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Idea   Listen
noun
Idea  n.  (pl. ideas)  
1.
The transcript, image, or picture of a visible object, that is formed by the mind; also, a similar image of any object whatever, whether sensible or spiritual. "Her sweet idea wandered through his thoughts." "Being the right idea of your father Both in your form and nobleness of mind." "This representation or likeness of the object being transmitted from thence (the senses) to the imagination, and lodged there for the view and observation of the pure intellect, is aptly and properly called its idea."
2.
A general notion, or a conception formed by generalization. "Alice had not the slightest idea what latitude was."
3.
Hence: Any object apprehended, conceived, or thought of, by the mind; a notion, conception, or thought; the real object that is conceived or thought of. "Whatsoever the mind perceives in itself, or as the immediate object of perception, thought, or undersanding, that I call idea."
4.
A belief, option, or doctrine; a characteristic or controlling principle; as, an essential idea; the idea of development. "That fellow seems to me to possess but one idea, and that is a wrong one." "What is now "idea" for us? How infinite the fall of this word, since the time where Milton sang of the Creator contemplating his newly-created world, "how it showed... Answering his great idea," to its present use, when this person "has an idea that the train has started," and the other "had no idea that the dinner would be so bad!""
5.
A plan or purpose of action; intention; design. "I shortly afterwards set off for that capital, with an idea of undertaking while there the translation of the work."
6.
A rational conception; the complete conception of an object when thought of in all its essential elements or constituents; the necessary metaphysical or constituent attributes and relations, when conceived in the abstract.
7.
A fiction object or picture created by the imagination; the same when proposed as a pattern to be copied, or a standard to be reached; one of the archetypes or patterns of created things, conceived by the Platonists to have excited objectively from eternity in the mind of the Deity. "Thence to behold this new-created world, The addition of his empire, how it showed In prospect from his throne, how good, how fair, Answering his great idea." Note: "In England, Locke may be said to have been the first who naturalized the term in its Cartesian universality. When, in common language, employed by Milton and Dryden, after Descartes, as before him by Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, Hooker, etc., the meaning is Platonic."
Abstract idea, Association of ideas, etc. See under Abstract, Association, etc.
Synonyms: Notion; conception; thought; sentiment; fancy; image; perception; impression; opinion; belief; observation; judgment; consideration; view; design; intention; purpose; plan; model; pattern. There is scarcely any other word which is subjected to such abusive treatment as is the word idea, in the very general and indiscriminative way in which it is employed, as it is used variously to signify almost any act, state, or content of thought.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Idea" Quotes from Famous Books



... having given peace and happiness to his subjects, and being convinced of the attachment of all orders of the state to his person, he resolved upon impressing the people with an idea of his magnanimity, by making a show of resigning his authority. 12. To this end, having previously instructed his creatures in the senate how to act, he addressed them in a studied speech, importing the difficulty of governing so extensive ...
— Pinnock's Improved Edition of Dr. Goldsmith's History of Rome • Oliver Goldsmith

... Lincoln was six feet four inches high usually, at Bloomington he was seven feet, and inspired at that. From that day to the day of his death, he stood firm on the right. He felt his great cross, had his great idea, nursed it, kept it, taught it to others, and in his fidelity bore witness of it to his death, and finally sealed it ...
— The Every-day Life of Abraham Lincoln • Francis Fisher Browne

... Jack's first idea, as soon as he had begun to think clearly, was that he must loosen his bonds. To this end he writhed and struggled as he lay on his back. He managed to roll over on his side, but he found himself more ...
— Jack of the Pony Express • Frank V. Webster

... hazardous, and showing in them a courage altogether undaunted. But Romulus seemed rather to act by counsel, and to show the sagacity of a statesman, and in all his dealings with their neighbors, whether relating to feeding of flocks or to hunting, gave the idea of being born rather to rule than to obey. To their comrades and inferiors they were therefore dear; but the king's servants, his bailiffs and overseers, as being in nothing better men than themselves, they despised and slighted, nor were the least concerned at their ...
— Plutarch's Lives • A.H. Clough

... the first applause had died down, "I am against the suggestion. Of course, I have no deciding voice in the matter, but I confess that the idea has not my approval. I know very well that, as you say, other native princes have proved themselves useful and valuable acquisitions to English society. In some cases it may be well enough, though in no case does it seem to me right to accept hospitality from a man to whom we only grant ...
— The Native Born - or, The Rajah's People • I. A. R. Wylie

... manner which brings out their significance as illustrating the Messiahship of Jesus and the majestic forward movement of the kingdom of God. He is in one sense controversial because he wishes his picture of Christ to correct that false idea of the Messiah and His reign which was ruining the Jewish people. The best kind of controversy is that which is intent upon explaining the truth rather than eager to expose and ridicule what is false. So the evangelist presents to his readers Jesus ...
— The Books of the New Testament • Leighton Pullan

... have you any idea where we are going to?" remarked the Dodo, after they had been rushing along ...
— Dick, Marjorie and Fidge - A Search for the Wonderful Dodo • G. E. Farrow

... what we have we prize not to the worth Whiles we enjoy it, but being lack'd and lost, Why, then we rack the value, then we find The virtue that possession would not show us Whiles it was ours. So will it fare with Claudio: When he shall hear she died upon his words, The idea of her life shall sweetly creep Into his study of imagination, And every lovely organ of her life Shall come apparell'd in more precious habit, More moving-delicate, and full of life Into the eye and prospect of his ...
— Much Ado About Nothing • William Shakespeare [Craig, Oxford edition]

... as if he had acted on that idea, too, doesn't it, then? It seems to me that he has followed you down here, just to get a chance to play some trick on you. He got those papers, you see. And I fancy you'll ...
— The Boy Scout Aviators • George Durston

... right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. But the constitution which at any time exists till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Lincoln - Section 1 (of 2) of Volume 6: Abraham Lincoln • Compiled by James D. Richardson

... dry-goods counter. He was soft and effeminate, with no talent for "roughing it," and wholly unfitted for the hard work which he had undertaken. He was deeply disappointed in his first work at gold-hunting, having come out with the vague idea that he should pick up a big nugget within a short time that would make his fortune and enable him to go home a rich man. The practical side of gold-seeking—this washing particles of dust from the dirt ...
— The Young Miner - or Tom Nelson in California • Horatio Alger, Jr.

... "You have no idea of how much has happened to Grace, Mrs. Allison, since we began High School," interposed Nora. "She never will talk about the splendid things she has done for other people. She is the president of her class, the captain ...
— Grace Harlowe's Senior Year at High School - or The Parting of the Ways • Jessie Graham Flower

... things, and rendered eager by this newly awakened ambition, scanned the cliff towering above them. He perceived the extreme irregularity of its front, and numerous peculiarities of formation which had escaped him hitherto. Suddenly his puzzled face brightened to the birth of an idea. By heavens! it might be done! Surely it might be done! Inch by inch he traced the obscure passage, seeking to impress each faint detail upon his memory—that narrow ledge within easy reach of an ...
— Bob Hampton of Placer • Randall Parrish

... To give some idea as to how an interpretation of Article 23(h) contrary to the old English rule prevails generally, I will quote a number of French, German, English, and American writers, the works of whom I have at hand in my library, and I will also quote the German Weissbuch concerning ...
— The League of Nations and its Problems - Three Lectures • Lassa Oppenheim

... I shall be glad to have you. I think that a few weeks' association with men like my friends would give you a new idea of true manliness; and I can promise you to hear more good stories from the 'Boys' than you ...
— Dorothy's Travels • Evelyn Raymond

... necessary to the maintenance of life is provided. Because oxygen is necessary to this process, and because death quickly results when the supply of it is cut off, oxygen is frequently called the supporter of life. This idea is misleading, for oxygen has no more to do with the maintenance of life than have the food materials with which it unites. Life appears to be more dependent upon oxygen than upon food, simply because the supply of it in the body at any time is exceedingly small. Being continually ...
— Physiology and Hygiene for Secondary Schools • Francis M. Walters, A.M.

