that purpose ...
— The Frontiersmen • Charles Egbert Craddock

... stop my croaking now. You are not one to be drawn into brutal ways; nor one, I fear, to be frightened into prudence. Nevertheless," laughing quietly, "I am curious to know in what way you expect help from me, in practice. Do you, seriously, want me to embark actually on a smuggling expedition?—I demur, my dear fellow." ...
— The Light of Scarthey • Egerton Castle

... to you and sold a shawl, and wanted part of the price of it in worsted, would she get it without any demur?-Certainly. ...
— Second Shetland Truck System Report • William Guthrie

... expressly demur to being questioned as to his PSYCHOLOGY of Ethics; since he puts his own theory in express opposition to every other founded upon any empirical view of the mental constitution. Nevertheless, we may extract some kind of answers to the ...
— Moral Science; A Compendium of Ethics • Alexander Bain

... the shady side of an alder bank watching our folk at their gambols, I found a serenity that again set me at my ease with the Provost's daughter. I gathered even the calmness to invite her to sit beside me, and she made no demur. ...
— John Splendid - The Tale of a Poor Gentleman, and the Little Wars of Lorn • Neil Munro

... influence on the grand result. Thus, when the Lord-Mayor invited me to his feast, it was a piece of strategy. He wanted to induce me to fling myself, like a lesser Curtius, with a larger object of self-sacrifice, into the chasm of discord between England and America, and, on my ignominious demur, had resolved to shove me in with his own right-honorable hands, in the hope of closing up the horrible pit forever. On the whole, I forgive his Lordship. He meant well by all parties,—himself, who would share the glory, and me, ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 12, August, 1863, No. 70 - A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics • Various

... Egbert had suggested, and soon after nightfall the party, armed with spear and sword, and carrying each his float, sallied out from the gates, as Edmund was by this time so well known among the citizens that the gate was opened without demur on his order. ...
— The Dragon and the Raven - or, The Days of King Alfred • G. A. Henty

... Borden," ordered Mart sternly, and the old seaman obeyed without demur. "Now unfasten that boat and get into her! Pile in, the whole crowd of you! Do it lively now! That's right. Get busy with those oars and row over to that island. When you get there, shove out that ...
— The Pirate Shark • Elliott Whitney

... of the mountains or he would have known that a short cut which led by Foeman's Bluff would certainly be a strange route toward Nancy Card's cabin; but it was characteristic of the man that without question or demur he accepted the proffered friendly turn at its face value, and he and Stribling at once took the way which led across the gulch to the still. They walked for some time, Stribling leading, Creed following, deep in his ...
— Judith of the Cumberlands • Alice MacGowan

... said Jeannie Hadden suddenly, with an accent of demur. "We're all pheasants. Our new hats are pheasants, too. I don't know what Augusta will think of such ...
— A Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite's Life. • Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney

... were alive now, he certainly would draw the line closer than he did. Published volumes were few in his day (though not, of course, few enough). Even he, in all the plenitude of his indulgence, would now have to demur that at least 90 per cent. of the volumes that the publishers thrust on us, so hectically, every spring and autumn, ...
— And Even Now - Essays • Max Beerbohm

... tones than usual spoke. My heart forebodes the saddest lot,— The falcons, nets—Alas, it rains! My brother, are thy wants supplied— Provisions, shelter, pocket-guide, And all that unto health pertains?' These words occasion'd some demur In our imprudent traveller. But restless curiosity Prevail'd at last; and so said he,— 'The matter is not worth a sigh; Three days, at most, will satisfy, And then, returning, I shall tell You all the wonders that befell,— With scenes ...
— The Fables of La Fontaine - A New Edition, With Notes • Jean de La Fontaine

... in the moonlight soon brought us to the village. Through this we swept on to the inn, almost running over the four evangelists, whom we found standing at the door ready for the saddle. I bade them, in a quick peremptory tone, to get to horse, and was overjoyed to see them obey without demur or word of Fresnoy. In another minute, with a great clatter of hoofs, we sprang clear of the hamlet, and were well on the road to Melle, with Poitiers some thirteen leagues before us. I looked back, and thought I discerned lights moving in the direction of the chateau; but the dawn was still ...
— A Gentleman of France • Stanley Weyman

