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adverb
Amiss  adv.  Astray; faultily; improperly; wrongly; ill. "What error drives our eyes and ears amiss?" "Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss."
To take (an act, thing) amiss, to impute a wrong motive to (an act or thing); to take offense at; to take unkindly; as, you must not take these questions amiss.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Amiss" Quotes from Famous Books



... has put much hard and honest work into his profession; in this he is an example to younger men, which it would not be amiss for them to imitate. His first law connection in Taunton was with the late Nathaniel Morton, a brother of the present Chief-Justice of Massachusetts. Subsequently he formed a partnership with Hon. Henry Williams, and afterwards with Henry ...
— The New England Magazine Volume 1, No. 3, March, 1886 - Bay State Monthly Volume 4, No. 3, March, 1886 • Various

... found in them too sublime for vulgar understandings. This, Sir, makes me presume to ask you, how the Hampstead hero's character could be perfectly new[1] when the last letters came away, and yet Sir John Suckling so well acquainted with it sixty years ago? I hope, Sir, you will not take this amiss: I can assure you, I have a profound respect for you; which makes me write this, with the same disposition with which Longinus bids us read Homer ...
— The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D. D., Volume IX; • Jonathan Swift

... look'd at her, and press'd her hand, And said, "Art thou so pale, who wast so bland And merry in our meadows? How is this? Tell me thine ailment: tell me all amiss!— Ah! thou hast been unhappy at the change 520 Wrought suddenly in me. What indeed more strange? Or more complete to overwhelm surmise? Ambition is no sluggard: 'tis no prize, That toiling years would put within my grasp, That I have sigh'd for: with so deadly gasp No man e'er panted for a ...
— Endymion - A Poetic Romance • John Keats

... brought himself into a condition in which he may well desire that God does not exist. In this way he is made guilty, or, in a sense, responsible for his incredulity. For myself, Monseigneur, I have consulted my conscience with an entire sincerity; and although my youth has been amiss, I am certain that my atheism proceeds from no sentiment of personal interest. On the contrary, I may tell you with truth that the day on which I perceived my faith come to nought, the day on which I lost hope in God, I shed the bitterest tears of my life. In spite of appearances, I ...
— Appreciations, with an Essay on Style • Walter Horatio Pater

... Augsburg Confession," printed 1597, says that the edition of 1540 was employed at the religious colloquies with the previous knowledge and approval of Luther; in fact, that it was drawn up especially for the Colloquy at Hagenau, which the opponents (Cochlaeus at Worms, Pighius at Regensburg) had taken amiss. "Graviter tulerant," says Chemnitz, "multis articulis pleniori declaratione plusculum lucis accessisse, unde videbant veras sententias magis illustrari et Thaidis Babyloniae turpitudinem manifestius denudare—They took it amiss that more light had been shed on many articles by a ...
— Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church • Friedrich Bente

... of messages they met in the church of the castle; and, before they separated, the doom of Richard was sealed. That the regent consented to the actual deposition of his nephew does not necessarily follow; he might only have sought his reformation by putting it out of his power to govern amiss; but he betrayed the trust which had been reposed to him, united his force with that of Henry, and commanded Sir Peter Courtenay, who held the castle of Bristol for the King, to open its gates. That officer, ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 07 • Various

... "baggin," and a bit of talk and a bad word or two are a deal more fun, and come easier than praying. Half-past five o'clock at last—knocking-off time. Then you begin to think of amusing yourselves. There's loafing about the streets, which never comes amiss, and there's smoking and the public for you bigger ones, and there's betting on Manchester races, and there's a bout of swearing every now and then to keep up your spirits, and there are other thoughts, and perhaps actions, for some of you, of which the less said ...
— The History of David Grieve • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... place was soon turned upside-down—cartloads of sand coming in for the garden walks and the courtyard, and painters hard at work repainting the houses. And poor Merle knew very well that there would be serious trouble if anything should be amiss with the ...
— The Great Hunger • Johan Bojer

... should have little objection to serve them in any difficult or dubious affair with good advice, provided I considered myself capable and my advice should be asked; in which case I suppose that I should not do amiss nor be suspected by any one of ...
— Narrative of New Netherland • J. F. Jameson, Editor

... be amiss for me to supply some of the real wants of my people, especially if by doing so I could add to my influence and authority. For instance, men need education and moral teaching, and I would be the source of both. Thus I would guide as I pleased the minds and hearts of my people. ...
— Sophisms of the Protectionists • Frederic Bastiat

... poet to depict a poet in poetry is a hazardous experiment; in regarding one's own trade a sense of humour and a little wholesome cynicism are not amiss. These could find no place in Browning's presentation of Aprile, but it is certain that Browning himself was a much more complex person than the dying lover of love who became the instructor of Paracelsus. When the scene shifts from Constantinople to Basil, and the illustrious Professor ...
— Robert Browning • Edward Dowden

... was very long—no less than fifteen folios. And that amount, though it might not be amiss in a three-volume edition, would be inconvenient when the book comes to be published for eighteen-pence. But the gist of the will ...
— The Bertrams • Anthony Trollope

... and looked a little uneasy, remembering his oaths of last night when he was roused to a ten-mile ride; but Katrine couldn't or wouldn't notice anything amiss. She said sweet things to both of them, and then, unwilling to rob Annie of any part of Will's company, she ...
— A Girl of the Klondike • Victoria Cross

... were Orestes Noxon and Graff Miller, neither of whom had reached his majority by more than two years. It was Miller who took his station at the rear, where on the first sign of something amiss he sneaked off without giving the signal which would have warned Noxon in time to flee unharmed. In his way, he was as lacking in personal courage as Kit Woodford. The latter held his place until the racket caused by Mike Murphy's tumble downstairs ...
— The Launch Boys' Adventures in Northern Waters • Edward S. Ellis

... he said, after a short pause, which no doubt seemed longer both to him and to me than it would have seemed to any third person, "I don't see anything amiss with the coffin. I don't say it'll last till doomsday, as the gravedigger says to Hamlet, because I don't know so much about doomsday as some people pretend to; but you see, sir, ...
— Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood • George MacDonald

