Free Translator Free Translator
Translators Dictionaries Courses Other
Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Optional   /ˈɑpʃənəl/  /ˈɔpʃənəl/   Listen
Optional

adjective
1.
Possible but not necessary; left to personal choice.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |





"Optional" Quotes from Famous Books



... Federal Republic of Mexico. Texas had now of right the option of returning into the family of Mexican States, or of maintaining her separate existence; but she was under no obligation to return, for, the confederacy having been once broken up, it was optional with the only member that had not submitted to the usurper to re-enter this unreliable family, or to continue outside. This election was not long open; for, by the pronunciamiento of Toluca (1835), the Federal ...
— Mexico and its Religion • Robert A. Wilson

... that the Government of Nicaragua, as one of its last sovereign acts before merging its powers in those of the newly formed United States of Central America, has granted an optional concession to another association, to become effective on the expiration of the present grant. It does not appear what surveys have been made or what route is proposed under this contingent grant, so that an examination of the ...
— Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents • William McKinley

... introduced in the House cutting off all commercial relations with Canada by land or water. The Senate advanced a more moderate proposition, to limit the proposed arrest of traffic to water commerce and to Canadian vessels, also to leave its enforcement optional with the President. This became law on March 3, 1887. Under this legislation the President, on being assured that fishing masters or crews were treated in Canadian ports any less favorably than masters or crews of trading vessels from the most favored nations, ...
— History of the United States, Volume 4 • E. Benjamin Andrews

... a subject assigned by the Professor of Moral Philosophy; these they read before him and the division of the class to which they belong, on appointed days. It was formerly customary for the teacher to name those who were to write on the affirmative and those on the negative, but it is now left optional with the student which side he will take. This word was originally used as an adjective, and it was usual to speak of a forensic dispute, which has now been ...
— A Collection of College Words and Customs • Benjamin Homer Hall

... by syllable, as Joseph P. Holbrook in his "Refuge." Unfortunately for congregational use, it is a duo and quartet score for select voices; but the four-voice portion can be a chorus, and is often so sung. Its form excludes it from some hymnals or places it as an optional beside a congregational tune. But when rendered by the choir on special occasions its success in conveying the feeling and soul of the words is complete. There is a prayer in the swell of every semitone and the touch of every accidental, and the sweet concord of the duet—soprano ...
— The Story of the Hymns and Tunes • Theron Brown and Hezekiah Butterworth

... I can prevent it, but that may not be optional with me. I will—but hush! Let us speak no more of the future; my soul faints with thirst when I think of it. Sometimes I think I see Germany pointing to her many wounds, and calling me to come and heal ...
— Joseph II. and His Court • L. Muhlbach

... Friedrich shall see fit, on the morrow. For the Meissen north road forks off there, in those two directions: straight northward is for Grossenhayn, right hand is for Badeburg. Most interesting to Lacy, which of these forks, what is quite optional, Friedrich will take! Lacy is an alert man; looks well to himself; warns Daun; and will not be caught if he can help it. Daun himself is encamped at Reichenberg, within two miles of him, inexpugnably intrenched as usual; and the danger surely is not great: nevertheless both these Generals, ...
— History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. XX. (of XXI.) • Thomas Carlyle

... seemly order, and converse in a low tone; first upon the property of the defunct, and next upon the politics of the day. You walk with the others into the church, where service is said over the body. It is optional to go to the grave or not. When you go away, you enter your carriage and return to your business ...
— The Laws of Etiquette • A Gentleman

... prescribed, officers actually commanding troops will wear the Oversea cap. At other times the Oversea or the service cap is optional. ...
— The Stars & Stripes, Vol 1, No 1, February 8, 1918, - The American Soldiers' Newspaper of World War I, 1918-1919 • American Expeditionary Forces

... the Orientals; a committee of the prisoners arrange the hours for each set of players. Skittles are very popular. Fencing is eagerly learned; the English officer who teaches it being delighted with his pupils' progress. Lessons in gymnastics, like those in other sports, are optional. ...
— Turkish Prisoners in Egypt - A Report By The Delegates Of The International Committee - Of The Red Cross • Various

... they now taught everything. Concordia College, for example, had no teaching of religion except lectures on the Bible. Now they had lectures also on Confucianism, Mohammedanism Buddhism, with an optional course on atheism for students in ...
— Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich • Stephen Leacock

... Transcriptions from Wagner and Paganini. March and Chorus from "Tannhaeuser." Romance of the Evening Star. "Tannhaeuser." Spinning Song from "The Flying Dutchman." "La Campanella." (Paganini.) Concerto in E-flat. With second piano. (Optional.) ...
— The Masters and their Music - A series of illustrative programs with biographical, - esthetical, and critical annotations • W. S. B. Mathews

... If, however, beside frequent entrance, entrance is required for multitudes at the same time, the size of the aperture either must be increased, or other apertures must be introduced. It may, in some buildings, be optional with the architect whether he shall give many small doors, or few large ones; and in some, as theatres, amphitheatres, and other places where the crowd are apt to be impatient, many doors are by far the best arrangement of the two. Often, however, the purposes of the building, as when it is ...
— The Stones of Venice, Volume I (of 3) • John Ruskin

... was to be heretically anatomized. But, alas! I had not calculated aright the power of that particular potentate to "draw." No sooner had I arrived at the cloak-room than the very hats and umbrellas warned me of the number of his votaries. Evening Dress was "optional;" and I frankly confess, at whatever risk of his displeasure, that I had not deemed Mephistopheles worthy of a swallow-tailed coat. I came in the garb of ordinary life; and at once felt uncomfortable when, mounting the stairs, I was received by a portly gentleman and an affable lady in violent ...
— Mystic London: - or, Phases of occult life in the metropolis • Charles Maurice Davies

... subjects of conversation in the country: Servants, and Can fowls be made to pay? The first, I believe, is compulsory, the second optional." ...
— Reginald • Saki

... them to enter a house that night from which his or her candle was received, if the light was extinguished before the lating was concluded. Candles were given out according to the number of inmates of a house—one for every person—but it was optional for one to carry his own candle, or to find a substitute who would sally out for him to frighten the witches. The custom originated in the belief that if a lighted candle were carried about from eleven to twelve ...
— The Mysteries of All Nations • James Grant

