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Vexed   /vɛkst/   Listen
Vexed

adjective
1.
Troubled persistently especially with petty annoyances.  Synonyms: annoyed, harassed, harried, pestered.  "A harried expression" , "Her poor pestered father had to endure her constant interruptions" , "The vexed parents of an unruly teenager"
2.
Causing difficulty in finding an answer or solution; much disputed.  "We live in vexed and troubled times"






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Vexed" Quotes from Famous Books



... running by the side of Dubuche, who came at the fag-end, very vexed at not having had another quarter of an hour to finish a ...
— His Masterpiece • Emile Zola

... every name he called, came back to him. "I never met with such insolence," said he, "but I'll revenge myself;" and he ran up and down among the trees, trying to find the supposed offender, but he could see no one. Vexed and disappointed, he hastened home and told his mother that a bad boy had hidden in the woods and called him all sorts ...
— The Pearl Box - Containing One Hundred Beautiful Stories for Young People • "A Pastor"

... to the young lady in surprise, and there was something in Georg's manner that vexed her. Peter took little notice of Henrica; he was talking with Van Hout about the letters from the Glippers asking a surrender, three of which had already been brought into the city, of the uncertain disposition of some members of the council and the ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... of arriving," went on Monsieur Vaucher. "I come to tell Madame how the ground lies in this city. It is, you see, a place vexed with various politics, an arena of trivialities. In other words, Madame, the best place in the world for ...
— The Second Class Passenger • Perceval Gibbon

... made Parting to-day a double pain: First because it was parting; next Because the ill it ended vexed And mocked me from the past again. Not as what had been remedied Had I gone on,—not that, ah no! But ...
— Aspects of Literature • J. Middleton Murry

... Bellegarde... I didn't recognise you at first because of your bonnet and the amount of weight you have put on, but as soon as you began to snore, you old rascal, I knew you right away." "Bon!... Bon!" Replied Tartarin, somewhat vexed, but then softening, he added: "But now, my poor old lady, what are you doing here?" "Ah! My dear M. Tartarin, I did not come here of my own free will I can promise you. Once the railway reached Beaucaire no one could find a use for ...
— Tartarin de Tarascon • Alphonse Daudet

... I really vexed you so much?" asked the young man, earnestly, as his sister left the room. "You must know I would not do that for ...
— Only an Incident • Grace Denio Litchfield

... she caught glimpses of a red shawl, of some coral beads in a box, and of various interesting looking bundles tied up in paper. "How beautiful!" she had cried out eagerly, whereupon Mrs. Davis had closed the lid with a snap, and locked it, looking quite vexed. "What is it? Are all those lovely things yours?" asked Mell, and she had been bidden to hold her tongue, and see if the kitchen fire didn't need another stick of wood. It was two years since this happened. Mell had never seen the lid raised since, but every ...
— Nine Little Goslings • Susan Coolidge

... circumstances which, of all others, are most likely to establish them on a firm basis in our days of boyhood. He came to my rescue one evening, when, returning from school, I was beset by three other boys, who had resolved on drubbing me. My haughty deportment had vexed their self-esteem, and, as the same cause had left me with few sympathies, it was taken for granted that the unfairness of their assault would provoke no censure. They were mistaken. In the moment of my greatest difficulty, William Edgerton dashed in ...
— Confession • W. Gilmore Simms

... the forehead and looked away. She felt herself humiliated by Julia's sneer, and vexed that the mockery of such a creature should affect her. She trembled lest Harney should notice that the noisy troop had recognized her; but they found no table free, and ...
— Summer • Edith Wharton

... with such violence, and bearing with them such floods of rain, that whatever of soil has been in any manner previously formed, is swept into the sea. So that even those little nooks among the mountains, where the inhabitants from time to time make their fields, and task the vexed earth for a scanty subsistence, are liable to be laid bare by the torrents. In case the soil chance to be lodged in some other dell, before it reach the Ocean or the Gulf, and the people follow it to its new location, they find perhaps no water there and cannot ...
— The Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, Oregon and California • Brevet Col. J.C. Fremont

... selected Cabinet when read to them at Washington, the only change being the insertion of a clause shadowing the forthcoming Dred Scott decision by the Supreme Court as one that would dispose of a vexed and troublesome topic by the ...
— Perley's Reminiscences, Vol. 1-2 - of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis • Benjamin Perley Poore

... good deal of that, then," said Mary, one part vexed, and two parts amused, "for you don't seem to pay ...
— Mary Marston • George MacDonald

... privately brought to Robin by David of Doncaster, and the saying vexed him sorely. But he ...
— Robin Hood • J. Walker McSpadden

... written when the "vexed question" of the "Corn Laws" was the all-absorbing subject ...
— Handy Andy, Vol. 2 - A Tale of Irish Life • Samuel Lover

... He asked Perrotin if he meant to state in public the opinions he had just professed, and Perrotin refused, naturally, laughing at his friend's simplicity. What is more, he cautioned him affectionately against proclaiming such ideas from the house-tops. Clerambault was vexed and disputed the point, but in order to make the situation clear to him, and with the utmost frankness, Perrotin described his surroundings, the great minds of the higher University, which he represented officially: historians, philosophers, professors of rhetoric. ...
— Clerambault - The Story Of An Independent Spirit During The War • Rolland, Romain

... muttered Kate to herself. To have her romantic souvenirs ignored even by this simpleton vexed her a little. Perhaps, too, she had another reason for regretting her companion's witlessness. She could remember when she had cared for him—or for something called him—more than she cared now for the man she would wed to-morrow. Why was he not the ...
— Archibald Malmaison • Julian Hawthorne

... observe what a pity it is that young men should be so precipitate! Now, she says what a great match it will be for her dear ward! and now, what a happy one it will be for Erpingham! In short, she does not know whether to be pleased or vexed; and that, pour dire vrai, is my ...
— Godolphin, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... only as upon quicksand. Only a peace between equals can last. Only a peace the very principle of which is equality and a common participation in a common benefit. The right state of mind, the right feeling between nations, is as necessary for a lasting peace as is the just settlement of vexed questions of territory or of ...
— President Wilson's Addresses • Woodrow Wilson

... Derville? He has timber on commission that will suit you, I know; and he seemed very friendly just now.' Bertrand made no reply, and walked off, thinking probably that he might as well ask the statue of the 'Pucelle' for assistance as M. Derville. He was, naturally enough, exceedingly put out, and vexed; and unhappily betook himself to a neighbouring tavern for 'spirituous' solacement—a very rare thing, let me add, for him to do. He remained there till about eight o'clock, and by that time was in such a state of confused elation from the unusual potations ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 459 - Volume 18, New Series, October 16, 1852 • Various

