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




Matter   /mˈætər/   Listen
Matter

noun
1.
A vaguely specified concern.  Synonyms: affair, thing.  "It is none of your affair" , "Things are going well"
2.
Some situation or event that is thought about.  Synonyms: issue, subject, topic.  "He had been thinking about the subject for several years" , "It is a matter for the police"
3.
That which has mass and occupies space.
4.
A problem.
5.
(used with negation) having consequence.
6.
Written works (especially in books or magazines).



Related searches:



WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |





"Matter" Quotes from Famous Books



... accordingly, under pressure from certain of the leaders who recognized this fact, and who responded to popular pressure, Senator Platt picked me for the nomination. He was entirely frank in the matter. He made no pretense that he liked me personally; but he deferred to the judgment of those who insisted that I was the only man who could be elected, and that therefore ...
— Theodore Roosevelt - An Autobiography by Theodore Roosevelt • Theodore Roosevelt

... and romantic figure. His homes in the Isle of Wight and at Aldworth had a dignified seclusion about them which was very appropriate to so great a poet, and invested him with a certain awe through which the multitude rarely penetrated. As a matter of fact, however, he was an excellent companion, a ready talker, and gifted with so much wit that it is a pity that more of his sayings have not been ...
— Famous Affinities of History, Vol 1-4, Complete - The Romance of Devotion • Lyndon Orr

... I've got in a bad way of thinking lately. It's all been so disappointing, and no matter what ...
— Diamond Dyke - The Lone Farm on the Veldt - Story of South African Adventure • George Manville Fenn

... raw materials of a great man all scattered around in him, great unaccounted-for insights, idle-looking powers all as yet unfused. But a man in the long run (and longer the better) is always worth while, no matter how he looks in the making, and it certainly does seem reasonable, however bad it may look, that this is the way he is made, that in proportion as he does his knowing spiritually and powerfully, he will have to do it dramatically. It sometimes seems as if knowing, in the best ...
— The Lost Art of Reading • Gerald Stanley Lee

... think this species ever attacks man,—though I should not like to put the matter to the ...
— In New Granada - Heroes and Patriots • W.H.G. Kingston

... am," Jeremy muttered; "and it wouldn't matter much if I did. When I see a nation with shipmasters who would set their royals when others hove too, and get there, all snarled up with shore lines and political duffel, I'm nigh ...
— Java Head • Joseph Hergesheimer

... though very nearly, with the evidence now in his possession. The letter, the stolen perusal of which had so agitated him that day, bore no signature; but, independently of the handwriting, which seemed, spite of the constraint of an attempted disguise, to be familiar to his eye, there existed, in the matter of the letter, short as it was, certain internal evidences, which, although not actually conclusive, raised, in conjunction with all the other circumstances, a powerful presumption in aid of his suspicions. ...
— The Evil Guest • J. Sheridan Le Fanu

... to avoid the reflections which crowded into my mind, not in praise of man's great success, not in admiration of the genius and perseverance he had displayed, or even of the courage he had shown in setting himself against the obstacles that matter afforded to his course—no! but the melancholy reflection that these prodigious efforts of the human race, so fruitful of praise but so much more fruitful of lasting blessing to mankind, have forced a tear from my ...
— Railway Adventures and Anecdotes - extending over more than fifty years • Various

... of nothing else. I could not study, I could only sit and stare out of the window with tears running down my cheeks, until at last, the teacher observing my distress, inquired, "What is the matter?" And I, not knowing how to enter upon so terrible a tale, whined out, "I'm sick, I want ...
— A Son of the Middle Border • Hamlin Garland

... as a motive for this communication that it not only disclosed "matter of interesting inquiry to the legislature," but, "might indeed give rise to deliberations to which they alone were competent;" the President added—"the representative and executive bodies of France have manifested generally a friendly attachment to this country; ...
— The Life of George Washington, Vol. 5 (of 5) • John Marshall

... by sea, which satisfy us that we must not look for a passage to the south of 67 deg. of latitude, we are indebted to the Hudson's Bay Company for a journey by land, which has thrown much additional light on this matter, by affording what may be called demonstration, how much farther north, at least in some part of their voyage, ships must hold their course, before they can pass from one side of America to the other. The northern ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 15 (of 18) • Robert Kerr

... on a sheep, exclaiming, "Wuh doomwala hai!"—"It is a tailed one! it is a tailed one!"—as if he would be hopelessly defiled by touching it, while his less scrupulous companions of the same caste said, "You fool! what does it matter? It will do you no harm." They would not have eaten its flesh, but their caste spirit was sufficiently relaxed to allow them to ...
— Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877 • James Kennedy

... them over and over to himself, with great emphasis, while he is washing the clothes. He is so big and strong, that they come out with great force. A few nights ago, after everybody had gone to bed, he came down past our room, and went into the kitchen. R. followed him to see what was the matter, and, as the boy looked a little wild, thought perhaps he was going into a fit. He had seized the primer, and was flourishing it about and gesticulating with it; and finally R., who has a wonderful faculty for comprehending the Chinese, divined ...
— Life at Puget Sound: With Sketches of Travel in Washington Territory, British Columbia, Oregon and California • Caroline C. Leighton