... wait on table," I replied, amused. "I'll explain her later. Meanwhile, I merely want to say that you need not remain with this expedition if you don't want to. It's optional with you." ...
— Police!!! • Robert W. Chambers

... to be seized and condemned as lawful prize by the Mexican authorities. When the order was issued, it operated as a privilege to the vessels of the United States as well as to those of foreign countries to enter the ports held by our arms upon prescribed terms and conditions. It was altogether optional with citizens of the United States and foreigners to avail themselves of the privileges granted upon the ...
— 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

... words, we may conceive, as to human destiny in another world, either of punishments optional and arbitrary, growing out of the indignation of an offended Judge who hates and requites sin, or of punishments natural and inherent, growing out of the very nature of sin itself, as delirium tremens requites a long career of intemperance. We may conceive of punishments which ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 97, November, 1865 • Various

... the feet from the earth altogether, after the example of the angels, of whom it is written (Isa. vi. 2), "And with two he did fly." It is from this text that the sages have ordained that a man should fly up (as it were) when he repeats "Holy! holy! holy!" And let the chooser choose, i.e. it is optional either to lift up the heels only or ...
— Hebraic Literature; Translations from the Talmud, Midrashim and - Kabbala • Various

... the examination. For the assurance of timid and sensitive persons, it may be stated that extension work is optional, and may be carried to any desired stage of completion. The many enter upon the work because it is popular and interesting; and as soon as it assumes the character of study, the class will often dwindle down to a small portion of the audience. The requirements for an examination ...
— The Arena - Volume 4, No. 22, September, 1891 • Various

... cent of the injured workers, or the widows and children of deceased workers, were paid any compensation or damages. Eighty per cent got nothing whatever. When Cox was first elected governor, about five per cent of the workers of Ohio were covered under an optional Workmen's Compensation Law. His first move as governor was to insist upon the passage of a Workmen's Compensation Law that would benefit all the workers. In this he met with powerful and bitter opposition. But through his determined efforts ...
— The Progressive Democracy of James M. Cox • Charles E. Morris

... conveyed to Arbroath. He therefore wished each man to consider for himself how far it would be proper, by any unreasonableness of conduct, to place themselves in a similar situation, especially as they were aware that it was optional in him either to dismiss them or send them on board a man-of-war. It might appear that much inconveniency would be felt at the rock by a change of hands at this critical period, by checking for a time the progress ...
— Records of a Family of Engineers • Robert Louis Stevenson

... and very often quotes it in his speeches. Socrates gave Pythagoras as an authority on the simple life, and stated that he was willing to follow him in anything save his injunction to keep silence. Socrates wanted silence optional; whereas Pythagoras required each of his pupils to live for a year without once asking a question or making an explanation. In aggravated cases he made the limit ...
— Little Journeys To The Homes Of Great Teachers • Elbert Hubbard

... subsequent conversation, that the President of the South African Republic's scheme could, in his opinion, be improved in detail; for instance, by immediately admitting men who had entered the country previous to 1890, and by making optional the period ...
— Lord Milner's Work in South Africa - From its Commencement in 1897 to the Peace of Vereeniging in 1902 • W. Basil Worsfold

... a born diplomatist! I should not wonder if the world should hear of him some day, after all!" he said, as he read letter after letter that had been left unsealed for his optional perusal. In these letters he found his own hard "No's" expressed with a courtesy that softened them even to the most bitterly disappointed; his arrogant "Yes's," with a delicacy that could not wound the self-love of the most sensitive petitioner; ...
— Ishmael - In the Depths • Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth

... "These visits are optional. They are made without invitation. Between the hours of three and four every Tuesday, I am prepared to receive them. Gentlemen, often in great numbers, come and go;—chat with each other;—and act as they please. A porter shows ...
— The Life of George Washington, Vol. 4 (of 5) • John Marshall

... singular or plural: as, "In a sermon, there may be any number from three to five or six heads." This is awkward, to be sure; but what does the Doctor's sentence mean, unless it is, that there may be an optional number of heads, varying from ...
— The Grammar of English Grammars • Goold Brown

... older person enters the room; remain standing until your courtesy is acknowledged, or until the older person is seated. (Optional with the ...
— Manners And Conduct In School And Out • Anonymous

... dining-rooms and rooms for social intercourse; below deck was a small sleeping-cabin for each family, comfortably fitted up and admirably ventilated. The members were received on board in the order in which they had entered the Society, the earlier members thus having the priority. Of course it was optional for any member to make the voyage on any ship not belonging to the Society, without losing his place in the list of claimants ...
— Freeland - A Social Anticipation • Theodor Hertzka

... for heaven, then it must be in the estimation of the triune God, a matter of prime necessity that we should be thus cleansed. If God, therefore, regards it as an essential that we be sanctified wholly, let us beware of the thought that it is only optional, that it is possible, if possible at all, only for the few and not for the many, and that it can be done without, or what is practically too nearly the same thing, postponed until we see, or think we see, the near approach ...
— The Theology of Holiness • Dougan Clark

... military instruction had been inserted in this act of 1862 because Senator Morrill and others saw clearly the advantage which had accrued to the States then in rebellion from their military schools; but the act had left military instruction optional with the institutions securing the national endowment, and, so far as I could learn, none of those already created had taken the clause very seriously. I proposed that we should accept it fully and fairly, not according to ...
— Volume I • Andrew Dickson White

... the Liberation of the prisoners, he had, as far as the Business rested with him, put it in Train, by meetg. & conferring with the Secretary of War, & concertg. with him the proper measures for collecting prisoners & forwarding them to N. York, and that it was to be optional with Sir Guy, whether the prisoners should march by land, or whether he would send Transports to convey them by Water—and that the Secty. of War was to communicate with Sir Guy Carleton on the subject & obtain ...
— The Journal of Negro History, Volume 2, 1917 • Various

... for the convenience and pleasure of the time being. They are usually made by the eldest lady of either party and further recognition in the future is optional. ...
— Social Life - or, The Manners and Customs of Polite Society • Maud C. Cooke

... to it,—unless they claim the privileges of Israelites, in which case the rites of their religion must be followed. Between his sixth and seventh year the child must enter some school or receive elementary instruction at home. So far is education compulsory; beyond, it is optional. When duly prepared, he enters, if the parents desire it, the Government Gymnasium or Lyceum, answering pretty much to our College; it fits the youth for entering the University. It confers no degrees; only, at the conclusion ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 7, Issue 41, March, 1861 • Various

