"Damper" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... open the little stove and put the short billets of wood inside and work the damper; and cautioning her to keep an eye on it so that it would not get too hot, ...
— The Call of the Canyon • Zane Grey
... marteaux, a very rare kind of bivalve mussel, was stung by a serpent. The fearful suffering and violent convulsions which followed only subsided at the expiration of five or six hours, and at last, the theriac which was administered to him after the bite, effected a cure. This accident was a sad damper to conchological enthusiasm. Upon the 22nd, after a severe storm, the ships were sensible of several slight earthquakes, the sea rose and fell several times in succession, which greatly alarmed the sailors ...
— Celebrated Travels and Travellers - Part 2. The Great Navigators of the Eighteenth Century • Jules Verne
... its contact with the flood-water that had submerged their cabin at one time; but, whether damaged or not, it must be acknowledged that even to the most easy-going and contented palate, a never-varying diet of fried pork and damper cakes—that resembled somewhat the unleavened bread of the Israelites in their passage through the wilderness—will prove somewhat wearying and monotonous in the long run! Thus, their anxiety for some change in their food can only be realised by those who have been compelled to live ...
— Picked up at Sea - The Gold Miners of Minturne Creek • J.C. Hutcheson
... "Appeal to the Young" was of this number. I remember in my enthusiasm reading it aloud to my sister Caroline, who, however, took scant interest in such matters, and who tried, but in vain, to put a damper on ...
— A Girl Among the Anarchists • Isabel Meredith
... because they used to buy their milk of me. They were the first a'most, and the last was the Menagerie and Gavel's Roundabouts. They packed up last night. It must be a wearin' life," commented the shopwoman. "But for my part I like the shows, and so I tell Damper—that's my 'usband. They put a bit of colour into the place while they last, besides bein' free-'anded with their money. Light come light go, I reckon; but anyway, it's different from cows. So you suffered from ...
— True Tilda • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
... episode put a damper on the outing. But the boys did their best to make the girls forget it, and after a while all were hunting as diligently as before for ferns. They found a varied collection, and took delight in filling the shoeboxes ...
— The Rover Boys in the Land of Luck - Stirring Adventures in the Oil Fields • Edward Stratemeyer
... "Jake," of New York, was a damper to my enthusiasm. My little store of money would soon be exhausted, and since it would be unsafe for me to go on the wharves for work, and I had no introductions elsewhere, the prospect for me was far from cheerful. ...
— The Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 1995, Memorial Issue • Various
... laid at last, and a piece of smoking salt beef and a great round damper brought in from ...
— The Moving Finger • Mary Gaunt
... become unconscious, and be carried home, with you still whispering in my ear. But do not talk, MAGNOLIA; for I must do the walking-match. The prejudice here against my Southern birth makes me a damper upon the festivities of others at this general season of forgiveness to all mankind, and I can't stand the sight of that DROOD and Miss POTTS together. I'd better stay away until ...
— Punchinello Vol. 1, No. 21, August 20, 1870 • Various
... souls of men. And the lives of the people streamed away from Harza, and whither they went is set in many books. But the Pestilence fed on the light that shines in the eyes of men, which never appeased his hunger; chiller and damper he grew, and the heat from his eyes increased when night by night he galloped through the city, ...
— Time and the Gods • Lord Dunsany [Edward J. M. D. Plunkett]
... to ascend the river a tempest arose, which kept me a weary prisoner among the reeds of the rice marsh. The hollow reeds made poor fuel for cooking, and when the dark, stormy night shut down upon me, the damp soil grew damper as the tide arose, until it threatened to overflow the land. For hours I lay in my narrow canoe waiting for the tidal flood to do its worst, but it receded, and left me without any means of building a fire, as the reeds were wet by the storm. The next afternoon, being tired of this ...
— Voyage of The Paper Canoe • N. H. Bishop
... then, though fast the horses run, Few gain by "clone," and "done," and "done," For what a damper to the fun! Those ...
