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Attempt   /ətˈɛmpt/   Listen
Attempt

noun
1.
Earnest and conscientious activity intended to do or accomplish something.  Synonyms: effort, endeavor, endeavour, try.  "Wished him luck in his endeavor" , "She gave it a good try"
2.
The act of attacking.  Synonym: attack.  "They made an attempt on his life"



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"Attempt" Quotes from Famous Books



... were not in the room. So far from inviting me to speak of my relations, so far from Mr Scott making any inquiries as to my father's position—though he is, nevertheless, as much attached to him as possible—they have met every attempt on my part to talk to them on these subjects with a silence which admits of no other explanation, than that it is not in good taste to say much about these things. They have never once asked after my mother and sister.' We have copied the above, because there is no trace in ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 453 - Volume 18, New Series, September 4, 1852 • Various

... been guilty of marrying a Moslemah. The union was null and void therefore the deliberate murder was neither high nor petty treason. But, The Nights, though their object is to adorn a tale, never deliberately attempt to point a moral and this is one ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 8 • Richard F. Burton

... spectacle—the unfortunate "recruits" being packed so closely together, and at night time the odour from their steaming bodies was absolutely revolting as it ascended from the open hatch, over which stood two sentries on the alert; for sometimes the "blackbirds" would rise and attempt to murder the ship's company. In many cases they did so successfully—especially when the "blackbirds" came from the same island, or group of islands, and spoke the same language. When there were, say, a hundred or two ...
— The Call Of The South - 1908 • Louis Becke

... the rider made no attempt to guide him; he knew Purgatory was alert to any hostile movement on the part of the men who were shooting, and that at the first sign of danger to himself or to his rider he would do what was required ...
— 'Drag' Harlan • Charles Alden Seltzer

... of the Aryans, 1889; Schrader, Sprachvergleichung und Urgeschichte, 1883, and second edition translated into English, with the title Prehistoric Antiquities of the Aryan Peoples, 1890. Schrader's is an epoch-making book. An attempt to defend the older and simpler views is made by Max Mueller, Biographies of Words and the Home of the Aryas, 1888; see also Van den Gheyn, L'origine europeenne des Aryas, 1889. The whole case is well summed up by Isaac Taylor, Origin ...
— The Discovery of America Vol. 1 (of 2) - with some account of Ancient America and the Spanish Conquest • John Fiske

... him to seek safety in sea-room; in which case the position of Bartholomew would be a very critical one. It was while things were at this apparent deadlock that a brave fellow, Pedro Ledesma, offered to attempt to swim through the surf if the boat would take him to the edge of it. Brave Pedro, his offer accepted, makes the attempt; plunges into the boiling surf, and with mighty efforts succeeds in reaching the shore; and after an interval is seen by his comrades, ...
— Christopher Columbus, Complete • Filson Young

... what you can! And if not with us, then You are against us, and will break your neck In vain attempt to ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. VI. • Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke

... found on rich, moist pastures all over the world and they are also very frequently cultivated. They may be collected in almost any locality, but no person who is not perfectly familiar with their characteristics and therefore able to judge the non-poisonous kinds from the poisonous should attempt to gather them. Fresh mushrooms can usually be found in the markets, but as they are expensive, they should be considered a luxury and used only occasionally. Instead, some of the small canned varieties, which are usually satisfactory for most purposes, should be used when ...
— Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 2 - Volume 2: Milk, Butter and Cheese; Eggs; Vegetables • Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences

... by a mass of rags tied upon the feet"; of 34.8 per cent. whose "clothing was insufficient to retain animal heat and needed urgent remedy"; of 45.9 per cent, whose clothing was "poor but passable; an old and perhaps ragged suit, with some attempt at proper underclothing—usually of flannelette"; thus leaving only 12.8 per cent. who could, in the broadest sense, ...
— New Worlds For Old - A Plain Account of Modern Socialism • Herbert George Wells

... melancholy eyes; the younger would fain be merry also, but sadness lurks in their smiles. The children alone yield fully to the excitement and happiness of the hour. As the gifts fall down from above the older ones do not attempt to seize them; the girls and younger women gather what they can and place them carefully in a heap. What the children do not succeed in devouring at once is taken away from them and placed with the rest. They are improving ...
— The Delight Makers • Adolf Bandelier

... said; "he has not. Quite the contrary. Oh, Uncle Gilbert, I must tell you. It's too funny. He warned me in the most solemn way that I wasn't to attempt to make ...
— The Simpkins Plot • George A. Birmingham

... mysterious place. I took a couple of strides forward so as to clear the bisecting tunnel, being terribly afraid lest I should turn up it in the dark if once I got confused as to the direction, and then paused to think. What was I to do? I had no match; it seemed awful to attempt that long journey back through the utter gloom, and yet I could not stand there all night, and, if I did, probably it would not help me much, for in the bowels of the rock it would be as dark at midday as at midnight. I looked back over my shoulder—not a sight ...
— She • H. Rider Haggard

... singularly slack moment in the social life of the City. The Grand Opera had sung itself into a huge deficit and closed. There remained nothing of it except the efforts of a committee of ladies to raise enough money to enable Signor Puffi to leave town, and the generous attempt of another committee to gather funds in order to keep Signor Pasti in the City. Beyond this, opera was dead, though the fact that the deficit was nearly twice as large as it had been the year before showed that public interest in music was increasing. It was indeed ...
— Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich • Stephen Leacock

... the twins Aunt Patsy did attempt a good-night with a gay pretense of hope and cheer in it, but broke ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... left him without intellectual motive. Now that he knew whither his desires and his abilities tended, he was harassed by consciousness of imperfect equipment. Even academically he had not distinguished himself; he had made no attempt at journalism; he had not brought himself into useful contact with any political group. All he could claim for encouragement was a personal something which drew attention, especially the attention of women, in circles of the liberal-minded—that ...
— Our Friend the Charlatan • George Gissing