... argue that the condition of servants was an OPTIONAL one from the fact that RICH strangers did not become servants. Indeed, so far were they from becoming servants themselves, that they bought and held Jewish ...
— The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus • American Anti-Slavery Society

... second head have been included by no means all of the functions whose exercise by the government has been attempted or proposed, but they show the principal ones, and serve to indicate the nature of the optional ...
— Government and Administration of the United States • Westel W. Willoughby and William F. Willoughby

... the hymn, on the entering Hosanna! and Hallelujah! we catch the sacred symbol (of seven tones) in the path of the two vocal parts, the lower descending, the higher ascending as on heavenly scale. In the second, optional ending the figure is completed, as the bass descends through the seven whole tones and the treble (of voices and instruments) rises as before to end in overpowering Hallelujah! The style is close knit with the earlier music. A pervading motive is the former brief phrase of aspiration; upon it ...
— Symphonies and Their Meaning; Third Series, Modern Symphonies • Philip H. Goepp

... beginning of this session an important act was passed for extending the trial by jury to Scotland. Its provisions differed from those of the English law, and the granting such a trial was made optional in each case with the judges; but the lord chancellor, by whom the bill was introduced, expressed a hope that at no distant period the principle of the bill would receive a further extension. At a later date ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

... promising material, and you are to get down to the work of making a syllabus, and so on. You will meet other officers from all branches of the Service, and it should be interesting and useful. I presume you will be willing to go? Of course it is entirely optional, but I may say that the men who volunteer ...
— Simon Called Peter • Robert Keable

... countries having Postal Conventions with the United Kingdom, unless Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom shall see fit to allow this rate to be changed to Threepence currency; that the prepayment of Provincial Postage shall be optional. ...
— The Stamps of Canada • Bertram Poole

... notes are dangerous instruments should a holder desire to use them dangerously. Mr. Inglesby could give Eustis an extension of time, or he could demand full payment and immediately foreclose. You see, it's entirely optional with Mr. Inglesby." And he leaned back in his chair, perfectly self-possessed, entirely at his ease, and waited for her ...
— Slippy McGee, Sometimes Known as the Butterfly Man • Marie Conway Oemler

... its charter, and one was granted later to the Methodists for Wesleyan College at Middletown. Moreover, the government appropriated to both institutions a small grant. The teaching of the catechism, previously enforced by law in every school, became optional. Soon a normal school, free to all within the state, was opened. The support of religion was left wholly to voluntary contributions. [am] The political influence of the Congregational clergy was gone. "The lower magistracy was distributed as equally as possible among the various political and religious ...
— The Development of Religious Liberty in Connecticut • M. Louise Greene, Ph. D.

... alternatives: either to refuse visits altogether, or to appropriate a time for the reception of them. ... To please everybody was impossible. I therefore, adopted that line of conduct which combined public advantage with private convenience. ... These visits are optional, they are made without invitation; between the hours of three and four every Tuesday I am prepared to receive them. Gentlemen, often in great numbers, come and go, chat with each other, and act as they please. ...
— Heroes Every Child Should Know • Hamilton Wright Mabie

... in formal or aerial chiaroscuro, it is optional with the student to make the local colour of objects a part of his shadow, or to consider the high lights of every colour as white. For instance, a chiaroscurist of Lionardo's school, drawing a leopard, would take no notice whatever of the spots, but only give the shadows which ...
— Lectures on Art - Delivered before the University of Oxford in Hilary term, 1870 • John Ruskin

... my dear mother, nor my father, unless he should like it—indeed, it shall be optional with all—but enough, I am sure, will like to make it an ...
— Evenings at Donaldson Manor - Or, The Christmas Guest • Maria J. McIntosh

... pertaining to the heart; but if a man's life be valuable, not for the incense it consumes, but for the instruction it affords, to state even defects, (in one like Mr. C. who can so well afford deduction without serious loss) becomes in his biographer, not optional, but ...
— Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey • Joseph Cottle

... the Sutras, Yaska, and Sayana should be left unexplored before we venture to propose a rendering of our own. Sayana, though the most modern, is on the whole the most sober interpreter. Most of his etymological absurdities must be placed to Yaska's account, and the optional renderings which he allows for metaphysical, theological, or ceremonial purposes, are mostly due to his regard for the Brahmanas. The Brahmanas, though nearest in time to the hymns of the Rig-veda, indulge in the most frivolous and ill-judged interpretations. When the ancient Rishi exclaims ...
— Chips From A German Workshop - Volume I - Essays on the Science of Religion • Friedrich Max Mueller

... apparently, else you would have known better than to suggest the possibility of friendship between us. You are a poor judge of human nature, and conceited past my understanding, to imagine that it is a matter which is entirely optional with you." With the slow one-sided smile of irony which her face sometimes wore, she bowed slightly. Then, "You will excuse ...
— The Fighting Shepherdess • Caroline Lockhart

... the poor, the registration of births and deaths, and of electors; to establish police regulations and prisons; and, under varying conditions, to attend to a wide variety of other matters. The range of its optional activities is almost boundless. The council may establish theatres, found museums, subsidize public amusements, and, indeed, go to almost any length in the regulation of local affairs and ...
— The Governments of Europe • Frederic Austin Ogg

... and thick gloves. The kiln drawers are never forced to draw out the saggers, however, when they are intensely hot unless they wish to do so. The law protects such workers and specifies at just what degree of temperature the work is to become optional. Not only do these men draw the ware, but they also empty it from the saggers as well as put it into the baskets in which it is carried back to the factory and inspected, further decorated, or packed ...
— The Story of Porcelain • Sara Ware Bassett

... rotunda, with seats all round and a rude table in the middle. In sitting down he placed himself as nearly as possible in full view, but with his face toward the mountains. It gave him a preoccupied air to be seen relighting his cigar. It was thus optional with the couple who began to advance along the promenade to pass him by or to pause and ...
— The Letter of the Contract • Basil King