... silent Indignation, and determined to contribute my Mite towards giving such unattentive, uninformed Youths, a more adequate Idea of this Kingdom, under its ancient and under its ...
— An Essay on the Antient and Modern State of Ireland • Henry Brooke

... marriage a religious vocation would have suited her best, as the regular and austere mode of life would have calmed her temperament. But her father, doubtless, could not afford to provide her with a dowry, and his social condition forbade the idea of making her a lay-sister. Poor girl, driven into the wrong path, she was fated to meet her doom there. She was naturally upright and good, with a full knowledge of her duties, and her only fault was that she had blood in her veins. None of the young men in the village would have dreamt of taking ...
— Recollections of My Youth • Ernest Renan

... because she is supposed to be pretty. Pretty!" reflected Bella scornfully, "I never could see it myself; a painted up minx, dragged up from the gutter. I wonder at your taste, Mr. Denzil, indeed I do. Pretty, the idea! What fools men are! I'm glad I never married ...
— The Silent House • Fergus Hume

... region—say in Europe—then there is a reasonable probability that these beds are strictly contemporaneous, in the sense that they were deposited at the same time. There is a reasonable probability of this, because there is no improbability involved in the idea of an ocean occupying the whole area of Europe, and peopled throughout by many of the same species of marine animals. At the present day, for example, many identical species of animals are found living on the western coasts of Britain and the eastern coasts of North America, and beds now in course ...
— The Ancient Life History of the Earth • Henry Alleyne Nicholson

... alongside, ready to catch Jerry should he fall off. I soon saw there was no real danger, except the monster should roll round, when his weight would kill any one under him. Jerry also instantly entered into the joke of the thing, and was delighted with the idea of being able to boast that he had ridden ...
— A Voyage round the World - A book for boys • W.H.G. Kingston

... the fashionable guests was invented and constructed! Then, too, much might be related about the popular "fish dinners" of New York and Annapolis, the horse races in Virginia and Maryland, the militia parades and pageants at Charleston. But sufficient has been offered to prove that the prevalent idea of a dreary atmosphere that lasted throughout the entire colonial period is false; certainly during the eighteenth century at least, the average American colonist obtained as much pleasure out of life as the rushing, ever-busy American ...
— Woman's Life in Colonial Days • Carl Holliday

... most conspicuous is the Idea Nazionale, a paper of Rome practically dedicated to intervention. Then comes the conservative and solid Corriere della Sera of Milan, whose Rome correspondent, Signor Torre, has peculiar facilities for learning the intentions of the Ministry. Both the Tribuna and the Giornale d'Italia are considered ...
— New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 2, May, 1915 - April-September, 1915 • Various

... never see a silk purse made out of any other thing but silk," and all his wives nodded their heads and cackled. They said it was witty, though they had no idea what ...
— Dick and His Cat and Other Tales • Various

... is nearly exhausted, I have no resources, and unless some one intervenes, some one brave and fearless, some one who really loves me, I shall undoubtedly be forced into a marriage with this odious wretch. Heavens, the bare idea of it is poisonous! You remember the two men who paid such marked attentions to me a short ...
— Werwolves • Elliott O'Donnell

... of Pepys was deeply grained. He has no idea of truth except for the Diary. He has no care that a thing shall be, if it but appear; gives out that he has inherited a good estate, when he has seemingly got nothing but a lawsuit; and is pleased to be thought ...
— Familiar Studies of Men & Books • Robert Louis Stevenson

... mistake here and there. And then Pieter's Hill! Ask the soldier who has come back wounded from Pieter's Hill—and how many of them are there?—what he thought of it. He can give you but a confused picture of the fight. He has no idea of the plan in the general's mind. But ask him of his experiences. His wound was nothing; he will not dwell upon that. But the time spent upon the ground after the wound was received—twenty-four hours, forty-eight, three days, and in one ...
— From Aldershot to Pretoria - A Story of Christian Work among Our Troops in South Africa • W. E. Sellers

... among those stolen from Mr. Travis and that in a roundabout way they had come into the possession of a friend of his without his knowing who the thief was. He said that he had not made the photographs himself, but had an idea by whom they were made, that the original plates had been destroyed, but that the person who made them was ready to swear that the pictures were taken after the nominating convention this fall which had named Travis. At any rate the photographs were out and ...
— The Poisoned Pen • Arthur B. Reeve

... this affair before you came," Mr. Holwell told me. "The man Angria was famous in these parts, and supposed to be invincible, so that his sudden destruction by our armament has given the natives here an altogether new idea of the English power. It will be well if this doesn't do us more harm than good, for the Moors are a jealous, suspicious race. Our agent in the neighbourhood of Moorshedabad, the Nabob's capital, has warned us that the English have many enemies ...
— Athelstane Ford • Allen Upward

... both happiness and misery, none of these two exists uninterruptedly. Ye men of little understanding, whither would ye go, casting off on the bare ground this child of so much beauty, this son that is an ornament of your race. Verily, I cannot dispel the idea from my mind that this child endued with comeliness and youth and blazing with beauty is alive. It is not meet that he should die.[453] It seems that ye are sure to obtain happiness. Ye that are afflicted with grief ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 - Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 • Unknown

... for her sake, I will get into their Academie, in defiance of them all, and in honour of her dear memory!' He stopped short, then in an altered and lower voice went on: 'Really I don't know why I talk like that. The truth is that, since they put the idea into my head, I can think of nothing else. My sister is dead and I have hardly given her a tear. I had to pay my calls and "beg for the Academie," as that fellow says. The thing takes the very life out of me. ...
— The Immortal - Or, One Of The "Forty." (L'immortel) - 1877 • Alphonse Daudet

... had been face to face in a distinct light, their first meeting having occurred in the dusk of a railway-station. Swithin was not in the habit of noticing people's features; he scarcely ever observed any detail of physiognomy in his friends, a generalization from their whole aspect forming his idea of them; and he now only noted a young man of perhaps thirty, who lolled a good deal, and in whose small dark eyes seemed to be concentrated the activity that the rest of his frame decidedly lacked. This gentleman's eyes were henceforward, to the end of the ...
— Two on a Tower • Thomas Hardy

... is bound to aim at the possession of a good character as one of the highest objects of life. The very effort to secure it by worthy means will furnish him with a motive of exertion; and his idea of manhood, in proportion as it is elevated, will steady and animate his motive. It is well to have a high standard of life, even though we may not be able altogether to realize it. "The youth," says Mr. Disraeli, ...
— How to Get on in the World - A Ladder to Practical Success • Major A.R. Calhoon