... am vexed that such a man as you are should talk nonsense which schoolboys would be ashamed of. Chevalier," he continued, addressing Aramis, who, leaning proudly on his sword, seemed to agree with his companion, "Chevalier, Porthos and I run no risk; besides, should any ill-luck happen to ...
— Twenty Years After • Alexandre Dumas, Pere

... bred a man, she was almost a son to her great father; and yet, instead of the sonorous epitaph that is inscribed beside her tomb, perhaps a truer one would be the words of the vexed Pope: ...
— Famous Affinities of History, Vol 1-4, Complete - The Romance of Devotion • Lyndon Orr

... Her father, vexed man, at first felt the glory of his daughter, shone by her reflected light, guessed (and had reasonable grounds for guessing) the profit it might be; but lastly, seeing the suitors sought not to marry her, ...
— Little Novels of Italy • Maurice Henry Hewlett

... and raiment. His eyes kindled to see the goodly, broad, red-cheeked fellows. Sometimes, though, he saw women, and sometimes tender women, by their side; and that sight touched the pathetic chord of his heart with a rude twangle that vexed him. ...
— Dr. Sevier • George W. Cable

... damnable reproaches in the world, at which I was ashamed, but said little; but, upon the whole, I find him still a foole, led by the nose with stories told by Sir W. Batten, whether with or without reason. So, vexed in my mind to see things ordered so unlike gentlemen, or men of reason, I went ...
— English Literature - Its History and Its Significance for the Life of the English Speaking World • William J. Long

... less than three or four days. Bees are provided with a reservoir, or sack, to carry their provision in; and when they swarm, they go loaded with provision suited to their emergency, which takes off all their hostility towards each other; and until these sacks are emptied, they are not easily vexed, and as they are compelled to build combs before they can empty them, their contents are retained several days. I have doubled, at a fortnight's interval in swarming, with entire success. The operation should be performed within two or three days—at the farthest four days. The sooner it ...
— A Manual or an Easy Method of Managing Bees • John M. Weeks

... or take some fierce antipathy, which might end nobody could tell where. It was not safe to try. The boy must be sent away. A sharper quarrel than common decided this point. Master Dick forgot Old Sophy's caution, and vexed the girl into a paroxysm of wrath, in which she sprang at him and bit his arm. Perhaps they made too much of it; for they sent for the old Doctor, who came at once when he heard what had happened. He had a good deal to say ...
— Elsie Venner • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

... hanging, was an honored servant of the state, and had been ambassador to France, is obliged, on his part, to undergo all of Jacopo Foscari's troubles; and I have not been able to see why the poet should have vexed himself to make all this confusion, and why the story of the Foscari was not sufficient for his purpose. In the tragedy there is much denunciation of the oligarchic oppression of the Ten in Venice, and it may be regarded as the ...
— Modern Italian Poets • W. D. Howells

... Bernardo, vexed in the greatest degree at seeing his son begging and exposed to the jeers of the public, was inflamed with anger, and either turned from him when he met him, or cursed him. Francis admitted that these curses affected him more than any other suffering ...
— The Life and Legends of Saint Francis of Assisi • Father Candide Chalippe

... and intelligence—"would that we knew where are all that were once wont to go with us to the chase! But for them, I would be well content to be a bold forester all my days! Better so, than to be ever vexed and crossed in every design for the country's weal—distrusted above—betrayed beneath! Alack! alack! my noble father, why wert thou wrecked in ...
— The Prince and the Page • Charlotte M. Yonge

... all day putting everything in order while Nannerl, the seven year old daughter, had been helping. Little Wolfgang, now three years old, in his childish eagerness to be as busy as the others, had only hindered, and had to be reprimanded once in a while. One could never be vexed with the little elf, even if he turned somersaults in new clean clothes, or made chalk figures all over the living-room chairs. He never meant to do any harm, and was always so tenderhearted and lovable, it was hard to ...
— The World's Great Men of Music - Story-Lives of Master Musicians • Harriette Brower

... authority over Ireland, it was owing to former decisions of popes, who, being misinformed, had allowed the Anglo-Norman kings to establish their power in the island. Whatever may be thought of the bull of Adrian IV., this much is certain: we do not pretend to solve that vexed ...
— Irish Race in the Past and the Present • Aug. J. Thebaud

... till we sighted Jamaica. Of course Perigal was very much vexed at hearing of the loss of the prize, but he did not blame McAllister, though, as he observed, it would have been wiser had we not placed so much confidence in our agreeable and plausible prisoner. The ...
— Marmaduke Merry - A Tale of Naval Adventures in Bygone Days • William H. G. Kingston

... help looking round, but she pretended it was to pick up one of her magazines, and, being still afraid that her eyes and nose were red, she continued to pretend to be absorbed in the contents. She was so vexed with the newcomers for invading her carriage that she would not have looked at them—so she told herself—even if her eyes had not been red; but, if she refused to look, she could not refuse to hear, and she soon knew that there were two ...
— Anxious Audrey • Mabel Quiller-Couch

... manner she went on talking with a pretty ladylike childishness, till finding herself unable to make out the whole, and vexed at her own ingratitude in destroying such sweet and loving words, as she called them, she wrote a much kinder letter to Proteus than ...
— Tales from Shakespeare • Charles and Mary Lamb

... the letter for his signature. As soon as he saw it, he pointed out to me that I had only half mastered the facts, and that my letter was all wrong. This greatly disturbed me, not only because I had vexed him and disappointed him, but because it was renewed evidence of my weakness. I thought that if I was incapable of getting to the bottom of such a very shallow complication as this, of what value were any of my thinkings on more difficult subjects, and I fell a prey to self-contempt and scepticism. ...
— The Autobiography of Mark Rutherford • Mark Rutherford

... looked upon the student end of her husband's parish with disapproving eyes. The girls annoyed her by their cocksure alertness, their little air of being primed, ready for any emergency that chanced to offer. They vexed her by their manifest absorption in her husband; they vexed her yet more by their inexplicable lack ...
— The Brentons • Anna Chapin Ray

... of the conversation was quite plain and distinct. Richford seemed to be very vexed about something, but on the other hand Sartoris appeared to be on the best ...
— The Slave of Silence • Fred M. White

... Pinocchio was vexed at this, but the thought of the black policemen and the unsettled bill cooled his anger, and he swept as well as he knew how. "From a gentleman to a sweeper! What fine progress I have made!" he thought, as the tears rolled ...
— Pinocchio in Africa • Cherubini