... you are! Certainly this is your first attempt! What marplot told you that such a thing as you have essayed ...
— The City of Delight - A Love Drama of the Siege and Fall of Jerusalem • Elizabeth Miller

... great Napoleon, in attempting to complete the commercial isolation of England by compelling Russia to close her ports to her, buried herself in snow and ice on the way back from Moscow, and delivered herself up completely a little later at Waterloo. That was the nearest to success of any attempt to break through the doctrine ...
— Germany and the Germans - From an American Point of View (1913) • Price Collier

... the long gun,' observed Francisco; 'it will show our force, and will give no reason for our attempt to escape. Now, if we were to fire our broadside guns, the difference of report between them and the one of large calibre fired by the other schooner would induce them to think that we are ...
— The Pirate and The Three Cutters • Frederick Marryat

... this volume were delivered in Cincinnati, in 1858. Replying to different, and discordant systems of error, whose only bond is opposition to the gospel, they are necessarily somewhat disconnected. No attempt was made to mold them into a suit of royal armor, but merely to select a few smooth pebbles from the brook of truth, which any Christian lad might sling at the giant defiers of the armies of the living God. Having proved ...
— Fables of Infidelity and Facts of Faith - Being an Examination of the Evidences of Infidelity • Robert Patterson

... to me why they were fooled," and the Professor laughed at the situation. They evidently knew that sooner or later the wagon must make its appearance and attempt to ford the stream, and ...
— The Wonder Island Boys: The Tribesmen • Roger Finlay

... no attempt to check him, but drew himself up and stood with folded arms, scowling angrily as Glyn unlocked and carefully emptied drawer after drawer in turn, replacing the contents as he ...
— Glyn Severn's Schooldays • George Manville Fenn

... Virgin of France, is the sole being of her kind who has ever attained full expression in this world. She can neither be classified, as her countrymen love to classify, nor traced to any system of evolution as we all attempt to do nowadays. She is the impossible verified and attained. She is the thing in every race, in every form of humanity, which the dreaming girl, the visionary maid, held in at every turn by innumerable restrictions, her feet bound, her actions restrained, not only by outward ...
— Jeanne d'Arc - Her Life And Death • Mrs.(Margaret) Oliphant

... power of speech. She did not even attempt to look up; she sat pressing her chin with her hand, endeavouring to keep down her heart and to keep steady her quivering lips. Her companion, who in the midst of all her troubles she many times that evening thought was unlike any other person that ever walked, presently ...
— Hills of the Shatemuc • Susan Warner

... the present Biblical text appear to have arisen from the attempt of later tradition to find a place for Aaron in certain incidents. In the account of the contention between Moses and his sister Miriam (Num. xii.), Aaron occupies only a secondary position, and it is very doubtful whether he was originally ...
— Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia

... crazy wouldn't she find you out? Come, my young friend, trust to my experience, and to the interest this attempt to murder you, and your narrow escape, have inspired in me. When I have landed you in the Temple of Health, and just wasted a little advice on a pig-headed patient in the neighborhood (he is the squire of the place), I'll drive back to Hillsborough, and tell your mother ...
— Put Yourself in His Place • Charles Reade

... spectators depart, not merely with the delightful memory of an evening's entertainment, but with their imagination aflame. Furthermore, "Revizor" has that combination of the intensely local element with the universal, so characteristic of works of genius. Its avowed attempt was to satirise local and temporal abuses; but it is impossible to imagine any state of society in the near future where the play will not seem real. If Gogol had done nothing but write the best comedy in the Russian language, he would have ...
— Essays on Russian Novelists • William Lyon Phelps

... resolutions have been adopted at several Russian conventions of physicians to petition for the re-opening of the medical courses for women,—more than a German convention of physicians would do. As yet the attempt ...
— Woman under socialism • August Bebel

... colonial policy that should only have commended itself to a session of Bedlamites, and clamored for a treatment of the colonists that might well have shocked the susceptibilities of a savage. No Virginian planter could be more disdainful of the rights of his slaves, or more resentful at any attempt to assert them, than the average member of Parliament was disdainful of the rights of the American colonists and resentful at their assertion. The English country gentlemen who applauded the ministers and who howled at Burke seemed to be absolutely unconscious that the men of Massachusetts ...
— A History of the Four Georges and of William IV, Volume III (of 4) • Justin McCarthy and Justin Huntly McCarthy

... for this reply, and proceedings were delayed for a moment while the attorneys consulted. On the resumption of my examination, they made a desperate attempt to impeach my character as a witness, trying to show that I had sailed under false pretenses; that I was so feared in the after house that the women refused to allow me below, or to administer to Mr. Turner the remedies I prepared; ...
— The After House • Mary Roberts Rinehart

... of her days wandering about the woods and commons with a book tucked under her arm which she seldom opened. Now and then she tried to sketch, but usually abandoned the attempt in a fit of impatience. How could she hope to reproduce, even faintly, the loveliness around her? It seemed presumption almost to try, and she revelled in idleness instead. The singing of the birds had somehow got into her heart. She could listen to ...
— The Swindler and Other Stories • Ethel M. Dell

... the Guards for their royal master was to save the proud palace of his ancestors; but, alas, the attempt was vain. A storm of balls was poured in upon them from so many sides, that the little presence of mind they had preserved until now, deserted them at this trying moment; and after a few ineffectual discharges, they retreated ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Vol. XIX. No. 532. Saturday, February 4, 1832 • Various

... "Another Attempt has been made from New England to invade this province wch. is also defeated by a detachmt from our Regt & the Marines on board of Captn Hawker. Our Detachmt went on board of him here & he having a Quick passage to the River St John's wch. divides Nova Scotia ...
— An Historical Account of the Settlements of Scotch Highlanders in America • J. P. MacLean