... thee peace. Go, the sun rises and the shades decrease." Then, thoughtfully, Admetus gat him back, Nor did the altars of the Huntress lack The fattest of the flocks upon that day. But when night came, in arms Admetus lay Across the threshold of the bride-chamber, And nought amiss that night he noted there, But durst not enter, though about the door Young poppy-leaves were twined, and on the floor, Not flowered as yet with downy leaves and grey, Fresh dittany beloved of wild goats lay. But when ...
— The Earthly Paradise - A Poem • William Morris

... games by all means. But moderation is a jewel. A little football goes a good way, while business training is never amiss." ...
— Paul and the Printing Press • Sara Ware Bassett

... that no tittle of knowledge concerning these early philological researches ought to be allowed to remain unrecorded; and with the position which the "N. & Q." occupies, and the facilities that journal offers for the preservation of these stray scraps of knowledge, surely it would not be amiss to send them to the Editor, and let him decide as he is very capable of doing, as ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 227, March 4, 1854 • Various

... he is justice, therefore cannot move, Or in the least be brought to favour those His holiness and justice doth oppose. For though thou mayst imagine in thy heart That God is this or that, yet if thou art At all besides the truth of what he is, And so dost build thy hope for life amiss, Still he the same abideth, and will be The same, the same for ever unto thee. As God is true unto his promise, so Unto his threat'ning he is faithful too. Cease to be God he must, if he should break One tittle that his blessed mouth did speak. ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... miles, I was not unwilling to take advantage of a village inn. Here I had a meal of bacon and eggs, haricots, cheese and walnuts, with some rather rough Limousin wine. I soon became aware that there was something amiss in the rustic auberge, and catching a dim glimpse of a figure lying in a bed in a small room adjoining, I asked the young woman who waited upon me if anybody was ill there. 'Yes,' she replied dolefully. Then I learnt from her ...
— Two Summers in Guyenne • Edward Harrison Barker

... fathers like to keep their sons under their thumb, as the saying is. And if you want at your age to preserve your independence, and not be hurried off and buried in the country, like a schoolboy in disgrace, a little manliness of bearing would not be amiss. You can think ...
— My Novel, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... led some of the great minds in unbelief to advocate the Darwinian theory of creation, it will not be amiss to remind the reader of the fact that the author of the "Vestiges of Creation" presented the evolution theory about twenty years before Mr. Darwin excited the public mind with the "hypothesis." Men who read the "Vestiges" ...
— The Christian Foundation, Or, Scientific and Religious Journal, Volume 1, January, 1880 • Various

... only the most pleasant, but also profitable course of life, that may be entered on for the preservation and increase of posterity. Wherefore, since marriage is the most safe, and delightful situation of man he does in no ways provide amiss for his own tranquillity who enters into it, especially when he comes to ...
— The Works of Aristotle the Famous Philosopher • Anonymous

... be well enough for the people of the household, if Sir Wycherly allows it; but it ill becomes the servants of guests to fall into this disorder. If I find Tom has done any thing amiss, he will hear more of it; and as your own master is not here to admonish you, I'll just take the liberty of doing it for him, since I know it would mortify him exceedingly to learn that his steward had done any thing ...
— The Two Admirals • J. Fenimore Cooper

... f. fairy, sprite. faena f. task, work, labor, toil. falaz adj. deceitful, deceptive, fallacious. falda f. skirt, lap. falso, -a false, treacherous, feigned, simulated, mock. faltar fail, be missing, be lacking, give way. fallido, -a frustrated, amiss. fama f. reputation, report, rumor; es —— it is said. famoso, -a famous, renowned, notorious. fanal m. lantern, light, beacon. fanfarrn m. boaster, bully. fango m. mud, mire, slime. fantasa f. fancy, imagination, caprice, whim. ...
— El Estudiante de Salamanca and Other Selections • George Tyler Northup

... seems to have been the doom. Parents who think, as we do, that children inhale practicality with our American atmosphere, and that a little encouragement of the imaginative side of their nature is not amiss, will be glad to drop Mrs. Austin's book into the proper stocking. The stories are well told; that, especially, of the Gray Cat is full of fanciful invention. The book is very prettily manufactured also, though we think publishers are carrying their fondness ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 27, January, 1860 • Various

... my countrymen, the Nova Scotians, nor your friends, the Americans, took any thing amiss, in our previous remarks, because, though satirical, they were good natured. There was nothing malicious in them. They were not made for the mere purpose of shewing them up, but were incidental to the topic we were discussing, and their whole tenor shewed that while "we were alive to the ...
— The Attache - or, Sam Slick in England, Complete • Thomas Chandler Haliburton

... each of a bookbinder, a glassblower, a shoemaker, a plumber, and a blacksmith, and here I have learned in a crude way the technique of the gold-beater and old-fashioned broom-maker, etc., none of which come amiss in the laboratory; and I am proud that I can still mow and keep my scythe sharp, chop, plow, milk, churn, make cheese and soap, braid a palm-leaf hat complete, knit, spin and even "put in a piece" in an old-fashioned hand loom, and weave frocking. But thus pride bows low before ...
— Youth: Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene • G. Stanley Hall

... quickly, his long face usually so full of merriment, grey and drawn. I saw instantly that something very serious was amiss. ...
— The Sign of Silence • William Le Queux

... possessed an energetic character, a force of will, a skill in mystification, to which nothing can be compared. Yes, yes, all those frightful secrets kept under lock and key, hidden, buried deep in her own heart, so that neither our eyes, nor our ears, nor our powers of observation ever detected aught amiss, even in her hysterical attacks, when nothing escaped her but groans: a mystery preserved until her death, and which she must have believed would be buried with her. And of what did she die? She died, because, all through one rainy winter's night, eight months ago, at Montmartre, ...
— Germinie Lacerteux • Edmond and Jules de Goncourt

... armed men who should guard them; and so I sent them to Jerusalem. The people of Tiberias also came to me again, and desired that I would forgive them for what they had done; and they said they would amend what they had done amiss with regard to me, by their fidelity for the time to come; and they besought me to preserve what spoils remained upon the plunder of the city, for those that had lost them. Accordingly, I enjoined those that had got them, to bring them all before us; and when they did not ...
— The Life of Flavius Josephus • Flavius Josephus