... letter from Mrs. Pierce, telling me she will come and dine with us on Thursday next, with some of the players, Knipp, &c., which I was glad of, but my wife vexed, which vexed me; but I seemed merry, but know not how to order the matter, whether they shall come or no. After dinner to the office, and there late doing much business, and so home ...
— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys

... for browns and other colours with Catechu. After boiling in a solution of the dye stuff, boil a short time in chrome solution, this oxidizes the colouring matter of ...
— Vegetable Dyes - Being a Book of Recipes and Other Information Useful to the Dyer • Ethel M. Mairet

... as it were, to the scene of his passionate youth, but in altered guise. He plays no part himself now, but is an onlooker, a stander-by, chronicling, as from a cloistered aloofness, yet with kindly wisdom always, the little things that matter in the lives of those around him. Wisdom and kindliness, sympathy and humour and understanding, these are the dominant notes of the new phase. Svoermere ends happily—for it is a story of other people's lives. So also with Benoni and Rosa at the last. And so surely has the author established ...
— Growth of the Soil • Knut Hamsun

... thrown a light upon one of the most inexplicable crimes of the century—an incident which is, I believe, absolutely unprecedented in the criminal annals of any country: Although there is a reluctance to discuss the matter in official circles, and little information has been given to the Press, there are still indications that the statement of this arch-criminal is corroborated by the facts, and that we have at last found a solution for a most astounding business. ...
— Tales of Terror and Mystery • Arthur Conan Doyle

... this view I transmit to Congress a copy of a correspondence between the Secretary of State and the British minister here, in which the latter proposes, on behalf of his government, the appointment of a joint commission to inquire into the matter, in order that such ulterior measures may be adopted as may be advisable for the objects proposed. Such legislation recommended as may be necessary to enable the executive to provide for a commissioner on ...
— The Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln, Complete - Constitutional Edition • Abraham Lincoln

... battle in Spain; and it has been a great victory." In a moment we are on the point of passing them. We passengers—I on the box, and the two on the roof behind me—raise our hats to the ladies; the coachman makes his professional salute with the whip; the guard even, though punctilious on the matter of his dignity as an officer under the crown, touches his hat. The ladies move to us, in return, with a winning graciousness of gesture; all smile on each side in a way that nobody could misunderstand, and that nothing short of a grand national sympathy could so instantaneously prompt. Will these ...
— The English Mail-Coach and Joan of Arc • Thomas de Quincey

... got great respect for you personally, Mr. Hull. Your father—he was a fine old Republican wheel-horse. He stood by the party through thick and thin—and the party stood by him. So, I respect his son—personally. But politically—that's another matter. Politically I respect straight organization men of either party, but I've got no use for amateurs and reformers. So—go to Joe House." All this in perfect good humor, and in a tone of banter that might have ruffled a man with a keener sense ...
— The Conflict • David Graham Phillips

... recognised and honestly admitted by the German Socialists. Kautsky, for instance, writes: "If the income of the capitalists were added to that of the workers, the wages of each would be doubled. Unfortunately, however, the matter will not be settled so simply. If we expropriate capitalism, we must at the same time take over its social functions—among these the important one of capitalist accumulation. The capitalists do not consume all their income; a portion of it they put away for the extension of production. A ...
— British Socialism - An Examination of Its Doctrines, Policy, Aims and Practical Proposals • J. Ellis Barker

... says the same was chalked this morning upon his door, and is scrawled in several places about the town. Wagers have been laid that the popish chapel here will be pulled or burnt down in a few days; but I believe not a word of the matter, nor do I find that anybody is at all alarmed. Bath, indeed, ought to be held sacred as a sanctuary for invalids; and I doubt not but the news of the firing in town will prevent ...
— The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay Volume 1 • Madame D'Arblay

... we have a regular inspection of them on the first opportunity," said Edwards, "and settle the matter once for all." ...
— For Fortune and Glory - A Story of the Soudan War • Lewis Hough

... and 6th of October the household guards had been disbanded; the companies of the body guard, every soldier of whom was a gentleman and whose honour, descent, ancient traditions, and party feeling assured their fidelity, existed no longer; that respectful vigilance that rendered their service a matter of duty with them, had given place to the jealous watchfulness of the national guard, who were rather spies on the king than guardians of the monarchy. The Swiss guards still, it is true, surrounded the Tuileries, but they only occupied ...
— History of the Girondists, Volume I - Personal Memoirs of the Patriots of the French Revolution • Alphonse de Lamartine

... could be expected, he told Bartley he would hear from Mrs Sullivan's own lips the authentic narrative. This was quite satisfactory, and what was expected from him. As for himself, he appeared to take no particular interest in the matter, further than that of allaying the ferment and alarm which had spread ...
— The Haunters & The Haunted - Ghost Stories And Tales Of The Supernatural • Various

... arrested, tried and, if condemned, put to death by the public executioner. Insects ravaging grain fields, orchards or vineyards were cited to appeal by counsel before a civil tribunal, and after testimony, argument and condemnation, if they continued in contumaciam the matter was taken to a high ecclesiastical court, where they were solemnly excommunicated and anathematized. In a street of Toledo, some pigs that had wickedly run between the viceroy's legs, upsetting him, were arrested on a warrant, ...
— The Devil's Dictionary • Ambrose Bierce

