"Peevishly" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... paper very peevishly, and was about to crumple it, apparently to throw it in the fire, when a casual glance at the design seemed suddenly to rivet his attention. In an instant his face grew violently red—in another as excessively pale. For some minutes he continued ...
— The Short-story • William Patterson Atkinson
... Travers, peevishly; "it is Cecilia. Don't you understand that George is precisely the husband I would choose for her; and this morning came a very well written manly letter from him, asking my permission to pay his addresses ...
— Kenelm Chillingly, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... little peevishly, "the one I came to, then. It was this: that if we could find to whom Eleanore Leavenworth felt she owed her best duty and love, we should discover the ...
— The Leavenworth Case • Anna Katharine Green
... Bestwood the miners tramped, wet and grey and dirty, but their red mouths talking with animation. Morel also walked with a gang, but he said nothing. He frowned peevishly as he went. Many men passed into the Prince of Wales or into Ellen's. Morel, feeling sufficiently disagreeable to resist temptation, trudged along under the dripping trees that overhung the park wall, and down ...
— Sons and Lovers • David Herbert Lawrence
... nervous in my life, and I don't know what to do; everything I did to please him seemed only to make him more miserable. I wanted him to be happy with me; I wanted him to stay with me." And she walked away frowning, and seated herself at the piano and began peevishly striking at the keys. "I am going to write to him and tell him that he must get over that dreadfulness," she muttered after a while, "and come back and be friends with me. Oakdale will be too stupid without him all summer, and I should ...
— King Midas • Upton Sinclair
... Hermit's cabin, probably with a view to a meal of fat chicken, advanced with its usual air of owning the earth. This time the porcupine did not dispute the passage. Instead, he curled up and dropped to the ground, whence he proceeded on his way, complaining peevishly to himself. ...
— Followers of the Trail • Zoe Meyer
... all, a fellow didn't have to journey up and down the land to find material for a story. There was plenty of material right where he was. All he had to do was to stop, look, and listen. "Hang the story!" he exclaimed peevishly. "I'll just go out and live—and then write ...
— Partners of Chance • Henry Herbert Knibbs
... those good people laughing at over there? There's no sign of brooding melancholy down in your corner," shouted Mme. Verdurin. "You don't suppose I find it very amusing to be stuck up here by myself on the stool of repentance," she went on peevishly, like a spoiled child. ...
— Swann's Way - (vol. 1 of Remembrance of Things Past) • Marcel Proust
... more than I like," returned the old woman peevishly, "and, perhaps, when you come to my age, young man, and have got the palsy, you'll ...
— The Hot Swamp • R.M. Ballantyne
... tinkling with a mirth as of some reckless sport; a mirth mildly reflected by her companion and which, for Hugh, suddenly shed a ludicrous light on every one: on himself and Basile; on the pallid Lucian as he peevishly, vainly, ordered Ramsey off the scene; on Julian as he posed in a tragical disdain more theatrical than the actor's—who also saw the game; on the captain's dumfounded young folk; on the senator, the general, and the Californian, standing agaze, ...
— Gideon's Band - A Tale of the Mississippi • George W. Cable
... were unwilling to break in upon Mr. Shenstone's retirement on every occasion, and therefore often went to the principal points of view, without waiting for anyone to conduct them regularly through the whole walks. Of this Mr. Shenstone would sometimes peevishly complain." ...
— A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century • Henry A. Beers
... guidance, receives it and subsides into his chair. That's just the trouble, he thinks rather peevishly—if only Mrs. Ellicott would stop acting as if he were a guest—and not exactly a guest by choice at that but one who must be the more scrupulously entertained in public, the less he is liked ...
— Young People's Pride • Stephen Vincent Benet
... libitum, she could not entertain the child long on a stretch. Too young to be reasonable, Sidney could not, or would not, comprehend why his brother was so long away from him; and once he said, peevishly,— ...