... speak as a friend, and you will not take my candour amiss. New times require new manners, and if you would maintain your great position you must move with the march of events, and abandon your old-fashioned ways. Do not mistake stagnation for stability, but learn a lesson even from these hated Athenians, who have risen to their present pitch of greatness ...
— Stories From Thucydides • H. L. Havell

... so often at his desk that morning that all his associates knew something was amiss. The Sunday editor, who had planned to borrow fifty cents from him at lunch time, refrained from doing so, in a spirit of pure Christian brotherhood. Even Bob Bolles, the hundred-and-fifty-dollar-a-week conductor of "The Electric ...
— Shandygaff • Christopher Morley

... hour! How long had they been there already? Time and all else alike seemed blurred. All her will must be concentrated upon one thing—to make Vardri leave her as quickly as possible. Yet she dare not show a sign of haste or emotion lest he should suspect something amiss and refuse to go. ...
— The Hippodrome • Rachel Hayward

... going to be a sortie to-night," he said. "I saw the American Ambulance surgeon just before I came in and he asked me to speak to you fellows. Any aid we can give him will not come amiss." ...
— The King In Yellow • Robert W. Chambers

... have forgotten thy sometime promises, Though long thou hast protracted thy cruelty, ywis. Be generous, O my master, vouchsafe me of thy grace, So it to me be given thy lips and cheeks to kiss. Never, by Allah, never will I abandon thee, Though thou transgress thy limits in love and go amiss! ...
— The Book Of The Thousand Nights And One Night, Volume III • Anonymous

... its prey as to the distance it is from them." It sometimes catches the ptarmigan; and though it cannot swim, it manages occasionally to get hold of oceanic birds; in fact, nothing alive which it can master seems to come amiss, and failing to make a meal from something it has caught and killed, the Arctic fox is glad, like foxes in more favoured lands, to ...
— Heads and Tales • Various

... grounds of Melbourne were in beautiful order after the rain; no dust rose yet, and all the trees and flowers were in a refreshed state of life and sweetness. Truly it was a very hot day, but Daisy found nothing amiss. Neither, apparently, did the doctor's good horse. He trotted along without seeming to mind the sun; and Daisy in a good deal of glee enjoyed everything. It was private glee—in her own mind; she ...
— Melbourne House, Volume 2 • Susan Warner

... false testimony in his own favor. His own record has been taken sometimes as meaning what it has not meant—and sometimes as implying much more that the writer intended. A word which has required for its elucidation an insight into the humor of the man has been read amiss, or some trembling admissions to a friend of shortcoming in the purpose of the moment has been presumed to refer to a continuity of weakness. He has been injured, not by having his own words as to himself discredited, but by having them too well credited where they have been ...
— The Life of Cicero - Volume II. • Anthony Trollope

... they entered the church. 'Drat it,—you make me that angry I'm half minded to cuff you. Ain't he fond o' you? Ain't he got a house of his own? Ain't he well to do all round? Manners! What's manners? I don't see nothing amiss in his manners. He means what he says, and I call that the ...
— The Way We Live Now • Anthony Trollope

... were added on after this, and numerous little excrescences wherever by any ingenuity they could be run out,—some to hold a bed, and others only a wash-hand-stand, a trunk or two, or a chest of drawers. No materials seemed to come amiss. A small craft laden with bricks was cast ashore, just as he was about to begin one of his rooms. This was therefore built with her cargo, as were several of the excrescences run out from the ground-floor, while rough stones, and especially wood cast on shore from wrecks, ...
— Tales of the Sea - And of our Jack Tars • W.H.G. Kingston

... Maulevrier uttered no word of reproach. 'My dearest, Fate has not been kind to you,' she said, gently, after telling Lesbia of Lady Kirkbank's visit. 'The handsomest women are seldom the happiest. Destiny seems to have a grudge against them. And if things have gone amiss it is I who am most to blame. I ought never to have entrusted you with such a woman as Georgina Kirkbank. But you will be happier next season, I hope, dearest. You can live with Mary and Hartfield. They will take care ...
— Phantom Fortune, A Novel • M. E. Braddon

... shows and forms, does not go out loaded for turkeys merely, but for everything that moves or grows, and is quite sure, therefore, to bag some game, if not with his gun, then with his eye, or his nose, or his ear. Even a crow's nest is not amiss, or a den in the rocks where the coons or the skunks live, or a log where a partridge drums, or the partridge himself starting up with spread tail, and walking a few yards in advance of you before he goes humming through the woods, or a woodchuck hole, with well beaten ...
— Locusts and Wild Honey • John Burroughs

... of the worth of this Book, though it be not usual, the Author being living, it will not be amiss to acquaint the Reader with a breif account of some passages of his Life, as also the eminent Persons (renowned for their House-keeping) whom he hath served through the whole series of his Life; for as the growth of Children argue the strength of the Parents, so doth the judgment and abilities ...
— The accomplisht cook - or, The art & mystery of cookery • Robert May

... was thought best to give the reader some idea of the technic for the administration of "twilight sleep," it may not be amiss to explain how "sunrise slumber" is usually employed in labor cases. The technic is very simple. The administration of the gas is generally begun about the time the patient begins seriously to complain of the severity of the second stage pains; although, of ...
— The Mother and Her Child • William S. Sadler

... then could we reasonably expect to receive or find? The thing we asked for, of course, and that was nothing! Well might the language apply to such, "Ye ask ( ) and receive not (naught) because ye ask ( ) amiss." False teaching is as pernicious to religion ...
— Lectures on Language - As Particularly Connected with English Grammar. • William S. Balch

... from her fetters is commonly loose (For he has the pluck to withstand her), I take it that what is correct for the goose Will not be amiss for the gander; And I have a suit that for comfort and ease I'd always elect to be dressed in; The trousers have dear little bags where my knees Have made them a corner to ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, April 1, 1914 • Various