... which Adonis came, the hunters of his train are seen pursuing a wild boar, that tries to escape just by where the Graces and the nimphs are, who, in their fright, attempt to fly from him: but he is already so near them, that they do not know how to avoid him. Adonis runs hastily to pierce the boar with his javelin; but the boar gets him himself down. The hunters arrive at that ...
— A Treatise on the Art of Dancing • Giovanni-Andrea Gallini

... upon a bed of gentians on some sparkling October day, we can but repeat Bryant's thoughts and express them prosaically who attempt description. In dark weather this sunshine lover remains shut, to protect its nectar and pollen from possible showers. An elusive plant is this gentian, which by no means always reappears in the same places year after year, for it is an annual whose ...
— Wild Flowers Worth Knowing • Neltje Blanchan et al

... a sort of half attempt at an apology, "I was afraid the poor, dear Dodo, in his delicate state of health, might come in to breakfast and eat more than was good for him; so, by eating the lot myself, I have prevented him from doing that. He ought to be very grateful to me, ...
— Dick, Marjorie and Fidge - A Search for the Wonderful Dodo • G. E. Farrow

... of the hand, and without further ceremony introduced him into his private room to his family. Mrs. Halcomb, however, the mother-in-law of the lady, having learned what had passed in the morning, and expecting nothing less than a fresh attempt to frustrate the match, no sooner fixed her piercing eyes upon him, after he was seated, than she drew up, and without waiting for any explanation, began to resent the insult which he had offered to her profession. He, however, demanded a parley, and a truce to all hostility, ...
— Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq. Volume 1 • Henry Hunt

... and (as I have been informed by a clergyman of great veracity, who had the account from a creditable eye-witness to the fact) its enemies have a skill imparted to them to counteract this great force. As he was fishing one day, a fisherman observed a lobster attempt to get at an oyster several times, but as soon as the lobster approached, the oyster shut his shell; at length the lobster having awaited with great attention till the oyster opened again, made a shift to throw a stone between the gaping shells, ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 14, No. 384, Saturday, August 8, 1829. • Various

... which he did not disclose to Mr. Titus, that, after all, the somewhat mysterious Senor Pinto might, in some way, be mixed up in the bomb attempt. But a close questioning of the steward on duty near the foreigner's cabin at the time disclosed the fact that Pinto had been ill in ...
— Tom Swift and his Big Tunnel - or, The Hidden City of the Andes • Victor Appleton

... craved for so insistently—the lethargy, to be more accurate—lasted a whole night, and through the next morning also, with uncertain wakings disturbed by terrible sufferings relieved each time by soporifics. No further attempt was made to nurse him to recovery; they tried only to soothe his last moments, to help him to slip painlessly over that terrible last step. His eyes had opened again during this time, but were already dimmed, fixed in the ...
— The Nabob • Alphonse Daudet

... Mrs. LaGrange got possession of them in some way. She has no means of her own to hire that scoundrel, yet the darkey heard her promise to pay him liberally, and you see her very first attempt to pay him was by the sale of some of those jewels. I'll acknowledge I'm not prepared to say how or ...
— That Mainwaring Affair • Maynard Barbour

... is over," said the Abbe Quillet; "the Cure is lost. But listen. God forbid, my son, that I, your old tutor, should seek to assail my own work, and attempt to weaken your faith! Preserve ever and everywhere that simple creed of which your noble family has given you the example, which our fathers possessed in a still higher degree than we, and of which the greatest captains of our time are not ashamed. Always, ...
— Cinq Mars, Complete • Alfred de Vigny

... his youth. The son of that great Gatholian noble who had given his life so gloriously, however futilely, in an attempt to defend Gahan's sire from the daggers of the assassins. Tasor an under-padwar in the guard of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator! It was inconceivable—and yet it was he; there could be no doubt of it. "Tasor," Gahan repeated aloud. "But it is no Manatorian name." ...
— The Chessmen of Mars • Edgar Rice Burroughs

... a closer resemblance to spears than to tools of peaceful agriculture. Supplementing these were others with flattened blades that were neither hoes nor spades, but instead possessed the appearance of an unhappy attempt to combine the ...
— Tarzan the Terrible • Edgar Rice Burroughs

... up a great double handfu' o' sand. It seemed to me that the higher I put the wee ba' to begin with the further I could send it when I hit it. But I was wrong, for my attempt was worse than Mac's. I broke my club, and drove all the sand in his een, and the wee ba' moved ...
— Between You and Me • Sir Harry Lauder

... the campong people had regained sufficient courage to begin dribbling back, to be followed by a few of the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages. But not one of the Malays who followed their Rajahs made their appearance. Consequently there was no attempt made to carry out the sports; but on being consulted, the Major gave orders that the illumination of the boats should be encouraged, and the display of rockets and coloured lights should follow; and as this news gradually spread, some of the nearest village ...
— Trapped by Malays - A Tale of Bayonet and Kris • George Manville Fenn

... of whom at the same instant offer to bet with him on the event of the battle. One of them, a lineal descendant of Filch, taking advantage of his blindness and negligence, endeavours to convey a bank note, deposited in our dignified gambler's hat, to his own pocket. Of this ungentlemanlike attempt his lordship is apprised by a ragged post-boy, and an honest butcher: but he is so much engaged in the pronunciation of those important words, Done! Done! Done! Done! and the arrangement of his bets, that he cannot attend ...
— The Works of William Hogarth: In a Series of Engravings - With Descriptions, and a Comment on Their Moral Tendency • John Trusler

... is that certain beliefs are universal. The conviction of all men that God is good led to a belief in a Devil, the fallen Lucifer or Light-bearer, Shaitan the Adversary, Ahriman and Tuphōn, as an attempt to explain the existence of Evil, and make it consistent with the Infinite Power, Wisdom, ...
— Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry • Albert Pike