— Night and Morning, Volume 2 • Edward Bulwer Lytton
... MAN kept me in?" she went on peevishly. "Haven't you sense enough to know that he suspects something, and follows me everywhere, dogging my footsteps every time the post comes in, and even going to the post-office himself, to make sure that he sees all ...
— Openings in the Old Trail • Bret Harte
... toe, and it will forgive anything rather than a provincial accent. It lives entirely in the surfaces of things, and, as the surface of life is frequently rough and prickly, it is frequently uncomfortable. At such times it peevishly darts out its little sting, like a young snake angry with a farmer's boot. It is amusing to watch it venting its spleen in papers the bourgeois never read, in pictures they don't trouble to understand. John Bull's indifference to the 'new' criticism is one of the most pleasing ...
— Prose Fancies • Richard Le Gallienne
... said Bracy peevishly, "we have no gunners and no howitzers; and if we had, how could they be ...
— Fix Bay'nets - The Regiment in the Hills • George Manville Fenn
... his clothes torn, as he did the last time he fought!" exclaimed Lady Augusta, in consternation. "I think no one ever had such a set of children as mine!" she peevishly continued. "The boys boisterous as so many wild animals, and the girls enough to drive one crazy, with their idle, disobedient ways. Look at this room, William! encumbered from one end to the other! things thrown out of ...
— The Channings • Mrs. Henry Wood
... length she observed, in the middle of the room, a straying sparkle of light, that threw itself over and over like a tumbler, tittering, at the same time, like a human being. Swanhilda for a while kept herself quiet; but as the luminous antic ceased not practising his harlequinade, she peevishly exclaimed—'What buffoon is carrying on his fooleries here? I desire to be left in peace.' The light vanished instantly, and Swanhilda already had congratulated herself upon gaining her point, when suddenly a loud shrilly sound was heard—the floor of the ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXLV. July, 1844. Vol. LVI. • Various
... where the rainbow touches the ground, they used to announce at times, in language which terrified old Mr. Leigh. One day, indeed, as Eustace entered his father's private room, after his usual visit to the mill, he could hear voices high in dispute; Parsons as usual, blustering; Mr. Leigh peevishly deprecating, and Campian, who was really the sweetest-natured of men, trying to pour oil on the troubled waters. Whereat Eustace (for the good of the cause, of course) ...
— Westward Ho! • Charles Kingsley
... and Stuyvesant turned wistfully to greet Miss Ray. She was already beyond reach of his voice, leaning on Sandy's arm and gazing steadfastly into his face. He saw Mrs. Dr. Wells coming swiftly towards him with inquiry in her eyes, and impulsively, peevishly, and in disappointment he turned again his face to the wall, as it were. At least that was not the Red Cross nurse he longed for, good and sympathetic and wise in her way ...
— Ray's Daughter - A Story of Manila • Charles King
... brute, mean-hearted enough to be pleased at what has happened," I thought peevishly. Later I learned how wide of the mark my interpretation of that ...
— The Pirate of Panama - A Tale of the Fight for Buried Treasure • William MacLeod Raine
... the word concurro to his amanuensis, the scribe, imagining from the sound that the six first letters would give the translation of the verb, said "Concur, sir, I suppose?'' to which the Doctor peevishly replied, "Concur—condog!'' and in the edition of 1678 "condog'' is printed as one interpretation of concurro. Now, an answer to this story is that, however odd a word "condog'' may appear, it will be found in Henry Cockeram's ...
— Literary Blunders • Henry B. Wheatley
... snapped out Stoddard peevishly, "but I'll give you twenty million dollars for your hundred thousand ...
— Rimrock Jones • Dane Coolidge
... stairs to the blind lady's room, and told her I was in great uneasiness, for Dr. Johnson had engaged to me to dine this day at Mr. Dilly's, but that he had told me he had forgotten his engagement, and had ordered dinner at home. "Yes, Sir," said she, pretty peevishly, "Dr. Johnson is to dine at home." "Madam," said I, "his respect for you is such, that I know he will not leave you, unless you absolutely desire it. But as you have so much of his company, I hope you will be good enough to forego it for a day, as Mr. Dilly is a very worthy man, has ...