... not from words, that this journey was more than an ordinary absence. Some instinct or presentiment suggested to them that it might, possibly at least, be a final parting; and I was touched as much as surprised by the tears and broken words with which they assured me that, greatly as they had vexed my home life, conscious as they were that they had contributed to it no element but bitterness and trouble, they felt that they had been treated with unfailing justice and almost unfailing kindness. Then, turning to Eveena, Enva spoke for ...
— Across the Zodiac • Percy Greg

... delights in all His will, and is surely provided with the most firm joy in all estates; for if nothing can come to pass beside or against His will, then cannot that soul be vexed which delights in Him and hath no will but His, but follows Him in all times, in all estates; not only when He shines bright on them, but when they are clouded. That flower which follows the sun doth so even in dark and cloudy ...
— Daily Strength for Daily Needs • Mary W. Tileston

... preparation for the sad hours to come, for by-and-by, Beth said the needle was 'so heavy', and put it down forever. Talking wearied her, faces troubled her, pain claimed her for its own, and her tranquil spirit was sorrowfully perturbed by the ills that vexed her feeble flesh. Ah me! Such heavy days, such long, long nights, such aching hearts and imploring prayers, when those who loved her best were forced to see the thin hands stretched out to them beseechingly, to hear the bitter cry, "Help me, help me!" and to feel that ...
— Little Women • Louisa May Alcott

... already said, fifty times over, I do not know!" replied Epimetheus, getting a little vexed. "How, then, can I ...
— The Paradise of Children - (From: "A Wonder-Book For Girls and Boys") • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... and at last he grew almost vexed. 'Well, you mayn't have much science,' he cried, as, nearly out of breath, he flung himself down after some miles of running, 'but you've got a gorgeous eye. Why, you hit everything. You've played before, haven't you?' ...
— The Flamp, The Ameliorator, and The Schoolboy's Apprentice • E. V. Lucas

... she MUST receive. I can help them from here, no doubt, better than from there. She told me once, you know, what she thinks of my picture of life. 'Mamma, your picture of life is preposterous!' No doubt it is, but she's vexed with me for letting my prices go down; and I had to write three novels to pay for all her marriage cost me. I did it very well—I mean the outfit and the wedding; but that's why I'm here. At any rate she doesn't want a dingy ...
— Greville Fane • Henry James

... seen, and whom I take to be Wilding's cousin,—though this is all guess-work. Whether she is or not, she is evidently a very unpleasant sort of body, for, whatever she said, the other was plainly exceedingly vexed and mortified. She covered her face with her hands. At one time she made a movement as if to leave. She looked earnest and troubled. I could vow she was about to burst into tears. Her face was very expressive. No one who shows such sudden changes can help being a person of rare sensibility. I am ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, September, 1885 • Various

... A gentleman called during the evening, M. Costeclar, who appeared very much vexed not to find you in. He stated that he came on a very important matter that you would know all about: and he requested me to ask you to wait for him to-morrow, that ...
— Other People's Money • Emile Gaboriau

... Pilate was vexed, and answered impatiently, 'What I have written I have written!' They were likewise anxious that the cross of our Lord should not be higher than those of the two thieves, but it was necessary for it to be so, because there would otherwise not have been ...
— The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ • Anna Catherine Emmerich

... that children cause us with their questionings is due very largely to the fact that we cannot answer their questions, since the reasoning that prompts them is too searching. A little boy shocked and vexed his grandmother, who was trying to teach him the elements of theology, by asking "Who made God?" It is very likely that every normal child has asked the same question in one form or another. This attempt to reach back to the very beginning of causes ...
— Your Child: Today and Tomorrow • Sidonie Matzner Gruenberg

... Michael said, more coldly. Suddenly he felt annoyed, vexed with himself, for yielding so easily to the pleasures which Millicent had provided, anticipating the enjoyment he would derive from ...
— There was a King in Egypt • Norma Lorimer

... vexed with herself for her prudish weakness. An opportunity that might never be repeated was offered her, and she could not muster the courage to seize it. Blake, ...
— The Intriguers • Harold Bindloss

... only a few people who want to welcome you back. Really, you're just as bad as ever!" said his sister-in-law, half vexed. "The children's school friends, too—Jim and Wally's mates. You can't expect us to get you all back, after so long—and with all those honours, too!—and not give people a chance of shaking hands with you." At which point Norah said, gently, but firmly, "Dad, ...
— Back To Billabong • Mary Grant Bruce

... name of Vandeuvres was again mentioned. It was quite evident now: for two years past Vandeuvres had been preparing his final stroke and had accordingly told Gresham to hold Nana in, while he had only brought Lusignan forward in order to make play for the filly. The losers were vexed; the winners shrugged their shoulders. After all, wasn't the thing permissible? An owner was free to run his stud in his own way. Many others had done as he had! In fact, the majority thought Vandeuvres had displayed great skill in raking ...
— Nana, The Miller's Daughter, Captain Burle, Death of Olivier Becaille • Emile Zola

... that all hope of reaching Hurrur was at an end. Vexed and disappointed at having suffered so much in vain, I was obliged to resign the idea of going there for the following reasons: The Mission treasury was at so low an ebb that I had left Shoa with only three ...
— First footsteps in East Africa • Richard F. Burton

... oppressors, in one of the great speeches of his life. Where-ever liberty needed him, there he was, the knight without fear or reproach. From platform and press and Senate he flung himself, during those final decisive months of 1860, into the thickest of the battle. No uncertainty vexed his mind and conscience. Whatever other questions admitted of conciliatory treatment he was sure that the slavery question admitted of none. With him there was to be no further compromise with the evil, not an inch more of concessions would he grant it. Here ...
— Charles Sumner Centenary - The American Negro Academy. Occasional Papers No. 14 • Archibald H. Grimke

... "how are you" and "good morning," Mr. Craven's face told tales: he had come back out of sorts. He was vexed about Miss Blake's letter, and, astonishing to relate, he was angry with me for having called ...
— The Uninhabited House • Mrs. J. H. Riddell

... wrong of Rollo, for he should have known that it spoilt the pleasure which his parents had hoped to find in surprising him. Children often behave so by acting natural when they should know better. Rollo's father was considerably vexed, but, realizing that Rollo was still young, he said kindly, "You have many things to learn, my son, but fortunately you still have time in which to learn them, and New York will do very well to begin with. Atlantic City may come later. But come, we must be ...
— Rollo in Society - A Guide for Youth • George S. Chappell