... I entreat you, guard it well for my sake—make all haste to leave Paris... oh, this I beg of you!" she continued more earnestly, seeing the look of demur in his eyes; "every hour you spend in it brings danger ...
— El Dorado • Baroness Orczy

... made demur to some of the provisions, but was overruled, and the main stipulations of the treaty were agreed to by the chiefs. The conference broke up with the understanding that the British troops should evacuate cantonments ...
— The Afghan Wars 1839-42 and 1878-80 • Archibald Forbes

... held Luxemburg in the name of the German Confederation, which had been destroyed by the war of 1866; and, the authority to which the garrison owed its existence being gone, it was only logical that the garrison should go too. After much demur Count Bismarck acknowledged the justice of the argument (April, 1867), but it did not by any means follow that the French should therefore take the place vacated by the Prussians. At the same time the fortress could not be left in the hands of a weak Power ...
— Why We Are At War (2nd Edition, revised) • Members of the Oxford Faculty of Modern History

... Mrs. Goddard's chamber, the woman nervously began to unfasten the young girl's dress, but her fingers trembled so with excitement, showing how wrought up she was, that Edith yielded without further demur, and assisted in removing ...
— The Masked Bridal • Mrs. Georgie Sheldon

... Greek! Protected Greek! BALFOUR may doubt, the Times demur, And chattering "correspondents" seek Against the goddess strife to stir, But while the Senate rules, you bet, The Goths ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 101, November 7, 1891 • Various

... is not to be expected that you should see eye to eye with the Inca. That would be presumption. It is for you to accept without question or demur the assurance of your Inca that the brooch is ...
— The Inca of Perusalem • George Bernard Shaw

... leaving the works, and returning to Hull, called at the licensed house to which the previous afternoon's consignment had been dispatched. There he asked to see the certificates of the two trips. On seeing his credentials these were handed up without demur, and he withdrew ...
— The Pit Prop Syndicate • Freeman Wills Crofts

... After some demur he accepted with gratitude, and a little later Savage and the native were sent off with a note to a man who hired out ...
— The Ivory Child • H. Rider Haggard

... preliminary question: Will the Dominus Rex allow us to choose freely? It is to be hoped! Well, if so, we agree to choose one of our own Convent. If not, if the Dominus Rex will force a stranger on us, we decide on demurring, the Prior and his Twelve shall demur: we can appeal, plead, remonstrate; appeal even to the Pope, but trust it will not be necessary. Then there is this other question, raised by Brother Samson: What if the Thirteen should not themselves be able to agree? Brother Samson Subsacrista, one remarks, is ready oftenest with some question, ...
— Past and Present - Thomas Carlyle's Collected Works, Vol. XIII. • Thomas Carlyle

... two other stores, and a similar demand was made at each of them for the 20 pounds license fee, which was paid after some demur, and the licenses were signed and handed ...
— The Book of the Bush • George Dunderdale

... than be called a child of God," Death whispered. With assenting nod, Its head upon its mother's breast The baby bowed without demur— Of the kingdom of the ...
— England's Antiphon • George MacDonald

... on chauffeurs, footmen, and house-servants sent to the war, quite below the rate that actuarial figures justify. It is our little war contribution," he added modestly. "We like to feel that we're doing our bit, too. We had a chauffeur killed last week. We paid for him right off without demur,—waived all question of who killed him. I never signed a check (as I took occasion to say in a little note I wrote to his people) ...
— The Hohenzollerns in America - With the Bolsheviks in Berlin and other impossibilities • Stephen Leacock

... at the coolness with which Gershom assigned to himself so large a portion of his property; though he did not think it worth his while, just then, to "demur to his declaration," as the lawyers might have it. There was a sort of border rule, which gave all present equal shares in any forest captures; just as vessels in sight come in for prize-money, taken in time of war by public cruisers. At any rate, ...
— Oak Openings • James Fenimore Cooper

... what the whole meant no human understanding could decide. Whole sheets were written over, with desperate and useless effort. It seemed as if everybody must go mad who attempted its investigation. The Jesuits later adopted the custom, whenever a monk ventured to demur against a task assigned, of putting into his hand this book, YAW DEREVOCSID EHT, and telling him that he might spend his time in quiet linguistic studies, that he might acquire the language in which these few pages were written, and when he had ...
— Peter the Priest • Mr Jkai