... all the comforts of that cherished institution. I am inclined to doubt this. It is, I think, to those who live farthest away from home, to those who find the greatest difficulty in visiting home, that the word conveys the sweetest idea. In some distant parts of the world it may be that an Englishman acknowledges his permanent resting place; but there are many others in which he will not call his daily house, his home. He would, in his own idea, desecrate the word by doing so. His home is across the ...
— Returning Home • Anthony Trollope

... here, Court," said Tennelly, slapping his shoulder with gentle roughness, "Great little old room, isn't it? The fellows' idea to keep flowers here. Kind of a ...
— The Witness • Grace Livingston Hill Lutz

... hardly returned from the marquee with the prize in his hand, when it began to be understood that Wiry Ben proposed to amuse the company, before the gentry went to dinner, with an impromptu and gratuitous performance—namely, a hornpipe, the main idea of which was doubtless borrowed; but this was to be developed by the dancer in so peculiar and complex a manner that no one could deny him the praise of originality. Wiry Ben's pride in his dancing—an accomplishment ...
— Adam Bede • George Eliot

... and I wrote to your Lordship at the same period of time. In my letter to Lord Grenville I requested an interview previous to my departure, for the purpose of receiving his inestimable advice; at that moment I had no idea of any other object. I could have attended Lord Grenville to-morrow, but I have received the King's commands to wait on him at Brighton, and I must depart early. On my return I shall be happy to pay my duty at Dropmore or in London, according ...
— Memoirs of the Court of George IV. 1820-1830 (Vol 1) - From the Original Family Documents • Duke of Buckingham and Chandos

... universe occur under the exclusive operation of natural laws, and there is no such thing as freedom. Proof. The idea of a free cause is an absurdity. For it contradicts the very law of causation itself, which demands that every event shall be in orderly sequence with some preceding event. Now, free causation is such an event, being the active beginning of ...
— The World's Greatest Books—Volume 14—Philosophy and Economics • Various

... when they are in a fever!" he exclaimed for the second time that day. He decided to go home. "I wonder, though," thought he, "whether the Italian is still playing that awful instrument?" Curiously enough, the idea did not disturb him in the least. "I shall teach him a Russian tune or two!" he decided, cheerfully. "Then, maybe his playing ...
— The Best Short Stories of 1917 - and the Yearbook of the American Short Story • Various

... fine imagination and considerable insight, he lacked the ruthless, narrow-minded insistence on his individual superiority which is a necessary element in almost every great business success. To be a forceful figure in the business world means, as a rule, that you must be an individual of one idea, and that idea the God-given one that life has destined you for a tremendous future in the particular field you have chosen. It means that one thing, a cake of soap, a new can-opener, a safety razor, or speed-accelerator, ...
— Jennie Gerhardt - A Novel • Theodore Dreiser

... that came from an extreme development of the five senses, reinforced by will, gave him an idea. Still lying on his back he uttered the lonesome howl of the wolf, but very low. He waited a moment or two, eager to know if his intuition had told him truly, and back came the wolf's low but lone cry. He gave the second call and the ...
— The Keepers of the Trail - A Story of the Great Woods • Joseph A. Altsheler

... in the nation. The population was composed of three conflicting races—the Spaniards, Moors and Jews. Perhaps the difficulties which beset our own Government in its efforts to harmonize the white, the Indian and the colored population, will give us some idea of the formidable obstacles with which the Spanish court had to contend in its efforts to cement into one compact nation a conquering and a conquered people ...
— The Faith of Our Fathers • James Cardinal Gibbons

... the pace, never grumbling, never shirking. Sixty-five degrees below zero is very cold. Since water freezes at thirty-two above, sixty-five below meant ninety-seven degrees below freezing-point. Some idea of the significance of this may be gained by conceiving of an equal difference of temperature in the opposite direction. One hundred and twenty-nine on the thermometer constitutes a very hot day, yet such a temperature is but ninety-seven degrees above freezing. Double ...
— Burning Daylight • Jack London

... confluence, or a town near a confluence, as might almost be guessed from a map of Tibet.... Unsatisfied with Colonel Yule's identification, I cast about for another, and thought for a while that a clue had been found in the term 'Chien-t'ou' (sharp-head), applied to certain Lolo tribes. But the idea had to be abandoned, since Marco Polo's anecdote about the 'caitiff,' and the loose manners of his family, could never have referred to the Lolos, who are admitted even by their Chinese enemies to possess ...
— The Travels of Marco Polo, Volume 2 • Marco Polo and Rustichello of Pisa

... method was the publication of useful literature. The most striking book, and the most influential, was Spangenberg's Idea Fidei Fratrum; i.e., Exposition of the Brethren's Doctrine {1778.}. For many years this treatise was prized by the Brethren as a body of sound divinity; and although it can no longer be regarded as a text-book for theological students, it is still used ...
— History of the Moravian Church • J. E. Hutton

... Government calls for the protection of the rights of ethnic Albanians in neighboring countries, and the peaceful resolution of interethnic disputes; some ethnic Albanian groups in neighboring countries advocate for a "greater Albania," but the idea has ...
— The 2004 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency

... different, in all probability, would the effect have proved, had he, instead of the miraculous history of his religion, directed the attention of the susceptible Tahaitians to its pure morality, leading so naturally to the idea of a common Father, and a fellowship of charity. O, ye Missionaries, how much blood might ye not ...
— A New Voyage Round the World in the Years 1823, 24, 25, and 26. Vol. 1 • Otto von Kotzebue

... 'I haven't the slightest idea. It's very awkward, isn't it?' and he laughed nervously. 'Sometimes dim pictures float before my mind, and I seem to have vague recollections of things that happened ages and ages ago. But they pass ...
— "The Pomp of Yesterday" • Joseph Hocking

... enough to the inhaling of more potent things which assuage pain, and could assuage, if taken in sufficient quantities, the pain of life itself. He remembered the exaltation which he had experienced once when given chloroform for a slight operation. Directly the idea of repeating that blissful sensation seized upon him he was mad for it. To go out of life like that, to take that way of opening the window into eternity, into another phase of existence or into oblivion, what ecstasy! He remembered that when under the chloroform, a wonderful ...
— The Debtor - A Novel • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

... for granted Mr. Boddy's well-being. And would it be justifiable to impose a burden of this kind upon the newly-married pair? To be sure she could earn enough to pay for the little that Mr. Boddy needed. Thyrza had almost angrily rejected the idea that her sister should pay rent in the new house; payment for board she would only accept because Lydia declared that if it were not accepted she would live elsewhere. So there would remain a margin ...
— Thyrza • George Gissing

... still be frequently attested by comparison with real Malvolios, to be found everywhere from humble domestic life up to the high places of learning, of the State, and even of the Church." From the central idea of the character it follows in course that the man has too much conscience to mind his own business, and is too pure to tolerate mirth in others, because too much swollen and stiffened with self-love to be merry himself. His highest exhilaration ...
— Shakespeare: His Life, Art, And Characters, Volume I. • H. N. Hudson

... the flight controls, with power on only in the top stage. From below came a vibrational rushing noise, nearly subsonic, which told him of the fueling operation. He thought of the electrical relays governing the fuel input and shuddered. He violently disliked the idea of having hot wires near fuel of any kind, and ...
— Tight Squeeze • Dean Charles Ing