... assigned to an American nursery-maid in the society of the servants' hall at Worsley, I inquired of her whether she was comfortable and well-treated. She said, "Oh, yes, perfectly well;" but there seemed to me by her manner to be something or other amiss, and upon my inquiring further, she said, "Well, then, Mrs. Butler, I'll tell you what it is: I do wish they'd let me dine at the lower table. Everything is very good and very fine, to be sure, and the people are very kind and civil to me, but I cannot bear to have men ...
— Records of Later Life • Frances Anne Kemble

... rises supreme at this particular moment of these tremendous times: The period of surprise is over; the forces known; the issue fully joined. It is now a case of "Pull devil, pull baker," and a question of the fibre of the combatants. For this reason it may not be amiss to try to present to any whom it may concern as detached a picture as one can of the real nature of that combatant who is called the Englishman, especially since ignorance in Central Europe of his character was the chief cause of this war, and speculation ...
— New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 3, June, 1915 - April-September, 1915 • Various

... humpbacked jester, fingered the costumes, and then with a curt nod bade them go on. "But mind you, Master Stephen," he said, shaking a long finger at the fool, "you are to be responsible for these fellows and keep them in sight from now until the time of the feast. If aught goes amiss you shall ...
— Masters of the Guild • L. Lamprey

... acquainted, would have burst out into a somewhat petulant scold, when the cause for anxiety was at an end, and baby and her party, all safe, appeared quietly walking up the road as if nothing in the world were amiss. The very quiet and tranquillity which proved that they were quite unconscious of having done any thing wrong would have irritated some people more than all the rest. I thought it was very nice of Catherine to be good-humored and content as soon as she saw all was safe, after the irritating ...
— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 3, August, 1850. • Various

... If so be you say so, I'll never work for you, never no more. Considering as how your Sunday waistcoat has been turned three times, it doesn't look amiss, and I've charged as little as any tailor of 'em all. You say I must pay for the buckram; but I say, I'll be damn'd if I do. So no more ...
— The Stranger - A Drama, in Five Acts • August von Kotzebue

... lifted her, and had there been much wind, or a strong tide current, as in the southern anchorage, we should never have found her more, or found her stranded beyond help. As it was, there was little amiss, beyond the wreck of the mainsail. Another anchor was got ready, and dropped in a fathom and a half of water. We all pulled round again to Rum Cove, the nearest point for Ben Gunn's treasure-house; and then Gray, single-handed, returned with the gig to the Hispaniola, ...
— Treasure Island • Robert Louis Stevenson

... watch, and I had given my commands to the officer of the company that should have relieved it. Those Roman officers are ever insolent, who, though they seem to serve, know well that Egypt is their plaything. But it is not amiss, for these rough soldiers are superstitious, and will fear thee. Now bide thou here while I go into Cleopatra's chamber, where she sleeps. I have but just sung her to sleep, and if she be awake I will call thee, for she waits thy coming." And without more words ...
— Cleopatra • H. Rider Haggard

... the folk-tales of many lands.[125] It may not be amiss to trace it through some of its forms. In a Norse story[126] a Giant's heart lies in an egg, inside a duck, which swims in a well, in a church, on an island. With this may be compared another Norse tale,[127] in which a Haugebasse, or Troll, who has carried off a princess, informs her ...
— Russian Fairy Tales - A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore • W. R. S. Ralston

... dashed, and into a group the center of which was Norine herself, a gourdful of milk in one hand, a partially devoured mango in the other. At first glance there seemed to be nothing amiss; but the owner of the farm was dancing; he was trying to seize first the mango, then the drinking-vessel. His wife was wringing ...
— Rainbow's End • Rex Beach

... feared: Da Gama knew his brave colleague too well to imagine that he was really thinking of retreat. Possibly he already suspected something amiss; at any rate, he knew which of his men he could trust, and, with their aid, he discovered the names of the ringleaders. Then, calling the crew together on deck, he announced to them that, acting upon the advice of his friend, the captain of the San Miguel, he had decided ...
— Chatterbox, 1906 • Various

... figure, which came from the same quarter, and proceeded in the direction taken by the first two. "What queer business is now afoot?" Fawkes exclaimed, gazing after the retreating forms. "Mayhap ere long a trusty blade will not be amiss. I can well afford a few moments to see that ...
— The Fifth of November - A Romance of the Stuarts • Charles S. Bentley

... can't do amiss there. But—Ah, Spence, you're back again. Well Tom, there's nothing more to be said just now, I think, and I must go to business again. Good-by. Remember ...
— The Mill on the Floss • George Eliot

... pair of feet, and a broad-brimmed hat flapped low on the forehead. Whistling softly he dug with active gestures; and, having made the necessary cavity, set a shrub, filled up the hole, trod it down scientifically, and then fell back to survey the success of his labors. But something was amiss, something had been forgotten, for suddenly up came the shrub, and seizing a wheelbarrow that stood near by, away rattled the boy round the corner out of sight. Moor smiled at his impetuosity, and awaited his return with interest, ...
— Moods • Louisa May Alcott

... blessing, and forgive all that I have done amiss to you. And whatever you would have done, and what debts you would have paid first, or any thing else that you would direct, let Miss put it down; I ...
— Life Of Johnson, Vol. 1 • Boswell

... sound in his throat. Kate peered up at him, for the first time suspecting something amiss. "Philip," she exclaimed, "why don't you say something? Aren't you ...
— Kildares of Storm • Eleanor Mercein Kelly

... Second was not competent to appoint a Commission with power to visit and govern the Church of England. [94] But, if this were so, it was to little purpose that the Act of Supremacy, in high sounding words, empowered him to amend what was amiss in that Church. Nothing but a machinery as stringent as that which the Long Parliament had destroyed could force the Anglican clergy to become his agents for the destruction of the Anglican doctrine and discipline. He therefore, as early as ...
— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 2 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... return were enough to overturn the very moderate stock of patience which she possessed, had it been centupled. She declared that "the jintleman was like other jintlemen, and barring that he seemed the b'y for the brandy," she saw nothing amiss in him. In the midst of this excitement in walked the officer commanding the preventive service of the district. He was soon closeted in the sanctum, and after a due discussion of the singular proceedings ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, No. 579 - Volume 20, No. 579, December 8, 1832 • Various