... attempt, only half-meant, to turn the topic, she said: "You must be starting if you want to get through to-night. If the redcoats catch you this side of Barfleur Coulee, or in the Coulee itself, you'll stand no chance. I heard they was only thirty ...
— Northern Lights • Gilbert Parker

... rabble of trainers and toadies, illiterate, mean-souled creatures, born to obscurity, should we attempt to dissuade them from such pursuits, our labour would be wasted. Nor can we fairly blame them, for putting up any affront, rather than part with their employers. The life suits them; they are in their element. And ...
— Works, V2 • Lucian of Samosata

... an expression of deep astonishment on the speaker, and thence upon the form of the hitherto scarcely noticed militia officer; who, with his head sunk sullenly upon his chest, and an eye now and then raised stealthily to surrounding objects, made no attempt to refute, or even to express surprise at, the singular accusation of ...
— The Canadian Brothers - or The Prophecy Fulfilled • John Richardson

... of Catharism was its attempt to destroy the future of humanity by its endura, and its abolition of marriage. It taught that the sooner life was destroyed the better. Suicide, instead of being considered a crime, was a means of perfection. To ...
— The Inquisition - A Critical and Historical Study of the Coercive Power of the Church • E. Vacandard

... other books you have taken from my shelves at various times.' Here he produced his list, with the prices all affixed, and a certain small sum added by way of interest. Hereupon Monsieur Y. stormed and raved, swore it was an attempt to extort money from him, and threatened legal proceedings. 'If,' said the dealer, 'you can empty your pockets now without producing any book of mine, except those you have paid for, I will withdraw my claim and apologize, otherwise ...
— The Book-Hunter in London - Historical and Other Studies of Collectors and Collecting • William Roberts

... this in the attempt, now-a-days, to side-track the Negro intellect, and to place it under limitations never laid upon ...
— Civilization the Primal Need of the Race - The American Negro Academy. Occasional Paper No. 3 • Alexander Crummell

... Oil the nozzle with vaselin or sweet oil and then gently put the nozzle into the rectum. It is better to introduce an oiled finger through the sphincter muscle and pass the nozzle along the finger and gently into the bowel. It should be in the bowel two or three inches. Do not attempt to force the nozzle through any obstruction. Introduce the water slowly in a gentle and steady stream. The main object is to distend the rectum by means of the water, thereby producing reflex stimulation. ...
— Mother's Remedies - Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers - of the United States and Canada • T. J. Ritter

... got them running north and south. They ought to go east and west. The sun rises over there, doesn't it?" (Charlie will attempt to deny this, but you must go right on.) "And it comes on up behind that tree and over my roof and sets over there, doesn't it?" (By this time, Charlie will be crying with rage.) "Well, just as soon as your beans get up an inch or two they ...
— Love Conquers All • Robert C. Benchley

... wrote the story of Henny Penny. As Dorothy had sufficient self-confidence and a good memory, she was allowed to choose her part, which was certain to be that of the principal character. Had she not possessed these qualities, she would have been assigned a minor part during the first attempt at dramatizing this story. The teacher wrote "Rooster Pooster" on the black-board. "I should like to be Rooster Pooster", said Albert. "Turkey Lurkey", wrote the teacher. "I'd like to be Turkey Lurkey", said another. In this or some similar way, ...
— Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Literature • Ontario Ministry of Education

... the rags with which they have clothed them, that they are a nation of philosophers; and sometimes, by all the arts of quackish parade, by show, tumult, and bustle, sometimes by the alarms of plots and invasions, they attempt to drown the cries of indigence, and to divert the eyes of the observer from the ruin and wretchedness of the state. A brave people will certainly prefer liberty accompanied with a virtuous poverty to a depraved and wealthy servitude. But before the price ...
— The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. III. (of 12) • Edmund Burke

... fighting, alongside their United Nations allies, because they know, as we do, that the aggression in Korea is part of the attempt of the Russian Communist dictatorship to take over ...
— Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present • Various

... the hydro as it had been merged into a series of sectional groupings. In silence they studied it intently, using all their field lore in an attempt to spot what each one was certain must be there somewhere. But they were all handicapped by their lack of ...
— Plague Ship • Andre Norton

... first two Jilds according to Duncan Forbes' system of transliteration, was made 'under the superintendence of T. W. H. Tolbort,' and published under the editorship of F. Pincott in London, by W. H. Allen and Co. in 1882.[FN5] There has been no attempt to divide this translation into Nights: there are headings to the several tales and nothing more. To supply this want, and also to furnish the public with a translation closer to the original, and one more ...
— Supplemental Nights, Volume 3 • Richard F. Burton

... doing it. I don't say now that I shall write precisely THAT book—I'm merely reading scientific works about the period, just now—but if not that, I shall write some other book. Else how will you get that piano?" he added, with an attempt at ...
— The Damnation of Theron Ware • Harold Frederic

... assented Derrick. "I wish she were also a happy one; but I'm afraid she isn't. There is a kind of mystery about her—but I'm afraid you won't understand from my poor attempt to describe her." ...
— The Woman's Way • Charles Garvice

... on their feet, they were saying good-by, faltering, apologizing, explaining. There was no attempt to pass it off easily. That way lay sacrilege. Jeffrey had not been feeling well, they said. He had become nervous. Back of both their minds was the unexplained horror of that blow—the marvel that there ...
— Tales of the Jazz Age • F. Scott Fitzgerald

... a side street that led into the main square of the town, he found himself opposite the south end of the temple, with its two lofty towers that flanked the richly decorated main entrance. I will not attempt to describe the architecture, for my father could give me little information on this point. He only saw the south front for two or three minutes, and was not impressed by it, save in so far as it was richly ornamented—evidently at great expense—and very large. Even if he had ...
— Erewhon Revisited • Samuel Butler