... furnished by the overlapping of registers, the capacity of a singer to produce the lower notes of one register with the vocal adjustment employed for the higher notes of the register below, and vice versa; so that where the registers meet there are possibly some half a dozen optional notes. Most basses and baritones, for example, sing only in one register, that is, they carry the vocal adjustment for the lowest register into the notes they are able to sing in the register above. These exceptions will be considered later. At present, in order to treat this difficult subject ...
— The Voice - Its Production, Care and Preservation • Frank E. Miller

... a remarkable one," said Simon Orts. "As I understand it, you appeal to me to meddle in your affairs on the ground that you once made a fool of me. I think the obligation is largely optional. I remember quite clearly the incidents to which you refer; and it shames even an old sot like me to think that I was ever so utterly at the mercy of a good-for-nothing jilt. I remember every vow you ever made to me, Anastasia, and I know they were all lies. I remember ...
— Gallantry - Dizain des Fetes Galantes • James Branch Cabell

... patricians and commons. The tribunes, however, prevailed in carrying the law; and it appeared evident, that in their present state of irritation, the commons would incline their support to men of their own party; and lest this should be optional with them, a decree of the senate is passed, that the election for consuls should ...
— The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 • Titus Livius

... He said that we all believed in goodness in our hearts, and that a service, if we came to it in the right way, was a means of hammering goodness in. That it was a good thing that chapel services were compulsory, because if they were optional, a great many boys would stay away out of pure laziness, and lose much good thereby. And as they were compulsory, we had better make the most we could of them. He went on to speak of attention, of posture, and so forth. There are a certain number of big boys here, who have an ...
— The Upton Letters • Arthur Christopher Benson

... for the teachings set forth are cited in the margin. The more important passages, particularly those which the catechumens may be expected to memorize, are specially indicated by a dagger (), and are printed in full at the end of the chapter. The use of a Scripture lesson is, of course, optional with the pastor. One is indicated, however, for each chapter, and may be read in class or be assigned to the catechumens to be read at home. The Scriptural illustrations are cited for the convenience of the pastor in his oral exposition. The division ...
— An Explanation of Luther's Small Catechism • Joseph Stump

... as the Sakarran and Sarebus pirates—who had never yet been conquered, although repeatedly attacked by the united forces of the surrounding rajahs—was strongly opposed by the chiefs. On his informing them that he should go, but leaving it optional whether they would accompany him or not, their simple reply was, "What is the use of our remaining? If you die, we die; and if you live, we live; we will go with you." Preparations for the ...
— The Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. Dido - For the Suppression of Piracy • Henry Keppel

... charge of desertion or "herisliz," as refusal to do military service was called, or even of neglect of feudal duties, was ever brought against him. He probably possessed some privilege, like that bestowed on Henry Jasomirgott, rendering it optional with him to accompany the Emperor on expeditions ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume VI. • Various

... Attendance at dancing is optional with that part of the third class called "yearlings," and compulsory for the "Seps," who of course do not become yearlings till the following September. The third class also receive instruction in the duties of a military laboratory, and "target practice." These ...
— Henry Ossian Flipper, The Colored Cadet at West Point • Henry Ossian Flipper

... By Article III of the Concordat, there were to be eight bishops in the Netherlands instead of five. They were to be chosen by the Pope, but the king was to have the right of objection, and they were required to take the oath of allegiance. The course at the Collegium Philosophicum was made optional. William thus yielded on practically all the points at issue, but prided himself on having obtained the right of rejecting a papal nominee. The Pope, however, in an allocution made no mention of this right, ...
— History of Holland • George Edmundson

... way from the central building the chums had been stopped by a number of upper classmen. It was mid-afternoon, an optional study or playtime, and just the hour for brewing mischief. This ...
— Radio Boys Loyalty - Bill Brown Listens In • Wayne Whipple

... a four years course, the same in all respects as the regular course, except that it omits Greek and substitutes instead of it the modern languages and some elective work in science. Previous to 1875 the work of the College was mainly prescribed, with but little opportunity for optional or elective studies. At that time the scope of electives was greatly broadened. There are now eleven full courses of electives open to students. From the middle of the junior year, a very large percentage of the student's work ...
— The New England Magazine, Volume 1, No. 2, February, 1886. - The Bay State Monthly, Volume 4, No. 2, February, 1886. • Various

... balls lifted and divided, we decided what happened underground by detaining a caterpillar on the surface and forcing it to transform before us, for this change is not optional. When the time comes the pupa must evolve. So the caterpillar lies on the earth, gradually growing shorter, the skin appearing dry and the horns drooping. There never is a trace of spinning or acid ejected in the ...
— Moths of the Limberlost • Gene Stratton-Porter

... dubbed the Blue-Stocking Club has never been definitely decided. On the one hand the term is supposed to have originated from the fact that Benjamin Stillingfleet, taking advantage of the rule which stipulated that full dress was optional, always attended in blue worsted instead of black silk stockings. But the other theory derives the name from the fact that the ladies who frequented the gatherings wore "blue stockings as a distinction" in imitation of a fashionable French visitor ...
— Inns and Taverns of Old London • Henry C. Shelley

... Spencer, is not my affair," I said, "since the length of your enforced detention in Dornlitz is optional with yourself." ...
— The Colonel of the Red Huzzars • John Reed Scott

... TONGUE.—If the tongue be a dry one, steep in water all night. Boil it three hours. If you prefer it hot, stick it with cloves. Clear off the scum, and add savory herbs when it has boiled two hours; but this is optional. Rub it over with the yolk of an egg; strew over it bread crumbs; baste it with butter; set it before the fire till it is of a light brown. When you dish it up, pour a little brown gravy, or port wine sauce mixed the same way as for venison. ...
— Burroughs' Encyclopaedia of Astounding Facts and Useful Information, 1889 • Barkham Burroughs

... and object, which he names the Soul and God, are to him beyond the necessity of farther proof, because beyond the reach of it. He might therefore challenge for his conclusions something more than an optional belief. He guards himself, nevertheless, against imposing the verdict of his own experience on any other man: and both the question and the answer into which the poem resolves itself begin for his own spirit and ...
— A Handbook to the Works of Browning (6th ed.) • Mrs. Sutherland Orr

... his time. These stamps the postmasters sold at a little more than the expense of printing. Thus the postmasters of New York and St. Louis charged one dollar for nine ten-cent or eighteen five-cent stamps. This increased the price of postage a trifle: but as the use of the stamps was optional, the burden fell on those willing to bear it, while the convenience was so great that the effort made to have the Post-office Department furnish the stamps and require the people to ...
— A School History of the United States • John Bach McMaster