— The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886 • Ministry of Education
... if these reflections be taken as a criticism of Germany. This situation involves Germany in censure no more than other nations. It is only that Germany shows herself to be somewhat childish and peevishly provincial, in girding at an unchangeable situation, either in South America or ...
— Germany and the Germans - From an American Point of View (1913) • Price Collier
... tell you," said Mr. Heron, almost peevishly. "Family affairs, he said. And now he has gone to South America. I don't understand it ...
— Under False Pretences - A Novel • Adeline Sergeant
... about your pulse," he replied somewhat peevishly. "I'm taking care of this." It seemed to me from the tone of his voice that he implied I was talking about something that was none of my business and I had the distinct conviction that if the proceedings were anybody's business, ...
— "And they thought we wouldn't fight" • Floyd Gibbons
... been butting into your affairs now?" demanded Nolan peevishly, and though the girls laughed, there was no laughter in his eyes and no smile ...
— Eve to the Rescue • Ethel Hueston
... peevishly exclaimed "OLD CONNECTICUT." "It would serve you right if they bayonetted you;" and she added emphasis to her expostulation by planting her chignon between ...
— Punchinello, Volume 2, No. 37, December 10, 1870 • Various
... addressed, one of the most important in the household, though the least troublesome inasmuch as he had ceased to bark and left the talking to his mistress, turned his little eyes, sunk in rolls of fat, upon Birotteau. Then he closed them peevishly. To explain the misery of the poor vicar it should be said that being endowed by nature with an empty and sonorous loquacity, like the resounding of a football, he was in the habit of asserting, without any medical reason to back him, that speech favored digestion. ...
— The Vicar of Tours • Honore de Balzac
... funny," said the thin Santa Claus peevishly. "Mebby you noticed I didn't say nothing when you spoke about that padlock being busted? Mebby you noticed how careful I looked over your chicken coop, and how I looked over the fence into the next yard? Well, I won't fool you. I ain't no chicken-yard ...
— The Thin Santa Claus - The Chicken Yard That Was a Christmas Stocking • Ellis Parker Butler
... father in some other form—in that (pointing at her dress) he will not know you. Reflect upon him, too, in your moments of dissipation, and let his idea controul your indiscretions—not merely in an hour of contradiction call peevishly upon his name, only to wound the ...
— A Simple Story • Mrs. Inchbald
... got something else worse than that in his head," Pyotr Stepanovitch muttered peevishly, uneasily watching the turn the conversation had taken and ...
— The Possessed - or, The Devils • Fyodor Dostoyevsky
... he, a little peevishly; "for Heaven's sake change not your posture—'twas perfect. See, ...
— The Cloister and the Hearth • Charles Reade
... he dived at P. Sybarite; who, having bounced up from a supine to a sitting position, promptly and peevishly swore, rolled to one side (barely eluding clutches that meant to him all those frightful and humiliating consequences that arrest means to the average man) ...
— The Day of Days - An Extravaganza • Louis Joseph Vance
... shuffling boots and ragged clothes had only made the more impressive—merely because they persisted in endless procession through his brain, while he rolled and tossed and re-arranged the pillow, he had grown more and more peevishly eager to discount and discredit them, during the darkness. But when morning came, and he rose and went into the big guest room to find it empty, he experienced a moment of panicky disappointment; suddenly anxious for another ...
— Then I'll Come Back to You • Larry Evans
... you looking for, Jim?" suddenly and peevishly demanded the man in the soiled white duck, as though ...