... could not but think of the Forest with fresh longing, and she watched each morning's post for the arrival of that invitation to Fairfield which Lady Latimer had promised to send. At length it came, and after brief demur received a favorable answer. The squire had a mortified consciousness that his granddaughter's life was not very cheerful, and, though he did not refuse her wish, he was unable to grant it heartily. However, the fact of his ...
— The Vicissitudes of Bessie Fairfax • Harriet Parr

... at first proposed to enroll Goldsmith among the members of this association, there seems to have been some demur; at least so says the pompous Hawkins. "As he wrote for the booksellers, we of the club looked on him as a mere literary drudge, equal to the task of compiling and translating, but little capable of original and still less ...
— Oliver Goldsmith • Washington Irving

... Alonzo's friend: There all the diff'rence lies between us two. In me, my lord, you hear another self; And, give me leave to add, a better too, Clear'd from those errors, which, though caus'd by virtue, Are such as may hereafter give you pain— Don Lopez of Castile would not demur thus. ...
— The Revenge - A Tragedy • Edward Young

... addressed, and whose name was Gabriel Zimandy, accepted the invitation after a moment's demur. The ladies were ...
— Manasseh - A Romance of Transylvania • Maurus Jokai

... towards the outer door. 'Ye maun sweir upo' her that, whan I want her, I sall hae her ohn demur, or I sanna lat ...
— Robert Falconer • George MacDonald

... this direction was, he made no demur, only a sort of grunt, deep in his coat-collar, and almost before I was in my seat again the wheels were turning, and I saw the arm of my otherwise indistinguishable companion move darkly against the paler square of glass as he closed ...
— The Other Side of the Door • Lucia Chamberlain

... a tacit invitation, and Stella knowing how widespread was the sickness that infected the station, accepted it without demur. ...
— The Lamp in the Desert • Ethel M. Dell

... much afraid of Conolly by this time—he did not know why—to demur. "I am sure she will not object," he said, pretending to be relieved by the offer. "Your services will be most acceptable. Excuse me for one moment, whilst I inform ...
— The Irrational Knot - Being the Second Novel of His Nonage • George Bernard Shaw

... meant, that "to comes from Saxon and Gothic words" of every sort, and that the words of these two languages "signify action, effect, termination, to act, &c." The latter assertion is true enough: but, concerning the former, a man of sense may demur. Nor do I see how it is possible not to despise such etymology, be the interpretation of the words what it may. For, if to means action or to act, then our little infinitive phrase, to be, must mean, action be, or to act be; and ...
— The Grammar of English Grammars • Goold Brown

... pay her well for her trouble, and, after some demur, she consented to accompany me to the spot. We found it without much difficulty, when, dismissing her, I proceeded to examine the place. The 'castle' consisted of an irregular assemblage of cliffs and rocks—one of the latter being quite remarkable for its height ...
— Short Stories Old and New • Selected and Edited by C. Alphonso Smith

... the good physique of the family, I've spent more days in bed and on the sofa than I'd be willing to count, and I'm not anxious for more. Still I would rather do that now than have the doctor sent for, so without demur I let Phil carry me down to my room, and undress and put me ...
— We Ten - Or, The Story of the Roses • Lyda Farrington Kraus

... door, while O'Brien was equally anxious to secure foreign aid against such intolerable encroachments. The policy worked effectually; it brought the succeeding Earl of Desmond to London, an humble suitor for the King's mercy and favour, which were after some demur granted. ...
— A Popular History of Ireland - From the earliest period to the emancipation of the Catholics • Thomas D'Arcy McGee

... it was very hot, and it was borne in upon the sleepless traveller that he had exhausted the resources of the place. Therefore at an early hour next morning his miscellaneous fairings were packed, the cost of his entertainment liberally repaid, and accepted without demur, and the visitors, after earnestly commending the picturesque little village at Tambak to special official protection, departed for the station. X. had intended to now perform the usual round and visit the temples at Djaokjakerta, Solo and Semarang, ...
— From Jungle to Java - The Trivial Impressions of a Short Excursion to Netherlands India • Arthur Keyser

