PLANT, a dodge, a preconcerted swindle; a position in the street to sell from.
— 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

When any body is composed of parts smooth and polished, without pressing upon each other, without showing any ruggedness or confusion, and at the same time affecting some regular shape , I call it elegant .
— from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12) by Edmund Burke

Pakok , sb. a peacock, PP; see Pecok .
— from A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580 by A. L. (Anthony Lawson) Mayhew

— nga prisku an egg roll with the pancake soft and pliant.
— from A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan by John U. Wolff

‘I don’t believe he ever had an appetite,’ said Newman, ‘except for pounds, shillings, and pence, and with them he’s as greedy as a wolf.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

Part shares and part profits.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce

He declaimed in song, pointing sternly at professor MacHugh: ’Twas rank and fame that tempted thee, ’Twas empire charmed thy heart.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce

As he abode in this mind, exceeding woebegone, he heard folk stirring in the Church and many persons speaking and presently perceived that they came to do that which he and his comrades had already done; whereat fear redoubled upon him.
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio

[Amounts in Pounds Sterling] Bokhara Khiva Kokan Total Cotton, raw and twist 333,177 76,255 2,718 412,150 Cotton, manufactures in 498,622 88,960 14,180 601,802 Silk, raw, and manufactures in 17,443 3,088 160 20,691 Wool, manufactures in 428 1,322 52 1,802 Madder 7,351 26,201 7 33,559 Furs, lamb-skins 151,773 6,297 1,995 160,065 Precious stones and pearl 17,856 703 ... 18,559 Fruit, dried 27,784 2,147 16,883 44,814 Shawls, Cashmere 24,242 ... ... 24,242 Miscellaneous goods 19,664 4,452 3,941 28,057 Total 1,096,380 209,425 39,936 1,345,741 For further details see 'Reports by Her Majesty's Secretaries of Embassy and Legation on the Manufactures, Commerce, &.c.
— from Travels in Central Asia Being the Account of a Journey from Teheran Across the Turkoman Desert on the Eastern Shore of the Caspian to Khiva, Bokhara, and Samarcand by Ármin Vámbéry

1 This article is compiled partly from Colonel Dalton’s Ethnology of Bengal and Sir H. Risley’s Tribes and Castes of Bengal ; a monograph has also been furnished by Mr. B. C. Mazumdār, pleader, Sambalpur, and papers by Mr. A. B. Napier, Deputy Commissioner, Raipur, and Mr. Hīra Lāl. 2 Ethnology of Bengal , p. 140.
— from The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 2 by R. V. (Robert Vane) Russell

To look after the digestion of this enormous amount of food upwards of 2,400 duly licensed practitioners, surgeons and physicians are daily running to and fro through this mighty metropolis, whose patients, in due course of time and physic, are handed over to the tender mercies of 500 undertakers.
— from The Youthful Wanderer An Account of a Tour through England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and the Rhine, Switzerland, Italy, and Egypt, Adapted to the Wants of Young Americans Taking Their First Glimpses at the Old World by George H. Heffner

Rubini was such a great singer, and possessed such admirable powers of expression, especially in pathetic airs (it was well said of him, " qu'il avait des larmes dans la voix ,") that he may be looked upon as, in some measure, the creator of the operatic style which succeeded that of the Rossinian period up to the production of Semiramide , the last of Rossini's works, written specially for Italy.
— from History of the Opera from its Origin in Italy to the present Time With Anecdotes of the Most Celebrated Composers and Vocalists of Europe by H. Sutherland (Henry Sutherland) Edwards

And there found Caponsacchi wait as well For the precious something at perdition's edge, He only was predestinate to save,—
— from The Complete Poetic and Dramatic Works of Robert Browning Cambridge Edition by Robert Browning

Everywhere the lights flashed and glittered, refracted in a thousand colours; for here, too, seemed to be the caves of crystal-land, the homes of the water sprites who dwelt where water had now become pure, solid, and perfect for evermore, where water had become pure ice that was not cold, where even the floor was white sparkling sand scattered with gleaming shells, above which the water fays floated, and the sea sprites played and chased fish in the ice grottoes.
— from George Alfred Henty: The Story of an Active Life by George Manville Fenn

You might now search long and in vain for a Conservative in public life who would not admit that reforms are desirable or even urgent, though few might be prepared with precise statements about particulars....
— from Socialism: Positive and Negative by Robert Rives La Monte

"Wouldn't," he said, "like to play such a prominent part."
— from Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 93, August 13, 1887 by Various