... vexed with herself for carelessly mentioning Isabel's name in her nephew's presence. Felix was not the sort of person whom she was desirous of admitting to her confidence in domestic matters. "Isabel is an addition to my household since you were here ...
— My Lady's Money • Wilkie Collins

... age to marry is a somewhat vexed question, but needlessly so, because that age varies much, according to temperament and other circumstances relating to the individual. Although after puberty the sexual organs are capable of reproduction, yet it by no means follows that ...
— The Ladies Book of Useful Information - Compiled from many sources • Anonymous

... old priest I see, and I would not say is he the one was here or another. Vexed and troubled he is, kneeling fretting, and ever fretting, in some ...
— The Unicorn from the Stars and Other Plays • William B. Yeats

... German States to Prussia and the reorganization of that country under a new and liberal constitution have induced me to renew the effort to obtain a just and prompt settlement of the long-vexed question concerning the claims of foreign states for military service from their subjects ...
— Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present • Various

... Picts, however, as a nation, remained savage heathens even to the 7th century, and the bulk of our Christian population must have been within the Roman pale; but little vexed, it would seem, by persecution, till it came into conflict with the thorough-going Imperialism of Diocletian.[411] Its martyrs were then numbered, according to Gildas, by thousands, according to Bede by hundreds; and their chief, St. Alban, at least, is a fairly established historical entity.[412] ...
— Early Britain—Roman Britain • Edward Conybeare

... vexed at all the trouble you and Emily have taken about my picture: for the artist himself (Mr. Sully, of Philadelphia) is not satisfied with it, and I am sure would be rather sorry than glad that it were exhibited. That artist is a charming person; and I must tell you how he proceeded about ...
— Records of Later Life • Frances Anne Kemble

... on! I wondered if she could have overlooked it. It seemed best to find out; so I turned and followed and caught up with her, and said, deferentially; "Dear Miss, I already know your first name by the look of you, but would you mind telling me your other one?" She was vexed and said pretty sharply, "It's Douglas, if you're so anxious to know. I know your name by your looks, and I'd advise you to shut yourself up with your pen and ink and write some more rubbish. I am surprised that they allow you to run' at large. You are likely ...
— Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, Complete - The Personal And Literary Life Of Samuel Langhorne Clemens • Albert Bigelow Paine

... hath shewn me what he hath done therein, to admiration. I did give him a Parallelogram, which he is mightily taken with; and so after dinner to the Office, where all the afternoon till night late, and then home. Vexed at my wife's not being come home, she being gone again abroad with M. Batelier, and come not home till ten at night, which vexed me, so that I to bed, and lay in pain awake till past one, and then ...
— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys

... the garden briskly, as to the legs, and reluctantly. He would have liked to know whether Diana had recently visited the house, or was expected. It could be learnt in the morning; but his mission was urgent and he on the wings of it. He was vexed and saddened. ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... Our spirits, like those in a thermometer, are never stationary: mine were continually being sent up or down. The night before, when I had sat with Miss Thorn beside the fire, they went up; this morning her anxious solicitude for the Celebrity had sent them down again. She both puzzled and vexed me. I could not desert my post as lookout, and I remained in somewhat awkward suspense as to what she was going to say, gazing at distant objects through the glasses. Her remark, when it ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill

... Petronilla, among our forefathers, was called St. Pernell, and The Golden Lengend imprinted 1527, by Wynkyn de Word, tells us, fol. cxxxi. b., that she "was doughter of saynt peter thappostle, whiche was ryght fayre and bewteous, and by the wyll of her fader she was vexed with fevers and akes." For a long while she lay bed-ridden. From the name of this saint, who went through so many years of her life in sickness, perhaps was borrowed the word "pernell," to mean a person in a sickly ...
— Notes & Queries, No. 18. Saturday, March 2, 1850 • Various

... help seeing that I was thoroughly in earnest, and that I did not intend to yield any more than I had indicated. He was vexed, annoyed, angry, and bolted out of the room, at last, in no proper frame of mind to conduct the religious exercises of the hour. It was quite dark now; and I lay down upon the bed, to think of what had passed, and to conjecture the result of my ...
— Breaking Away - or The Fortunes of a Student • Oliver Optic

... orders from mamma, supported at last by a forcible observation from papa, that they bade the company good-night, and retired. They were all very nice-looking children, and not ill-disposed, though somewhat refractory and dilatory about the vexed question ...
— Mr. Hogarth's Will • Catherine Helen Spence

... and in pleasure Amaury Lupin. At this time Marest's vanity made itself absurdly apparent in Pierrotin's coach, which did service in the valley of Oise; he hoaxed Husson, amused Bridau and Lora, and vexed the Comte de Serizy. Three years later Georges Marest had become the chief clerk of Leopold Hannequin. He lost by debauchery a fortune amounting to thirty thousand francs a year, and died a plain insurance-broker. [The Peasantry. A Start ...
— Repertory Of The Comedie Humaine, Complete, A — Z • Anatole Cerfberr and Jules Franois Christophe

... is named Wesley, casts down her eyes a little at the remembrance of that past age. She is vexed at the memory, yet ...
— The Man Who Laughs • Victor Hugo

... on. Again I thought of Khayyam, and I wondered why. I vexed my brain to know why. Was it because Khayyam was a poet? No; that could be no reason. Was it because he was a Persian? I could see no connection there. Was it because of the peculiar spelling of the name? It might be. What was the peculiarity? One of form, not sound. I must think again of the ...
— Who Goes There? • Blackwood Ketcham Benson

... enough of dancing this one new time; it may be long before it comes again.'— 'That may well be!' said she. I paid no regard, but continued to divert myself. She returned to the charge half an hour after: 'Will you end, then!' said she with a vexed air: (you are so engaged, you have eyes for nothing.'—'You are in such a humor,' I replied, 'that I know not what to make of it.'—'Look at the Queen, then, Madam; and you will cease to reproach me!' A glance which I gave that way filled me with terror. ...
— History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 7 • Thomas Carlyle

... disappointed and vexed, but vented her spleen upon the one whom she loved best, according to the invariable practice of women. She said ...
— Fairy Fingers - A Novel • Anna Cora Mowatt Ritchie

... each time quite flat again. Thinking to turn first, and get upon my knees, I tried that, but rolled like a fuzzy caterpillar in a ball upon the ice. Then, alas, I regret to relate it, but I really began to feel a little vexed. I began calling loudly, supposing that someone in the house would hear me, and come to my assistance; but the wind carried my voice away faster than I could throw it, and that availed me nothing. At no other time since my arrival ...
— A Woman who went to Alaska • May Kellogg Sullivan

