SYN: Ugliness, disfigurement, hideousness, abnormity, monstrosity.
— from A Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms or, Synonyms and Words of Opposite Meaning by Samuel Fallows

Perdiccas then wished to go on and attack the villages of Arrhabaeus, and to sit still no longer; but Brasidas, afraid that the Athenians might sail up during his absence, and of something happening to Mende, and seeing besides that the Illyrians did not appear, far from seconding this wish was anxious to return.
— from The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

He was surprised with some passages he struck upon, dipping here and there and bought it; the bookseller begged him to speak in his favour, if he liked it, for they lay on his hands as waste paper....
— from All About Coffee by William H. (William Harrison) Ukers

This man's serene unconcern dealt him a measure of confidence, for he had known him since childhood, and from his intimate knowledge he did not see how he could be capable of anything that was beyond him, the youth.
— from The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War by Stephen Crane

Some Scottish usages die hard, and are found still to supply amusement for southern visitors.
— from Reminiscences of Scottish Life & Character by Edward Bannerman Ramsay

Now that very night the duke had been expecting news of the death of the King of Spain, and had left orders before he went to bed to have the courier sent up directly he arrived.
— from Haunted London by Walter Thornbury

But the question of style is still under discussion here, and no wonder that with such views of the value of the 'current coin,' and with a regard and reverence for the received sciences so deeply qualified; or, as the other has it, with a humour so unfit either to speak or write for beginners , a style which admitted of other efficacies than bare proofs , should appear to be demanded for popular purposes, or for beginners.
— from The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded by Delia Salter Bacon

It calls her a sorceress, a false prophet, an invoker and companion of evil spirits, a dealer in magic, a person ignorant of the Catholic faith, a schismatic; she is sacrilegious, an idolater, an apostate, a blasphemer of God and His saints, scandalous, seditious, a disturber of the peace; she incites men to war, and to the spilling of human blood; she discards the decencies and proprieties of her sex, irreverently assuming the dress of a man and the vocation of a soldier; she beguiles both princes and people; she usurps divine honors, and has caused herself to be adored and venerated, offering her hands and her vestments to be kissed.
— from Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc — Volume 2 by Mark Twain

When the cards had reached her, New York and the excitement of the life into which she had been weakly, if somewhat unwittingly, drawn had already begun to pall.
— from Project Gutenberg Complete Works of Winston Churchill by Winston Churchill

For during the siege of Tarragona Villacampa had invested Teruel, in which a French battalion was shut up, Duran had attacked Calatayud, though without success, and a partisan named Campillo had raided as far as Cariñena, only thirty miles from Saragossa.
— from A History of the Peninsular War, Vol. 4, Dec. 1810-Dec. 1811 Massena's Retreat, Fuentes de Oñoro, Albuera, Tarragona by Charles Oman

Me therefore you required, a voice for song, A pastoral pipe to play, a lyre to touch, I recognize your bliss to find me here; The sky at morning when the sun upleaps Demands her atom of intense melody, Her point of quivering passion and delight, And will not let the lark’s heart be at ease.
— from Poems by Edward Dowden