... touch him again, looking hungrily at him. Her eyes fell on the piece of neck, smooth, lightly browned, that showed between his hair and the low collar; and, in an uncontrollable rush of feeling, she stooped and kissed it. As he accepted the caress, without demur, she said: "I thought of going to the ...
— Maurice Guest • Henry Handel Richardson

... demur at first, but the chief insisted, and after an attempt on the part of the Apaches at fighting their way up had been met by a sharp volley, the whole party, saving the Beaver and one follower, retreated ...
— The Silver Canyon - A Tale of the Western Plains • George Manville Fenn

... without considerable demur and delay on the part of Sharples that the carpenter and his companion could gain admittance to the round-house. Reconnoitring them through a small grated loophole, he refused to open the door till they had explained their business. This, Wood, acting upon Terry's caution, ...
— Jack Sheppard - A Romance • William Harrison Ainsworth

... poet who furnished the Greeks with a system of their gods; nor was his system everywhere accepted without demur. Hesiod, writing in the latter half of the eighth century B.C., gives a "theogony" or birth of the gods, which is also a genesis or origin of the world, for to the Greek mind the gods and the world came into existence together. He complains of those who on this subject ...
— History of Religion - A Sketch of Primitive Religious Beliefs and Practices, and of the Origin and Character of the Great Systems • Allan Menzies

... circumspectly. To be sure the approach to the water here was part of the king's highway. The whole village used it, and moored their boats without let or hindrance off the slip which (since the land belonged to the Killiow estate) the Rosewarnes had kept in good repair, and without demur. But it was clearly understood—and Nicky, a few hours ago, would have asserted it as stubbornly as anyone—that the sole right of taking a passenger on board here for hire and conveying him across to the town appertained to the ...
— Shining Ferry • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... "Who shall demur? Did not even the unenlightened men who formed the coroner's jury declare that Tom passed into another world by the hand of God? Can we question our Creator? I, too, desire as much as any human ...
— The Grey Room • Eden Phillpotts

... the Rev. J.S. Henslow," by Leonard Jenyns, page 150.), which I like very much. The anecdote about Whewell and the tides I had utterly forgotten; I believe it is near enough to the truth. I rather demur to one sentence of yours—viz., "However delightful any scientific pursuit may be, yet, if it should be wholly unapplied, it is of no more use than building castles in the air." Would not your hearers infer from this that the practical ...
— More Letters of Charles Darwin - Volume I (of II) • Charles Darwin

... of absolute monarchy in Germany, a system introduced from France, where Louis XIV had proclaimed the doctrine L'etat, c'est moi, according to which the lives and property of the subject belonged to the Prince, whose will was to be obeyed without question or demur. There were now four hundred courts in Germany in imitation of the Court of Versailles, and the smaller the principality the greater the absolutism. Absolutism, however, required an army to support ...
— William of Germany • Stanley Shaw

... no demur, and in a few minutes I was ushered into the presence of the newly made widow, who sat quite alone, in a large chamber in the rear. As I crossed the threshold she looked up, and I encountered a good, plain face, without the ...
— The Golden Slipper • Anna Katharine Green

... the progress) of any war, there has been much and angry discussion amongst us British as to the equity of its origin, and the moral reasonableness of its objects. Whereas, on the Continent, no man ever heard of a question being raised, or a faction being embattled, upon any demur (great or small) as to the moral grounds of a war. To be able to face the trials of a war—that was its justification; and to win victories—that was its ratification ...
— The Uncollected Writings of Thomas de Quincey, Vol. 2 - With a Preface and Annotations by James Hogg • Thomas de Quincey

... that he made up his mind to betake him to Bologna to see her, and if she pleased him, to remain there; to which end he gave his father to understand that he would fain visit the Holy Sepulchre, whereto his father after no little demur consented. ...
— The Decameron, Vol. II. • Giovanni Boccaccio

... the faintest! Out it comes, and there is one poor sufferer the less in Prato. Courage then; pull and pull again." I promised him that I would pull my stoutest, but curtly declined his suggestion that I should try my hand upon Virginia's mouth, although she made no demur. Sooner should Prato swim in blood, I said, than I lay violent hands ...
— The Fool Errant • Maurice Hewlett