... Beside her with his pale, thin, trembling lips, (Trembling with an emotion ill-suppressed) And hair in wild disorder, till she took And raised him to her lap, and gently said: "Oh, child, what means this? What can be the cause Of this great anger? Who hath given thee pain? He that hath vexed thee, hath despised thy sire, For in these veins thou hast ...
— Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan • Toru Dutt

... 'You're not vexed with me now, auntie,' he said, half wistfully. 'I know it was rather disgusting, that row at tea-time. Miss Mouse won't want to come ...
— Miss Mouse and Her Boys • Mrs. Molesworth

... half-darkness. The chapel was vaguely lighted by sanctuary lamps suspended from chandeliers of gilded bronze with pink glass pendants. Hyacinthe made him a sign to sit down, then she went over to a group of people sitting on divans in a dark corner. Rather vexed at being left here, away from the centre of activity, Durtal noticed that there were many women and few men present, but his efforts to discover their features were unavailing. As here and there a lamp swayed, he occasionally ...
— La-bas • J. K. Huysmans

... the war with HERCULEAN TOIL. Through all those long years of war he thought of, saw, labored for one end—VICTORY. The amount of work he does in some of these critical months was absolutely amazing by its comprehension of details, the solution of vexed questions, the mastery of formidable difficulties, wonder was it his word sometimes cut like a sharp, quick blow, or that the stroke of his pen was sometimes like a thunderbolt. It was not the time for hesitation, or doubt, or even argument. He meant his imperiled country should be ...
— Hidden Treasures - Why Some Succeed While Others Fail • Harry A. Lewis

... slight, vexed laugh, as one despairing of understanding, the pasha turned to McLean. "Your young friend, monsieur, is uninformed that Turkish children have many names.... After the loss of the elder we called the little one by the same name.... I trust I have made ...
— The Fortieth Door • Mary Hastings Bradley

... poor, yet hast thou golden slumbers? O sweet content! Art thou rich, yet is thy mind perplexed? O punishment! Dost laugh to see how fools are vexed To add to golden numbers golden numbers? O sweet content, O sweet, O ...
— Outlines of English and American Literature • William J. Long

... lived a little further up the valley, did not lead him to think that they added to the comfort of a household. When they came to spend the day at the vicarage he usually shut himself into his study, and issuing forth after they were gone, his soul was vexed to find footmarks on his borders, his finest fruit picked, and fragments of a meal left about on his smooth lawn. But Mrs Vallance grudged them nothing, and if she could have found it in her heart to envy anyone, it would have been ...
— A Pair of Clogs • Amy Walton

... going to Paris, and I will not let her go without a letter for you, my dear sister, though I was never in a worse humour for writing" (the anxious mother wrote to her sister). "I am vexed to the blood by my young rogue of a son; who has contrived at his age to make himself the talk of the whole nation. He is gone knight-erranting, God knows where; and hitherto 'tis impossible to find him. You may judge of my uneasiness by what your own would be if ...
— Lady Mary Wortley Montague - Her Life and Letters (1689-1762) • Lewis Melville

... us the more because we had hoped to settle a vexed question as to how wide an isthmus had once connected the island with the mainland. Nautica insisted that the width had been ten paces because a woman, Mrs. An. Cotton, who once lived near James Towne, had said so. But the ...
— Virginia: The Old Dominion • Frank W. Hutchins and Cortelle Hutchins

... shall command Estrella's mountain-tide Back to the source, when tempest-chafed, to hie? Who, when Gascogne's vexed gulf is raging wide, Shall hush it as a nurse her infant's cry? His magic power let such vain boaster try, And when the torrent shall his voice obey, And Biscay's whirlwinds list his lullaby, Let him stand ...
— Some Poems by Sir Walter Scott • Sir Walter Scott

... interested me keenly. A mere effort of the will was necessary, and concentration of no difficult kind. Yet, somehow, it seemed beyond me: something forever pushed the facts into disorder ... and in the end I sat in the sunshine, dipping into a dozen books selected from the shelves outside, vexed with myself and only half-enjoying it. I felt restless. I wanted to ...
— The Damned • Algernon Blackwood

... excited on this occasion, my dear capitan, and for this I am sorry, as I like to see you as usual. I tell you if they do not play the fair way, I will be responsible and be very vexed." ...
— Looking Seaward Again • Walter Runciman

... on the ground, and he was in the utmost trouble what to do next. They walked on towards the place where he had seen the light, and at last reached the end of the forest, and got sight of it again. They now walked faster; and after being much tired and vexed (for every time they got into lower ground they lost sight of the light), came to the house it was in. They knocked at the door, which was opened by a very good-natured-looking lady, who asked what brought them there. Hop-o'-my-thumb told her that they were poor children, who had lost their ...
— The Fairy Book - The Best Popular Stories Selected and Rendered Anew • Dinah Maria Mulock (AKA Miss Mulock)

... continued it often for so long a period. At his return, Shumse ad Deen was much surprised when he understood, that under presence of taking a short journey his brother departed from Cairo on a mule the same day as the sultan, and had never appeared since. It vexed him so much the more, because he did not doubt but the harsh words he had used had occasioned his flight. He sent a messenger in search of him, who went to Damascus, and as far as Aleppo, but Noor ad Deen was then at Bussorah. When the courier returned and brought no news of him, ...
— The Arabian Nights Entertainments Complete • Anonymous

... reparations. I am not going to discuss in detail what ought to be done in that difficult and vexed question, but I want to call your attention to the mistake which was originally made, and which we have never yet been able to retrieve. The fundamental error of Versailles was the failure to recognise that even in dealing ...
— Essays in Liberalism - Being the Lectures and Papers Which Were Delivered at the - Liberal Summer School at Oxford, 1922 • Various

... related there what had happened, nobody at first would believe me—they reproached me with cowardice and scolded me for having left my comrades! I became vexed; I demanded a detachment to accompany me and returned to the scene of horror. There a still more horrible sight met me—the animals of the desert had already eaten the corpses, and only bloody bones and portions of uniforms indicated the spot where the surprise had ...
— The Son of Monte-Cristo, Volume I (of 2) • Alexandre Dumas pere

... others who knew Forbes at Christ's: 'His broad sympathies, his unfailing efforts to find out the good in persons and systems—the rays of truth which each possessed—combined with the rare faculty of going deep down beneath vexed questions, and thus lifting controversies to a higher and serener atmosphere: these were qualities in him which were known especially by those privileged to have more intimate knowledge of him than that vouchsafed by formal lectures ...
— Letters to His Friends • Forbes Robinson