... fallen from my eyes. And—and as to caring for you, I think I care a great deal. How much, how little, I couldn't say. My heart is almost broken. Lassiter. So now is not a good time to judge of affection. I can still play and be merry with Fay. I can still dream. But when I attempt serious thought I'm dazed. I don't think. I don't care any more. I don't pray!... Think of that, my friend! But in spite of my numb feeling I believe I'll rise out of all this dark agony a better woman, with greater love ...
— Riders of the Purple Sage • Zane Grey

... setter, and he partly expressed his emotion by twisting his body into a fantastic curve and then dancing over the ground with his head and his tail very near to each other. He gave vent to little sobs in a wild attempt to vocally describe his gladness. "Well, 'e was a dreat dod," said Hawker, and the setter, overwhelmed, contorted ...
— The Third Violet • Stephen Crane

... but, perhaps, this is not the first time that these thoughts have troubled you. I have perceived your moments of melancholy, and sometimes I have accused the past as causing your sadness. But, as I was uncertain, I dared not even attempt to combat the sad influence of these remembrances—to show you the uselessness, the injustice of them—for if your grief had arisen from another cause, if the past had been to you what it ought to be, a vain, bad dream, I should risk ...
— Mysteries of Paris, V3 • Eugene Sue

... exclaimed. "No gaiety! No joie de vivre!" He paused, blowing his nose. "Well, this is the last time. I'll never attempt anything of the ...
— The Privet Hedge • J. E. Buckrose

... seemed successful as far as it went. They could not hope to do more than to make it possible for him to sit up in a wheeled chair. The injury had been of such a peculiar character that they were fortunate to accomplish even that much. It would be several weeks before he could attempt it. Jack did not know yet how seriously he had been injured. They were afraid to tell him until he was stronger. The Company was paying all the expenses of his illness, and there was ...
— The Little Colonel's Chum: Mary Ware • Annie Fellows Johnston

... demonstration, that, but for the military preparations on the appointed Sunday night, the attempt would have been made. The ringleaders had actually met for their final arrangements, when, by comparing notes, they found themselves foiled; and within another week they were prisoners on trial. Nevertheless, ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 7, No. 44, June, 1861 • Various

... letter till the next evening. By this time he had come to have a very fair handwriting, so that when the letter was complete it really looked quite creditable, and no one would have suspected that it was Dick's first attempt in this line. Our hero surveyed it with no little complacency. In fact, he felt rather proud of it, since it reminded him of the great progress he had made. He carried it down to the post-office, and deposited it with his own ...
— Ragged Dick - Or, Street Life in New York with the Boot-Blacks • Horatio Alger

... former of these, it will be seen to be an attempt, and an elaborate, pretentious attempt, to outdo certain narratives in the Gospels. ...
— Historical Sketches, Volume I (of 3) • John Henry Newman

... some one would attempt a tragical history of literature, giving the way in which the writers and artists, who form the proudest possession of the various nations which have given them birth, have been treated by them ...
— The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Religion, A Dialogue, Etc. • Arthur Schopenhauer

... deep-rooted than he often imagined. Clarinda was naturally deeply wounded by his marriage, and her reproaches of "villainy" led to a breach which was only gradually bridged. At one time, just before she set out for Jamaica to join her husband in an unsuccessful attempt at a reconciliation, Burns's letters again became frequent, the old fervor reappeared, and a couple of his best songs were produced. But at this time he had the—shall we say reassuring?—belief that he was not ...
— Robert Burns - How To Know Him • William Allan Neilson

... States was the attempt made to settle the long dispute over the fisheries. The Treaty of Washington provided that American fishermen should be freely admitted to the Canadian fisheries, and that Canadians should be permitted to fish on the American ...
— The Land We Live In - The Story of Our Country • Henry Mann

... persons either selected from among them or entirely subservient to their influence. No man, whatever his abilities, could hope to succeed in any profession or calling in Upper Canada if he dared to declare himself in opposition to them. A few made the attempt, and ...
— The Story of the Upper Canada Rebellion, Volume 1 • John Charles Dent

... made no attempt later on in the day to adjust any ill-feeling that may have existed between you and him?' asked the coroner, marking with strange, earnest emphasis every word ...
— The Old Man in the Corner • Baroness Orczy

... for Mathieu, for he knew that the young fellow possessed a quick appreciative mind. Mathieu began to smile, outwardly yielding to this attempt to create a diversion, but determined at heart that he would not leave the place until he had obtained the promise of a new roof. He took hold of a book, clad in a marvellous binding, which Seguin had fetched from a bookcase ...
— Fruitfulness - Fecondite • Emile Zola

... grand scheme and it looked as if there could be no hitch in it. What compunctions the other boys might have felt against the attempt to cause pain to their teacher were forgotten in the excitement ...
— The Jungle Fugitives • Edward S. Ellis

... English king had become the immediate lord of the Scotch nobles, whom he forced to do him homage. He emphasized his claim by carrying off the famous Stone of Scone, upon which the kings of Scotland had been crowned for ages. Continued resistance led Edward to attempt to incorporate Scotland with England in the same way that he had treated Wales. This was the beginning of three hundred years of intermittent war between England and Scotland, which ended only when a Scotch king, James VI, succeeded ...
— An Introduction to the History of Western Europe • James Harvey Robinson

... its men they learn that the "English were settled in the Island Sumatra, at a place called Sillabar; and the first knowledge we had that the English had any settlement on Sumatra was from these." [24] An attempt there to investigate a Malayan vessel ends fatally for a number of the English; for the Malays, thinking them to be pirates, set upon the boarding party, and kill a number of them. At that island also the surgeon, Herman Coppinger, attempts ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898—Volume 39 of 55 • Various

... parts of the body, or a warming-pan wrapped in flannel gently moved along the back. A warm bath, gradually increased to seventy-five degrees, would be highly proper; or the body may be carried to a brewhouse, and covered up with warm grains for an hour or two. An attempt should be made to inflate the lungs, either by the help of a pair of bellows, or a person's blowing with his mouth through the nostril, which in the first instance is much better. If the patient be very young, or the animation do not appear altogether suspended, he may be placed in bed ...
— The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, • Mary Eaton