... Without demur, then, she turned and accompanied the rascally Malay toward the harbor. At the bank of the little stream which led down to the Ithaca's berth the man lifted her to his shoulder and thus bore her the balance of the way to the beach. ...
— The Monster Men • Edgar Rice Burroughs

... new hope. Who could guess but my relations with Colonel d'Ortez might throw me again in her way. I took her hand again, making pretence to examine the ring more curiously. She made slight demur, and I pressed my first fervent kiss upon the hand of woman. Man's fortitude could stand no more. Tossing honor, discretion, duty to the winds, I folded her close, closer yet, and kissed her brow, her hair, her eyes—her lips, she struggling like a ...
— The Black Wolf's Breed - A Story of France in the Old World and the New, happening - in the Reign of Louis XIV • Harris Dickson

... the pupae or young of the black ants. These pupae they take to their own nest and rear as slaves, the enslaved ants to all appearances becoming entirely satisfied with their condition, and working for their masters willingly and without demur. The besieged ants evinced a high degree of reason and forethought, for, as soon as the presence of the besiegers was noticed, strong guards were posted in all of the approaches to the nest, both front and rear. The red ants sent a detachment to surprise the colony ...
— The Dawn of Reason - or, Mental Traits in the Lower Animals • James Weir

... her but little to do—a few documents to copy, some cipher messages to carry. Then the demands upon her leisure had become more frequent. She found she was expected to make no demur at being sent for miles, and once or twice there had been dreadful midnight excursions to a hut up ...
— The Hippodrome • Rachel Hayward

... names of their father and grandfather. The guard on duty happened to be Manasseh, the son of Joseph. The brethren submitted to being questioned, saying "Let us go into the town, and we shall see whether this taking down of our names be a matter of taxes. If it be so, we shall not demur; but if it be something else, we shall see to-morrow what can ...
— The Legends of the Jews Volume 1 • Louis Ginzberg

... thorough canvas of the delegates to be made," says Trueman, "and they are almost unanimous in declaring that they will support me for the second place on the ticket. When sounded on the proposition of voting for a young man for the head of the ticket, they demur." ...
— The Transgressors - Story of a Great Sin • Francis A. Adams

... ceremony, and were speedily set to work hoisting in provisions, removing to the yard all unnecessary stuff with which the ship was littered, and getting her generally in condition for sailing. The work was extremely hard, but it was done without demur. ...
— A Gunner Aboard the "Yankee" • Russell Doubleday

... population. In Java, moreover, the Europeans constitute the governing classes, the natives the governed; and even in Singapore where both races are equal before the law the few white men understand how to mark the difference of race so distinctively that the natives without demur surrender to them, though not by means of the law, the privileges of a higher caste. The difference of religion does but widen the gap; and, finally, every European there speaks the language of the country, ...
— The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes • Fedor Jagor; Tomas de Comyn; Chas. Wilkes; Rudolf Virchow.

... the declarations the defendants demur, and thereby raise the only questions we desire to have adjudicated. The defendants, by their demurrer, admit all the allegations of the plaintiffs, severally, but say, that as they are women, they are ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume II • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage

... kind for one friend, he had been difficult and ungrateful for another. The thinness of Eleanor's cheek, the hollowness of her blue eye accused him. But even here the girl's inner mind had begun to doubt and demur. After all did she know ...
— Eleanor • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... burning it, to deliver themselves from these visitations. They applied to the emperor's officer, who commanded in the territory of Gradiska, in Hungary, and even to the cure of the same place, for permission to exhume the body of Peter Plogojovitz. The officer and the cure made much demur in granting this permission, but the peasants declared that if they were refused permission to disinter the body of this man, whom they had no doubt was a true vampire (for so they called these revived ...
— The Phantom World - or, The philosophy of spirits, apparitions, &c, &c. • Augustin Calmet

... but you seem to demur, Claudia. Now what is the matter? What possible objection can there be to Ishmael Worth remaining here as my assistant until ...
— Ishmael - In the Depths • Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth

... this?" asked Van, with great respect and taking up the picture, after some demur on Percy's part, and examining it critically. ...
— Five Little Peppers And How They Grew • Margaret Sidney