... diseases. Suppose the crash came here," said Bianchon, touching the back of the head, "very strange things have been known to happen; the brain sometimes partially recovers, and death is delayed. Or the congested matter may pass out of the brain altogether through channels which can only be determined by a post-mortem examination. There is an old man at the Hospital for Incurables, an imbecile patient, in his case the effusion ...
— Father Goriot • Honore de Balzac

... curiosity was unsatisfied; but, perhaps, I went to bed that night with a fuller gush of happiness at my heart than if I had heard this prosy fellow's account of the matter. It is a frequent subject of meditation with me, whether or not I am constituted as other men are. Are others played upon in this way by some slight occurrence—by meeting with a face seen before only in a dream, by a peculiar smile, by a gesture, by a sigh, by a voice singing in ...
— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 2, No. 12, May, 1851. • Various

... possible? There is no immediate knowledge of Matter; what we know is always Self Matter. The idea of a Matter which can exist by itself is an inference: is it a ...
— Philosophy and Religion - Six Lectures Delivered at Cambridge • Hastings Rashdall

... "A mere matter of justice and belated frankness to Miss Westfall!" said Philip quietly. "I must respectfully beg Prince Ronador to disclose to her the original motive of his singular and highly romantic courtship. I ...
— Diane of the Green Van • Leona Dalrymple

... bitterness of life. Was this really a malicious jest or a test of his endurance? To what black purpose had belated love sprung up in his heart for this woman of the streets? And to think that once he had fancied that so withering a passion was as much a matter of good form as of cosmic urging! There had been conventions in love—and styles and seasons! One loved purity and youth and freshness. Yes, it had been as easy as that for him. Just as it had been as easy for him to choose a nice and pallid calling for expressing ...
— Broken to the Plow • Charles Caldwell Dobie

... of wearing the litham, does not like a beard, which, indeed, could rarely be seen. As it grows, they pull it out, and so in time it often disappears altogether. In the matter of beard, the almost sacred ornament of the Moor and the Arab, the Touarick is placed again in strong contrast with his Mahometan neighbour. All wear a profusion of talismans suspended round the neck, ...
— Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 • James Richardson

... is the matter with you, Belviso?" I asked him. "What would you do if you were, or were not, something which you are, or are not? Riddles, riddles, my dear." I was sorry he had seen me in such a rage, and laid a kindly arm upon his drooped ...
— The Fool Errant • Maurice Hewlett

... make me see more; however, this shall not hinder my yielding to you, charming Maimoune, if you desire it; but I would have you yield to me as a favour! I scorn it, said Maimoune; and I would not receive a favour at such a wicked genius' hands: I refer the matter to an arbitrator; and if you will not consent, I shall get the ...
— The Arabian Nights Entertainments Volume 1 • Anonymous

... said Mr. Lind irresolutely. "Is it some foolish quarrel, or what is the matter? Pray let us have no ...
— The Irrational Knot - Being the Second Novel of His Nonage • George Bernard Shaw

... spent in digging, until a tunnel was made from the stockade to the spring. In succeeding attacks, the General had his granaries and storehouses well supplied with food and ammunition, and it was an easy matter to send a boy with a bucket through the tunnel to the spring for water. This precaution on the part of the General prevented exhaustion during the next attack on Logan's Fort. The Indians, unable to understand how the settlers in the fort could do so long without water, supposed ...
— The story of Kentucky • Rice S. Eubank

... modify other mythical and religious beliefs. This compound of various stages and various beliefs also occurs through the moral and intellectual diffusion of dogma, without the acquisition of really new matter. Manifest proofs of these various stages of myth, co-existent together, may be traced in the development of the Vedic ideas among the earlier aboriginal nations, and conversely; as in the case of the Aztecs and ...
— Myth and Science - An Essay • Tito Vignoli

... the Russians. Secondly, the numbers of trained men prepared and the numbers of reserves available in at least the first year to the various numbers in conflict. Thirdly, the way in which the various enemies had thought of the coming war (which was largely a matter of theory in the lack of experience); in what either party has been right, and in what wrong, as events proved; and with what measure of foresight the various combatants ...
— A General Sketch of the European War - The First Phase • Hilaire Belloc

... afraid I had said too much; and anxious to allay the suspicion I saw gathering in his countenance—"Nay, uncle," I quickly rejoined; "but you seemed so afraid of speaking out upon the matter that I thought there must needs be a ghost at the ...
— Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 1 (of 2) • John Roby

... times in the last year. The Queen sets us the example: we are moving on from top to bottom. Little dirty Jack, who abides in Clement's Inn gateway, and blacks my boots for a penny, takes his month's hop-picking every year as a matter of course. Why shouldn't he? I'm delighted at it. I love vagabonds, only I prefer poor to rich ones. Couriers and ladies'-maids, imperials and travelling carriages, are an abomination unto me; I cannot away with them. But for dirty Jack, and every good fellow who, in the ...
— Tom Brown's Schooldays • Thomas Hughes

... that no matter how many national parks and historical monuments we buy and develop, the truly significant environment for each of us is that in which we spend 80 percent of our time—in our homes, in our places of work, the streets over ...
— State of the Union Addresses of Richard Nixon • Richard Nixon