... ushered, contained works in bronze. They were all small, and chosen with regard to their artistical value. Some by John of Bologna were exceedingly fine, as was also a group in iron, cut out of a single block; perhaps the only successful attempt in this branch. The next room contained statues, and vases covered with reliefs, in ivory. The most remarkable work was the fall of Lucifer and his angels, containing ninety-two figures in all, carved out of a single piece of ivory ...
— Views a-foot • J. Bayard Taylor

... resort to divorce, except in the case of open and flagrant immorality on the part of a wife. "They are not strict," Mr. Low writes, [398] "in the matter of sexual offences within the caste, though they bitterly resent and if able heavily avenge any attempt on the virtue of their women by an outsider. The men of the caste are on the other hand somewhat notorious for the freedom with which they enter into relations with the women of other castes." They not infrequently have Gond and Ahir ...
— The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India - Volume IV of IV - Kumhar-Yemkala • R.V. Russell

... laughed at the idea that Eva would even listen to her. But Dora was clever and conceited and in the end she agreed that at least she would make the attempt. ...
— The Master Mystery • Arthur B. Reeve and John W. Grey

... saw that he could not enforce the Stamp Act, and that serious trouble was likely to occur from every attempt to do so, he repealed the act, the year after it had ...
— The Story of Manhattan • Charles Hemstreet

... his finished sentences. We have known "old stagers," in the newspaporial line, veteran reporters, so dumbfounded and confounded by the first fire of Ralph, and his grand and lofty acrobating in elocution, that they up, seized their hat and paper, and sloped, horrified at the prospect of an attempt ...
— The Humors of Falconbridge - A Collection of Humorous and Every Day Scenes • Jonathan F. Kelley

... not attempt to decide between the merits of the diametrically opposed schools of thought represented by Mr. Spence and Mr. Barr. I was sensible enough to understand that long study and reflection would be requisite to qualify me to take sides intelligently. ...
— A Romantic Young Lady • Robert Grant

... hardly left healthy men enough to bury the dead. Several of the French Catholics under his command, also, deserted to James, who, from his head-quarters at Drogheda, offered every inducement to the deserters. Others discovered in the attempt were tried and hanged, and others, still suspected of similar designs, were marched down to Carlingford, and shipped for England. In November, James returned from Drogheda to Dublin, much elated that Duke Schomberg, whose fatal camp at Dundalk he had in vain attempted ...
— A Popular History of Ireland - From the earliest period to the emancipation of the Catholics • Thomas D'Arcy McGee

... be admitted that he made matters worse by his own bursts of passion. His was not the temper to turn the other cheek; but, brave and spirited as he was, he felt how utterly hopeless would be any attempt on his part to repel force by force. He would have tried some slight conciliation, but it was really impossible with such a boy as his enemy. Barker never gave him even so much as an indifferent ...
— Eric • Frederic William Farrar

... oblige Ladywell a second time with any attempt at appreciation; but a weird silence ensued, during which the smile upon Ladywell's face became frozen to ...
— The Hand of Ethelberta • Thomas Hardy

... he attempt to see her again, to get any other advantage over her from the power he possessed in the knowledge of ...
— Her Mother's Secret • Emma D. E. N. Southworth

... evident that even this elementary knowledge cannot be given in the earliest years of the education of girls, and that it is only possible to attempt it in schools and school-rooms where they can be kept on for a longer time of study. Every year that can be added to the usual course is of better value, and more appreciated, except by those who are restless to come out as soon ...
— The Education of Catholic Girls • Janet Erskine Stuart

... magistrates had left the Public Office, the Bull Ring was very full, but nearly all who were there seemed present from motives of curiosity only. They were so orderly that no attempt was made to disperse them. The crowd became so dense that the shops were closed in apprehension that the windows might be accidentally broken by the pressure. About eight o'clock, however, a cry was raised, and an organised gang, many hundreds in number, armed with bludgeons, bars of iron, ...
— Personal Recollections of Birmingham and Birmingham Men • E. Edwards

... easier than to kill him, madame," said the porter. Indeed, finding himself pursued, and conscious probably that it would be useless to attempt an open resistance, Spoil-sport fled from the court-yard into the street; but once there, he felt himself, as it were, upon neutral ground, and notwithstanding all the threats of Nicholas, refused to withdraw an inch further than just sufficient ...
— The Wandering Jew, Complete • Eugene Sue

... enemies." Even the remarkable brevity of this utterance points back to the blessing of Jacob. With this brevity, the length of the blessing upon Levi, who had been treated too summarily by Jacob, forms a striking contrast. In the case of Reuben also, the attempt to pour oil into the wounds then inflicted is visible. The whole announcement is based upon the supposition that Judah is the fore-champion of Israel; and this supposition refers us back to Gen. xlix. This appears ...
— Christology of the Old Testament: And a Commentary on the Messianic Predictions, v. 1 • Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg

... the attempt to find out, was wreaked upon Michael. They tried him at hurdle-jumping, at walking on forelegs, at pony-riding, at forward flips, and at clowning with other dogs. They tried him at waltzing, all his legs cord-fastened and dragged and jerked and slacked under him. They spiked his collar ...
— Michael, Brother of Jerry • Jack London

... had thought to be his wrath deserted him before Prentiss's fury. He stooped to obey the order but the hatred remained on his face and when the hatchet was in his hands he made a last attempt ...
— Space Prison • Tom Godwin

... revolutionary tribunal; seventy-three others, who have signed secret protests against the 31st of May and 2nd of June, are to be put in jail. No arguing! the majority dares not even express an opinion. Some of the proscribed attempt to exculpate themselves, but they are not allowed to be heard; none but the Montagnards have the floor, and they do no more than add to the lists, each according to personal enmity; Levasseur has Vigee put ...
— The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 4 (of 6) - The French Revolution, Volume 3 (of 3) • Hippolyte A. Taine