... that I care not how much annoyance I give to my readers I think it best to pass over in silence; but to his concluding remark I must entirely demur. I hold that to use language likely to annoy any of my correspondents would not be in the least justified by the plea that I was "quite certain of being correct." I trust that the knot-untiers and I are not ...
— A Tangled Tale • Lewis Carroll

... Sunday he divided the third part among the poor of the parish, and gave notice to the parson that he was about to quit his service, and as he asked no wages for so short a time, he got his discharge without any demur. But Hans travelled a long way off, bought himself a nice farm-house, married a young wife, and lived quietly and comfortably ...
— The Hero of Esthonia and Other Studies in the Romantic Literature of That Country • William Forsell Kirby

... Shelley's Adonais, I have taken no count of those instances of lax sound-rhyme which are correct letter-rhyme—such as the coupling of move with love, or of star with war; for these, however much some more than commonly purist ears may demur to them, appear to be part and parcel of the rhyming system of the English language. I need hardly say that, if these cases had been included, my list would in every instance have swelled considerably; nor yet that I am conscious how extremely partial and accidental ...
— Adonais • Shelley

... And some things she likes well; But then the street She thinks not neat, And does not like the smell. Nor do the fleas Her fancy please Although the fleas like her; They at first vie w Fell merrily too, For they made no demur. But, O, the sight! The great delight! From this my window, west! This view so fine, This scene divine! The joy that I love best! The Tagus here, So broad and clear, Blue, in the clear blue noon— And it lies light, ...
— Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey • Joseph Cottle

... courtesy—she had yet the nice tact to call into requisition for special emergencies the precise talent which was wanted, and give it its right direction. Now and then—strange if it had not been so—there would be some questioning of her proposed measures, some demur to, or reluctance to accept her suggestions; but among men, the case would be found a rare one, where a presiding officer carried so largely and uniformly, from first to last, the concurrent judgment and ...
— Woman's Work in the Civil War - A Record of Heroism, Patriotism, and Patience • Linus Pierpont Brockett

... no demur. Without remark he followed his conductor into the hallway and to the entrance to the suite occupied by his wife. The governess had been instructed to take Alora out for a ride; there was no one in the little reception room. ...
— Mary Louise Solves a Mystery • L. Frank Baum

... he brought out depositions to the above effect which he had just written in his office; he shewed the Professors that the form was this time an innocent one, whereon they made no demur to signing and swearing in the presence of the ...
— Erewhon Revisited • Samuel Butler

... light did fill That old staircase! and then and there did kill All those black doubts that ever do renew Their civil war with all that's good and true Within our hearts, when body and mind are ill From this slight incident I would infer A cheerful truth, that men without demur, In times of stress and doubt, throw open wide The windows of their breast; nor stung by pride In stifling darkness gloomily abide; But bid the light flow in ...
— Afoot in England • W.H. Hudson

... golden to this busy, hard-working mother. She was generally sparing of words. Grace, who saw that her mother was bent on her going, made no further demur; but, as she put on her walking-things, she told herself that Archie was only making a virtue of necessity. He was so little eager for her society that he had not sought her himself, but had sent her a message. Ever since his return, no light-springing ...
— Not Like Other Girls • Rosa N. Carey

... to exact social observances, would ridicule the idea at first, if their wives should announce the intention of leaving their husband's cards for them. But, however much a man might demur, a lurking vanity would develop into complacent satisfaction, as he became aware of the increasing geniality of the social atmosphere about him; and the pleasing glow would take the ultimate form of ...
— Etiquette • Agnes H. Morton

... called, a child of God,' Death whispered! With assenting nod, Its head upon its mother's breast, The Baby bowed, without demur— Of the kingdom of ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Vol I and II • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

... know what you may think of it, but as to me, it half drives me out of my senses to have him taken away from me at last in that unnatural manner. And I'm sure, ma'am, if you would only put in a word against it, I dare say he would give it up without a demur." ...
— Cecilia vol. 2 - Memoirs of an Heiress • Frances (Fanny) Burney (Madame d'Arblay)

... demur, and putting on the simple straw hat, which, plainly trimmed with a soft knot of navy-blue ribbon, was all her summer head-gear, she left the house with Reay. After a while, Helmsley also went out for his usual lonely ramble ...
— The Treasure of Heaven - A Romance of Riches • Marie Corelli