... quadripoint with Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe is in disagreement; dispute with Namibia over uninhabited Kasikili (Sidudu) Island in Linyanti (Chobe) River remained unresolved in January 1996 and the parties have agreed to refer the matter ...
— The 1996 CIA Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... Mary Madeline settled in life," said Mrs. Mumbles, after the arrangements were all complete; "and the matter off my mind." ...
— Eventide - A Series of Tales and Poems • Effie Afton

... myself, and—would you believe it?—he signed an execution on my very goods, bought with the money I worked so hard to get; and they came and took my bed from under me, before I heard a word of the matter. Aye, madam, these are misfortunes that you gentlefolks know nothing of,—but sorrow is sorrow, let it come ...
— Posthumous Works - of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman • Mary Wollstonecraft

... little, for that matter, he had known when he had set his own face toward those same sands what secrets he would discover there and what forbidden ways his ...
— The Fortieth Door • Mary Hastings Bradley

... what he calls "practical recognition of the Fatherhood of God"—one new positive idea. That idea he takes to mean that "God is the Father of all nations and religions," and that therefore "it does not matter much to what religion a man belongs, so far as the future of his soul is concerned." Does not that signify that he himself is stripped bare of belief? From which modern notion, that religion does not matter much, he next argues that a man ought to deny himself the luxury and "satisfaction of ...
— New Ideas in India During the Nineteenth Century - A Study of Social, Political, and Religious Developments • John Morrison

... Mr. Greeley began to print in his paper one column daily of matter on Fourierite topics, written by Albert Brisbane, and occasionally these theories were defended in his editorial columns, and he thereby gained a certain amount of obloquy from which he did not readily recover. The paper had the reputation of being not only extremely ...
— Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 4 of 8 • Various

... Winton's natural daughter; even then it had made him long to punch the head of that covertside scandal-monger. The more there might be against the desirability of loving her, the more he would love her; even her wretched marriage only affected him in so far as it affected her happiness. It did not matter—nothing mattered except to see her and be with her as much as she would let him. And now she was going to the sea for a month, and he himself—curse it!—was due in Perthshire to ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy

... "A matter of feeling entirely. Stay, I will give you her letter to read. It will explain better than I can, and there is nothing that she could mind ...
— The Heart of Una Sackville • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey

... your Lord. If you wish for any different sort of joy after you die, you must not ask me to tell you of it; for I know nothing about the matter save what I find written ...
— The Good News of God • Charles Kingsley

... with them, they fit so perfectly and impede their movement so little; while there are other fellows whose clothes look at once as if they'd been made for them by a highly respectable but imperfectly successful tailor. That's just what I always think about Harry Oswald in the matter of culture. He's got a great deal of culture, the very best culture, from the very best shop—Oxford, in fact—dressed himself up in the finest suit of clothes from the most fashionable mental tailor; but it ...
— Philistia • Grant Allen

... and ardent friendships in men, ever moved any woman to love. The Florentine ladies are darkly accused by one of his biographers of having laughed at the poor young pessimist, and it is very possible; but that need not make us think the worse of him, or of them either, for that matter. He is supposed to have figured the lady of his latest love under the name of Aspasia, in one of his poems, as he did his first love under that of Sylvia, in the poem so called. Doubtless the experience further embittered a life already sufficiently miserable. ...
— Modern Italian Poets • W. D. Howells

... "For the matter of that, so've I, Dick, and I was born north of the Ohio River. But I'm getting tremendously hungry. I ...
— The Rock of Chickamauga • Joseph A. Altsheler

... her logical object—slavery and free trade in Negroes—and, in her moral and economic dilemma, sought to make autonomy and the Constitution her object. The real line of contention was, however, fixed by years of development, and was unalterable by the present whims or wishes of the contestants, no matter how important or interesting these might be: the triumph of the North meant free labor; the triumph of the South meant slavery and ...
— The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America - 1638-1870 • W. E. B. Du Bois

... language: (48) but I learnt to read Calo when very young. My mother was a good Calli, and early taught me both to speak and read it. She too had a gabicote, but not printed like this, and it treated of a different matter.' ...
— The Zincali - An Account of the Gypsies of Spain • George Borrow

... As a matter of fact, they were pretty much out of the last-named article when they reached the dock again. But the great thing was that they had succeeded in getting there before whoever was in that motor ...
— Billie Bradley on Lighthouse Island - The Mystery of the Wreck • Janet D. Wheeler

... there. Not even George. But I had to find my beautiful little mother. All round I ran. The brambles threw me down. I fell over a stump and struck my face. I could feel the blood running down over my cheeks. It was warmer than the rain. No matter, I had to find my mother. My poor ...
— The Best Short Stories of 1917 - and the Yearbook of the American Short Story • Various

... by, no matter to what measure, and midnight came, and the train came, and the comfort and privacy of a first-class carriage restored the lover-like attitude of the runaways. Early in the morning they reached Plymouth, and as soon as possible they sought ...
— A Singer from the Sea • Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr

... Couteau has just gone to see, she'll take him to La Couillard's, I'm sure; for I heard the mother, Mademoiselle Rosine, agree with her the other day to give her a sum of four hundred francs down on the understanding that she should have nothing more to do in the matter." ...
— Fruitfulness - Fecondite • Emile Zola

... had grown, during the last few seconds, as pale as it had been crimson a moment before; and it was not love that now blanched my cheek, and made me tremble in a way which made the support of Edward's arm a matter of necessity. It was not the emotion of happiness that kept me as silent as the grave, when Mr. Middleton fondly kissed me, and blessed me for what I had done, and for what I had acknowledged. My uneasiness grew so evident that both my uncle and Edward were ...
— Ellen Middleton—A Tale • Georgiana Fullerton

... considered, only natural. Though the Pestalozzian theories as to the development of the mental faculties, training through the senses, and the power of education to regenerate society were accepted, along with the new Pestalozzian subject-matter and methods in instruction (p. 543,) all that could be rendered useful to the Prussian State in its extremity naturally was given special emphasis. Thus all that related to the home country—geography, history, and the German speech—was taught as much from the patriotic ...
— THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION • ELLWOOD P. CUBBERLEY

... destroyeth chimeras prejudicial to the human race; who endeavours to re-conduct wandering mortals back to nature; who is desirous to place them upon the road of experience; who is anxious that they should actively employ their reason. He is a thinker, who, having meditated upon matter, its energies, its properties, its modes of acting, hath no occasion to invent ideal powers, to recur to imaginary systems, in order to explain the phenomena of the universe—to develope the operations of nature; who needs not creatures of the imagination, which far ...
— The System of Nature, Vol. 2 • Baron D'Holbach

... matter rest. All night until the break of day the lady lay upon her bed in thought. Her bright eyes never grew dry, till on the morn she went to matins. Just at the time for mass the kings were come and ...
— The Nibelungenlied • Unknown

... still vacant; but it was occupied; and so he remained standing in the passage way, by the side of his wife, during all the service. It was very plain, however, that this circumstance gave his wife no concern whatever. She seemed to consider it a matter of course that, provided the lady in such cases was seated, the gentleman ...
— Rollo in London • Jacob Abbott

... persuasion, but Heideck did not dream of attempting to dissuade Mrs. Baird from her resolve. It was his firm conviction that the flight to Amritsar, which the Colonel had advised in case of a defeat, was, under the present circumstances, quite impracticable. As a matter of fact, there was scarcely anything else possible but to remain in the hotel and patiently await the development ...
— The Coming Conquest of England • August Niemann

... cause of each, and may be termed sitis calida, or warm thirst, and sitis frigida, or cold thirst. The remote cause of the former arises from the dissipation of the aqueous parts of our fluids by the increased secretion of perspirable matter, or other evacuations. And hence it occurs in hot fits of fever, and after taking much wine, opium, spice, salt, or other drugs of the Art. incitantia or secernentia. The thirst, which occurs about three hours after eating a couple of red herrings, to a person unaccustomed ...
— Zoonomia, Vol. II - Or, the Laws of Organic Life • Erasmus Darwin

... husband, who was trying to keep the matter from being serious, "perhaps he may turn out a poet yet. You never can tell where the lightning is going to strike. He has some idea of rhyme, and some perception of reason, and—yes, some of the lines were musical. His general attitude reminded me of Piers Plowman. Didn't he recall Piers ...
— The Minister's Charge • William D. Howells

... Barry. "She admits it. Wonderful girl though, Ann. She can tell at a glance just what's the matter with anything or anyone. ...
— Torchy and Vee • Sewell Ford

... It would have been easy enough to settle the matter by revealing Courtnay's injudicious display of affection towards Madame de Belle-Ile, but that was not Tinker's way. He had a passion for keeping things in his own hands, and a pretty eye for dramatic possibilities. Besides, ...
— The Admirable Tinker - Child of the World • Edgar Jepson

... eclipse, total eclipse; gathering of the clouds. shading; distribution of shade; chiaroscuro &c. (light) 420. noctivagation[obs3]. [perfectly black objects] black body; hohlraum[Phys]; black hole; dark star; dark matter, cold dark matter. V. be dark &c. adj. darken, obscure, shade; dim; tone down, lower; overcast, overshadow; eclipse; obfuscate, offuscate|; obumbrate[obs3], adumbrate; cast into the shade becloud, bedim[obs3], bedarken[obs3]; cast a shade, throw a shade, spread a shade, ...
— Roget's Thesaurus

... silently. He'd been thinking that it was the same Co-operative his father and Simon MacGregor and the other old hunters had organized, and that getting rid of Ravick was simply a matter of voting him out. He was beginning to see, now, that parliamentary procedure wasn't any weapon against Ravick's ...
— Four-Day Planet • Henry Beam Piper

... he muttered, as if arguing the matter out with himself. "The report has gone East, and there is nothing more to be accomplished in Flat Rock for at least a month. This snow will have to melt away before they can hope to put any miners to work, and in the meanwhile I might just as well be laying up experiences ...
— Beth Norvell - A Romance of the West • Randall Parrish