... was a quiet well-behaved Body, and I never wish to have a better Lodger. This makes me wonder the more at her not sleeping quietly in her Grave: But there is no trusting to people in this world! For my part, I never saw her do amiss, except on the Friday before her death. To be sure, I was then much scandalized by seeing her eat the wing of a Chicken! "How, Madona Flora!" quoth I; (Flora, may it please your Reverence, is the name of the waiting Maid)—"How, Madona Flora!" quoth I; "Does your Mistress eat flesh upon ...
— The Monk; a romance • M. G. Lewis

... have accustomed themselves to make Observations on the Scenes before them, if they have not often seen heart-breaking Harshness burst forth on those who strongest feel the Strokes, and yet submit to them without complaining; and this practised even by Persons who would take it much amiss to ...
— Remarks on Clarissa (1749) • Sarah Fielding

... Herds of sharks instinctively follow fever-ships, and when the dead are thrown into the sea, are seen by the seamen in the shrouds, ready to perform the office of Undertakers. In the vicinity of the Trades, they sometimes lie under the counters of merchantmen for days together. Nothing comes amiss to them, from a midshipman to a marrow-bone, and it may be interesting to politicians to know that Repeaters and Rings have occasionally been found in the maws of these monsters. They bite readily at "Salt horse," ...
— Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 17, July 23, 1870 • Various

... no inclination to use my authority, to give her to one in preference to his brothers, I trust I have thought of an expedient which will please you all, and preserve harmony among you, if you will but hear me, and follow my advice. I think it would not be amiss if you were to travel separately into different countries, so that you might not meet each other: and as you know I am very curious, and delight in every thing that is rare and singular, I promise my niece in marriage to him who shall bring me the most extraordinary rarity; ...
— The Arabian Nights Entertainments Complete • Anonymous

... And He is utterly just—no respecter of persons; like His own wisdom, without partiality and without hypocrisy. O Lord! who shall stand in that day? O Lord! if thou be extreme to mark what is done amiss, who shall abide it? O Lord! in thee have I trusted: let ...
— Sermons for the Times • Charles Kingsley

... hanc regiam, et nos in epistolis scribendis adiuvabit." Observe the future tense, the confidence that his wish will not be disputed. He received to his surprise the poet's refusal, but to his credit did not take it amiss. He wrote to him, "Sume tibi aliquid iuris apud me, tanquam si convictor mihi fueris; quoniam id usus mihi tecum esse volui, si per valetudinem tuam fieri potuisset." And somewhat later, "Tui qualem habeam memoriam poteris ex Septimio quoque nostro audire; nam ...
— A History of Roman Literature - From the Earliest Period to the Death of Marcus Aurelius • Charles Thomas Cruttwell

... seeing Don Quixote slung across the ass, asked Sancho what was amiss with him. Sancho answered that it was nothing, only that he had fallen down from a rock and had his ribs a little bruised. The innkeeper had a wife whose disposition was not such as those of her calling commonly have, for she was by nature kind-hearted and felt for the sufferings of ...
— Don Quixote • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

... of cattle; but as no means of transporting it were obvious, he was fain to take leave of it with the apostrophe, now become proverbial—'By my saul, had ye but four feet, ye should not stand lang there.' In short, as Froissart says of a similar class of feudal robbers, nothing came amiss to them that was not too ...
— Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Volume I (of 10) • John Gibson Lockhart

... appear to have taken it amiss, and laughed when he saw Schmielke wink. Why shouldn't he see it as well as the others? Did he think he was blind? He was fortunately still in possession of his eyesight, and there could surely be nothing wrong in his ...
— Absolution • Clara Viebig

... Oriel and a Rector of Exeter who could read his books, and appreciate them, without prejudice against the author. But indeed, though he was capable of being profoundly bored, he was at his ease in the most diverse societies, and no form of conversation not absolutely foolish came amiss to him. He had read so many books, and seen so much of the world, he held such strong opinions, and expressed them with such placid freedom, that he never failed to command attention, or to deserve it. Contemptuous enough, perhaps too contemptuous, of human frailties, ...
— The Life of Froude • Herbert Paul

... He be mortal proud; and I wouldn't offend he, sartinly not, Jan. But Master Swift and me have seen a deal of each other since you left, and he've tasted this port before, when he were so bad, and he'll not take it amiss from an ...
— Jan of the Windmill • Juliana Horatia Ewing

... railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise. And it was about the sixth hour: and there was a darkness over ...
— The Book of Common Prayer - and The Scottish Liturgy • Church of England

... of a whole day; from that time forward no more temptations assailed her, and she was filled with the spirit of prophecy and wrought many notable miracles. She took the Abbot Geoffrey under her special care, advising him in matters of difficulty and reproving him when he did amiss. She was the first Prioress of the Benedictine Cell ...
— Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Saint Albans - With an Account of the Fabric & a Short History of the Abbey • Thomas Perkins

... this moment intelligence from Simon Parsons, one of Lord M.'s stewards, that his Lordship is very ill. Simon, who is my obsequious servant, in virtue of my presumptive heirship, gives me a hint in his letter, that my presence at M. Hall will not be amiss. So I must accelerate, whatever be the course I shall be allowed ...
— Clarissa, Volume 6 (of 9) - The History Of A Young Lady • Samuel Richardson

... from the Red River in the east to the Fraser in the west, and from Pah-ogh-kee Lake in the south to the Great Slave Lake in the north. He had been voyageur, trapper, cowboy, farm-hand in the Great North-West for years, and nothing came amiss to him. Now he was the hired servant of her father, doing what was required of him, and that well. He was spare and wrinkled as an old Indian, and there was hardly an unscarred inch in his body, having been charged by buffaloes, clawed by bears and ...
— The Rising of the Red Man - A Romance of the Louis Riel Rebellion • John Mackie

... sternly at him and said, "Hold your peace, my friend, as I bid you. It is not amiss that Agamemnon should urge the Achaeans forward, for the glory will be his if we take the city, and his the shame if we are vanquished. Therefore let us acquit ourselves ...
— The Iliad • Homer