... search for his sweetheart had made him angry and defiant, declared he would remain at the ball until it was over, and that it should be optional with the king to insult his brother openly, and to punish and humble a prince of his house ...
— Frederick The Great and His Family • L. Muhlbach

... becomes sufficiently populous, the general Government admit it as territory, and appoint an administration. This was the case with Nebraska and Kansas in 1853; and the "Missouri Compromise" (which confined slavery south of the 36 3' parallel of latitude) having been repealed, it became optional with them to adopt slavery or not. Kansas fought barbarously for the dishonourable privilege, and with temporary success: Nebraska has declined the honour as yet. The interests of territories are watched over at Washington by delegates in the House of Representatives, who have ...
— Lands of the Slave and the Free - Cuba, The United States, and Canada • Henry A. Murray

... Reformers, however, distinctly rejected the necessity of the penitents enumerating his individual sins, and the propriety of the minister's prescribing any penance to the penitent. They also distinctly made confession optional with the penitent, and the absolution dependent on his faith; and this purified rite they termed Private Confession, although in some parts of the church it was still called Auricular Confession (Ohrenbeicht). [Note 1] The manner in which ...
— American Lutheranism Vindicated; or, Examination of the Lutheran Symbols, on Certain Disputed Topics • Samuel Simon Schmucker

... that you must be concerned not only about hearing, but also about learning and retaining it in memory, and do not think that it is optional with you or of no great importance, but that it is God's commandment, who will require of you how you have heard, learned, and ...
— The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther

... whether or not Robert Herrick was insane. Sir Thomas Browne always preferred to think that he was; whereas Philip Borsdale perversely considered the answer to be optional. Perversely, Sir Thomas protested, because he said that to believe in Herrick's sanity was not ...
— The Certain Hour • James Branch Cabell

... should await confirmation. I now believe that Yule was correct in his conception, and that, in accordance with his suggestion, Jang indeed represents the phonetically exact transcription of a Tibetan proper name. This is the Tibetan a Jan or a Jans (the prefixed letter a and the optional affix -s being silent, hence pronounced Jang or Djang), of which the following precise definition is given in the Dictionnaire tibetain-latin francais par les Missionnaires Catholiques du Tibet (p. 351): 'Tribus et regionis nomen in N.W. provinciae Sinarum Yun-nan, cuius ...
— The Travels of Marco Polo, Volume 2 • Marco Polo and Rustichello of Pisa

... college, attendance at which is of course optional, affords all the opportunity of gaining a knowledge of the doctrine of the Catholic Church. Affiliated with this church are four flourishing societies, one for the men called the Holy Name Society; one for the women called The Sodality ...
— The Journal of Negro History, Volume 2, 1917 • Various

... in the high school has not yet come into its own, though it is on the road to recognition. All of the newer high schools have gymnasiums, but the children do not use them for more than thirty, forty, or fifty minutes a week. Sometimes the work is optional. The West Technical of Cleveland, with its outdoor basket ball court, its athletic grounds and grandstand, in addition to the indoor gymnasium, offers a good example of effective preparation for physical training. William D. Lewis of the William Penn High School sends all students who ...
— The New Education - A Review of Progressive Educational Movements of the Day (1915) • Scott Nearing

... complete a reaction from our present ideas and methods as to make what are now regarded as mere hobbies the main matter of education, and to relegate much of the present school course, as the writing of verses has already been relegated, to the category of optional side-shows. At any rate these free-time interests can supply a very useful stimulus to much of the routine work. In these a boy may find himself for the first time, and discover, despite his experience in class, that he is no fool. Or at least he may find there a centre ...
— Cambridge Essays on Education • Various

... you a Bill," said the King, sitting down at his typewriting machine, "enacting that women shall vote at all future elections. Shall vote, you observe; or, to put it plainer, must. Voting will remain optional, as before, for male electors; but every woman between the ages of twenty-one and seventy will be obliged to vote, not only at elections for Parliament, county councils, district boards, parish councils, and municipalities, but for coroners, school inspectors, churchwardens, ...
— The Chronicles of Clovis • Saki

... The carbons are such as are ordinarily employed in the construction of galvanic batteries, and can, as well as the wire and binding posts, be procured from any house that deals in telegraph material. Their size is to some extent optional; the dimensions I have given above however answer ...
— The Electric Bath • George M. Schweig

... It is optional with man to obtain spiritual or material manna as it is disseminated throughout existence. To feed on material diet alone, contracts and distorts the circle of the man; but a full comprehension of the needs of the circle, ...
— 10,000 Dreams Interpreted • Gustavus Hindman Miller

... agreeable dissimulation, quite the reverse of genuine form conceived as a necessary relation between the proportions of a figure, having no concern whatever with the notions "agreeable" or "disagreeable," simply because it is necessary and not optional. But even where form is not openly exacted by civilised people, there is no greater evidence of this requisite relation of proportions; a striving after the agreeable dissimulation, already referred to, is on the contrary ...
— Thoughts out of Season (Part One) • Friedrich Nietzsche

... you on another occasion why I make this request. You will possibly set it down as additional evidence of my cold-heartedness. If so you must. Would you also mind writing the business letter on an independent sheet, with a proper beginning and ending? Whether you inclose another sheet is of course optional.—Sincerely yours, PAULA POWER.' ...
— A Laodicean • Thomas Hardy

... distressed that he called out in despair to one of his officers beside him, "What will Nelson think of us?" The poor captain was subsequently killed. There can be no doubt now that the signal 39 was not permissive or optional, nor that Nelson, having the enemy by the throat, refused to let go until he had strangled him, nor that he did dramatically act the blind-eye trick. He deliberately disobeyed orders, and saved England's honour and fleet by doing so. It was ...
— Drake, Nelson and Napoleon • Walter Runciman

... fishermen expected to deal only in your store for their fishing materials and the supplies for their families?-That is quite optional. They can take their supplies from our store; and suppose they take most of them there, because it is more convenient for them than to go ...
— Second Shetland Truck System Report • William Guthrie

... come earlier and more fully to the library, because its educational function is directed so much more upon adults. The library is coming to be our great continuation school—an institution of learning with an infinity of purely optional courses. It may open its doors to any form of ...
— A Librarian's Open Shelf • Arthur E. Bostwick