... the prospect, and when the financial proposals also proved unsatisfactory, their discontent foreshadowed the ultimate withdrawal of the province from the scheme. The other provinces accepted without demur the basis of representation in the ...
— The Fathers of Confederation - A Chronicle of the Birth of the Dominion • A. H. U. Colquhoun

... not understand a word of the language, shook his head, and, opening his hands and extending his arms, to show that he had no means of defence, he beckoned to them to come up. The man's head had again disappeared, and, after a little demur, nine or ten negroes crawled up out of the fore-scuttle, one after another, each with some weapon or another by way of security. They remained on the forecastle of the vessel until the last was up; and then at a nod given by their grizzle-headed ...
— Newton Forster • Frederick Marryat

... demur at the delay, but she was obviously surprised and piqued that her offer should be treated in this elaborate fashion. She was obliged to acknowledge to herself that she could not reasonably expect Pauline to make a definite decision without further inquiry, but she had expected to be ...
— Unleavened Bread • Robert Grant

... demur, merely made a grimace as the needle shot into his emaciated thigh. With the basin in one hand and a wad of cotton-wool in the other, Esther happened to glance at the doctor. He was stooping over, his thick body bent at the hips, his small eyes narrowed in cold absorption ...
— Juggernaut • Alice Campbell

... on board, a steerage passenger, who had been back and forth several times on this Liverpool line of packets. He was set to singing, and his sweet, clear voice rang out with song after song,— almost all of them sad ones. At last one of the crew called on him for a song which he made some demur at singing. I remember the refrain well (for he did sing it at last); ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 2, Number 9, July, 1858 • Various

... toast, "It is not the custom," and recalls to me that important question. Well, even that has not remained stationary in the general movement. Not that buttered toast has received its great or even small letters of naturalization. But you have only to ask for it, and it will be served without demur. So far the neck of routine is broken. What next? We shall find out on our fourth visit, if God grants us life. Meanwhile I feel that Turin will ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 3, No. 18, April, 1859 - [Date last updated: August 7, 2005] • Various

... others, that the reading of the charges they contained was the work of many hours. The accused is not always compelled immediately to answer the indictment; for if he appear in term-time to an indictment for a misdemeanour in the Queen's Bench, it is sufficient if he plead or demur within four days; the court has a discretionary power to enlarge the time; but if he neither pleads nor demurs within the time prescribed, judgment may be entered against him as for want of a plea. It he appear to such an indictment, ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV. • Various

... glove-fight, the referee, on observing the principals clinch, says, "Break away there, break away," in a sad, reproachful voice, and the fighters separate without demur, being very much alive to the fact that, as far as that contest is concerned, their destinies are in his hands, and that any bad behaviour in the ring will lose them the victory. But in an impromptu turn-up like this one, the combatants show a tendency to ignore the rules so carefully mapped out ...
— The Head of Kay's • P. G. Wodehouse

... this room at once and the library locked. Let no one be admitted on any pretense whatever until you hear from me." It spoke volumes for the mysterious credentials borne by my friend that the man from Scotland Yard accepted his orders without demur, and, after a brief chat with Mr. Burboyne, Smith passed briskly downstairs. In the hall a man who looked like a groom out ...
— The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu • Sax Rohmer

... it was, it was settled we should go to the ball, the last for the season being this night. My own objections about going not being strong enough to combat the ado my mentioning them would have occasioned, I joined in the party, without demur. ...
— The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay Volume 1 • Madame D'Arblay

... little like a bed, the matting we are to share, and we sleep in our clothes, as we always do, according to the Nipponese fashion. After all, on a journey in a railway, do not the most estimable ladies stretch themselves without demur by the side of gentlemen unknown ...
— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet

... from their counsels would long be felt as a very grievous loss. Then he pronounced a eulogy on Plantagenet Palliser, so graceful and well arranged, that even the bitterness of the existing opposition was unable to demur to it. The House was well aware of the nature of the labours which now for some years past had occupied the mind of the noble duke; and the paramount importance which the country attached to their conclusion. The noble duke no doubt was not absolutely debarred from a continuance ...
— Phineas Redux • Anthony Trollope