... sad-presaging raven, that tolls The sick man's passport in her hollow beak, And in the shadow of the silent night Doth shake contagion from her sable wings, Vexed and tormented runs poor Barabas With fatal curses towards these Christians. The incertain pleasures of swift-footed time Have ta'en their flight, and left me in despair; And of my former riches ...
— The Growth of English Drama • Arnold Wynne

... could be robbed by indirection, but this was too open and barefaced to be endured. I could see no reason why I should, at the end of each week, pour the reward of my honest toil into the purse of any man. The thought itself vexed me, and the manner in which Master Hugh received my wages, vexed me more than the original wrong. Carefully counting the money and rolling it out, dollar by dollar, he would look me in the face, as if he would search ...
— My Bondage and My Freedom • Frederick Douglass

... seen' sometimes. . . though I really know better when I stop to think. Well, of course these past two years have really been too pleasant to last. I know SOMEBODY who is glad you are going to Redmond anyhow. Anne, I'm going to ask you a question . . . a serious question. Don't be vexed and do answer seriously. Do you ...
— Anne Of Avonlea • Lucy Maud Montgomery

... Handel, who had long out-stayed his leave of absence from Hanover, felt some qualms of conscience while awaiting the coming of his master, who arrived within six weeks after Anne's death to be crowned as George I. George had some reason to be vexed with both "his principal musicians: with the capellmeister for neglect, with Farinelli, the concert-master at Hanover, for obtrusiveness. In the thick of all the bustle consequent on the court's leaving Hanover, ...
— Among the Great Masters of Music - Scenes in the Lives of Famous Musicians • Walter Rowlands

... sense, she must love you! And if so, to-night she will be vexed, for all the ladies will try all sorts of coquetries on you. How handsome you will look when you read your Saint John in Patmos! If only I were a mouse, and could just slip in and see it! Come, I have put your clothes out ...
— Lost Illusions • Honore De Balzac

... and almost ceased to beat. Having a great quantity of gold on my back, I felt almost at the last gasp; so I threw off my girdle, and being on the bank of a river, which I knew not how to cross, I was about to fling it in, I was so vexed! 'But no,' thought I, 'there are many people waiting here to cross besides myself. I will make my girdle into a bridge, and we will cross ...
— Wonder-Box Tales • Jean Ingelow

... member of the Germanic confederation established by the Act of the 8th of June, annexed to the Final Act of the congress of Vienna of the 9th of June. In the hurry of the winding-up of the congress, however, the vexed question of the succession to the grand-duchy had not been settled. This was soon to become acute. By the treaty of the 16th of April 1816, by which the territorial disputes between Austria and Bavaria were settled, the succession to the Baden Palatinate ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 - "Baconthorpe" to "Bankruptcy" • Various

... your steps homeward, and pause a moment at the Bermudas, "the still vexed Bermoothes." Beautiful isles, with their fresh verdure, green gems in the ocean, with airs soft and balmy as Eden's were! They have their homely uses too. They furnish arrowroot for the sick, and ample supplies of vegetables earlier than sterner climates will grant. Is this all that can be ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. XII. July, 1863, No. LXIX. - A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics • Various

... next subject of the society's operations. The route of the Exodus was as uncertain as everything else connected with Israel's sojourn in Egypt. What sea they crossed, and where, and by what direction they journeyed to it, remained vexed questions, although Dr. Brugsch had set up a plausible theory, in which the "Serbonian Bog" played ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 401, September 8, 1883 • Various

... is almost the best part of anything; the time when things are getting together, in the beautiful prosperous way they will take, now and then, even in this vexed world. ...
— We Girls: A Home Story • Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney

... not, after all, solely for the "gratification of the natural curiosity" of the author of the book with so many titles, as some time ago he advised one of his correspondents here. The London News observes incidentally: "The long-vexed question of an international copyright with our transatlantic cousins shows symptoms of rising to a speedy crisis. Up to a recent period the Yankees had all the advantage of the defective state of the law. They could ...
— International Weekly Miscellany, Vol. 1, No. 2, July 8, 1850 • Various

... Hollyhock was vexed, because she had a great pride, and did not wish even insignificant people like Lady Jane Carden to speak ...
— Hollyhock - A Spirit of Mischief • L. T. Meade

... her that Colonel Philibert would not have failed to meet Le Gardeur at Beaumanoir, and that he would undoubtedly accompany her brother on his return and call to pay his respects to the Lady de Tilly and—to herself. She felt her cheek glow at the thought, yet she was half vexed at her own foolish fancy, as she called it. She tried to call upon her pride, but that came very laggardly to ...
— The Golden Dog - Le Chien d'Or • William Kirby

... very much vexed, and told him I would talk it over with my son and see what we could do. The poor little cure was much disappointed, but begged me not to insist upon ...
— Chateau and Country Life in France • Mary King Waddington

... fur 'ee, Jasper. Ther'v bin oal soarts ov taales 'bout you. She's awful vexed now that she ...
— The Birthright • Joseph Hocking

... pardon for keeping your worship waiting," said Jerome, with much anxiety; "but I have myself been detained and vexed by unnecessary formalities and scruples on the part of this peevish boy. In the first place, hearing my foot approaching his bedroom, my youth, instead of undoing the door, which would have been but ...
— Waverley Volume XII • Sir Walter Scott

... against her by prejudice and anger, something in her appearance so pleaded in her favor that misgivings would arise. Once he thought she met his eyes with something like an appeal in her own, but he would not look long enough to be sure. A moment later he was vexed with ...
— A Face Illumined • E. P. Roe

... associate inferior branches of art with this great art? That may become a serious doubt to you. You may think there is some other way of producing clever, and pretty, and saleable patterns than going to look at Titian, or any other great man. And that brings me to the question, perhaps the most vexed question of all amongst us just now, between conventional and perfect art. You know that among architects and artists there are, and have been almost always, since art became a subject of much discussion, two parties, one maintaining that nature should be always ...
— The Two Paths • John Ruskin

... second field, in which three powers only, Russia, Germany, and Britain, were immediately concerned. The Far East, where the vast Empire of China seemed to be falling into decrepitude, afforded the most vexed problems of the period. Finally, the Pacific Islands were the scene of an active though ...
— The Expansion of Europe - The Culmination of Modern History • Ramsay Muir

... laughing, half vexed, springing to his side, and keeping step with him, "we found her brother; he came along when we were by the side of the road. We couldn't go any further, for the poor little thing was all tired out. And don't you think they live over in ...
— Five Little Peppers And How They Grew • Margaret Sidney