... schools the subjects of instruction include morals, the Japanese language, arithmetic, Japanese history, geography, science, drawing, singing, and gymnastics, and, in schools for females, sewing. Besides these agriculture, commerce, and manual work, as well as the English language, are optional subjects. The moral lessons taught in these schools, I may remark, are not based upon any particular religious doctrines or dogmas, but are entirely ...
— The Empire of the East • H. B. Montgomery

... ball from passing through the goal assigned to its protection, and equally to try to drive it through the opposite goal. Under no circumstances can the ball be touched during the game, while within the bounds, by the hands of the players. Each player has a racket, the length of which, though optional, is ordinarily from four to five feet. One end of this racket or bat is curved like a shepherd's crook, and from the curved end a thong is carried across to a point on the handle about midway its length. In the space thus enclosed between ...
— Indian Games • Andrew McFarland Davis

... absolute proprietorship he continued his daily trips up the long hill, not only for the purpose of leaving Young Denny's bundle of papers and seed catalogues, but to attend to the stock which the boy had left in his care as well. It never occurred to him that that duty was only optional ...
— Once to Every Man • Larry Evans

... representatives of both sexes at La Ferte Mace were inherently of a strongly devotional nature. And lest the temptation to err in such moments be deprived, through a certain aspect of compulsion, of its complete force, the attendance of such strictly devotional services was made optional. ...
— The Enormous Room • Edward Estlin Cummings

... unfavourable, they still hope that they may be able to keep to their scheme. If the publications of the Society are of sufficient merit, their profits should cover the expenses of an unsalaried staff; and though it shall be optional for their authors to retain a share of such prospective profits, it is hoped that most of those who contribute their work will be willing to allow all the profits to go into the funds of the Society. In the place of a small subscription, which it is as inconvenient regularly to collect ...
— Society for Pure English Tract 1 (Oct 1919) • Society for Pure English

... No, he says Londres. And the same is true with Dover; Dover is not French; The French would be Douvres. However, I want to say this, that after the first three or four years after I took up Esperanto geographical or proper names were left optional and they were not given any particular spelling in the Esperanto language and are not now. Many Esperantists now would say Washington and London. But you can make the change if ...
— Esperanto: Hearings before the Committee on Education • Richard Bartholdt and A. Christen

... relief by agreeing to buy. To meet this practical difficulty Mr. Gerald Balfour, in 1896, permitted the purchaser to write off the amount repaid by sinking fund during the first and two successive periods of ten years. These "decadal reductions" were optional. If the purchaser forewent them he paid L4 per L100, and extinguished his debt in 42-1/2 years. If he availed himself of them he paid L3 8s. 7d. per L100 after the first ten years, and continued to pay, with two further reductions in prospect, till the debt was extinguished ...
— Against Home Rule (1912) - The Case for the Union • Various

... under its more complicated forms. It is in vain to pile detail on detail when the objection is one of first principle. If the above reasoning be sound, compulsory constituencies are necessary, voluntary constituencies destructive; the optional transferability of votes is not a salutary aid, but ...
— The English Constitution • Walter Bagehot

... proclamations, containing any exceptions which might have been made, they were to exhibit it to a magistrate, and, before him, to pledge their faith to each other "in the presence of God, the searcher of hearts." The religious ceremony was optional, the civil necessary for the civil effects of marriage,—See the Journals for the month of ...
— The History of England from the First Invasion by the Romans - to the Accession of King George the Fifth - Volume 8 • John Lingard and Hilaire Belloc

... limitation of armaments, and the exemption from capture of private property at sea. Such also, there is every reason to hope, is the destiny which awaits the still more objectionable proposals for rendering obligatory the resort to arbitration, which by the Convention of 1899 was wisely left optional. ...
— Letters To "The Times" Upon War And Neutrality (1881-1920) • Thomas Erskine Holland

... shows that the Tzar had something akin to second sight when he gave orders that the length of the manoeuvres would be optional. Thanks to this, the Kaiser was free to take home the sooner his pretty jacket (no, his tunic, ...
— The Schemes of the Kaiser • Juliette Adam

... The morning session lasts until twelve o'clock. We have an hour and a quarter for luncheon, and our last recitation for the day is over at half past three o'clock. We have devotional exercises in the chapel on Monday and Friday mornings, and the course in gymnastics is optional. There are, of course, many other things regarding the regulations of the school which you will gradually ...
— Marjorie Dean High School Freshman • Pauline Lester

... involuntary, compulsory, strained, far-fetched. Antonyms: spontaneous, voluntary, discretional, optional, elective. ...
— Putnam's Word Book • Louis A. Flemming

... swabhava or jnanam means (as the commentator explains) whether it is obligatory or optional. Jnanam, of course, means here jnana-janakam, i.e., leading to knowledge. Knowledge is essential to success or emancipation. If acts become necessary for leading to knowledge, the doubt may then arise that they cease to be obligatory, for ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 - Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 • Unknown

... cast iron which have generally been constructed in stone or marble? The answer is obvious: Certainly not, when those features suggest the mass and proportions or treatment proper only for stone or marble; but when they do not so represent the material, it is quite optional for the architect to build up his front with castings, if by so doing he can obtain greater rigidity of bearing, strength, and durability. He ought, of course, to vary the proportions of his pilasters and horizontal lintels, and make them more in accord with the ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 324, March 18, 1882 • Various

... as usual eight men yearly at their own expense to shear corn or cut hay a davoch of ploughing, and four horses for mucking. The above John also obliges himself and his foresaids to attend road duty yearly four days, with all his servants and sub-tenants, or pay a yearly capitation optional to the landlord during this lease under breach of tack, and to sell all the cod and ling that shall be caught by him and his foresaids at the current prices to our order and to dispose of all his marketable cattle to our drover at reasonable rates, also under breach ...
— History Of The Mackenzies • Alexander Mackenzie

... soon. The war is generally regarded as almost over, and candidates for the Military Police Force, which is being organised for the Transvaal and Orange Free State, are being sought for amongst the various Yeomanry Companies out here, the conditions being an optional three months' service, ten shillings a day pay and all found. About fifty of our company have volunteered, and may go into Pretoria any day now. These fifty have been supplied with the best horses we have amongst us, and we have not many ...
— A Yeoman's Letters - Third Edition • P. T. Ross