... the way; What boots the world's wild, loose applause? what [can] Frail, perilous honours add unto a man? What length of years, wealth, or a rich fair wife? Virtue alone can make a happy life. To a wise man nought comes amiss: but we Fortune adore, ...
— Poems of Henry Vaughan, Silurist, Volume II • Henry Vaughan

... have been very numerous in recent years, and some have been noteworthy both in methods and in results. However, it will not be amiss here to emphasize the importance of concerted, organized effort on the part of whole communities, not only cities, but suburban and rural neighborhoods as well. By the most painstaking care one may prevent all fly breeding on his premises, ...
— The House Fly and How to Suppress It - U. S. Department of Agriculture Farmers' Bulletin No. 1408 • L. O. Howard and F. C. Bishopp

... be amiss for a Man to see his Sword mounted, because the Cutlers, to save themselves the Trouble of filing the inside of the hilts and pommel, to make the Holes wider, often file the Tongue[1] of the Blade too much, and fill up the Vacancies with Bits of ...
— The Art of Fencing - The Use of the Small Sword • Monsieur L'Abbat

... what a delightful opening there is for a young man. He would have to waltz perfectly, play tennis fairly, the latest novel would suffice for literary attainments; billiards, shooting, and hunting, would not come in amiss, for he must not be considered a useless being by men; not that women are much influenced by the opinion of men in their choice of favourites, but the reflex action of the heart, although not so marked as that of the stomach, exists and must be kept in view, besides a man who would ...
— Confessions of a Young Man • George Moore

... obvious to call for any detailed consideration. But so much has been said by both graceful and able writers on Japan as to the advantages she enjoys from her simple non-mechanical civilization, and the mistake she is making in adopting the mechanical civilization of the West, that it may not be amiss to dwell for a few moments upon it. I wish to show that the second element of progress consists in the increasing ...
— Evolution Of The Japanese, Social And Psychic • Sidney L. Gulick

... would not come amiss, for Ann was poor; her clay-floored cottage boasted only its exquisite neatness, her furniture was of the humblest, her dress the cheapest. She was too old for hard work; her duties at the little church were light,—the profits, I fear, were lighter; for that visitors to the remote ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 80, June, 1864 • Various

... amiss ye should ken," said Cuddie to his master, "that this Jenny—this Mrs Dennison, was trying to cuittle favour wi' Tam Rand, the miller's man, to win into Lord Evandale's room without ony body kennin'. She wasna thinking, the gipsy, that I ...
— Old Mortality, Complete, Illustrated • Sir Walter Scott

... not amiss for me to say to the Members of the Congress, in this my final year of office, a word about the institutions we respectively represent and the meaning which the relationships between our two branches has for ...
— Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present • Various

... a formula which the west country clowns Once used, ere their blows fell thick, At the fairs on the Devon and Cornwall downs, In their bouts with the single-stick. You may read a moral, not far amiss, If you care to moralise, In the crossing-guard, where the ash-plants kiss, To the words "God spare our eyes". No game was ever yet worth a rap For a rational man to play, Into which no accident, no mishap, Could possibly find ...
— Poems • Adam Lindsay Gordon

... wild, and are left out till the first of November, I presume that the owner does not mean to gather. They belong to children as wild as themselves,—to certain active boys that I know,—to the wild-eyed woman of the fields, to whom nothing comes amiss, who gleans after all the world,—and, moreover, to us walkers. We have met with them, and they are ours. These rights, long enough insisted upon, have come to be an institution in some old countries, where they have learned how to live. I hear that "the custom of grippling, which ...
— Excursions • Henry D. Thoreau

... up over the hill again, dressed in his best. He was not a proud lover, and he did not take a rebuff amiss; besides, he had something to tell Meg Kissock. When he got to Craig Ronald, the girls were in the byre at the milking, and at every cow's tail there stood a young man, rompish Ebie Farrish at that at which Jess was milking, and ...
— The Lilac Sunbonnet • S.R. Crockett

... rang from the wood of Trustach to the craigs of Ashintillie. Both were armed, but "Flash" took less charge of the hounds than seeing to death the fox, the enemy of all, including the roe, which recent plantations had raised into an enemy. I must say nothing on foot or wing came amiss to Flash-the-muzzle's gun. Hares and rabbits, not then the pest of the country, swelled our bag. We had a moderate number of black game, and the fox-hunters were somewhat astonished to find that we of the gentry set much store by woodcock, which bulked so little ...
— Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character • Edward Bannerman Ramsay

... a better account of Cambridge, its foundations, and the historical recollections of its founders, than is given in Mr. Gray's ode on the installation of the Duke of Grafton, which it would not be amiss to read with the large explanatory notes that are given in the editions ...
— The Letters of Queen Victoria, Volume 1 (of 3), 1837-1843) • Queen Victoria

... be married to one or both of the Miss Crasteyns, great city fortunes—nieces to the rich grocer. They have two hundred and sixty thousand pounds apiece. Nothing comes amiss to the digestion of that family—a ...
— The Ladies - A Shining Constellation of Wit and Beauty • E. Barrington

... neck with the back of his hand and continued: "And I also have here with me a perfectly preserved piece of bronze—I had no other place to put it, so I tied it fast here on my back under my coat. Well, it will probably not look amiss, once it is all cleaned up ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. VII. • Various

... above anecdotes, it will perhaps not be amiss to devote a few lines to the subject of Gypsy food and diet. I believe that it has been asserted that the Romas, in all parts of the world, are perfectly indifferent as to what they eat, provided only that they can appease their hunger; and that they have no objection to partake of the carcasses ...
— The Zincali - An Account of the Gypsies of Spain • George Borrow

... be amiss to add an explanation of the Serb names which appear throughout the book in the original spelling. The names have often an unpronounceable appearance, and look harsh and forbidding. This is far from the case, for the Serb language is ...
— The Land of the Black Mountain - The Adventures of Two Englishmen in Montenegro • Reginald Wyon

