In her own single person, she could have comprised the duties of a first minister and a superintendent of police.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë

= KEY: Plot \n.\. SYN: Scheme, plan, stratagem, combination, conspiracy, machination, [See SCHEME].
— from A Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms or, Synonyms and Words of Opposite Meaning by Samuel Fallows

both these, the edges are to be overcast, and the darning stitches packed sufficiently closely together, for the threads of the stuff to be entirely covered. Fig.
— from Encyclopedia of Needlework by Thérèse de Dillmont

The subclavian artery has no special sheath, properly so called; but the deep layer of the cervical fascia, P, Plate 8, which passes under A, the clavicular portion of the sterno-mastoid muscle, and becomes of considerable thickness and density, sheaths over the vessel in this region of its course.
— from Surgical Anatomy by Joseph Maclise

[3068] men grow less, &c. There are that observe new motions of the heavens, new stars, palantia sidera , comets, clouds, call them what you will, like those Medicean, Burbonian, Austrian planets, lately detected, which do not decay, but come and go, rise higher and lower, hide and show themselves amongst the fixed stars, amongst the planets, above and beneath the moon, at set times, now nearer, now farther off, together, asunder; as he that plays upon a sackbut by pulling it up and down alters his tones and tunes, do they their stations and places, though to us undiscerned; and from those motions proceed (as they conceive) diverse alterations.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

Clowe , v. to scratch, P; see Clawen .
— from A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580 by A. L. (Anthony Lawson) Mayhew

Schrewe , adj. and sb. wicked, bad, a wicked one, sinner, peevish woman, the devil, G, W2, S2, P, S, CM; shrewe , C2, P; shrew , S3, H, S2, C3; screwe , PP.
— from A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580 by A. L. (Anthony Lawson) Mayhew

Milton, with his strong Puritan spirit, could not be content with the mere entertainment of an idle hour.
— from English Literature Its History and Its Significance for the Life of the English-Speaking World by William J. (William Joseph) Long

"I don't know what ails sister Pullet," she continued.
— from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

The history of no other European nation, in the first place, exhibits a development of institutions so prolonged, so continuous, and so orderly.
— from The Governments of Europe by Frederic Austin Ogg

“He’ll get it, too,” said Patty, softly clapping her hands.
— from Patty's Pleasure Trip by Carolyn Wells

an edict was promulgated to the effect that if the late Emperor Kuang Hsu should have a son, the said Prince should carry on the succession as the heir of Tung Chih.
— from Court Life in China: The Capital, Its Officials and People by Isaac Taylor Headland