— Never-Fail Blake • Arthur Stringer
... Coach was by my Desire ordered for an Airing, which we took in it. A long Silence prevailed on both Sides, tho' he constantly squeezed my Hand, and kissed me, and used other Familiarities, which I peevishly permitted. At last, I opened my Mouth first.—And so, says I, you are sorry you are married;—Pray, my Dear, says he, forget what I said in a Passion. Passion, says I, is apter to discover our Thoughts ...
— An Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews • Conny Keyber
... very deuce!" he went on peevishly. "We've been trying our utmost to keep it secret. Unless we're quick, there'll be a rush of adventurers from all parts of the world before we can secure the options. Happily the despatch is vague. They don't know all the facts. If they did——" Lowering his ...
— The Mask - A Story of Love and Adventure • Arthur Hornblow
... locked, but it was clear that the puddin'-thieves were inside, because they heard the Possum say peevishly, "You're eating too much, and here's me, most severely singed, not getting sufficient," and the Wombat was heard to say "What you want is soap," but the Possum said angrily, "What I need is immense quantities ...
— The Magic Pudding • Norman Lindsay
... half-naked figures. All were looking up, and saying, in pleading monotone: "Is that you, doctor?" Men with their arms in slings went restlessly up and down, smarting with fever. Those who were wounded in the lower extremities, body, or head, lay upon their backs, tossing even in sleep. They listened peevishly to the wind whistling through the chinks of the barn. They followed one with their rolling eyes. They turned away from the lantern, for it seemed to sear them. Soldiers sat by the severely wounded, laving their sores with water. ...
— Campaigns of a Non-Combatant, - and His Romaunt Abroad During the War • George Alfred Townsend
... was one of neither honour nor emolument, and it was voluntarily taken up, and peevishly laid down, on the first trifling provocation. With the ship's allowance, no being, less than an angel, could have given satisfaction. The division of beef and pork into as many parcels as there were claimants, always produced remonstrance, reproof, ...
— Frank Mildmay • Captain Frederick Marryat
... would let a fellow know what time you were coming," Arthur said, rather peevishly, but with an attempt at a smile. "I didn't expect you till evening, so I was having a shack before dressing. I was late ...
— A Monk of Cruta • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... want ye with it, now that you have found it?" demanded Dick, peevishly; for he was beginning to feel sleepy, and knew that many a weary mile must yet be walked before he could hope ...
— Two Gallant Sons of Devon - A Tale of the Days of Queen Bess • Harry Collingwood
... and nonsense!" said Miriam peevishly. "Love and all that sort of thing, as if the world ...
— Children of the Ghetto • I. Zangwill
... the ship, who heard her stir, came to offer her some refreshment; and she, who formerly received every offer of kindness or civility with pleasure, now shrunk away disgusted: peevishly she desired him not to disturb her; but the words were hardly articulated when her heart smote her, she called him back, and requested something to drink. After drinking it, fatigued by her mental exertions, she fell into a death-like slumber, ...
— Mary - A Fiction • Mary Wollstonecraft
... not breathe fast enough to satisfy him. The thought displeased him, and he turned away from the place that held peace for other men but not for him. From the shadow of one of the seats a woman's voice reached him, begging peevishly ...
— The Ghost Ship • Richard Middleton
... of my word, am I, master?" demanded Jones peevishly. "A pack of wenches going ashore with tubs and kettles and bales and such gear is not a settlement, ...
— Standish of Standish - A story of the Pilgrims • Jane G. Austin
... take it from ye. Keep it for your own needs; I'm harder than yourself, it's likely," he said, pushing my hand aside, and added almost peevishly, "but keep the smell ...
— We and the World, Part II. (of II.) - A Book for Boys • Juliana Horatia Ewing
... said peevishly; "it's a beastly place is Frampton; a damp, nassty hole as iver I saw—gives yer the rheumaticks to look at it. I've 'ad a doose of a time, I 'ave, I can tell yer—iver sense I went. But I'll pull ...
— Bessie Costrell • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... George Washington, General Jackson, Isaac Watts de Spain," retorted Jeffries peevishly. "Don't you know the man we're ...