... brethren!" Parson Stump apologized. "Ah, Daniel!" he cried; "is that you? What's amiss, boy? You've no trouble, have you? And your uncle—eh? you've no trouble, boy, have you?" The brethren waited in silence while he tripped lightly over the worn cocoanut matting to the rear—perturbed, a little frown of impatience and bewilderment gathering between his ...
— The Cruise of the Shining Light • Norman Duncan

... however, who turned from the subject under discussion and beckoned Master Fay and Enoch nearer. "What have we here?" he asked. "Something of moment, I warrant, from the look on Stephen's face. And there is young Nuck Harding. Is aught amiss in your district, lad?" ...
— With Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga • W. Bert Foster

... beardless one with girl, nor heed * The spy who saith to thee ''Tis an amiss!' Far different is the girl whose feet one kisses * And that gazelle whose feet ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 3 • Richard F. Burton

... which they take upon themselves by confirmation; the Lord's Supper is frequently renewing the same oath. Ordination and matrimony are solemn vows of a different kind: confession includes a vow of revealing all we know, and reforming what is amiss: extreme unction, the last vow, that we have lived in the faith we were baptised: in this sense they are all sacraments. As to the mysteries preached since, they were all invented long after, and some of them ...
— Lady Mary Wortley Montague - Her Life and Letters (1689-1762) • Lewis Melville

... she said. "I don't suppose there is anything much amiss, though I shall just pack up and go at once. What an irritating woman this must be—quite enough to make any one ill if she talks ...
— Barbara in Brittany • E. A. Gillie

... exclaims, "Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me"—"in thy presence is the fulness of joy; at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore." He weighs well the nature, and "remembers the end" of all that is called good, and so "does not amiss." ...
— The Church of England Magazine - Volume 10, No. 263, January 9, 1841 • Various

... tourists fine, Old commuters along the line, Brakemen and porters glanced ahead, Smiled as the signal, sharp, intense, Pierced through the shadows of Providence: "Nothing amiss— Nothing!—it is Only Guild calling ...
— Successful Recitations • Various

... all on high who're dwelling, 'Fore whom heav'n must hush its voice, When their Maker's praise forth-telling, O'er our penitence rejoice; But what has been done amiss Cover'd now and buried is, All offence to Him we've given, All, yea ...
— Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs - Translated by John Kelly • Paul Gerhardt

... inclined to blush, but obviously happy. Jimmy, on the other hand, was by turns silent, almost moody, and then feverishly talkative. Vera seemed to notice nothing amiss—possibly she put it down to natural excitement—but Ethel watched him with anxiety, which she tried hard to conceal. As she said, the whole thing was her doing. She had engineered it carefully, and she was, at least in matters like these, a clever woman. ...
— People of Position • Stanley Portal Hyatt

... to be sure he will make the story as plausible for himself as he may; but therefore it was that I have before so particularly quoted and bound him up with his own words as fast as such a Proteus could be pinion'd. For he is as waxen as the first matter, and no form comes amiss to him. Every change of posture does either alter his opinion or vary the expression by which we should judge of it; and sitting he is of one mind, and standing of another. Therefore I take myself the less concern'd to fight with a windmill ...
— Andrew Marvell • Augustine Birrell

... Dalaber," spoke Cole, with a kindly grip of the hand, "it was told me you were moving into fresh quarters here, and methought a few plenishings might not come amiss to your lodgings. You are something of an anchorite in your method of living, Anthony; but this chamber deserves a little adornment, if you are not ...
— For the Faith • Evelyn Everett-Green

... may be, it is fitting that I should know it—yes, will know it, dearest, or I am not worthy to lie beside you there. Tell me, love, how is it that for these many days you have looked so sad, and sighed, and frowned upon me. I am conscious of no fault. Have I done amiss? Say so, and I will speedily ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV. • Various

... man to whom nought comes amiss, One horse or another—that country or this; Through falls and bad starts who undauntedly still Bides up to this motto, "Be with them I will!" And give me the man who can ride through a run, Nor engross to himself all the glory when done; Who calls not each horse that o'ertakes him ...
— A New Illustrated Edition of J. S. Rarey's Art of Taming Horses • J. S. Rarey

... perseverance and executive ability are indispensable. Besides these I would place the sense of humour, of proportion, sympathy, insight,—indeed, there is nothing admirable in human nature which would come amiss in the equipment ...
— Threads of Grey and Gold • Myrtle Reed

... they chronicled Within their nest of bliss; To taste each day some sweetest joy, They could not go amiss. ...
— Lays of Ancient Virginia, and Other Poems • James Avis Bartley

... not be amiss to close our tale of the Cid with a quotation from the famous poem in which it is shown how even a lion quailed before ...
— Historical Tales - The Romance of Reality - Volume VII • Charles Morris

... him in a subordinate position; and he therefore proposed to La Briere, in the most natural manner, to take a little country-house at Ingouville for a month, and live there together on pretence of requiring sea-air. As soon as La Briere, who at first saw nothing amiss in the proposal, had consented, Canalis declared that he should pay all expenses, and he sent his valet to Havre, telling him to see Monsieur Latournelle and get his assistance in choosing the house,—well aware that the notary would repeat all ...
— Modeste Mignon • Honore de Balzac

... disconcerting as his wire entanglements and his rifle-pits. The amazing variety of his personal accomplishments was one of his most striking characteristics. From drawing caricatures with both hands simultaneously, or skirt dancing to leading a forlorn hope, nothing came amiss to him; and he had that magnetic quality by which the leader imparts something of his virtues to his men. Such was the man who held Mafeking ...
— The Great Boer War • Arthur Conan Doyle

... trouble; and a meal after your long ride in the rain will not come amiss," Virgie answered, looking up and meeting his fine ...
— Virgie's Inheritance • Mrs. Georgie Sheldon

... their weaker moments, in old age perhaps, did they belong to the "fatherlands"—they only rested from themselves when they became "patriots." I think of such men as Napoleon, Goethe, Beethoven, Stendhal, Heinrich Heine, Schopenhauer: it must not be taken amiss if I also count Richard Wagner among them, about whom one must not let oneself be deceived by his own misunderstandings (geniuses like him have seldom the right to understand themselves), still less, of course, by the unseemly noise with which he is now resisted and ...
— Beyond Good and Evil • Friedrich Nietzsche