... discovers that the Friar had acted as confident in the intrigue betwixt his lady and d'Ambois, thus elegantly expresses the common idea of the world being turned ...
— The Works of John Dryden, Vol. 6 (of 18) - Limberham; Oedipus; Troilus and Cressida; The Spanish Friar • John Dryden

... literature of Greece, but that of his adopted land, and he was especially familiar with Lucretius and his pupil Virgil. His intellectual existence, however, was not particularly happy. Rome was a pleasant city; his occupation was one in which he delighted; the thrill of a newly noticed Lucretian idea or of a tender touch in Virgil were better to him than any sensual pleasure, but his dealings with his favourite authors ended in his own personal emotion, and it was sad to think that the Hermes on which he had spent himself to such a degree should become ...
— Catharine Furze • Mark Rutherford

... that it might be an excellent idea if we would plan to spend a little more time this year with Father and Mother when we go for our usual Christmas visit; and what kind of a scheme do you think it would be for us to take the children, and make a real ...
— Across the Years • Eleanor H. Porter

... made flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld his glory" (John 1: 14). This is temple imagery. "Tabernacled" (eschenosen) is the word used in Scripture for the dwelling of God with men; and the temple is God's dwelling-place. The "glory" harmonizes with the same idea. As the Shechinah cloud rested above the mercy-seat, the symbol and sign of God's presence, so from the Holy of Holies of our blessed Lord's heart did the glory of God shine forth, "the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth," ...
— The Ministry of the Spirit • A. J. Gordon

... swear by you or at you out in this part of the country, and I've been accustomed to having them count on me. I even had some political expectations, and was justified in them, I imagine. I had an idea I might go to the state legislature and then take a jump to Washington. Well, it was a soap-bubble dream, of course. I lost out. This tatterdemalion crew of mine is all there is left of my cohorts. I suppose I'm looked on now ...
— The Precipice • Elia Wilkinson Peattie

... belongs to this class, and his enormous weight would at any time necessitate especial care when experimenting upon the strength of boughs. I do not believe that any person has actually weighed a grizzly, but an approximate idea may be obtained through a comparison with the polar bear (Ursus maritimus), which is somewhat equal in size, probably superior. When I was in California, experienced informants assured me that no true grizzly bear was to be found east of the Pacific slope, and that Lord ...
— Wild Beasts and their Ways • Sir Samuel W. Baker

... and another man. I'll tell you all about it. After I had been to the mine and given Tom our news, I went down town to Yetmore's and had a long talk with him. That was a good idea of your father's, Phil, that we should go and tell Yetmore: he took it very kindly, and repeated several times how much obliged he felt. He seems most ...
— The Boys of Crawford's Basin - The Story of a Mountain Ranch in the Early Days of Colorado • Sidford F. Hamp

... ruins here. As far as you can see there is nothing but wreckage—yes, wreckage, from which the foulest odors are continually rising and in the midst of which countless big fires are burning. Are you not almost discouraged at the idea of clearing so many acres up? Well, it does look like ...
— The Johnstown Horror • James Herbert Walker

... heaven and earth were more or less related, descended from it and dependent on it; and he himself was to the Greeks the symbol of the intelligence which was henceforth to be the life and light of men, an idea which is reflected in the name Jupiter given him by the Romans, which means "father of the day"; he is represented as having his throne in heaven, and as wielding a thunderbolt in his right hand, in symbol of the jealousy with which he ...
— The Nuttall Encyclopaedia - Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge • Edited by Rev. James Wood

... automobile, and was racing ahead considerably above the speed limit. He felt he must do something. Had it been winter and hunting-time, he would have taken any fences—any risks. He returned and got to Ranelagh, and played a game of polo as hard as he could, and then he felt a little calmer. The idea came to him as it had done to Anne. Lady Harrowfield was Florence Devlyn's cousin; she would probably have squeezed an invitation for her protegees for the royal ball to-night. He would go—he must see Theodora. He must ...
— Beyond The Rocks - A Love Story • Elinor Glyn

... little trouble in finding the place," declared Mark, when Dick and Bob joined him and the rest, there being fully a score of them. "The young ladies had no idea where the wretches had gone, but we picked up the trail at length and then had less difficulty in ...
— The Liberty Boys Running the Blockade - or, Getting Out of New York • Harry Moore

... bunco game timed to seconds. I hadn't no time to examine them eggs. I had to hustle to get 'em here for delivery. An' now, Smoke, lemme ask you one civil question. What did you say was the party's name that put this egg corner idea into ...
— Smoke Bellew • Jack London

... services." Well, I laughed: and the gentleman laughed, and we all laughed; and I went home and cleaned myself, leaving Fixem there, and when I went back, Fixem went away, and I polished up the plate, and waited at table, and gammoned the servants, and nobody had the least idea I was in possession, though it very nearly came out after all; for one of the last gentlemen who remained, came down-stairs into the hall where I was sitting pretty late at night, and putting half-a-crown into my hand, says, "Here, my man," says he, "run and get me a coach, will you?" I thought ...
— Sketches by Boz - illustrative of everyday life and every-day people • Charles Dickens

... which I have shown you will give you some idea of the big forces which are working for you over on this side. But big forces are made up of little forces. As we say in this country, it is the little things that tell. All over America I could ...
— Getting Together • Ian Hay

... another secret instinct, a remnant of the greatness of our original nature, which teaches them that happiness in reality consists only in rest, and not in stir. And of these two contrary instincts they form within themselves a confused idea, which hides itself from their view in the depths of their soul, inciting them to aim at rest through excitement, and always to fancy that the satisfaction which they have not will come to them, if, by surmounting whatever difficulties confront them, they can ...
— Pascal's Pensees • Blaise Pascal

... 1842 was mainly fought on the Reform issue, and the question of responsible government was discussed on every hustings. Unfortunately very few of the candidates who offered their services as legislators had a clear idea of what responsible government really meant, and some of the gentlemen who were not ashamed to confess their ignorance of the principles of the British constitution were men of education and position, from whom better things might have been expected. ...
— Wilmot and Tilley • James Hannay

... violently, for I had had no idea that another was in the room. The apparition proved to be a Chinaman, and judging from what I could see of him, a very old Chinaman, his bent figure attired in a blue smock. His eyes were almost invisible amidst an intricate map ...
— The Hand Of Fu-Manchu - Being a New Phase in the Activities of Fu-Manchu, the Devil Doctor • Sax Rohmer

... supposed, is very extensive, and covers a considerable area. The delineations of it upon the Manilla segar boxes, though rude, are tolerably good illustrations, and will convey some idea of the appearance of the building externally. But a visit within its walls is necessary to a realization of ...
— Kathay: A Cruise in the China Seas • W. Hastings Macaulay

... true religious principle of morals, and a single not a double aim in their activity. They were not self-seekers and self-worshippers, but seekers and worshippers of something far better than self. Not personal enjoyment was their object; but a high heroic idea of religion, of patriotism, of heavenly wisdom, in one or the other form, ever hovered before them; in which cause they neither shrunk from suffering, nor called on the earth to witness it as something ...
— The Best of the World's Classics, Vol. V (of X) - Great Britain and Ireland III • Various