... to induce the young to pay any attention to this important subject, as a matter of duty, even in some of its most obvious points and parts. Some of them will, it is true, use exercise enough of a particular kind, and at particular times; but the idea of attending to it as a matter of duty, is exceedingly hard for them ...
— The Young Woman's Guide • William A. Alcott

... probably partaking of the detestable banquet. It was natural to suppose that he had not fired in vain; and that, therefore, some of the murderers and devourers of our unhappy countrymen had suffered under our just resentment. Upon enquiry, however, into this matter, not only from Kahoora, but from others who had opportunities of knowing, it appeared that our supposition was groundless, and that not one of the shot fired by Mr Burney's people had taken effect, so as to kill, or even to hurt, a ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 15 (of 18) • Robert Kerr

... is a box of moderate weight; I got it somewhere else—no matter! Just shut it up, here, in the press, I swear to you, 'twill turn her senses; I meant the trifles, I confess, To scale another fair one's fences. True, child is child and ...
— Faust • Goethe

... that he must have found it impossible to do anything with them, and have delayed writing from unwillingness to cause him disappointment, but he could not help a growing soreness that his friend should take no notice of the straits he had confessed himself in. The conclusion of the whole matter was, that it must be the design of Providence to make him part with the last clog that fettered him; he was to have no ease in life until he had yielded the castle! If it were so, then the longer he delayed the greater would be the loss. To sell everything in it first ...
— Warlock o' Glenwarlock • George MacDonald

... the bay, the jack flying at her fore-royal-mast head, passing the low-decked molasses-loaded brigs from the West Indies, or the faster sailing topsail-schooners from the Chesapeake, inquiring the news, and furnishing matter for ...
— An Old Sailor's Yarns • Nathaniel Ames

... accepted it, feeling it close firmly, reassuringly, upon her own. "Shall we go upstairs?" he asked, in his quiet, matter-of-fact way. "Isabel is a ...
— Greatheart • Ethel M. Dell

... population. High unemployment remains a persistent problem. In 2007 Russia announced plans to impose high tariffs on raw timber exported to Finland. The Finnish pulp and paper industry will be threatened if these duties are put into place in 2008 and 2009, and the matter is now being handled ...
— The 2008 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... matter things are so arranged that we may have 'the beginning of the end' as soon ...
— Cord and Creese • James de Mille

... thinking what I have written. To see this origin of a book, this metamorphosis of manuscript into print, is a delight to which I give myself up entirely. Look you, this melancholy pleasure, which would have furnished the departed Voss with worthy matter for more than one blessed Idyl—(the more so, as on such occasions, I am generally arrayed in a morning gown, though I am sorry to say, not a calamanco one, with great flowers;) this melancholy pleasure was already grown here in Halle to a sweet, pedantic habit. Since I began my hermit's ...
— Hyperion • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

... Lakshman turned and thus expressed The thoughts that moved his gallant breast: "Well versed in Scripture's lore, and sage And duly reverent to age, Is he, with long experience stored, Who counsels like this Vanar lord. Yet here, methinks, for searching eyes Some deeper, subtler matter lies. To you and all the world are known The perils of a monarch's throne, While foe and stranger, kith and kin By his misfortune trust to win. By hope of such advantage led, Vibhishan o'er the sea has fled. He in his brother's stead would ...
— The Ramayana • VALMIKI

... invitation. The delegation led the visitors straight to the house of the headman. For the Pepo-hoan governed their communities in the Chinese style and had a headman for each village. The missionary party sat down in front of the hut on some large flat stones and talked over the matter with the chief and other important men. And while they talked "Black-face" slipped away. He returned in a few moments with a breakfast of rice and ...
— The Black-Bearded Barbarian (George Leslie Mackay) • Mary Esther Miller MacGregor, AKA Marion Keith

... wrong with him—self-seeking; and the Bible story brings out that self-seeking with a delicacy, a keenness, and a perfect knowledge of human nature, which ought to teach us some of the secrets of our own hearts. Watch how Balaam, as a matter of course, inquires of the Lord whether he may go, and ...
— The Gospel of the Pentateuch • Charles Kingsley

... it so much?" he asked her, wondering. His own strong feeling for his native place was all a matter of old habit and association. The flash of wild pleasure in her face astounded him. There was in it that fiery, tameless something that was the girl's distinguishing mark, her very soul and self. Was it beginning to speak from her ...
— Helbeck of Bannisdale, Vol. I. • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... quoi: cf.— j'ai de quoi payer le voyage, 'I have enough to pay for the journey.' il n'y a pas de quoi rire, 'it is no laughing matter.' il n'y a pas de quoi! 'don't ...
— Le Petit Chose (part 1) - Histoire d'un Enfant • Alphonse Daudet

... to be run through eagerly, to be read deliberately, to supply matter for much reflection, and to leave everything in greater suspense than ever. The only certainty to be drawn from it was, that nothing decisive had yet taken place. Edmund had not yet spoken. How Miss Crawford ...
— Persuasion • Jane Austen

... of the President, when there are steps to be taken or things to be done which he believes very necessary, but which are not within his competency, is, if Congress is not in session, to call it together at the earliest practicable moment, and submit the matter ...
— The American Republic: Its Constitution, Tendencies, and Destiny • A. O. Brownson