— The English Spy • Bernard Blackmantle
... man who built the bridges, after inspection, to build them solid, and then I commenced a new method of firing, in this manner: I sprinkle the small coals with water from a hose-pipe, and burn one fire down low, but bright; I shut the damper nearly close and commence firing towards the bridge and sides, until the grate is full nearly to the crown of the fireplace, allowing the gas to remain in the furnace and flues for twenty minutes, then I open ...
— The Stoker's Catechism • W. J. Connor
... your mother. I am afraid this is a damper on your happiness, but I am sure that your father would wish to know. Aunt Ada tackles Mr. White better than I do, and means if possible to make him go to Avoncester himself when the case comes on, so that he ...
— Beechcroft at Rockstone • Charlotte M. Yonge
... first varies from sixty to one hundred inches, and, on the crests of the Ghauts, is probably often about 200 inches,[4] while in the interior of the province the rainfall is probably about thirty inches on the average. The temperature of the western tract too is naturally much damper and cooler than that of the rest of the tableland, and at my house within six miles of the crests of the Ghauts at an elevation of about 3,200 feet, the shade temperature at the hottest time of the year and of the day rarely exceeds eighty-five, and such a thing ...
— Gold, Sport, And Coffee Planting In Mysore • Robert H. Elliot
... been down cellar to see that the furnace fire was in order for the night. As soon as he reached the top of the stairs, in coming up, he remembered that he had not turned the outside damper properly, and went back ...
— Saxe Holm's Stories • Helen Hunt Jackson
... furnaces, however well constructed at first, will, from the contraction and expansion of the metal, soon allow the escape of coal gas, and this danger is greatly increased by the use of dampers in the stove-pipe. When, to regulate the fire, the damper in the pipe is closed, the gases, having their passage to the chimney cut off, will escape through any cracks or openings in the stove into the room. Prof. Chandler, having kept a record of accidents from this cause, had accumulated a formidable list of suffocations ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 362, December 9, 1882 • Various
... glowing colors the rising prosperity of Jamaica.[175] His narrative was hailed with eager delight by abolitionists in all parts of the civilized world. It is a pity, we admit, to spoil so fine a story, or to put a damper on so much enthusiasm. But the truth, especially in a case like the present, should be told. While, then, to the enchanted imagination of the abolitionist, the wonderful industry of the freed negroes and ...
— Cotton is King and The Pro-Slavery Arguments • Various
... Prince Andrew mirthless and tiresome. Speranski's high-pitched voice struck him unpleasantly, and the incessant laughter grated on him like a false note. Prince Andrew did not laugh and feared that he would be a damper on the spirits of the company, but no one took any notice of his being out of harmony with the general mood. They ...
— War and Peace • Leo Tolstoy
... compelled to halt for the night in a dense thicket, without a single blade of grass or even scrub of any kind which could afford food for the horses; water it was hopeless to look for; and after a supper of raw bacon, damper, and a pint of water each, we retired ...
— Journals of Australian Explorations • A C and F T Gregory
... one time how pleasant it would be to accompany him. But l'homme propose, Pendennis. I fancy now a lad is not the better for being always tied to his parent's apron-string. You young fellows are too clever for me. I haven't learned your ideas or read your books. I feel myself very often an old damper in your company. I will go back, sir, where I have some friends, where I am somebody still. I know an honest face or two, white and brown, that will lighten up in the old regiment when they see Tom Newcome again. God bless you, Arthur. You young fellows in this country have such ...
— The Newcomes • William Makepeace Thackeray
... climate of Capetown, although the hot weather was beginning, delightful; a regular champagne air and a very hot sun, yet altogether a nice dry heat which quickly brought all the skin off my face at Simon's Bay after one day's march with the Battalion up the hills. I expect to find Natal much damper, and no doubt it will be very wet and cold at night in the ...
— With the Naval Brigade in Natal (1899-1900) - Journal of Active Service • Charles Richard Newdigate Burne
... of Major Elliott and his party was the only damper upon our pleasure, and the only drawback to the very successful expedition. There was no definite information as to the detachment, —and Custer was able to report nothing more than that he had not seen Elliott since just before the fight began. ...