... one essence and of like essence, to shew that either of them may be rightly or wrongly used. The two, however, are properly identical, for there is no likeness but that of unity, and no use in the idea of likeness but to exclude Sabellian confusion. Only the Nicene phrase guards against evasion, and ...
— The Arian Controversy • H. M. Gwatkin

... to the son of his old friend. He began by lamenting the misfortunes which had deprived Mr. Percy of that estate and station to which he had done honour. His lordship went on to say that he was sorry that Mr. Percy's love of retirement, or pride of independence, precluded all idea of seeing him in parliament; but he hoped that Mr. Percy's sons were, in this extravagant notion of independence, and in this ...
— Tales and Novels, Vol. VII - Patronage • Maria Edgeworth

... doubt under orders from the escort, the drivers were unharnessing their teams, with the idea of making off with the cattle. The skirmishers of the Royal Picts advanced quickly within range, and opened fire—the first shots these upon Russian soil—and some of them took effect. The carts were abandoned, and speedily ...
— The Thin Red Line; and Blue Blood • Arthur Griffiths

... and appreciation of winter. With this poem may be read "Snow Bound," the last stanzas of "Flowers in Winter," and "Lumbermen." Many others may be added to this list. Do you find this same idea in ...
— Selections From American Poetry • Various

... picture of the grievous experiences of a young woman who sought to demonstrate the idea that a woman can farm.... The drakes refused to lay; the vegetables refused to come up; and the taxes would not ...
— The Faith Doctor - A Story of New York • Edward Eggleston

... detection and disgrace, to a snug berth in the customs service, from which he has been ejected under conditions which render further upward flight quite out of the question. In this dilemma, he hits upon the idea of purchasing from landed proprietors of mediocre probity all their "souls" which are dead, though still nominally alive, and are taxed as such. Land is being given away gratuitously in the southern ...
— A Survey of Russian Literature, with Selections • Isabel Florence Hapgood

... can have little idea of the idolatry used in the Church of Rome. Something may be gathered from the following directions, given in a very beautiful office for Good Friday, corrected by royal authority, in conformity with the breviary and missal of our holy ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... Histoire de l'Afrique et de l'Espagne, tom. i. p. 330-336. A just idea of the taste and architecture of the Arabians of Spain may be conceived from the description and plates of the Alhambra of Grenada, ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 5 • Edward Gibbon

... salary, or invested securities. More money than this—that is the surplusage that men lock up in their tin boxes, is a curse. But with that you have nothing to do—not yet, anyhow. Now, if I catch your meaning, your idea is to go back to your life at home. In other words you want to live the last end of your life first—and without earning the right to it. And because you cannot do this you give yourself up to criticising ...
— Peter - A Novel of Which He is Not the Hero • F. Hopkinson Smith

... observing that such behaviour would savour strongly of ingratitude, the man in black gave me to understand that if I entertained the idea that the See of Rome was ever influenced in its actions by any feeling of gratitude I was much mistaken, assuring me that if the See of Rome in any encounter should chance to be disarmed and its adversary, from a feeling of magnanimity, ...
— Lavengro - The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest • George Borrow

... wonder? And do they know coram, and leave-stocks, and prisoners' base, and bull-in-the-ring as well? One could easily believe their wise little black heads to be capable of any imitation, especially if one had watched them a few times, at work and play, when they had no idea they were ...
— Ways of Wood Folk • William J. Long

... he must accept the fair conditions of investigation. We may not ourselves be able to conceive the possibility of taking, even provisionally, a neutral position; but looking at what is going on all round us, we ought to be able to enlarge our thoughts sufficiently to take in the idea that a believing mind may feel it a duty to surrender itself boldly to the intellectual chances and issues of the inquiry, and to "let its thoughts take their course in the confidence that they will come home at last." It may be we ourselves who ...
— Occasional Papers - Selected from The Guardian, The Times, and The Saturday Review, - 1846-1890 • R.W. Church

... Escombe, he took a long breath, and told himself that perhaps, with luck, he might be able to hold out for as much as five minutes; for that first encounter, brief though it was, showed him that these men had not the remotest idea of how to handle a sword, while as for himself, he had no sooner gripped the hilt of his weapon than he felt all the keen delight of the practised fencer thrill through him at the prospect of an encounter. ...
— Harry Escombe - A Tale of Adventure in Peru • Harry Collingwood

... current is passed through a wire, that wire is surrounded at every part by magnetic curves, diminishing in intensity according to their distance from the wire, and which in idea may be likened to rings situated in planes perpendicular to the wire or rather to the electric current within it. These curves, although different in form, are perfectly analogous to those existing between two contrary magnetic poles opposed ...
— Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1 • Michael Faraday

... idea to Constance, and she actually carried it away with her. The visit had restored the usual terms of intercourse with the Hackets, though there was no resumption of intimacy such as there had been, between Constance and Dolores. It had, however, done much to make the latter feel ...
— The Two Sides of the Shield • Charlotte M. Yonge

... round and round, wondering where they had come from and where they should go to. They had not the least idea where they were, and they could see no one and hear no one; but they laid their heads together and decided that they had better go on to the top of the hill before them, from which, as Dick said, they would be able to see further. ...
— The Drummer's Coat • J. W. Fortescue

... little animal with erect head and scraggy neck was evidently worried by the unusual grip on his ribs. For Russians sit back, with a short stirrup and a loose seat, when they are travelling. One must not form one's idea of Russian horsemanship from the erect carriage affected in the ...
— The Sowers • Henry Seton Merriman

... occurred to me that he and his chaps must be very hungry: that they must have been growing increasingly hungry for at least this month past. They had been engaged for six months (I don't think a single one of them had any clear idea of time, as we at the end of countless ages have. They still belonged to the beginnings of time—had no inherited experience to teach them as it were), and of course, as long as there was a piece of paper written over in accordance with some farcical law or other made down the river, it didn't ...
— Heart of Darkness • Joseph Conrad

... feel bold to write to you; for, to tell you the truth, I have never been without a misgiving that the dedication might prove a very bad compliment, however kindly I knew you would receive it. The idea of the dedication has been present to me from a very early date: it was formed during the Antarctic voyage, out of love for your own "Journal," and has never deserted me since; nor would it, I think, had I never known more ...
— More Letters of Charles Darwin - Volume I (of II) • Charles Darwin

... scores of Boston tenement houses where the sun never rises at all, except on the roof-tops, or now and then sends a slant ray, thrown down into the dark court in seeming mockery. It is impossible for any one to get from language alone, either spoken or written, an adequate idea of the loneliness, the sense of gloom, the filth and squalor, of the apartments in some of these Boston tenement houses. It requires a strong stomach, and a still stronger determination that nothing shall ...
— White Slaves • Louis A Banks

... a close Attachment to the | Liberty for which these confederated | States then struggled. The same attachment | still remains not glowing, but burning in | my Breast. At the same Time that I am | exulting in the Measures adopted by our | Government, I feel myself elevated in | the Idea of my adopted Country, I am | attached, both from the Bent of Educa | tion and mature Enquiry and Search | to the simple Doctrines of Christianity, | which I have the Honor to teach in | Public; and I do heartily Despise all the | Cavils of Infidelity. Our present Time | pregnant with ...
— Washington's Masonic Correspondence - As Found among the Washington Papers in the Library of Congress • Julius F. Sachse