... just talking about you," said Ramond gaily. "Yes, to be frank with you, we were conspiring. Come, why do you not take care of yourself? There is nothing serious the matter with you; you would be on your feet again in a fortnight ...
— Doctor Pascal • Emile Zola

... to be completely distinct and separable; and thinks that, in an inquiry into the actual and present meaning of a word, the consideration of what it originally meant may frequently lead us into error. A few suggestive remarks are given upon this matter. ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 427 - Volume 17, New Series, March 6, 1852 • Various

... more sisters or their heirs, and is held by no one till the abeyance is terminated; if eventually only one person represents the claims of all the sisters, he or she can claim the termination of the abeyance as a matter of right. The crown can also call the peerage out of abeyance at any moment, on petition, in favour of any one of the sisters or their heirs between whom it is in abeyance. The question whether ancient earldoms created in favour ...
— Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia

... piety, the love of honour, and the desire of beauty, not in the body but in the soul. These are, perhaps, romantic aspirations; but they are the noblest of aspirations, if they could only be realised in all states, and, God willing, in the matter of love we may be able to enforce one of two things—either that no one shall venture to touch any person of the freeborn or noble class except his wedded wife, or sow the unconsecrated and bastard seed among harlots, or in barren ...
— Laws • Plato

... Nilsen. They had their hands more than full on board. Diesel's firm in Stockholm sent their experienced fitter, Aspelund, who at once set to work to overhaul the motor thoroughly. The work that had to be done was executed gratis by the Laxevaag engineering works. After going into the matter thoroughly, it was decided to change the solar oil we had on board for refined petroleum. Through the courtesy of the West of Norway Petroleum Company, we got this done on very favourable terms at the company's storage dock in Skaalevik. ...
— The South Pole, Volumes 1 and 2 • Roald Amundsen

... reached for a row of buttons. "How about a bit of tea and cakes, or, perhaps something stronger before we discuss this matter with the Council? They're waiting just below us, and I'd like to ...
— Satan and the Comrades • Ralph Bennitt

... with melted wax; but the hero himself so dearly loved adventure that he could not resist the temptation of braving this new danger. By his own desire, therefore, he was lashed to the mast, and his comrades had strict orders on no account to release him until they were out of sight of the island, no matter how he might implore them ...
— Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome • E.M. Berens

... affair is matter of gossip now," Will continued. "I wished you to know that something connected with it—something which happened before I went away, helped to bring me down here again. At least I thought it excused my coming. It was the idea of getting Bulstrode to apply some money ...
— Middlemarch • George Eliot

... life without the smallest sense of having done anything exceptional or even creditable. It was so perfectly obvious to him that he had to be with his mother that he had no inclination to regard himself at all in the matter; the thing was as simple as it had been to him to help Francis out of financial difficulties with a gift of money. There was no effort of will, no sense of sacrifice about it, it was merely the assertion of a paramount instinct. The life limited his freedom, ...
— Michael • E. F. Benson

... to the scantiness of the attire of the Paraguayan women at one period of the war. Some terrible facts are related in connection with this matter, showing the horrible desperation and sternness with which Lopez conducted his military operations, bringing untold woe on his own people in his savage resolve to retard at any cost the advance of the army of invasion. When the allies captured Humaita, ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 15, No. 89, May, 1875 • Various

... Prince Nicolas and of seeing him on many occasions; for during our first travels in the land we were always strangely unlucky in this respect. I then learnt how our progress through Montenegro had been watched over, and contingencies provided for, which we had taken as a matter ...
— The Land of the Black Mountain - The Adventures of Two Englishmen in Montenegro • Reginald Wyon

... to ask," I demanded, "what interest you may take in this matter, and by what right you assume the office of interrogating ...
— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 2, No. 12, May, 1851. • Various

... and bestows, are the pillars on which His throne stands; and these are eternal, and it never will totter nor sink, as earthly thrones must do. The very life-blood of prophecy, as of religion, is the conviction that righteousness outlasts sin, and will survive 'the wreck of matter ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture - Isaiah and Jeremiah • Alexander Maclaren

... sorrowfully in his costly robes, Peter looked upon him with apparent scorn, and turned to Jesus with the self-complacent remark, "Lo, we have left our own, and followed thee." The reply of Jesus was not intended to encourage men to follow him in hope of gain. His salvation is a matter of grace. We are not to think that by any sacrifice of worldly goods we can purchase eternal life. However, the tender words of the Master do remind us that a rich recompense will be received for all that we may surrender in becoming his disciples. Even in ...
— The Gospel of Luke, An Exposition • Charles R. Erdman

... only supposition having consistency is that that in which consciousness inheres is the all-pervading ether. This we know can be affected by molecules of matter in motion, and conversely can affect the motions of molecules;—as witness the action of light on the retina. In pursuance of this supposition we may assume that the ether, which pervades not only all space but all matter, is, under special ...
— The Romance of the Milky Way - And Other Studies & Stories • Lafcadio Hearn

... boldly, No matter how coldly The rough river ran, Over the brink of it,— Picture it, think of it, Dissolute Man! Lave in it, drink of ...
— The Golden Treasury - Of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language • Various

