She came in under top-gallant sails, clewed up and furled her sails in good order, and came-to, within good swinging distance of us.
— from Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana

When I say child I use an inappropriate and undescriptive term—a term suggesting any picture rather than that of the demure little person in a mourning frock and white chemisette, that might just have fitted a good-sized doll—perched now on a high chair beside a stand, whereon was her toy work-box of white varnished wood, and holding in her hands a shred of a handkerchief, which she was professing to hem, and at which she bored perseveringly with a needle, that in her fingers seemed almost a skewer, pricking herself ever and anon, marking the cambric with a track of minute red dots; occasionally starting when the perverse weapon—swerving from her control—inflicted a deeper stab than usual; but still silent, diligent, absorbed, womanly.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë

Adjoining the church, in a small cemetery, immediately under the back window of what was once the Boar’s Head, stands the tombstone of Robert Preston, whilom drawer at the tavern.
— from The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving

“She crumpled it up into a ball and threw it into the grate, and made a sort of noise like ‘Whoop!’
— from The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie

As he was half amused and half curious and all in doubt how to get rid of the old lady without offence, she continued to lead us away, and he and Ada continued to follow, our strange conductress informing us all the time, with much smiling condescension, that she lived close by.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

The localities mentioned instead of Legumatabu in the successive repetitions of the period are: Yakum, another small coral island, Urasi, the Dobuan name for Gumasila, Tewara, Sanaro’a, and Tu’utauna, all localities known to us already from our description of Dobu.
— from Argonauts of the Western Pacific An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea by Bronislaw Malinowski

,” said Sir Clement, “is universally acknowledged to be a connoisseur in beauty.”
— from Evelina, Or, the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World by Fanny Burney

A writer of the first half of the sixteenth century informs us that in almost every village and town of Germany public bonfires were kindled on the Eve of St. John, and young and old, of both sexes, gathered about them and passed the time in dancing and singing.
— from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer

But in this the comparison between them runs, as the scholiasts call it, upon all-four; which, by the bye, is upon one or two legs more than some of the best of Homer ’s can pretend to;—namely, That the one raises a sum, and the other a laugh at your expence, and thinks no more about it.
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

Which I did, and there supped and talked with them, but not of my business till by and by after supper comes in, unlooked for, my cozen Roger, with whom by and by I discoursed largely, and in short he gives me good counsel, but tells me plainly that it is my best way to study a composition with my uncle Thomas, for that law will not help us, and that it is but a folly to flatter ourselves, with which, though much to my trouble, yet I was well satisfied, because it told me what I am to trust to, and so to bed.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

We still carry in us the marks of our origin.
— from The Shadow of the Cathedral by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez

To desire more than one, under such circumstances, is unreasonable, and even wicked.]
— from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 35, September, 1860 A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics by Various

But although Præneste took Roman citizenship either in 90 or 89 B.C., [213] it seems most likely that she was not legally termed a municipium, but that she came in under some special clause, or with some particular understanding, whereby she kept her autonomy, at least in name.
— from A Study of the Topography and Municipal History of Praeneste by Ralph Van Deman Magoffin

He therefore rearranged the fingering of all the scales, introducing the system which still continues in use.
— from How Music Developed A Critical and Explanatory Account of the Growth of Modern Music by W. J. (William James) Henderson

Sofya Nikolayevna was sitting by the cradle when she saw the infant start and a spasm pass over the little face; she caught it up and found that it was dead.
— from A Russian Gentleman by S. T. (Sergei Timofeevich) Aksakov

It is taught, however, in combination with Japanese methods; and the results of this blending may certainly be expected to have some charming influence upon future art-production.
— from Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan: Second Series by Lafcadio Hearn

And a post-script adds: “Later.—Our special correspondent informs us that the preliminary trial of the ‘Seven-of-Hearts’ has not been satisfactory.
— from The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar by Maurice Leblanc

SYN: Calamitous, Illfated, unlucky, wretched, unhappy, miserable, [See HAPPY].
— from A Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms or, Synonyms and Words of Opposite Meaning by Samuel Fallows