— Nan of Music Mountain • Frank H. Spearman
... able to get an answer from Mr. B., the figure turned peevishly to Mr. Gliddon, and, in a peremptory tone, demanded in general terms what ...
— The Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Volume 5 (of 5) of the Raven Edition • Edgar Allan Poe
... work of a genius, and coolly ask me to do it. Besides, I don't want to be set thinking about my heart, and all that," I said peevishly. ...
— The Vicar's Daughter • George MacDonald
... anything about him, if you mean me by Viscount," said Tracy peevishly, beginning at last to understand that they had been making a fool ...
— St. Winifred's - The World of School • Frederic W. Farrar
... to her if I ever am so," said the poor Italian, with all his natural gallantry. Many a good wife, who thinks it is a reproach to her if her husband is ever 'out of spirits,' might have turned peevishly from that speech more elegant than sincere, and so have made bad worse. But Mrs. Riccabocca took her husband's proffered hand affectionately, ...
— The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 2, May, 1851 • Various
... said Madison, peevishly, "but I realize the necessity,—and that the papers should be read as extensively in Virginia as here. I will write a few, and more ...
— The Conqueror • Gertrude Franklin Atherton
... he was at a loss as to just what to say next. The doctor had told him that the money he expected would be forthcoming—he resigned himself in patience to await the latter's pleasure. For a moment he glanced at Duvall, however. "You should not have taken it from me," he said, peevishly. ...
— The Ivory Snuff Box • Arnold Fredericks
... this?" she asked, peevishly picking a twisted note from amid the golden furniture ...
— Stingaree • E. W. (Ernest William) Hornung
... such thing, Ruth Stuart," returned her cousin, a little peevishly. "You don't understand. Does she, Barbara? Ruth has so much money she simply cannot realize what it means to try to make a good appearance on a small allowance, especially here in Washington where ...
— The Automobile Girls At Washington • Laura Dent Crane
... know where you'll find the hen," said she peevishly, "unless you go to the White Woods ...
— The Pot of Gold - And Other Stories • Mary E. Wilkins
... for he could ride with him more comfortably than with parsons generally, the doctor being well descended, and having married, besides, into a good family. He stared, as he passed, at the old house listlessly and peevishly. He had heard of Mervyn's doings there, and ...
— The House by the Church-Yard • J. Sheridan Le Fanu
... sighed peevishly, as she fell back in languid obedience to this solicitous injunction; she was constantly exposing herself thus rashly to the mercy of her chronic complaints. Shortly after this, dinner was announced, and we were mutually delighted, I expect, to find the latest ...
— The Doctor's Daughter • "Vera"
... said Dan peevishly. "Paul has taken the game right out from under our noses. We've got to stop everything and find out now, before we do another damned thing." The Senator dragged a sheaf of yellow paper out of his breast pocket and spread it out on the table. ...
— Martyr • Alan Edward Nourse
... provinces of the Turkish empire, Russia fomented dispute between herself and Turkey, between the Porte and the Provinces, and between France and England. France fell in with the views of Russia, thwarted the Turkish government, bore herself affrontfully and dictatorially to the sultan, and peevishly and even menacingly towards England, by which nation the rights of Turkey were from the first consistently espoused. The boundary question was conducted so that it was difficult to believe that France and Russia had not conspired ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan
... and apprehensive. I want to see you married and settled," replied her father almost peevishly, as if he didn't want to go into explanations. "I've a curious notion that I want to see you married and settled. It's a—a—my anxiety for you, Helene," added Mr. Stanton, ...
— The Music Master - Novelized from the Play • Charles Klein
... bounty continues to supply so well the world we live in with large dark eyes, and other feminine perfections, our Emily, at any rate, remains in fashion; and if she has many pretty peers, let us at least not peevishly complain of them. A graceful shape is, luckily, almost the common prerogative of female youthfulness; a dimpled smile, a cheerful, winning manner, regular features, and a mass of luxuriant brown hair—these all heroines have—and ...