... only who could profit by it in consolidating their organization, while the seeming gain of a few days or weeks was a loss to the Government, whose great advantage was in an administrative system thoroughly established, and, above all, in the vast power of the national idea, a power weakened by every day's delay. This is so true that already men began to talk of the rival governments at Montgomery and Washington, and Canadian journals to recommend a strict neutrality, ...
— The Writings of James Russell Lowell in Prose and Poetry, Volume V - Political Essays • James Russell Lowell

... do hand-work you'll have to use your mind. Lots of girls come in here with an idea they can let their thoughts wander; but you've got to pay strict attention. ...
— The Woman Who Toils - Being the Experiences of Two Gentlewomen as Factory Girls • Mrs. John Van Vorst and Marie Van Vorst

... North Island of New Zealand, having spent four months in the exploration. That Cook had communicated his enthusiasm to his officers is evident; or, knowing his determination to leave nothing doubtful, they would not have started the idea that the North Island might not be really an island. The natural wish after so many months' absence from civilization must have been to get back to it, and to take things for granted that would otherwise delay their progress.) ...
— Captain Cook's Journal During the First Voyage Round the World • James Cook

... Mrs. Carter exactly said so, yet we gathered the idea that those were days of much dress and frivolity. It seems that ships came from everywhere with handsome fabrics and costly trifles; and that rich colonials strove so manfully and so womanfully to follow the capricious foreign fashions (by means of dressed dolls received from Paris and London) ...
— Virginia: The Old Dominion • Frank W. Hutchins and Cortelle Hutchins

... blasted and ground into cement by a mill hard by on the main shore. To-day, with a flood of nearly twenty feet above the normal stage of the season, not much of the island is visible,—clumps of willows and sycamores, swayed by the rushing current, giving a general idea of the contour. Goose Island, although much smaller than in Clark's day, is a considerable tract of wooded land, with a rock foundation. Clark was once its owner, his home being opposite on the Indiana shore, where he had a fine view ...
— Afloat on the Ohio - An Historical Pilgrimage of a Thousand Miles in a Skiff, from Redstone to Cairo • Reuben Gold Thwaites

... Troll's name, get in to the Chief, and let nothing hinder you!" he growled. "From your snail's pace I got the idea that you had come a-begging. Get in, and set your tongue wagging as speedily as you can! Why do you draw back? I tell ...
— The Ward of King Canute • Ottilie A. Liljencrantz

... the attraction of extremes. "She isn't so refined that appreciation of real manhood has been refined out of her," thought he. "And why shouldn't she love me? What does all this nonsense of family and breeding amount to, anyway?" His mind was in great confusion. At one moment he was dismissing the idea of such delicateness, such super-refined super-sensitiveness being taken with a man of his imperfect bringing-up and humble origin. The next moment his self- esteem was bobbing again, was jauntily assuring him that ...
— The Fashionable Adventures of Joshua Craig • David Graham Phillips

... me for a while," he said. "You can believe what I'm going to say or not, but I'm going to tell you a few things. And don't get the idea I'm just talking for the sake of ...
— Spring Street - A Story of Los Angeles • James H. Richardson

... lead the Romans still further away from the idea that he looked upon himself as absolute monarch, Caesar undertook the government of the regions given him for ten years. In the course of this time he promised to reduce them to quiet and he carried his playfulness to the point of saying that if they should be sooner pacified, he would deliver ...
— Dio's Rome, Vol. 4 • Cassius Dio

... growled and upcurved his long, flexible lip. His hair bristled. He was paying no attention to Meriem and Korak. Back in the uttermost recesses of his little brain something was stirring—something which the sight and smell of the great bull had aroused. The outward manifestation of the germinating idea was one of bestial rage; but the inner sensations were pleasurable in the extreme. The scent of the great bull and the sight of his huge and hairy figure had wakened in the heart of Akut a longing for the companionship ...
— The Son of Tarzan • Edgar Rice Burroughs

... idea of making her escape in this fashion had first entered her mind, Bessie had watched Holmes and every move he made like a cat, determined to be able to do as he did if the emergency arose. And now her remarkable ability to do things ...
— The Camp Fire Girls on the Farm - Or, Bessie King's New Chum • Jane L. Stewart

... lucid instructions the girls found themselves in a few moments in an omnibus going towards Holloway. About noon they were landed there, and then their search began. Oh, the weariness of that long day! Oh, the painful experience of the three! They knew nothing about London prices—they had not an idea whether they were being imposed ...
— The Palace Beautiful - A Story for Girls • L. T. Meade

... That is a very important matter, no doubt. In regard to the few chestnuts bought for lanes and gardens, I know a good many men who have bought a few grafted chestnuts with the idea of setting out a number of acres if those few did well, being men of a conservative sort. Men of that sort are the ones we want to have in our Association. We want to have men who will buy four trees, and if they do well, set out four ...
— Northern Nut Growers Association, Report of the Proceedings at the Third Annual Meeting • Northern Nut Growers Association

... matches, she transfixed his imagination as skilfully as she might have impaled a butterfly on a bodkin. While he stared at her she could almost see the iridescent wings of his fancy whirling madly around the idea by which she had arrested their flight. Trifle with Virginia! Trifle with that radiant vision of girlhood! All the chivalry of youth revolted from the suggestion, and he thought again of the wistful adoration in the ...
— Virginia • Ellen Glasgow

... no one in the house but Captain Cardew's soldier-servant, Terence Murphy, whose old mother lived in Araglin village. I did not want to meet Terence; and I had an idea, having heard of the great extent of Brosna—indeed, it was easy to judge of it from the aspect of the place outside—that I might slip in somewhere and leave my ...
— The Story of Bawn • Katharine Tynan

... at the plates of the five different sizes of frames, an idea is gained how minds differ. Each one has its advocates, and its votaries claim that the frame they use is the very best for all purposes. We were once looking out of the window of a friend's house on her neat, well-kept apiary, ...
— The Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56, No. 2, January 12, 1884 - A Weekly Journal for the Farm, Orchard and Fireside • Various

... Rifle Brigade, who was in the donga, assisted to hook a team into a limber, went out and assisted to limber up a gun; being wounded, he took shelter, but seeing Lieutenant Roberts fall badly wounded, he went out again and brought him in. Some idea of the nature of the fire may be gathered from the fact that Captain Congreve was shot through the leg, through the toe of his boot, grazed on the elbow and the shoulder, and his horse shot ...
— South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 2 (of 6) - From the Commencement of the War to the Battle of Colenso, - 15th Dec. 1899 • Louis Creswicke

... detective. But this method was a dangerous one, only to be employed when everything else had failed. A word from Passepartout to his master would ruin all. The detective was therefore in a sore strait. But suddenly a new idea struck him. The presence of Aouda on the Rangoon, in company with Phileas Fogg, gave ...
— Around the World in 80 Days • Jules Verne

... remotely approaching that of the present edition, with so abundant and excellent a supply of illustrations. When it was issued in Germany, a few years ago, a distinguished biologist wrote in the Frankfurter Zeitung that it would secure immortality for its author, the most notable critic of the idea of immortality. And the Daily Telegraph reviewer described the English version as a "handsome edition of Haeckel's monumental work," and "an issue worthy of the ...
— The Evolution of Man, V.1. • Ernst Haeckel