... crush to dullness or to arouse to rebellion. Carlia was of the kind not easily crushed.... But what could they now do? What could he do? For, it came to him with great force that he himself was not altogether free from blame in this matter. He could have done more, vastly ...
— Dorian • Nephi Anderson

... to, Edward Gray? What is it? That's wrong. What does old Tennyson say? Hullo! what's the matter?" ...
— The Rajah of Dah • George Manville Fenn

... They're all over. They're finding gold. They've tasted blood. Wait till the great gold strike comes! Then you'll see men and women go back ten thousand years... And then what'll one girl more or less matter?" ...
— The Border Legion • Zane Grey

... which my wheel-tracks marked and led the way, station after station had been taken up by squatters, not by following any line of route, but rather according to the course of the river, for the sake of water; and in such cases, the beaten track from station to station, no matter how crooked, becomes the road. Thus it is, in the fortuitous occupation of Australia, that order and arrangement may precede, and be followed only by "CHAOS come again." I arrived about sunset, at Mr. Cyrus ...
— Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia • Thomas Mitchell

... consequence of the increase of these secretions. The skin becomes red, and the perspiration great, owing to the increased action of the capillaries during the hot part of the paroxysm. The secretion of perspirable matter is perhaps greater during the hot fit than in the sweating fit which follows; but as the absorption of it also is greater, it does not stand on the skin in visible drops: add to this, that the evaporation of it also is greater, from the ...
— Zoonomia, Vol. I - Or, the Laws of Organic Life • Erasmus Darwin

... matter of fact, she was pretty near to being right. "All the more reason for you to be cautious and circumspect," said I boldly. "Pray think of my ...
— A Fool and His Money • George Barr McCutcheon

... like himself; and that as I did not choose to be made a fool of, I should decline the introduction. This distressed him exceedingly. He said that the king was really so great a man that he, his own brother, dared not sit on a stool in his presence, and that he had only kept in retirement as a matter of precaution, as Debono's people had allied themselves with his enemy Rionga in the preceding year, and he dreaded treachery. I laughed contemptuously at M'Gambi, telling him that if a woman like my wife dared ...
— In the Heart of Africa • Samuel White Baker

... as bad as those that Jimmy Rabbit and Frisky Squirrel once had over the matter of tails. And many of the field folk said it was a shame that the Grasshoppers' trouble couldn't ...
— The Tale of Kiddie Katydid • Arthur Scott Bailey

... thousand and ninety five fruits. Do thou examine these two branches and all their boughs.' Thereupon staying the car Vahuka addressed the king, saying, 'O crusher of foes, thou takest credit to thyself in a matter which is beyond my perception. But, O monarch, I will ascertain it by the direct evidence of my senses, by cutting down the Vibhitaka. O king, when I actually count, it will no longer be matter of speculation. ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 • Kisari Mohan Ganguli

... one after this is ours, and I will wait here for you till you come back. It is only Jim, and he doesn't matter. I must be alone to think—to ...
— Sisters • Ada Cambridge

... him then that it mightn't be such an easy matter to get a high-spirited young fellow, with ideals, to take on trust this young female person with the red hair. He felt grateful that he had exacted a promise from Peter. The Champneyses always ...
— The Purple Heights • Marie Conway Oemler

... I can illustrate my position about this matter by relating a little incident I witnessed near the close of the war. Just as I was leaving an old ferry-boat in which I had crossed the Tennessee River, my attention was attracted to a canoe near by in which were seated two fishermen, both negroes, one a very old man and the ...
— Something of Men I Have Known - With Some Papers of a General Nature, Political, Historical, and Retrospective • Adlai E. Stevenson

... No matter where his feet have been, He'll spring and plant them, little pest, On something white, And then will fight To hold, and hide it ...
— Mother Truth's Melodies - Common Sense For Children • Mrs. E. P. Miller

... machine, instead of perfect individuals; to make society and not conscience the center of life, to enslave the soul to things, to de-personalize man, this is the dominant drift of our epoch. Everywhere you may see a tendency to substitute the laws of dead matter (number, mass) for the laws of the moral nature (persuasion, adhesion, faith) equality, the principle of mediocrity, becoming a dogma; unity aimed at through uniformity; numbers doing duty for argument; negative liberty, which has no law in itself, ...
— Amiel's Journal • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... lad. But now I am as one who had clad himself beforehand in his shroud, and used himself to making the grave his bed, when the divine command sounded in his ears, 'Arise, and go forth; the night is not yet come.' For no light matter would I have turned away from your kindness to take another's. But it has been taught us, as you know, that the reward of one duty is the power to fulfill another—so said Ben Azai. You have made your duty to one ...
— Daniel Deronda • George Eliot



Words linked to "Matter" :   text, be, sludge, soft copy, goop, hard copy, res adjudicata, matter to, content, trouble, least, problem, physical entity, ooze, concern, gunk, piece of writing, grey matter, fluid, written material, recitation, solid, supplement, emanation, mental object, white matter, ylem, blind spot, issue, guck, substance, writing, addendum, glop, cognitive content, sediment, count, slime, postscript, res judicata, typescript, gook, conservation of matter, muck, moment, system, consequence, residue, import, dictation, remit, deposit, press, prelims, area, solute, goo



Copyright © 2024 Free-Translator.com