... that we cannot untangle," said Cicely. "Let us betray no one, but put our trust in God. I am sure," she added, "that God will help us as He did when Mother Megges would have murdered my boy. I shall not attempt to defend myself by wronging others. I ...
— The Lady Of Blossholme • H. Rider Haggard

... first three replies were as follows, in the following order, and these were not improved on later, without suggestion: "It tells about discovery." "It tells about the language in Mexico." "It tells about what are nations." This was their first attempt at such work, and it met with meager success. The heading in the text seemed to give them no aid whatever, which was sufficient proof of ...
— How To Study and Teaching How To Study • F. M. McMurry

... Dniester. Von Mackensen had meanwhile concentrated a new series of heavy batteries around Jaroslav and formed a new "phalanx" (with reenforcements) west of the San between Piskorovice and Radymno. Another attempt was preparing to break ...
— The Story of the Great War, Volume III (of VIII) - History of the European War from Official Sources • Various

... my innocence, which I undertake to give you." I waited for a moment, but she maintained an altogether obstinate silence. "Very well," I resumed, "that is understood so far. You conceive it your duty to separate Violet and myself, and to attempt to widen any possible separation between us by suppressing my letters to her and hers to me. You must permit me to point out to you that you are adopting a very dangerous course, and I must warn you that I shall do my best to frustrate a design which seems to me so ureasonable and so cruel that I ...
— In Direst Peril • David Christie Murray

... DEARTH (in a hopeless attempt at self-defence). I want you, you see, to do everything exquisitely. I do wish I could leave you to do things a little more for yourself. I suppose it's owing to my having had to be father and mother both. I knew nothing ...
— Dear Brutus • J. M. Barrie

... all attempt to combat this conclusion. He ate his toast with an extremely thoughtful face for some ...
— Wych Hazel • Susan and Anna Warner

... he uses its protection to attempt to resume his estates. They are in commission; and he may have them; though not, as he thinks, with men and women as part of his chattels. ...
— The Hour and the Man - An Historical Romance • Harriet Martineau

... commencing the descent, she would infallibly sweep them all down in a mass, and cram them into the cook's pantry, the door of which stood wickedly open at the foot of the stair, as if it anticipated some such catastrophe. Such pushing, squeezing, laughing, shrieking, and joking, in the vain attempt made to get upwards of thirty people crammed into a room of twelve feet by ten! Such droll and cutting remarks as were made when they were at last requested to sup in detachments! All this, however, was nothing to what ensued after supper, when ...
— Hudson Bay • R.M. Ballantyne

... go out in half an hour. I could not get away sooner to tell you." Mary French breathed heavily from running. "When the steamboat came in the captain sent for my husband, as the captains always do. I went with him: he knows how I dread to have him go alone upon a boat since an attempt was made last year to kidnap him. But this time there was another reason, for I have been watching. And sure enough, a young man was on the steamboat inquiring where he could find you. His name is James Arnold. The captain ...
— The King Of Beaver, and Beaver Lights - From "Mackinac And Lake Stories", 1899 • Mary Hartwell Catherwood

... Australia to Ireland just to serve as a travelling relief-fund—he is made to fall in love with one of the Adair girls. And that's almost the whole story. One may always trust Mrs. HINKSON to get her atmosphere right; but she is not so happy in her attempt to contrast the preternaturally unselfish Darling who, like an earlier Mr. Darling, would have been content to live in a kennel) with the inordinately self-indulgent ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 156, June 25, 1919 • Various

... subscription with a timid air, and begs a little more regularity, if possible, in the forwarding of the paper. There is a faith that nothing shakes. So, when one of these innocents falls among our hungry band, it is something terrible. He is surrounded, hemmed in, an attempt is made to secure his name for one of our lists, and, in case of resistance, if he wishes to subscribe neither to the Paoli monument nor to Corsican railways, these gentlemen deal him what they call—my ...
— The Nabob • Alphonse Daudet

... heart beat quicker, but she made no attempt to stand in their way, feeling secretly proud of their eagerness, and the two brothers parted outside the Strand Tube, having arranged to meet at a certain well-known restaurant at a given time. It was easier to get into the War Office than to get ...
— With Haig on the Somme • D. H. Parry

... troika with three really good horses, which get over the ground at the rate of twelve miles an hour, is a pretty sight to witness, particularly if the team has been properly trained, and the outside animals never attempt to break into a trot, while the one in the shafts steps forward with high action; but the constrained position in which the horses are kept must be highly uncomfortable to them, and one not calculated to enable a driver to get as ...
— Russia - As Seen and Described by Famous Writers • Various

... aserti, konstati. assign : asigni. assure : certigi; asekuri. astonish : mirigi. ("to be -ed"), miri. astringent : adstringa. astute : sagaca. asylum : rifugxejo, azilo. athletic : atleta. atmosphere : atmosfero. atom : atomo. attach : alligi, kunigi. attain : atingi, trafi. attempt : provi; (criminal) atenco. attention : atento, ("pay"—) atenti. attitude : sintenado. attract : altiri, logi. auction : auxkcio. audit : kontkontroli. author : auxtoro. authority : rajto, auxtoritato. avalanche ...
— The Esperanto Teacher - A Simple Course for Non-Grammarians • Helen Fryer

... his face with critical kindness. She noticed the constant attempt to cough, and the painful catching of the breath which ...
— The Heavenly Twins • Madame Sarah Grand

... that the prize would be his who first seized it. Instantly he set his veterans in motion and was soon at Rome. The praetorians were no match for the trained legionaries of the frontiers, and did not even attempt to defend their emperor, who was taken prisoner and put to death after a reign of sixty-five days. REIGN OF SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS (A.D. 193-211).—One of the first acts of Severus was to organize a new body-guard of 50,000 legionaries, to take the place of the unworthy praetorians, whom, as a punishment ...
— A General History for Colleges and High Schools • P. V. N. Myers