— The Complete Prose Works of Martin Farquhar Tupper • Martin Farquhar Tupper
... wind rising: the sea turned white with froth. 'Twas a solemn day—like a sad Sunday, when a man lies dead in the harbour. No work was done—no voice was lifted boisterously—no child was out of doors: but all clung peevishly to their mothers' skirts. The men on the wharf—speculating in low, anxious voices—with darkened eyes watched the tattered sky: the rushing, sombre clouds, still in a panic fleeing to the wilderness. They said the sloop would not outlive the gale. ...
— Doctor Luke of the Labrador • Norman Duncan
... been carried in and the team led away, and Pedro was peevishly complaining from the kitchen door that dinner was getting cold. Buck learned that the visitors were from Chicago, where they had been close friends of the Thorne family for years, and then he managed to break away and join ...
— Shoe-Bar Stratton • Joseph Bushnell Ames
... for the present, man," interrupted the glover, somewhat peevishly. "You must know, Oliver, that some of these talking women, who I think make all the business of the world their own, have accused Henry of keeping light company with glee women and suchlike. Catharine took it to heart; and I ...
— The Fair Maid of Perth • Sir Walter Scott
... Pacey peevishly, in an undertone, with a frown on his face, giving Jack a dig in the ribs with his elbow. 'Never mind,' repeated he; 'I don't care about it—I don't ...
— Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour • R. S. Surtees
... of cursing, peevishly, in my bewilderment. Suddenly, I turned faint and giddy, and had to grasp at the table for support. During a few moments, I held on, weakly; and then managed to totter sideways into a chair. After a little time, I felt somewhat better, and succeeded in ...
— The House on the Borderland • William Hope Hodgson
... said he peevishly, pulling at an end of his long love-locks, "we have had that scare often ...
— The Laird's Luck • Arthur Quiller-Couch
... of an age,' remarked the Duke peevishly, 'when my birthdays have ceased to be a cause for congratulation. This review is an anachronism. In my father's time I rode at the head of the Guard, and led a charge on the day I was eighteen. Pish! I have grown wiser, and know how to enjoy life after a more rational fashion. To ...
— A Modern Mercenary • Kate Prichard and Hesketh Vernon Hesketh-Prichard
... manner, and greeted the couple, Taking their seats on the wooden benches under the doorway, Shaking the dust from their feet, their handkerchiefs using to fan them. Presently, after exchanging reciprocal greetings, the druggist Open'd his mouth, and almost peevishly vented his feelings "What strange creatures men are! They all resemble each other, All take pleasure in staring, when troubles fall on their neighbours. Ev'ry one runs to see the flames destroying a dwelling, Or a poor criminal led in terror and shame to the scaffold. All ...
— The Poems of Goethe • Goethe
... I take?" I exclaimed peevishly. But indeed I did not mean to be peevish, nor did I know quite what I said, I was so miserable. Richard sighed as he turned away and answered some question of Sophie; ...
— Richard Vandermarck • Miriam Coles Harris
... at last, recovering his dignity and somewhat peevishly,—"sir, I don't know why people should meddle with my family affairs. I don't ask other folks about their nephews. I have no nephew ...
— Night and Morning, Volume 5 • Edward Bulwer Lytton
... penury, inertness, and grimace, In some strange sort, were the land's portion. "See Or shut your eyes," said Nature peevishly, "It nothing skills; I cannot help my case; 'Tis the Last Judgment's fire must cure this place, 65 Calcine its clods and set my ...
— Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning • Robert Browning
... yet comprehending anything beyond the fact that he had been advised to put up his hands, and that a stranger had drawn an uncommonly fine bead on the head which he was in honor bound to preserve from mutilation, Tubbs blinked at Babe and inquired peevishly: ...
— 'Me-Smith' • Caroline Lockhart |
