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William Tell   /wˈɪljəm tɛl/   Listen
William Tell

noun
1.
A Swiss patriot who lived in the early 14th century and who was renowned for his skill as an archer; according to legend an Austrian governor compelled him to shoot an apple from his son's head with his crossbow (which he did successfully without mishap).  Synonym: Tell.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"William Tell" Quotes from Famous Books



... occupied the Pension Wallis, delightfully situated on the Hill Gibraltar above the lake. She made numerous enjoyable excursions on her pony "Sultan" to the top of the Rhigi, and in the little steamboat Winkelried on the lovely lake of the Four Cantons, under the shadow of Pilatus, to William Tell's country—she even ventured as far as the desolate, snow-crowned precipices of the Engelberg. Her Majesty returned by Paris, driving out to St. Cloud, and being much affected as she walked in the grounds, but not venturing to enter the house, where she had lived with the Prince during her ...
— Life of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen, (Victoria) Vol II • Sarah Tytler

... exist at the present time, as well as from tradition. Some of these heroes have excited the admiration of large districts by their wisdom, others by their courage or their superior dexterity with the spear and bow, like William Tell and Robin Hood, but the memory of these must soon have been obliterated for want of literature. The man who had joined Harold was a poet and a musician. He was an improvvisatore, composed verses on ...
— Black Ivory • R.M. Ballantyne

... I took a day or two to thaw out and mend bruises, and then ran over to Martigny, crossed the Grand St. Bernard, the St. Gotthard, and the Grimsel passes, spent a week in William Tell's country, prowling about the ruins of old castles and the sites of legendary battles, and finally settled down in Milan to feast my eyes on the pinnacles of its wondrous cathedral. But my failure to reach the top of Mont Blanc cast a perceptible ...
— McClure's Magazine, Vol. VI., No. 6, May, 1896 • Various

... following ballads, in which Switzerland is the scene, betray their origin in Schiller's studies for the drama of William Tell. ...
— The Works of Frederich Schiller in English • Frederich Schiller

... of William Tell! should the unknown peasant dare—But he is a brave boy, and twice has he done the last service to my race! I love him, Adelheid, little less than thyself; and we will win him ever to our purpose gently, and by degrees. A maiden ...
— The Headsman - The Abbaye des Vignerons • James Fenimore Cooper

... summer afternoon a teacher told her geography class that they might close their books and rest a little, while she told them a story. The story was about William Tell, the famous hero of Switzerland. She told the scholars how a wicked governor placed an apple on the head of Tell's little boy and then compelled the father to take his bow and arrow and shoot the apple from the head of his son. ...
— The Life of Jesus Christ for the Young • Richard Newton

... told me to take "Sombre Foret," of "William Tell," in case I should be asked. Therefore I said that I had brought "Sombre Foret," and if he liked I would ...
— In the Courts of Memory 1858-1875. • L. de Hegermann-Lindencrone

... Sumner in a cab, and ran after him. Sumner was then recovering from the blows of the South Carolinian cane or club, and he was pleased to find a young worshipper in the remote Prussian wilderness. They dined together and went to hear "William Tell" at the Opera. Sumner tried to encourage his friend about his difficulties of language: "I came to Berlin," or Rome, or whatever place it was, as he said with his grand air of mastery, "I came to Berlin, unable to say a word in the language; and three months later when ...
— The Education of Henry Adams • Henry Adams

... will be as seed planted in fertile soil. In our quest for exemplars we shall find the pages of history palpitating with life. We may sow dead dragon's teeth, but armed men will spring into being. Thermopylae will become a new story, while William Tell and Arnold Winkelried will take rank among the demigods. Sidney Carton will become far more than a mere character of fiction, for on his head we shall find a halo, and Horace Mann will become far more than a mere schoolmaster. Historians, poets, novelists, statesmen, and philanthropists will rally ...
— The Reconstructed School • Francis B. Pearson

... he goes visiting in the night to keep from stumbling over railroads that have been built since his last round. And also in that day, if there shall remain a high-altitude peasant whose potato-patch hasn't a railroad through it, it would make him as conspicuous as William Tell. ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... Sonnet.—October The Damsel of Peru The African Chief deg. Spring in Town The Gladness of Nature The Disinterred Warrior Sonnet.—Midsummer The Greek Partisan The Two Graves The Conjunction of Jupiter and Venus deg. A Summer Ramble Scene on the Banks of the Hudson The Hurricane deg. Sonnet.—William Tell deg. The Hunter's Serenade deg. The Greek Boy The Past "Upon the mountain's distant head" The Evening Wind "When the firmament quivers with daylight's young beam" "Innocent child and snow-white flower" To the River Arve Sonnet.—To Cole, the Painter, departing for Europe To the ...
— Poems • William Cullen Bryant

... The bear would have been an easy shot by daylight, if there had been no baby to consider. But there was that little bundle of humanity, the man's own flesh and blood, and a bullet in order to pierce the bear's heart must strike within a few inches of the baby's head. The task that King Gessler set William Tell, was child's play compared with this. To shoot might mean to kill his own child, and not to shoot might mean a still more ...
— Black Bruin - The Biography of a Bear • Clarence Hawkes

... set up a tall pole in the public square, and put his own cap on the top of it; and then he gave orders that every man who came into the town should bow down before it. But there was one man, named William Tell, who would not do this. He stood up straight with folded arms, and laughed at the swinging cap. He would not bow ...
— Fifty Famous Stories Retold • James Baldwin

... friends, knowing our taste, ordered the music to match the courses. So instead of sherry with the soup, they ordered the intermezzo from "Cavalleria Rusticana." With the fish we had the overture to "William Tell." With the entrecote we had a pot-pourri from "Faust." With the fowl we had "Demon and Tamar," the Russian opera. With the rest we began on Wagner and worked up to that thrilling "Tannhaeuser" overture, until ...
— As Seen By Me • Lilian Bell



Words linked to "William Tell" :   bowman, tell, archer



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