... assistance of their president, twenty new Unions have been added, making, in all, thirty-seven Unions, with a total membership of about 2,300. Of this number, more than 1,300 are in the City of Montreal. In this particular Union the fee is optional, which may account, in some measure, for ...
— Why and how: a hand-book for the use of the W.C.T. unions in Canada • Addie Chisholm

... optional with you, Major Dabney, whether you sell us our right of way peaceably or compel us to acquire it by condemnation proceedings in the courts. As for the rest—is it possible that you don't know ...
— The Quickening • Francis Lynde

... have done all that you wished (for it is optional), and again played if you can, deal out the remainder of the pack, the cards not suitable for the foundations being placed in ...
— Lady Cadogan's Illustrated Games of Solitaire or Patience - New Revised Edition, including American Games • Adelaide Cadogan

... of boring the ear is very old, mention of it being made in Exodus xxi., 5 and 6, in which we find that if a Hebrew servant served for six years, his freedom was optional, but if he plainly said that he loved his master, and his wife and children, and did not desire to leave their house, the master should bring him before the judges; and according to the passage in Exodus, "he shall also bring him to the door or unto the doorpost, and his master ...
— Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine • George M. Gould

... certain apparent difference between things (though perhaps in itself of little moment) answers to we know not what number of other differences, pervading not only their known properties, but properties yet undiscovered, it is not optional but imperative to recognize this difference as the foundation of a specific distinction; while, on the contrary, differences that are merely finite and determinate, like those designated by the words white, black, or red, may be disregarded ...
— A System Of Logic, Ratiocinative And Inductive • John Stuart Mill

... to threaten disaster. But braver in the hour of despair than ever before, they never faltered or murmured. The trial found them true, I can safely say that the men of my brigade were even more prompt in rendering obedience, more careful in doing their full duty at this time, when it was entirely optional with themselves whether they should go or stay, than they had ever been in the most prosperous days of the Confederacy. To command such men was the proudest honor ...
— History of Morgan's Cavalry • Basil W. Duke

... wanted bristles; and though, between ourselves, we might regard it as a promising face spoilt for a tradition, still discipline was discipline. And so the bristles came, and remained until the happy day when the War Office, at the risk of losing the war, made them optional. Immediately they were uprooted. ...
— The Sunny Side • A. A. Milne

... demonstrated the "illusion of such arbitration" (among others see Le Siecle, October 6th, 1899), the negative effects produced in France by the law on optional arbitration, and in England by the ...
— Boer Politics • Yves Guyot

... a chance of winning it; and all that's open to them, if they've made a bad cast for a mate—and good Lord! how are they to know before it's too late!—they haven't a choice except to play tricks or jump to the deuce or sit and "drape in blight," as Colney has it; though his notion of the optional marriages, broken or renewed every seven years!—if he means it. You never know, with him. It sounds like another squirt of savage ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... Music played on the organ at the beginning and close of Divine Service. Formerly a Voluntary was played after the Psalms, sometimes after the Second Lesson. The name implies that its performance is optional. Lord Bacon approved of Voluntaries as giving ...
— The Church Handy Dictionary • Anonymous

... indispensable movements of the classic or 18th century Suite were the Allemande, the Courante, the Sarabande and the Gigue; and, between the last two, it became customary to insert an optional number of other dances—the most usual being the Gavotte, Bourree, Minuet and Passepied. In effect, the Suite was a kind of "international Potpourri" of the dances most in vogue, and affords us a vivid reflection of the manners and customs of the period. ...
— Music: An Art and a Language • Walter Raymond Spalding

... It was optional with me whether I should walk through one hundred and twenty miles of primeval and most impassable forest, or paddle over an equal number of miles of water. Preferring the latter, as being at once the less disagreeable and more expeditious method, I accordingly, ...
— Hudson Bay • R.M. Ballantyne

... perforce teachers, in which condition they were obliged to remain during the remainder of the year in which they incepted and for a twelvemonth afterwards. In the case of the Non-Regents, who had exceeded this period of probation, lecturing appears to have been optional. The Regent Master was required to devote forty days of his novitiate ...
— The Customs of Old England • F. J. Snell

... Renaissance scholarship was bringing a new knowledge of texts and authors and encouraging a new alertness of mind in approaching texts written in foreign languages. It was now possible, while making faithfulness to source obligatory instead of optional, to put the matter on a reasonable basis. The most vigorous and suggestive comment came from a small number of men of scholarly tastes and of active minds, who brought to the subject both learning and enthusiasm, and who were not content with ...
— Early Theories of Translation • Flora Ross Amos

... officers and clerical staff, and have proved of benefit to the companies themselves. A pension encourages earlier retirement from work, quickens promotion, and vitalises the whole service. On nearly all railways retirement is optional at sixty ...
— Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland • Joseph Tatlow

... reprinting gave me an opportunity to reply to my critics that "political economy, trades unions, insurance companies, and newspapers" were outside the scope of the laws we live under. But I thought that in a new State where the optional duties of the Government are so numerous, it was of great importance for the young citizen to understand economic principles. As conduct is the greater part of life, and morality, not only the bond of social union, but the main source of individual happiness, I took the ethical part of the subject ...
— An Autobiography • Catherine Helen Spence

... obedience to an unperverted appetite? The doctors seem to know little about health; they are not asked to keep us healthy, but only to cure us of disease, and so their studies relate to disease, not health; and dietetics, a science dealing with the very first principles of health, is an optional course in the curriculum ...
— No Animal Food - and Nutrition and Diet with Vegetable Recipes • Rupert H. Wheldon

... pride of science should turn into humility, that it should no longer imagine that it is laying bare the intrinsic nature of things. And the paradoxical result is this: that the forms of science are optional, like various languages or methods of notation. One may be more convenient or subtle than another, according to the place, senses, interests, and scope of the explorer; a reform in science may render the old theories antiquated, ...
— Some Turns of Thought in Modern Philosophy - Five Essays • George Santayana

... although very far from the self-government of the present day, still fostered and respected the dignity of the students. At the beginning of the academic year 1890-1891, attendance at prayers in chapel on Sunday evening and Monday morning was made optional. In this year also, seniors were given "with necessary restrictions, the privilege of leaving college, or the town, at their own discretion, whenever such absence did not take them from their college duties." On September 12, 1893, the ...
— The Story of Wellesley • Florence Converse