... hardly be dignified by the name of love. He was convinced that if he could keep Ilka for some years in Berlin and persuade her to continue cultivating her voice, she would some day be a great prima donna. And Fritz had an idea that prima donnas always grew immensely rich, and married worthless husbands whom they allowed great liberties in financial matters. Fritz had no objection to playing this subordinate part, as long as he could be sure of ...
— Ilka on the Hill-Top and Other Stories • Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen

... to trim a little, you know," he remarked. "Votes he must have, and Henslow has a very good idea how to get them. Here we are, thank goodness." The carriage had turned up a short drive, and deposited them before the door of a highly ornate villa. Mr. Bullsom led the way indoors, and himself took charge of ...
— A Prince of Sinners • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... The process of dissolution took place in the reverse order, earth being rarefied into water, water into air, and air into fire. It is allowable to see in this old world doctrine an anticipation of the modern idea of different states of matter—the solid, the liquid, and the gaseous, with a fourth beyond the gaseous which science can still only guess at, and in which matter seems almost to ...
— A Little Book of Stoicism • St George Stock

... memory of living men, and very young men at that, when the idea of putting courtesy into business dealings sprang up, but it has taken hold remarkably. When the Hudson Tubes were opened not quite a decade and a half ago Mr. McAdoo inaugurated what was at that time an almost revolutionary policy. He took the motto, "The Public be Pleased," ...
— The Book of Business Etiquette • Nella Henney

... ever get hold of him I'll—I'll—mash him," said Dick, and the look on his youthful but stern face told that he meant just what he said. The western idea of shooting had not yet entered his mind, but woe to Louis Vorlange if his ...
— The Boy Land Boomer - Dick Arbuckle's Adventures in Oklahoma • Ralph Bonehill

... "The idea of being called a tell-tale has occasioned many good servants to shut their eyes against the ...
— The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's Manual • William Kitchiner

... said Mac-Ivor, 'I shall certainly find you exerting your poetical talents in elegies upon a prison, or your antiquarian researches in detecting the Oggam [The Oggam is a species of the old Irish character. The idea of the correspondence betwixt the Celtic and Punic, founded on a scene in Plautus, was not started till General Vallancey set up his theory, long after the date of Fergus Mac-Ivor.] character, or some Punic hieroglyphic upon the key-stones of a vault, ...
— Waverley • Sir Walter Scott

... was felt, and not without reason, for the general's daily mail contained letters—mostly anonymous, a few signed doubtless with fictitious names—threatening him and Mr. Lincoln with assassination if the latter should attempt to be inaugurated. Some idea of the difficulty may be gathered when it is known that the militia of the District was but poorly equipped either in officers or otherwise to cope successfully with the situation should an outbreak or invasion of armed men from Maryland ...
— General Scott • General Marcus J. Wright

... domiciled me at the rectory! Mighty clever you gentlemen think you are! I make you heartily welcome to the idea, and hope its savour, as you chew the cud of reflection upon it, gives you pleasure. Acute and astute, why are you not also omniscient? How is it that events transpire, under your very noses, of which you have no suspicion? It ...
— Shirley • Charlotte Bronte

... went out to Oklahoma. I went as a cook. Then I got the idea of following the resort towns about. In the summer I'd to [TR: go?] to Eureka.[D] In the winter I'd come down to Hot Springs.[E] That was the way to make the best money. Folks what had money moved about like that. I done cooking at other resorts too. I cooked at the hotel at Winslow.[F] ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Arkansas Narratives, Part 4 • Works Projects Administration

... he prowling around the camp for?" asked Bob, who had a hazy idea concerning the red men of the West, gained perhaps from early reading of the attacks on the wagon trains of the pioneers ...
— The Saddle Boys in the Grand Canyon - or The Hermit of the Cave • James Carson

... army landed on the coast of Prance there was not one in a thousand soldiers who had more than the vaguest idea as to why he was coming to fight the Germans or as to the character of the fighting in which he was to be engaged. If one asked him "Why are we at war with Germany" this regular soldier would scratch his head, struggle to find a reasonable answer, and mutter something ...
— The Soul of the War • Philip Gibbs

... oblations in a particular manner with particular words accompanying them, is in itself potent, quite apart from the psalms which they sing over it, that it has a magic power of its own over the machinery of nature.[1] Really this is no new idea of our Vedic priests; ten thousand years before them their remote forefathers believed it and acted upon it, and if for example they wanted rain they would sprinkle drops of water and utter magic words. Our Vedic priests have now a different ...
— Hindu Gods And Heroes - Studies in the History of the Religion of India • Lionel D. Barnett

... residence implied, of course, a permission, nay, an invitation, to wait upon her at the hour specified. Hartley's heart beat at the idea of seeing her once more, and still more highly at the thought of being able to serve her. At least, he thought, if there is danger near her, as is much to be suspected, she shall not want a counsellor, or, if necessary, a protector. Yet, at the same time, he felt the necessity of making ...
— The Surgeon's Daughter • Sir Walter Scott

... them through. He is a very faithful fellow, with none of the fool-notions niggers sometimes get, I think. In fact, he is too dull to have such notions. At the same time he has a good deal of influence over the others. If you agree with this idea, send him to me ...
— Bricks Without Straw • Albion W. Tourgee

... the pretty, tear-stained face, at the softly moulded form. Then an idea came to her. To voice it, lifted the veil from the very Holy of Holies of her own heart's sufferings; but she would not shrink from aught which could help this soul ...
— The White Ladies of Worcester - A Romance of the Twelfth Century • Florence L. Barclay

... year shows many changes in Athens, a tomb last year in the Ceramicus may be this year in a museum. There is a great similarity in all these tombstones; no doubt they were made beforehand, as they seldom suggest the idea of a portrait. They generally represent an almost heroic leave-taking. The friends standing in the act of saying farewell are receiving presents from the dead; often in the corner is a crouching ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 421, January 26, 1884 • Various

... When the idea of Poynings' danger, or the reproaches probably addressed by him to the widow regarding myself, had brought this exceedingly weak and feeble woman up to Dublin, as I expected, and my worthy Ulick had informed me of ...
— Barry Lyndon • William Makepeace Thackeray

... was a big eagle, or a hawk; and it's carried him up into a tree!" suggested Step-hen; and strange to say, no one even laughed at the silly idea. ...
— The Boy Scouts' First Camp Fire - or, Scouting with the Silver Fox Patrol • Herbert Carter

... poetry is really a series of vivid and crowding pictures only held together by a few general and loose, though big ideas. His style is marvellously musical but overweighted by his classical long-windedness and difficult syntax. Such a contrast to Tennyson where the idea shines out of the language which is so simple as to seem inevitable, and yet wonderfully subtle ...
— Letters from Mesopotamia • Robert Palmer

... Chivalry; an idea which, perfect or imperfect, God forbid that mankind should ever forget till it has become the possession—as it is the God- given right—of the poorest slave that ever trudged on foot; and every collier ...
— Daily Thoughts - selected from the writings of Charles Kingsley by his wife • Charles Kingsley