... 1538; Henry, aggrieved by James's failure to meet him in conference on Church matters, and otherwise annoyed, sent 30,000 men into Scotland in 1542; disaffection prevented the Scottish forces from acting energetically, and the rout of Solway Moss took place; the king, vexed and shamed, sank into a fever and died at Falkland; in this reign the Reformation began to make progress in Scotland, and would have advanced much farther but that James had to support the clergy to play off their power against ...
— The Nuttall Encyclopaedia - Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge • Edited by Rev. James Wood

... Cross has tried to reach the grapes, She's tried and tried again— And now she's vexed to think that all Her efforts ...
— The Royal Picture Alphabet • Luke Limner

... dissipated, reckless young man. The men whom he had to deal with were stern, sedate, and rigid religionists. They were scandalized at the looseness and irregularity of his character and manners. He was vexed and tormented by what he considered their ascetic bigotry, by the restraints which they were disposed to put upon his conduct, and the limits with which they insisted on bounding his authority. Long negotiations and debates ensued, each party becoming more and more irritated against the ...
— History of King Charles II of England • Jacob Abbott

... over his games now and stood up and showed a great deal of annoyance. His bead-black eyes flashed and his jaw stood out, as it always did when he was vexed. ...
— The Torch and Other Tales • Eden Phillpotts

... seen to slowly move a figure veiled, T'approach the gate, and forthwith Timma swung That figure on the saddle of his horse, Then himself leapt and vanished straight from view. The angry monarch saw their sudden flight, And as some aged lion, when sore vexed, Like thunder roaring, musters all his strength And stands defiant to face the foe, so stood The aged warrior, whose old strength returned, His breast expanded, and his body raised Erect, and for the time his age shook off. Then spake he forth in angry tones like these: "My only child is ...
— Tales of Ind - And Other Poems • T. Ramakrishna

... apple-tree, I am well enough entertained, and could continue indefinitely in the like occupation. But it comes to mind that a day is gone, and I have got this precious nothing done. I go to Boston or New York, and run up and down on my affairs: they are sped, but so is the day. I am vexed by the recollection of this price I have paid for a trifling advantage. I remember the peau d'ane, on which whoso sat should have his desire, but a piece of the skin was gone for every wish. I go to a convention of philanthropists. Do what I can, I cannot keep ...
— Representative Men • Ralph Waldo Emerson

... Sometimes I was vexed with myself for allowing this tall, simple-hearted country fellow to puzzle me so much. And yet, was he a simple-hearted country fellow? City bred he certainly was not; but his manner, in spite of his awkwardness, had an indescribable air of refinement. Now ...
— Modern Prose And Poetry; For Secondary Schools - Edited With Notes, Study Helps, And Reading Lists • Various

... my love to A., and tell her to be sure to keep my lecture warm. She must not be vexed with herself, that she was not more frank to me. If she is now pleased, all is right. I have sisters, and know all of you have your failings, but I won't love you less for these. And to mother, too, give my kindest salutation. I suppose I shall get a lecture ...
— The Personal Life Of David Livingstone • William Garden Blaikie

... by a law of contrast, recalls another December night two hundred and seventy years ago. The circle of darkness is drawn about a little group of Pilgrims who have come ashore on a sandy and inhospitable coast. On one side is a vexed and wintry sea, three thousand miles of tossing waves and tempest, beyond which lie the home, the hedgerows and cottages, the church towers, the libraries and universities, the habits and associations of an old civilization, the strongest and dearest ties that can entwine around a human ...
— Baddeck and That Sort of Thing • Charles Dudley Warner

... be Shown. From the first dawn of drama until today, when the motion pictures are facing the very same necessity, the problem that has vexed playwrights most is the selection of what scenes must be shown. These all-important scenes are the incidents of the story or the interviews between characters that cannot be recounted by other characters. Call them dramatic scenes, essential scenes, what ...
— Writing for Vaudeville • Brett Page

... for sleep at the close of this long day, by sitting in our carriages, safe sheltered from the soft-falling rain, outside the great gate which divided the splendor from the darkness, for three quarters of an hour, in an inextricable tangle of carriages, until the perturbed coachmen and the sorely vexed police could evolve order from the temporary confusion, and set the hindered procession ...
— In and Around Berlin • Minerva Brace Norton

... myself; 'but, TERENCE, me bhoy, 'tis you know the thricks av the women. Shoulder arrums,' I thinks, 'and let fly wid the back sight.' Wid that I just squeezed her hand wid the most dellikit av all squeezings, and, sez I, 'MARY, me darlint,' I sez, 'ye're not vexed wid TERENCE, I know;' but you never can tell the way av a woman, for before the words was over the tongue av me, the bhoys ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 99., October 11, 1890 • Various

... face paled, and his eyes kindled with the force that characterized him. The bell sounded again. It was Liudmila. She wore an overcoat too light for the season, her cheeks were purple with the cold. Removing her torn overshoes, she said in a vexed voice: ...
— Mother • Maxim Gorky

... now. Quite unintentionally he had made Nesta as nervous as he was himself, and he knew that nothing he might say would reassure her. He was quite right that there was no use in talking about it; he felt sure that his father would say he ought not to have said so much, and he was vexed with himself for his carelessness. Silence seemed the only course open to him—silence on the subject for the present, and for the future a great, whole-hearted resolve to play the man ...
— Queensland Cousins • Eleanor Luisa Haverfield

... Hilda-Antony. This girl did not weep at all. Chief mourner at both these funerals, she was not conscious of the fact. She knew that Beauvayse was on duty at Maxim Outpost South, and could not get away, and that the Reverend Mother was vexed with her, and was hiding at the Convent, pretending that she had gone somewhere, and would ...
— The Dop Doctor • Clotilde Inez Mary Graves

... forgot their weariness, and pressed on at speed. At dawn they and their allies met on the bank of a stream, beyond which, and very near, was the fort. But the tide was in. They essayed to cross in vain. Greatly vexed,—for he had hoped to take the enemy asleep,—Gourgues withdrew his soldiers into the forest, where they were no sooner ensconced than a drenching rain fell, and they had much ado to keep their gun-matches burning. The light grew apace. Gourgues ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 85, November, 1864 • Various

... characteristics decided the vexed question of his BREED. His speed and scent pointed to a "hound," and it is related that on one occasion he was laid on the trail of a wildcat with such success that he followed it apparently out of the State, returning at the end of two weeks footsore, ...
— Selected Stories • Bret Harte

... Bolton, rather vexed; "give me good old George the Third and the Protestant religion. Those were the times! Everything went on quietly then. We had no disputes or divisions; no differences in families. But now it is all otherwise. My head is turned, I declare; I hear so ...
— Loss and Gain - The Story of a Convert • John Henry Newman