... was in plain English, at last, that underlying secret thing which he had known yet dreaded to know. It begot in him an immense regret and inevitable repulsion at admitted wrongdoing. He made no attempt to juggle with the meaning of her words. Yet, along with them, came a feeling of gladness that Poppy St. John would remain Poppy St. John still; and a movement of hope—intimate and very tender—since in this tragic hour of her history she had come directly ...
— The Far Horizon • Lucas Malet

... with Sulpicius Gallus. By Thessaly he went to Delphos, thence to Megaris, Aulis, Athens, Argos, Lacedaemon, Megalopolis, &c. He took great content, exceeding delight in that his voyage, as who doth not that shall attempt the like, though his travel be ad jactationem magis quam ad usum reipub. (as [3197]one well observes) to crack, gaze, see fine sights and fashions, spend time, rather than for his own or public good? (as it is to many gallants that travel out their best days, together with ...
— The Anatomy of Melancholy • Democritus Junior

... treatises which they have left in crabbed Latin and involved methods of argument make wearisome and irritating reading. Most are exceedingly prolix. After pages of profound disquisitions, the conclusions reached seem to have advanced the problem no further. Yet the gist of the whole is certainly an attempt to deny to any Christian the right to temporal possessions. Michael of Cesena, the most logical and most effective of the whole group, who eventually became the Minister-General of this portion of the Order, does not hesitate to affirm the incompatibility ...
— Mediaeval Socialism • Bede Jarrett

... his testimony, had finished recounting, not only what he had seen of the quarrel and the subsequent shooting, but also a detailed account of the trial, the adverse influences brought to bear on the prosecution, and his investigations into the question of "undue influence." No attempt was made to confine the investigation to ...
— The Gray Dawn • Stewart Edward White

... wrote. It would have been idle for him to have denied that atrocities had been committed, nor had the day for a panegyric on Danton, for a defence of Robespierre, yet dawned. Mignet did not attempt the impossible. Rather by granting the case for his opponents he sought to controvert them the more effectively. He laid down as his fundamental thesis that the Revolution was inevitable. It was the outcome of the past history of France; it pursued the ...
— History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814 • F. A. M. Mignet

... this defense now seems quite unnecessary. After all, the best refutation of the charge lay in Douglas's reputation for courageous and manly conduct. He was true to himself when he said, "The dodging of votes—the attempt to avoid responsibility—is no part of my system of ...
— Stephen A. Douglas - A Study in American Politics • Allen Johnson

... or has had tuberculosis or any other serious chronic disease, or is herself in very delicate health, she should not try. She is likely soon to fail in nourishing her child, and the attempt may do herself much harm as well as injure ...
— The Care and Feeding of Children - A Catechism for the Use of Mothers and Children's Nurses • L. Emmett Holt

... Frank, my son, I hope thee will not attempt to drink from a dirty pool because a pure stream flows ...
— Autographs for Freedom, Volume 2 (of 2) (1854) • Various

... defence," Sir Henry reminded him suavely. "I gather that not only had you the effrontery to steal a chart from my pocket in the midst of a life struggle upon the trawler, but you have capped this exploit with a deliberate attempt to abduct ...
— The Zeppelin's Passenger • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... want of a more exact name, as the form, perhaps substance, does not justify it. The music and prefaces were intended to be printed together, but as it was found that this would make a cumbersome volume they are separate. The whole is an attempt to present [one person's] impression of the spirit of transcendentalism that is associated in the minds of many with Concord, Mass., of over a half century ago. This is undertaken in impressionistic pictures ...
— Essays Before a Sonata • Charles Ives

... Luther, Lessing, Schiller, and Goethe. This, however, is no reason why the dialects, whether of Low or High German, should be despised or banished. Dialects are everywhere the natural feeders of literary languages; and an attempt to destroy them, if it could succeed, would be like shutting up the ...
— Chips From A German Workshop. Vol. III. • F. Max Mueller

... wishes of Congress, an attempt was made in the spring to terminate the Florida war by negotiation. It is to be regretted that these humane intentions should have been frustrated and that the effort to bring these unhappy difficulties to a satisfactory conclusion should have failed; ...
— Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present • Various

... dear," said Bryan, "we didn't attempt to stop or prevent you, and I hope you'll be something calm and come away for ...
— The Emigrants Of Ahadarra - The Works of William Carleton, Volume Two • William Carleton

... attempt," replied the lad, coolly. "It was the merest chance-work in the world that ...
— The Baronet's Bride • May Agnes Fleming

... comfortable shelter and warmth and protect us from the elements and from wild animals. But the protection has been overdone. Like his cousin, the anthropoid ape, man is biologically an outdoor animal. His attempt at indoor living has worked him woe, but so gradually and subtly has it done so that only recently have we come to realize the fact. At first, dwellings were really outdoor affairs, caves, lean-tos, tents, huts with holes in the roof and the walls. These holes ...
— How to Live - Rules for Healthful Living Based on Modern Science • Irving Fisher and Eugene Fisk

... Neefit welcomed him with almost boisterous hospitality. Mrs. Neefit merely curtseyed and bobbed at him. Polly smiled, and shook hands with him, and told him that he was welcome;—but even Polly was a little beside herself. Ontario Moggs stood bolt upright and made him a low bow, but did not attempt ...
— Ralph the Heir • Anthony Trollope

... the first place, to contravene the Verrazzano letter as to the limits of the discovery, both north and south, and to indicate merely an attempt to reconcile that discovery generally with the discoveries of the Spaniards, Bretons and Portuguese, as shown on the maps of the period to which it relates. The coast of North America is laid down continuously from the gulf of Mexico to Davis straits, in latitude 60 Degrees N. ...
— The Voyage of Verrazzano • Henry C. Murphy



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