... fell into the hands of an enemy he might injure them magically thereby. Once when a man with a wound in his mouth, which bled constantly, came to the missionaries to be treated, his faithful wife took great pains to collect all the blood and cast it into the sea. Strained and unnatural as this idea may seem to us, it is perhaps less so than the belief that magic sympathy is maintained between a person and his clothes, so that whatever is done to the clothes will be felt by the man himself, even though he may be far away at the time. ...
— The Golden Bough - A study of magic and religion • Sir James George Frazer

... interesting prospects of any in the metropolis. Far as the eye could reach, skirting itself down the river, a forest of tall masts appeared, and the colours of all nations, waving gaily in the breeze, gave a splendid idea of the opulence and industry of the first commercial city in the universe. The moving panorama, far beneath the giddy height, resembled the flitting figures of a camera obscura; the spacious Thames was reduced to a brook; ...
— Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II. • Pierce Egan

... on the subject,—it was amusing to note the unbounded astonishment of the cattlemen of Arizona a few years ago when some altruistic society of Boston came forward with a brilliant idea that was to abolish the cruelty of branding cows entirely. What was the idea? Oh, they were going to hang a collar around the cow's neck, with a brass tag on it to tell the name of the owner. Or, if that wasn't feasible, they thought that a simple ...
— Arizona's Yesterday - Being the Narrative of John H. Cady, Pioneer • John H. Cady

... instance, "condign honors," "condign rewards," "condign treatment" (treatment appropriate to the merits)—thus at once realizing two rational purposes: namely, giving a useful function to a word, which at present has none; and also providing an intelligible expression for an idea which otherwise is left without means of uttering itself, except through a ponderous circumlocution. Precisely in the same circumstances of idle and absurd sequestration stands the term polemic. At present, according to the popular ...
— Memorials and Other Papers • Thomas de Quincey

... contrary to the ordinary usages of war. On the 12th some German scouts reached Meaux, and a larger force leisurely occupied Melun. The French, on their part, were busy after a fashion. They offered no armed resistance to the German advance, but they tried to impede it in sundry ways. With the idea of depriving the enemy of "cover," various attempts were made to fire some of the woods in the vicinity of Paris, whilst in order to cheat him of supplies, stacks and standing crops were here and there destroyed. ...
— My Days of Adventure - The Fall of France, 1870-71 • Ernest Alfred Vizetelly

... not have troubled you if I could have done it through anyone else—that he has a bill of exchange at Athens for his year's allowance. Eros will pay you the money. I am sending Tiro on that business. Pray therefore see to it, and write and tell me any idea you ...
— Letters of Cicero • Marcus Tullius Cicero

... possible power and no possible external control. We see a body without fundamental laws, without established maxims, without respected rules of proceeding, which nothing can keep firm to any system whatsoever. Their idea of their powers is always taken at the utmost stretch of legislative competency, and their examples for common cases from the exceptions of the most urgent necessity. The future is to be in most respects like the present Assembly; but, by the mode of the new elections and the tendency of the ...
— The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. III. (of 12) • Edmund Burke

... against his character as a man, until I read Wm. B. Reed's Life of his grandfather, Gen. Joseph Reed. His remarks were uncalled for and ungentlemanly; what they were, amount to nothing, as they were untrue; and therefore not worth repeating. My first idea was to speak of Gen. Joseph Reed in the same manner, though with more truth; but finding the truth had been suppressed, and that to publish all I could wish in regard to Reed, would take up too much room ...
— Nuts for Future Historians to Crack • Various

... not trying to," said Mr. Bellmore. "I'm only giving you an idea of the view a judge and jury might take of it, if you had ...
— Cowboy Dave • Frank V. Webster

... have that idea when I hear you sing to me, and know that this little leaping fountain of music here ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... fact, when a delegation had gone to the parsonage to demand obedience to the constitution of the church, the Dominie had replied that the ladies had come out victorious in the matter, and that it was an old-fashioned idea to forbid the women to speak or pray in public if they so wished; and the crest-fallen delegates had gone away from the rectory, and Bill Hopkins, with ...
— Tess of the Storm Country • Grace Miller White

... at her gleaming garment, and reached for her mantle. The Maccabee had no idea how much pleasure he was to derive in making his own story, Julian's. ...
— The City of Delight - A Love Drama of the Siege and Fall of Jerusalem • Elizabeth Miller

... father! why did you tempt me to such hypocrisy? Why did you not bring me up to walk at the plough-tail? Then I should never have had to encounter the damnable snares of the pulpit! It was that which ruined me—the notion that I must take the minister for my pattern, and live up to my idea of him, before even I had begun to cherish anything real in me! It was the road royal to hypocrisy! Without that rootless, worthless, devilish fancy, I might have been no worse than other people! Now I am lost! Now I shall never get back to bare honesty, not to say ...
— Salted With Fire • George MacDonald

... the lower offices in the government. Sometimes a young politician will go to a professional teacher to get cured of some defect or trick of speech; but that such teaching is part of the necessary training of a statesman is an idea quite strange to us. A Roman received it as a matter of course. Of course, like other things at Rome, it made its way but slowly. Just before the middle of the second century b.c. the Senate resolved: ...
— Roman life in the days of Cicero • Alfred J[ohn] Church

... liberty," said Aimee. "And it was very imprudent in you to let him come. I don't know what you could be thinking of. The idea of picking up people in the street like that, Mollie; ...
— Vagabondia - 1884 • Frances Hodgson Burnett

... you talk of losing Fiesco? Good God! How could you ever conceive the ambitious idea of possessing him? Why, my child, aspire to such a height? A height where you cannot but be seen, and must come into comparison with others. Indeed, my dear, he was a knave or a fool who joined you with FIESCO. (Taking her hand with a ...
— The Works of Frederich Schiller in English • Frederich Schiller

... shortly after this, when the news of the arrogant demands of the allies, and the vain attempts of the King to obtain an honourable peace became known, that the Duchesse de Grammont conceived the idea of offering her plate to the King, to replenish his impoverished exchequer, and to afford him means carry on the war. She hoped that her example would be followed by all the Court, and that she alone would have the merit and the profit of suggesting ...
— Marguerite de Navarre - Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois Queen of Navarre • Marguerite de Navarre

... "That's the idea—only make it Jim. Did you ever use one of these?" And suddenly Sheriff Owen had a Luger automatic in his hand. Pete wondered that a man as fat as the little sheriff could ...
— The Ridin' Kid from Powder River • Henry Herbert Knibbs

... that he would speak to Sir Thomas Harrington. My father secured his seat in Parliament, and he is sure to allow us to enter his house. We shall have every facility there for acquiring a rapid practical knowledge of banking and finance. I told father it was that or the colonies. I have no idea of ...
— The Hallam Succession • Amelia Edith Barr



Words linked to "Idea" :   design, overrating, reaction, preoccupation, intention, purpose, suggestion, conception, musical theme, air, generality, variation, melodic phrase, tune, ideal, music, cognitive content, underreckoning, sentiment, melodic theme, preconceived idea, melodic line, whim, guesstimate, scalage, mind, content, generalization, idealization, mental object, overestimation, credit rating, whimsey, thought, plan, cogitation, dead reckoning, credit, reckoning, belief, guess, concept, view, misconception, estimation, program, kink, underestimation, motif, keynote, underestimate, melody, feeling, whimsy, construct, line, meaning, approximation, aim, shot, ideate, overestimate, inspiration, generalisation, notion, figuring



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