— Memoirs of Three Civil War Generals, Complete • U. S. Grant, W. T. Sherman, P. H. Sheridan
... often excited the spleen of his more genteel, or less hungry wife.—"Bless my stars, Mr. Hill," she would oftentimes say, "I am really downright ashamed to see you eat so much; and when company is to dine with us, I do wish you would take a snack by way of a damper before dinner, that you may not look so prodigious ...
— Tales & Novels, Vol. 2 • Maria Edgeworth
... damper on it, but now all the girls are anxious to play and we have challenged the sophomores to play against us the second Saturday afternoon in February. I am going to play right guard, and Miriam is to play left forward. A Miss Martin is our center, ...
— Grace Harlowe's First Year at Overton College • Jessie Graham Flower
... he added by way of soliloquy, as he stood looking after him. 'Although you ARE a damper to a honourable ambition. You little think it, but you was the first to dash my hopes. Pecksniff would have built me up for life, but your sweet temper pulled me ...
— Life And Adventures Of Martin Chuzzlewit • Charles Dickens
... of the next day treated us to some hardships that I had missed on the first overland journey. Ice formed in the camp half an inch thick, and the high wind joined forces with the damper of our stove, which had got out of order, to fill the tent with smoke and make ...
— Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail • Ezra Meeker
... and the native servants we had, toiled early and late, working like galley-slaves making bread-stuffs for the feast. Knowing whom I had to provide for, I confined myself to making that Australian standby—damper, and simple cakes, but Maggie produced a wonderfully elaborate and rich bun for their delectation, which she called a "Selkirk bannock," and which I privately thought far too good ...
— The Empire Annual for Girls, 1911 • Various
... first dismal days of his life to stay peacefully within-doors. On the Sunday following his birth he was carried to the meeting-house to be baptized. When we consider the chill and gloom of those unheated, freezing churches, growing colder and damper and deadlier with every wintry blast—we wonder that grown persons even could bear the exposure. Still more do we marvel that tender babes ever lived through their cruel winter christenings when it ...
— Customs and Fashions in Old New England • Alice Morse Earle
... left Yaquil, and followed the flat valley, formed like that of Quillota, in which the Rio Tinderidica flows. Even at these few miles south of Santiago the climate is much damper; in consequence there are fine tracts of pasturage, which are not irrigated. (20th.) We l followed this valley till it expanded into a great plain, which reaches from the sea to the mountains west of Rancagua. ...
— The Voyage of the Beagle • Charles Darwin
... in playing with Dr. Mortimer's spaniel. In a very few hours the brown earth had become ruddy, the brick had changed to granite, and red cows grazed in well-hedged fields where the lush grasses and more luxuriant vegetation spoke of a richer, if a damper, climate. Young Baskerville stared eagerly out of the window and cried aloud with delight as he recognized the familiar features ...
— The Hound of the Baskervilles • A. Conan Doyle
... indian; then, stepping up to him, he patted him on the back as a father might a spoiled child, saying, "Come, come, son; don't be a fool; three good days' wages for an hour's time; take your peso and be gone." We had feared the incident would cast a damper on our work and hinder other subjects. Far from it. We were supplied as rapidly as our men could work at the same price ...
— In Indian Mexico (1908) • Frederick Starr
... the 75th, or, in fact, any of the other regiments than us. Still if the worst comes to the worst we must not grumble. Other regiments have had weary times of waiting, and it may be our turn now. Your suggestion has come as a damper to our spirits, and, as I don't mind acknowledging that I am dog tired with the march, after not having used my legs for the last seven or eight weeks, I shall try to forget it ...
— The Queen's Cup • G. A. Henty
... dashed open the door, upsetting, at the same time, the poor postillion, who had recommenced his operations on the lock, and, foaming with passion, strode into the "salle a manger." Nothing is such an immediate damper to any sudden explosion of temper, as the placid and unconcerned faces of a number of people, who, ignorant of yourself and your peculiar miseries at the moment, seem only to regard you as a madman. This I felt strongly, as, flushed in face and tingling in my fingers, ...
— The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer, Complete • Charles James Lever (1806-1872)
... Christians are requested not to spit in this holy place." If we might judge from the observation of one morning, I should say that the better classes in Pascuaro are fairer and have more colour than is general in Mexico; and if this is so, it may be owing partly to the climate being cooler and damper, and partly to their taking more exercise (there being no carriages here), whereas in Mexico no family of any importance can ...