... benefit of future travellers, it may not be amiss to say, that a small medicine-chest, which had been packed in a carpet-bag, was detained at the custom-house; and that the following day we experienced some difficulty in getting it passed, being told that it was contraband; indeed, but for an idea that the whole party ...
— Notes of an Overland Journey Through France and Egypt to Bombay • Miss Emma Roberts

... secretly somewhat pleased by the fact that much of her husband's property was in her name, a precaution which Hurstwood had taken when his home interests were somewhat more alluring than at present. His wife had not the slightest reason to feel that anything would ever go amiss with their household, and yet the shadows which run before gave her a thought of the good of it now and then. She was in a position to become refractory with considerable advantage, and Hurstwood conducted himself circumspectly because he felt that he could not ...
— Sister Carrie • Theodore Dreiser

... up the Channel against a wet North-Easter, and be landed in Liverpool (after a tedious detention for lack of water on the bar at the mouth of the Mersey) under sullen skies and in a dripping rain. I wanted to see the thing out, and would have taken amiss any deceitful smiles of Fortune after I had learned to ...
— Glances at Europe - In a Series of Letters from Great Britain, France, Italy, - Switzerland, &c. During the Summer of 1851. • Horace Greeley

... given a very comical and unnecessarily exact recital there of his own feelings when his play was hissed: telling the company how he went, indeed, to the Literary Club at night, and chatted gaily among his friends, as if nothing had happened amiss; that to impress them still more forcibly with an idea of his magnanimity, he even sung his favourite song about an old woman tossed in a blanket seventeen times as high as the moon; "but all this while I was suffering horrid tortures," said he, "and verily believe that if I had put a bit in my ...
— Anecdotes of the late Samuel Johnson, LL.D. - during the last twenty years of his life • Hester Lynch Piozzi

... The Welch, who eat them much, are observ'd to be very fruitful: They are also friendly to the Lungs and Stomach, being sod in Milk; a few therefore of the slender and green Summities, a little shred, do not amiss in ...
— Acetaria: A Discourse of Sallets • John Evelyn

... with blood, and the bodies of the huge snake and the dead man. "A few weeks ago there was nothing that I liked so well as an adventure, but now I am surfeited, and would fain enjoy a respite. A few weeks of inactivity would not come amiss, for ever since we have been on the island we have seen nothing, heard of nothing, but blood. I ...
— The Gold Hunter's Adventures - Or, Life in Australia • William H. Thomes

... (now Earl of Coventry) had then, as now, very quick parts, and early insight into beautiful composition. Whatever good thing he met with, he was always ready with an immediate parallel; Latin, Greek, or from honesty into English, nothing came amiss to him. He had a quick sense of the ridiculous; and could scout a character at all absurd and suspicious, with as much pleasant scurrility as a ...
— The English Spy • Bernard Blackmantle

... said the General, "but nothing seems to come amiss to Fergus, though his chief turn is ...
— The Long Vacation • Charlotte M. Yonge

... not much amiss, nor far from our purpose, if I should a little discourse and speak of our adventures and chances by the way, as our landing at Plymouth, as also the meeting of certain poor men, which were robbed and spoiled of all that they had by pirates and rovers; amongst whom was a man of ...
— Voyages in Search of the North-West Passage • Richard Hakluyt

... at me till we joined Mrs. Thrale and the attorney-general. And then Miss Thrale, stimulated by him, came to inquire if I had really taken anything amiss of her. "No," I ...
— The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay Volume 1 • Madame D'Arblay

... best use possible to any one. Of this I shall speak hereafter. I am now speaking, not of the right devotional use of the Bible, but of the right critical use of it. It has been used critically in building our theologies, but, to a large extent, amiss. Out of this wrong use of it has come the misconceptions in theology which to-day perplex our minds and bar the progress of religion. If we must use the Bible critically, let us by all means try to employ a true and ...
— The Right and Wrong Uses of the Bible • R. Heber Newton

... the notice of Captain Vyell, Collector of Customs, with whom by the same trick of speech (slightly adapted) he managed to ingratiate himself, scenting the flesh-pots. For he belonged to the tribe to whom a patron never comes amiss. Captain Vyell was amused by the man; knew him for a sycophant; but tolerated him at table and promoted him (in Batty Langton's phrase) to be his trencher chaplain. He and Langton took an easy malicious delight, over their wine, in shocking Mr. Silk with their free thought ...
— Lady Good-for-Nothing • A. T. Quiller-Couch

... were sitting down to their Christmas dinner; the good man had besought a blessing upon the comfortable and abundant fare of which they were about to partake, and nothing was amiss, save the absence ...
— The Hedge School; The Midnight Mass; The Donagh • William Carleton

... not willingly offend, Nor be easily offended; What's amiss I'll strive to mend, And endure what can't ...
— Self-Denial - or, Alice Wood, and Her Missionary Society • American Sunday-School Union

... multitude that croud the place, you will not discover one melancholy face: all is prattling, tittering, or laughing; and ten to one but you perceive a number of them employed in hissing the female who personates the Virgin Mary. And here it may not be amiss to observe, that the Roman catholics, not content with the infinite number of saints who really existed, have not only personified the cross, but made two female saints out of a piece of linen. Veronique, ...
— Travels Through France and Italy • Tobias Smollett

... part of my task to discover and describe the early magazines of the State, though that had been an attractive piece of literary exposition—to the expounder, at least. In conclusion, however, it may not be amiss to recite a few of the ...
— The Philadelphia Magazines and their Contributors 1741-1850 • Albert Smyth

... first the silence broke, As one who long has lain in wait, With purpose to retaliate, And thus he dealt the avenging stroke. "In such a company as this, A tale so tragic seems amiss, That by its terrible control O'ermasters and drags down the soul Into a fathomless abyss. The Italian Tales that you disdain, Some merry Night of Straparole, Or Machiavelli's Belphagor, Would cheer us and ...
— Tales of a Wayside Inn • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow



Words linked to "Amiss" :   haywire, imperfectly, be amiss, nonfunctional



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