... as a result of thinking, appeared for a little to demur. "Yes—but one mustn't be too much driven to it. It's by one's sympathies that one suffers. If you should do ...
— The Awkward Age • Henry James

... Winifred made no demur, though she looked puzzled, as we were then much nearer to the gangway I had selected for myself than to the gangway I had ...
— Aylwin • Theodore Watts-Dunton

... lord the pilgrim!" replied the fisherman. Quoth the Maghrabi, "O Judar, I have need of thee and, given thou obey me, thou shalt get great good and shalt be my companion and manage my affairs for me." Quoth Judar, "O my lord, tell me what is in thy mind and I will obey thee, without demur." Said the Moor, "Repeat the Fatihah, the Opening Chapter of the Koran."[FN265] So he recited it with him and the Moor bringing out a silken cord, said to Judar, "Pinion my elbows behind me with this cord, as ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 6 • Richard F. Burton

... some demur on Dr. Harley's part, and the quiet humdrum days went on again, and Edith found out how, as the ...
— The Empire Annual for Girls, 1911 • Various

... ignorance of the events of the night. The Americans broke the news to him none too gently, and demanded the keys of a disused fortress on the opposite side of the harbor from Fort Nassau. For a time the governor was inclined to demur; but the determined attitude of the Americans soon persuaded him that he was a prisoner, though in his own house, and he delivered the keys. Thereupon the Americans marched through the streets of the city, around the harbor's edge to the fort, spiked the guns, and ...
— The Naval History of the United States - Volume 1 (of 2) • Willis J. Abbot

... back for some months, and I, at his request, had sold my practice and returned to share the old quarters in Baker Street. A young doctor, named Verner, had purchased my small Kensington practice, and given with astonishingly little demur the highest price that I ventured to ask—an incident which only explained itself some years later when I found that Verner was a distant relation of Holmes's, and that it was my friend who had ...
— The Return of Sherlock Holmes - Magazine Edition • Arthur Conan Doyle

... dangerous and he could not allow it. Palmerston insisted declaring that he had important business in London, which could not wait. The station-master supported by all the officials, continued to demur the company, he said, could not possibly take the responsibility. "On MY responsibility, then!" said Palmerston, in his off-hand, peremptory way whereupon the station-master ordered up the train and the Foreign ...
— Queen Victoria • Lytton Strachey

... inclined to demur at this, for she had been reading up and had many plans and theories to carry out. But she concluded to accept the condition, thinking that with her feminine tact she would have her own way after all. She did not realize that she was dealing with ...
— What Can She Do? • Edward Payson Roe

... something of the same feeling as Zaidie, and besides, there could hardly be any impropriety in accepting the invitation of one of the wealthiest and most distinguished noblemen in the British Peerage. So, after a little demur and a slight manifestation ...
— A Honeymoon in Space • George Griffith

... I obeyed him without demur. I went into my study, ordered some tea, and tried to read. It must have been an hour before the door was opened, and ...
— The Great Secret • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... I obeyed all my brother's military commands with the utmost docility; and happy it made me that every sort of distraction, or question, or opening for demur, was swallowed up in the unity of this one papal principle, discovered by my brother, viz., that all rights of casuistry were transferred from me to himself. His was the judgment—his was the responsibility; and to me belonged only the sublime duty of unconditional faith in him. That ...
— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 8, January, 1851 • Various

... They, without demur, took their departure, well satisfied with the presents they had received, and the oxen were urged on at as rapid a rate as they could be got to move. The ground was fortunately level, so that good progress was made, and several miles were got ...
— Hendricks the Hunter - The Border Farm, a Tale of Zululand • W.H.G. Kingston

... which, stated briefly, were that he should pay for his ransom, to each ship, one hundred pearls of the size of dove's eggs, and that the cargo of the frigate was to be transferred to the "Golden Seahorse". To the first part of our demand the King made some demur, but when we threatened to take him away with us on our voyage home, he promised to send some of the big-eared men for his ransom if we would give him speech with their chief. To the latter part of ...
— Adventures in Southern Seas - A Tale of the Sixteenth Century • George Forbes



Words linked to "Demur" :   objection, law, plead, jurisprudence, object, demurral



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