The crusades naturalised the word in some form or other in most European languages, but in our own apparently with a transfer of meaning.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Rustichello of Pisa

ignoble, common, mean, low, base, vile, sorry, scrubby, beggarly; below par; no great shakes &c. (unimportant) 643; homely, homespun; vulgar, low-minded; snobbish. plebeian, proletarian; of low parentage, of low origin, of low extraction, of mean parentage, of mean origin, of mean extraction; lowborn, baseborn, earthborn[obs3]; mushroom, dunghill, risen from the ranks; unknown to fame, obscure, untitled. rustic, uncivilized; loutish, boorish, clownish, churlish, brutish, raffish; rude, unlicked[obs3].
— from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget

One carriage after another rolls over it; but I did not follow them, for my eye loves best to rest upon one point.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. (Hans Christian) Andersen

Pontem faciunt quô facilius oppidum capiant They build a bridge that they may take the town more easily (lit. by which the more easily ) 4.
— from Latin for Beginners by Benjamin L. (Benjamin Leonard) D'Ooge

and beware how you pass through this crowded town, where thou mayst easily lose both thy burden and thy life.—Reuben,” she added, clapping her hands together, “light forth this stranger, and fail not to draw lock and bar behind him.”
— from Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott

I was punished enough at the time—is there to be no respite for me?" "I should have thought you had found complete respite in the reconciliation which was effected at my expense," Lily began, with renewed impatience; but he broke in imploringly: "Don't put it in that way—when that's been the worst of my punishment.
— from The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

It may be said that Moral Excellence, like Beauty, eludes definition: but if Ethical Science is to be constituted, we must obtain definite Moral Axioms.
— from The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick

All these works, being rude, without design and without art, I do not absolutely praise; but of a truth, having regard to the method of working of that age and to the imperfection that the art of painting then showed, not to mention that the work is solid and that the pieces of the mosaic are very well put together, the end of this work is much better—or to speak more exactly, less bad—than is the beginning, although the whole, with respect to the work of to-day, moves us rather to laughter than to pleasure or marvel.
— from Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 01 (of 10) Cimabue to Agnolo Gaddi by Giorgio Vasari

During the winter she had grown thinner and plainer, and her hair had gone a little grey, and instead of the old look of sweetness and the pleasant smile on her face, she had the resigned, mournful expression left by the sorrows she had been through, and there was something blank and irresponsive in her eyes, as though she did not hear what was said.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

"'No, not yet, John; let this cloud which now hangs over us pass away first; it may, ere long, be dispelled.
— from Nick Baba's Last Drink and Other Sketches by George Paul Goff

While she was yet speaking, Lady Bearcroft returned, and her malicious enemy, leaning back in her chair as if in expectation of the piece beginning, waited for her puppet to play or be played off.
— from Tales and Novels — Volume 10 Helen by Maria Edgeworth

It is owned by his descendants, Miss Elizabeth L. Bond and Miss Catherine Harris Bond, of Cambridge, Mass. "KING" CARTER IN YOUTH CITY FLAT-CAP Worn by "Bilious" Bale, who died in 1563.
— from Two Centuries of Costume in America, Volume 1 (1620-1820) by Alice Morse Earle

The sunlight flashed and glittered on wet surfaces, making everything look bright; and Pelle hung his clothes on a dwarf fir to dry.
— from Pelle the Conqueror — Volume 01 by Martin Andersen Nexø

Then, her eyes glowing, she added: “I have heard you discussed in Madrid, in Barcelona, and in San Sebastian, and I know that your love for the beautiful Beatriz Rojas de Ruata is just as fraught with tragedy as the inexorable decree which may, ere long, bind me as wife to the one man whom I hate and detest most in all the world!”
— from Her Royal Highness: A Romance of the Chancelleries of Europe by William Le Queux

Ce manuscrit, auquel son écriture, sa conservation, ses miniatures, et le beaux choix de son vélin donnent déjà beaucoup de prix, me paroît en acquérir d'avantage encore sous un autre aspect, en ce qu'il est composé, selon moi, des traités originaux présentés par leurs auteurs à Philippe-le-Bon, ou de l'exemplaire, commandé par lui à l'un de ses copistes sur l'autographe des auteurs, pour être placé dans sa bibliothèque.
— from The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation — Volume 10 Asia, Part III by Richard Hakluyt

Dazzled by prospective riches, and unscrupulous in the methods of accumulations, the people of the Province of New York clamored for more exacting laws by which to govern the slaves.
— from History of the Negro Race in America From 1619 to 1880. Vol 1 Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens by George Washington Williams

You don’t ask me to marry you because you love me; you don’t ask me whether I love you or not; you only propose to me that I should quietly turn domestic housekeeper for Mrs. Ernest Le Breton.
— from Philistia by Grant Allen

hed tole me er leetle 'bout how she happened ter be on ther mountin thet
— from Donald McElroy, Scotch Irishman by Willie Walker Caldwell