... of Savoy,[80] it has vexed and vexes me, I do confess to you. It's a handle given to various kinds of dirty hands, it spoils the beauty and glory of much, the uncontested admiration of which would have done good to the world. At the ...
— The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume II • Elizabeth Barrett Browning

... Horace," said Mrs. Treherne, half laughing, half vexed; "and ungrateful too, when Madeleine has been working so hard, with the hope, I know, of pleasing and astonishing you with ...
— My Little Lady • Eleanor Frances Poynter

... have remembered that I still exist?" she answered, half mockingly, half seriously vexed. "I'm afraid I'm out of this, really. I never pretended to ...
— While Caroline Was Growing • Josephine Daskam Bacon

... at this time that in London we were domiciled in Russell Square, in the house of a brother of my mother, Mr. Colin Robertson; and I was vexed and put about by being forbidden to run freely at my own will into and about the streets, as I had done in Liverpool. But the main event was this: we went to a great service of public thanksgiving ...
— The Life of William Ewart Gladstone, Vol. 1 (of 3) - 1809-1859 • John Morley

... hundred chances for him; he can get but a guinea, and he may lose a hundred. Goldsmith is in this state. When he contends, if he gets the better, it is a very little addition to a man of his literary reputation; if he does not get the better, he is miserably vexed." ...
— Oliver Goldsmith • Washington Irving

... maintained its struggle for existence amidst deadly perils, receiving almost no help from France, and to all appearance doomed to destruction. To make things worse, internal strife exercised its disintegrating influence; there was contention among the leaders in New France over the vexed question of the liquor traffic. In the face of so many adverse circumstances—complete lack of means, cessation of immigration from the mother country, the perpetual menace of the bloody Iroquois incursions, ...
— The Great Intendant - A Chronicle of Jean Talon in Canada 1665-1672 • Thomas Chapais

... Officer. Here his talents showed to such advantage that in a little over a year he received a commission as technical officer, and was placed in charge of an experimental Torpedo School, well away from the storms and tempests that vexed his less ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, January 14, 1920 • Various

... days before according an interview, and then fixed an appointment for seven o'clock in the evening, when it was quite dark. "As His Excellency was acquainted with the position I held, I confess I expected a different reception," wrote Hunter; and he was so much vexed that he did not again set foot ashore while his ships lay in port. The incident, though not important in itself, serves, in conjunction with Hunter's avoidance of the Cape, to illustrate the rather limp condition of British prestige ...
— The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders • Ernest Scott

... that Mrs. Mohair is so vexed at against the good Company of this Place, is, that we all know she has crooked Legs. This is certainly true. I don't care for putting my Name, because one would not be in ...
— The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - With Translations and Index for the Series • Joseph Addison and Richard Steele

... and when the clock struck he ran into school, hot, vexed with himself, and certain to break down, just as Russell strolled in, whispering, "I've had lots of time to get up the ...
— Eric • Frederic William Farrar

... pigeon preened his opal breast; And o'er the meads the bobolink, With vexed perplexity confessed His tinkling gutturals in a kink, Or giggled ...
— The Mistress of the Manse • J. G. Holland

... presents, a vexed question in the South Seas; and one which well illustrates the common, ignorant habit of regarding races in a lump. In many quarters the Polynesian gives only to receive. I have visited islands where the population mobbed me for all ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 18 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson

... ringing people's door-bells and then running away; now, in his maturer years, he did not scruple to tease little folks, when they could be "tickled with a straw" held under the chin, or when they were easily vexed, and answered him back with an angry word or a furious scowl. He liked to torture his "cousin Dimple." He said she shot out quills like a little porcupine. She was a "regular brick," almost as smart as Johnny, and that was saying a great ...
— Dotty Dimple At Home • Sophie May

... extorted from me by threats. But, as we were going down the mews, he said reflectively, 'I've been thinking—it will be better for all parties, if you make your offer to my proprietor before you dismount.' I was too vexed to speak: this animal's infernal intelligence had foreseen my manoeuvre—he meant to ...
— The Talking Horse - And Other Tales • F. Anstey

... and the "still-vexed Bermoothes;" of great whirlpools, and the water-spout; of sunken ships, and sumless treasures swallowed up in the unrestoring depths: of fishes and quaint monsters, to which all that is ...
— The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, Volume 2 • Charles Lamb

... reluctantly. Relieved a little by the sentimental humour of the hour, lending, as Ronsard prompted, a poetic and always amorous interest to everything around him, poor Gaston's very human soul was vexed nevertheless at the spectacle of the increased hardness of human life, with certain misgivings from time to time at the contrast of his own luxurious tranquillity. The homeless woman suckling her babe at the roadside, the grey-beard hasting before the storm, the tattered ...
— Gaston de Latour: an unfinished romance • Walter Horatio Pater

... she relit her lamp, and stood eyeing him sharply the while. When she finished he was silent a minute, then said, looking half vexed and half ashamed, "I see how it is, and I'm glad you alone have found me out. I walk in my sleep sometimes, Hester, that's the truth. I thought I'd got over it, but it's come back, you see, and I'm sorry for it. Don't be troubled. I never do any mischief ...
— The Mysterious Key And What It Opened • Louisa May Alcott

... introduced the first woman ordained by the Universalist Church, the Rev. Olympia Brown, who struck the keynote of her address in saying: "When we are vexed by the seeming irrationality of some of our Congressmen, may we not explain it as due to the fact that they are thinking of the kind of men who elected them? The United States debars intelligent American women from voting and says to the ...
— The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume V • Ida Husted Harper

... the girl was joking, but when she saw Aaron's vexed expression and Manasseh's ruffled brow, she knew that the words must have a meaning that the others understood, ...
— Manasseh - A Romance of Transylvania • Maurus Jokai

... principal personages of the establishment had withdrawn into the secret recesses of the building, probably for the very natural purpose of confidential communion and affectionate leave-taking. He was turning, vexed and disappointed, from his anxious and fruitless watch, when he once more heard female voices on the inner side of the low wall against which he had been leaning. The sounds approached; nor was it long before his quick ...
— The Red Rover • James Fenimore Cooper

... Vexed as Gerald certainly felt at the familiar tone the conversation was now assuming in regard to Miss Montgomerie, and although satisfied that mere pleasantry was intended, it was not without a sensation of relief he found it interrupted by the entrance of the several non-commissioned officers with ...
— The Canadian Brothers - or The Prophecy Fulfilled • John Richardson



Words linked to "Vexed" :   hard, difficult, troubled



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