... first ages under both forms. The faithful, however, had the privilege of dispensing with the cup and of partaking only of the bread until the time of Pope Gelasius, in the fifth century, when this general, but hitherto optional, practice of receiving under both kinds was enforced as a law for the ...
— The Faith of Our Fathers • James Cardinal Gibbons

... to Chattanooga, and relieve General Rosecrans. You can communicate with Generals Burnside and Sherman by telegraph. A summary of the orders sent to these officers will be sent to you immediately. It is left optional with you to supersede General Rosecrans by General G. H. Thomas or not. Any other changes will be made ...
— Memoirs of Three Civil War Generals, Complete • U. S. Grant, W. T. Sherman, P. H. Sheridan

... child life I will present a brief sketch of some of the Zuni beliefs. There are thirteen secret orders in Zuni, in many of which women and children are conspicuous, besides the purely mythologic order of the K[o]k-k[o]. All boys are initiated into this order, while but few girls enter it. It is optional with a girl; she must never marry if she joins the K[o]k-k[o], and she is not requested to enter this order until she has arrived at such age as to fully understand its ...
— The Religious Life of the Zuni Child - Bureau of American Ethnology • (Mrs.) Tilly E. (Matilda Coxe Evans) Stevenson

... would contain certain absolute excellences of form or feeling which an attentive eye could enjoy at any time. Yet if appended to a structure they have no function in, these excellences will hardly impose themselves on the next builder. Being adventitious they will remain optional, and since fancy is quick, and exotic beauties are many, there will be no end to the variations, in endless directions, which art will undergo. Caprice will follow caprice and no style ...
— The Life of Reason • George Santayana

... of the mandarins understand the real occasion of eclipses, or, at least, they have the sense to perceive that nothing which they can do will have any effect upon the object eclipsed, or the cause which produces the phenomenon; but they have no optional course in regard to the matter. They must comply with established custom, and with the understood will of their superiors. The imperial astronomers, having been taught the principles of astronomy and the ...
— Moon Lore • Timothy Harley

... "There's Traveler's Rest," he said negligently. "Nine hundred for the three dive periods. But Rest is optional, of course. Some passengers prefer the experience of staying awake during a subspace dive." He smiled—rather sadistically, Trigger felt—and added, "Till they've lived through one of them, ...
— Legacy • James H Schmitz

... years of age; universal, compulsory for literate persons ages 18-65, optional for other ...
— The 1996 CIA Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... vengeance. Modern writers [3] have thought that the Roman law started from the blood feud, and all the authorities agree that the German law begun in that way. The feud led to the composition, at first optional, then compulsory, by which the feud was bought off. The gradual encroachment of the composition may be traced in the Anglo-Saxon laws, /1/ and the feud was pretty well broken up, though not extinguished, by the time of William the Conqueror. The killings and ...
— The Common Law • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

... things that we find done by the patriarchs in the Old Testament ought to be free and not forbidden. Circumcision is abolished, but not so that it would be a sin to perform it, but optional, neither sinful nor acceptable.... In like manner it is not forbidden that a man should have more than one wife. Even at the present day I could not prohibit it; but I would not recommend it" (Commentary on Genesis, 1528; see ...
— The History of Freedom • John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton

... letter Cottle says:—"A second edition of Mr. Coleridge's poems being demanded, I was under no obligation, the copyright being mine, in publishing a second edition, to make Mr. Coleridge any payment, alterations or additions being optional with him; but in his circumstances, and to show that my desire was to consider Mr. C. even more than myself, I promised him, on the sale of the second edition of 500, twenty guineas. The following was his reply: (not viewing the ...
— Biographia Epistolaris, Volume 1. • Coleridge, ed. Turnbull

... institution. This was soon taken advantage of by a few individuals who proceeded to conduct private transactions among themselves. Their excuse was that if transactions were merely permitted in the Clearing House it became optional as to whether they should take place there or elsewhere. Within a few days thereafter the Committee amended the ruling by substituting the word "must" for the word "may." The great responsibility attached to promulgating rulings, which ...
— The New York Stock Exchange in the Crisis of 1914 • Henry George Stebbins Noble

... done without the violation of contract. The public debt is represented in great part by bonds having from five to twenty and from ten to forty years to run, bearing interest at the rate of 6 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively. It is optional with the Government to pay these bonds at any period after the expiration of the least time mentioned upon their face. The time has already expired when a great part of them may be taken up, and is rapidly approaching when all may be. It is believed ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Ulysses S. Grant • James D. Richardson

... elaborated substance? If natural, from what source is it derived? If elaborated, in what stomach of the bee is it to be found? How is it administered? What are its constituent principles? Is its existence optional or definite? Whence does it derive its miraculous power of converting a common egg into a royal one? Will any of the aforesaid editors publicly answer these questions? and ought they not to have been able to answer them, before they so unequivocally expressed ...
— Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey-Bee - A Bee Keeper's Manual • L. L. Langstroth

... custom in this country to shake hands on being introduced. It is better that this should be optional with the person to whom you are presented or with you, if you stood in the position of the superior. If a lady or a superior in age or social position offers the hand, you of course accept it cordially. You will have too ...
— How To Behave: A Pocket Manual Of Republican Etiquette, And Guide To Correct Personal Habits • Samuel R Wells

... falsehood. Incidentally, it shows also the sort of discipline on board these ships, the sort of hold kept on the passengers in the face of the unforgiving sea. These people seemed to imagine it an optional matter: whereas the order to leave the ship should be an order of the sternest character, to be obeyed unquestioningly and promptly by every one on board, with men to enforce it at once, and to carry ...
— Notes on Life and Letters • Joseph Conrad

... of saving the lives intrusted to him, he would at once find from his chart and book of instructions the safest and nearest point from which he could obtain the desired assistance. It should be imperative (not optional, as at present) for every vessel to carry a certain number of lifebelts. The cork jacket recommended by the Royal National Institution is by far the best yet introduced, not only on account of its ...
— Saved by the Lifeboat • R.M. Ballantyne



Words linked to "Optional" :   elective, obligatory, ex gratia, facultative, nonmandatory, nonobligatory



Copyright © 2024 Free-Translator.com