Nowadays it means indifferent, bad, or questionable, and we often hear even persons in polite society use such a phrase as, “What a RUM fellow he is, to be sure,” in speaking of a man of singular habits or appearance.
— from The Slang Dictionary: Etymological, Historical and Andecdotal by John Camden Hotten

Now-a-days it means indifferent, bad, or questionable, and we often hear even persons in polite society use such a phrase as “what a RUM fellow he is, to be sure,” in speaking of a man of singular habits or appearance.
— from A Dictionary of Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words Used at the Present Day in the Streets of London; the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; the Houses of Parliament; the Dens of St. Giles; and the Palaces of St. James. by John Camden Hotten

Snatching the phrase—( a movement as if pulling something up ) standing it up between her and—the life that's there.
— from Plays by Susan Glaspell

[Pg 581] A writer in the Edinburgh Review, expresses himself in terms equally honorable to the American Fabius: "If profound sagacity, unshaken steadiness of purpose, the entire subjugation of all the passions, which carry havoc through ordinary minds, and oftentimes lay waste the fairest prospects of greatness—nay the discipline of those feelings that are wont to lull or seduce genius, and to mar and to cloud over the aspect of virtue herself—joined with, or rather leading to, the most absolute self-denial, the most habitual and exclusive devotion to principle—if these things can constitute a great character, without either quickness of apprehension or resources of information, or circumventive powers, or any brilliant quality that might dazzle the vulgar—then Washington was the greatest man that ever lived in this world, uninspired by divine wisdom, and unsustained by supernatural virtue ."
— from Great Events in the History of North and South America by Charles A. (Charles Augustus) Goodrich

Uhr nehmen sie wiederum Abschied; um halb acht kehren sie noche'mal zuruck, und plaudern und schwatzen und plappern und schnattern bis zehn Uhr, oder vielleicht ein Viertel nach, falls ihre Uhren nach gehen (und stets gehen sie nach am Ende des Besuchs, aber stets vor Beginn desselben), und zuweilen unterhalten sich die jungen Leute beim Spazierengehen; und jeden Sonntag gehen sie dreimal in die Kirche; und immer plaudern sie, und schwatzen und plappern und schnattern bis ihnen die Zahne aus dem Munde fallen.
— from The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, and Other Stories by Mark Twain

Upon the desk, a huge iron plate, supported upon six carronades, stood a very tasteful inkstand, made of a beautifully-chased Spanish piece, and a report-bell, which, when required, went off like a revolver.
— from The Moon-Voyage by Jules Verne

This rule reflects the judgment that "[t]he possible harm to society in permitting some unprotected speech to go unpunished is outweighed by the possibility that protected speech of others may be muted . . . .
— from Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) Ruling by United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

The miserable light from the woman's candle, as I entered the room, seemed suddenly to shoot up in a column of dazzling brilliance that caused me to close my eyes in pain, so unnaturally sensitive had they been rendered by the terrible expectance of the sight that was about to sear them.
— from Aylwin by Theodore Watts-Dunton

At other times, stimulated by curiosity, they follow for a while in perfect silence, until something seems to arouse their ire, and then their vociferous cries are poured out with unceasing volubility till the intruder has passed from their view.
— from A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 2 of 3 by Robert Ridgway

153 This is the κοινὸν Βοιωτῶν Εὐβοέων Λοκρῶν Φωκέων Δωριέων of the remarkable inscription probably set up shortly before the battle of Actium ( C. I. Att. iii. 568).
— from The Provinces of the Roman Empire, from Caesar to Diocletian. v. 1 by Theodor Mommsen

Quod ubi cōgnōvit Rēgulus, scrīpsit senātuī vīlicum suum in agellō, quem septem iūgerum 1 habēbat, mortuum esse et servum, occāsiōnem nactum, 2 aufūgisse ablātō īnstrūmentō 3 rūsticō ideōque petere sē ut sibi 4 successor in Āfricam mitterētur, nē, dēsertō agrō, nōn esset unde 5 uxor et līberī alerentur.
— from Selections from Viri Romae by C. F. L'Homond

I suggest for your consideration the propriety of making without further delay some specific application of the funds derived under the will of Mr. Smithson, of England, for the diffusion of knowledge, and which have heretofore been vested in public stocks until such time as Congress should think proper to give them a specific direction.
— from State of the Union Addresses by John Tyler