There was a figure in the grounds—a figure prowling for a sight, the visitor with whom Flora was engaged; but it was not the visitor most concerned with my boy. — from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
positive form and sway
Let it be distinctly admitted, that—whatever may be said of our fashionable society, and of any foul fractions and episodes—only here in America, out of the long history and manifold presentations of the ages, has at last arisen, and now stands, what never before took positive form and sway, the People —and that view'd en masse, and while fully acknowledging deficiencies, dangers, faults, this people, inchoate, latent, not yet come to majority, nor to its own religious, literary, or esthetic expression, yet affords, to-day, an exultant justification of all the faith, all the hopes and prayers and prophecies of good men through the past—the stablest, solidest-based government of the world—the most assured in a future—the beaming Pharos to whose perennial light all earnest eyes, the world over, are tending—and that already, in and from it, the democratic principle, having been mortally tried by severest tests, fatalities of war and peace, now issues from the trial, unharm'd, trebly-invigorated, perhaps to commence forthwith its finally triumphant march around the globe. — from Complete Prose Works
Specimen Days and Collect, November Boughs and Goodbye My Fancy by Walt Whitman
perceived from a shadow
In the midst of his preoccupations, he perceived, from a shadow cast by the sun, that some one had halted on the crest of the slope immediately behind him. — from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
Phileas Fogg and Sir
Phileas Fogg and Sir Francis Cromarty, plunged to the neck in the peculiar howdahs provided for them, were horribly jostled by the swift trotting of the elephant, spurred on as he was by the skilful Parsee; but they endured the discomfort with true British phlegm, talking little, and scarcely able to catch a glimpse of each other. — from Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
proffering favors and services
It was a perfectly natural question, for these people are and were in the habit of proffering favors and services and then expecting and begging for pay. — from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
è più facile al signor se è più facile al signor la sua lingua... la sua lingua... DON JUAN: ( Spanish ) Sí, es mejor: ( Spanish ) Sí, es mejor: lascia dunque il tuo toscano, lascia dunque il tuo toscano, y dime: ¿don Luis Mejía And tell me, has Don Luis Mejía ha — from Don Juan Tenorio by José Zorrilla
playmates from another sphere
One only of them all, and he, had they but known it, the most deeply hurt, failed to censure, and guessed at something like the truth: that the young man, suddenly weary of his long term of unceasing labor at his profession, was seeking temporary playmates from another sphere. — from The Genius by Margaret Horton Potter
The passing bell originally sounded as a summons to the faithful to pray for a soul just passing out of the world; but it has now degenerated into a mere notice that death has taken place, and as it is rung (to suit the sexton’s convenience) some hours after death, or even on the following day, the name has ceased to be appropriate. — from Church Bells by H. B. (Henry Beauchamp) Walters
— Roll out ½ pound short paste (Mürber Teig) ⅛ of an inch thick and lay over it a large pie plate or round tin cover 12 inches in diameter; cut the paste off close to the edge of plate, lift off the plate and put the round piece of paste onto a large buttered tin or thick brown paper; next prepare a warm paste (pâté à choux), put it into a paper funnel and squirt a border 1 inch high on the surface on top of the round close to the edge; then squirt small rills towards the center of round, so that the flau can be cut by these rills and each piece has a border of the paste; then squirt into each compartment 2 rills, so that each piece has 2 compartments; brush the whole over with beaten egg and bake a light brown; take an equal quantity of currants, raspberries and strawberries, sprinkle them thickly with sugar and set in a cool place; then cut some preserved peaches into pieces and add finely cut preserved pineapple and preserved pitted cherries; reduce the liquor of the 3 preserves by boiling it down; then set it aside to cool; when the flau is done remove it from oven and set aside to cool; shortly before serving cut the flau into pieces, lay them on a large, round plate on a napkin (or take a round teatray) and arrange the pieces so that the flau has its original form again; next put into each compartment the fruit; arrange it tastily, pour a little syrup over each one, brush the border over with syrup and serve. — from Desserts and Salads by Gesine Lemcke
This tab, called Hiding in Plain Sight,
shows you passages from notable books where your word is accidentally (or perhaps deliberately?)
spelled out by the first letters of consecutive words.
Why would you care to know such a thing? It's not entirely clear to us, either, but
it's fun to explore! What's the longest hidden word you can find? Where is your name hiding?