As the process of union along the median line may err by a defect or omission, so may it, on the other hand, err by an excess of fulfilment, as, for example, when the urethra, the vagina, or the anus are found to be imperforate.
— from Surgical Anatomy by Joseph Maclise

Whether moved only by her ordinary freakishness, or because an evil spirit prompted her, she put up her small forefinger and touched the scarlet letter.
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

'A man need be always emptying a till, or a pocket, or a woman's reticule, or a house, or a mail-coach, or a bank, if he drinks it regularly.'
— from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

98 This lightening of shadows in the middle by reflected light and darkening towards their edges is a very important thing to remember, the heavy, smoky look students' early work is so prone to, being almost entirely due to their neglect through ignorance of this principle.
— from The Practice and Science of Drawing by Harold Speed

[A; a2] be an encumbrance, annoyance.
— from A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan by John U. Wolff

Despotism is a legitimate mode of government in dealing with barbarians, provided the end be their improvement, and the means justified by actually effecting that end.
— from Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources Including Phrases, Mottoes, Maxims, Proverbs, Definitions, Aphorisms, and Sayings of Wise Men, in Their Bearing on Life, Literature, Speculation, Science, Art, Religion, and Morals, Especially in the Modern Aspects of Them by Wood, James, Rev.

If, instead of being told, these stories are acted, and if, in this new form, they develop in such a way as to become an essential part of the ceremony, then we have the ceremony of the Warramunga.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim

She foretold that the Prussians would win every battle, and even after Jena she (to use an expression of M. Masson), "continued her music on the sly" ( en sourdine ).
— from Napoleon's Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812 For the First Time Collected and Translated, with Notes Social, Historical, and Chronological, from Contemporary Sources by Emperor of the French Napoleon I

The round arches and Doric pilasters belong to the 17th century; the older part, which was built by Abbot Eudes, was cut through and improved away, for the completion of the Rue de l'Abbaye.
— from The Churches of Paris, from Clovis to Charles X by Sophia Beale

Now, sir, that will be awkward evidence to get over, and you must see that you will be a long way safer in France than you would in Weymouth."
— from Through Russian Snows: A Story of Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty

In other words, I shall, after the next issue of Everybody's Magazine , if it does not contain your answers, publish broadcast a copy of this letter, and in all fairness and sincerity, I warn you I shall not be deterred from doing this by any excuse you may make that my letter was received too late for the July number of the magazine, or that more important matters take up your space.
— from Frenzied Finance, Vol. 1: The Crime of Amalgamated by Thomas William Lawson

In his boyhood and early manhood he had been a good sportsman; had been quick of eye, swift of foot, and fearless.
— from The Pomp of the Lavilettes, Complete by Gilbert Parker

Susan and Emily were caught in a gay current that streamed to the club, to talk and drink eggnog before blazing logs, and streamed to one handsome home after another, to talk and drink eggnog before other fires, and to be shown and admire beautiful and expensive presents.
— from Saturday's Child by Kathleen Thompson Norris

Here is the account of another service sent home by an engine-room artificer on one of H.M. battleships.
— from With Our Fighting Men The story of their faith, courage, endurance in the Great War by William E. Sellers

[167] was only equalled by his knowledge of it, and that St. William's restored would be an everlasting monument, in Early English Gothic, to his memory.
— from The Letters of Her Mother to Elizabeth by W. R. H. (William Rutherford Hayes) Trowbridge

"When a man or woman suffers an injury too great for them to bear, an evil spirit is born in them, a spirit of hate.
— from Shaman by Robert Shea