— Life in Mexico • Frances Calderon de la Barca
... ... The London Times of Wednesday, January 3, 1877, contains views on the projected congress of the so-called Americanists, that is expected to be held at Luxembourg in September next. Was the writing intended for a damper? If so, it did not miss its aim. It must have frozen to the very core the enthusiasm of the many dreamers and speculators on the prehistoric nations that inhabited this western continent. As for me, I felt its ...
— The Mayas, the Sources of Their History / Dr. Le Plongeon in Yucatan, His Account of Discoveries • Stephen Salisbury, Jr.
... a sad damper to our heroes, who returned to the castle with their prog untouched and no great appetite for dinner. Being only a family party, when Mrs. B—— retired, the subject naturally turned upon the morning's mishap, and at every ...
— Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities • Robert Smith Surtees
... to feel at home with the V, which hospitably extended its arms to take her in. But with Katharine it was a different matter. Critical of others, and constantly studying the effect of all that she herself said or did, she was rather a damper on the good times of the girls. Fortunately, she usually scorned them as children, and spent much of her time with her mates in the fashionable boarding-school at which she and her sister were day pupils. And yet, ...
— Half a Dozen Girls • Anna Chapin Ray
... catgut—your fluent organ a vile box of whistles, fit representative of its Tube-al inventor—and the sweetest pipe ever resonant with the clear, music-breathing air of Italy, or bravely struggling against the damper atmosphere of our humid isle, sounds harsh and shrilly in our ears, instead of soothing our "savage breast," which seems to marshal all its powers the more emphatically to give the poet the lie. This—now that we are in the confessional—we are free to own—yea, ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 364, February 1846 • Various
... same evening, when, tethering the horse, we proceeded to make ourselves comfortable for the night round a camp fire, whereon we boiled our tea and fried chops, and after placing the usual damper under the hot ashes so as to be ready for the morning, we rolled our blankets around us and with feet to ...
— Five Years in New Zealand - 1859 to 1864 • Robert B. Booth
... persisted in laughing and rioting so loudly at the bridegroom's expense, that the pastor of the flock at length felt himself called upon to assume his face of office—to put a damper, as it were, upon the unseemly proceeding. Just as he began, a new dish, soup with crabs' noses, (hotchpotch,) engaged exclusively the regard of the whole of the guests. A full plate was set before every visitor, but scarcely set before him, before, with the speed of lightning, from ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Vol. 56, No. 346, August, 1844 • Various
... 15o - 16o C. After intervals of from 19 h. to 24 h. all were still vertically or almost vertically dependent, for some of them had moved towards the adjoining damp surface by about 10o. They had therefore not been acted on, or only slightly acted on, by the damper air on one side, although the whole upper part was freely exposed. After 48 h. three of these radicles became [page 182] considerably curved towards the sieve; and the absence of curvature in some of the others might ...
— The Power of Movement in Plants • Charles Darwin
... letter quoted from, that you might publish the whole of that which is garbled to answer a purpose. In a part of the letter not published, I put such a damper on the attempt to fix on me the desire to break up our Union, and presented other points in a form so little acceptable to the unfriendly inquirers, that the publication of the letter had to be drawn out ...
— The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government • Jefferson Davis
... slips of walnut measuring about 3/16" by 7/16" by 3-1/8". The arrangement of the tongue, spring, plectrum, and damper are shown in figure 11. The dampers are small pieces of buckskin held in slots at the tops of the jacks. The plectra, perhaps not original, are of leather. Of course, there are no adjusting screws ...
— Italian Harpsichord-Building in the 16th and 17th Centuries • John D. Shortridge
... very good account of his employer, but he had the good sense not to cast a damper on a party of pleasure by reciting his own troubles; ...
— Toby Tyler • James Otis
... she said she had never seen a sweeter or more beautiful bride. No one said anything concerning the bridegroom's appearance, but he did not care. It was a drizzly, foggy day, but that made no difference. A Kansas cyclone and a Bayport no'theaster combined could not have cast a damper on that day. ...
— Kent Knowles: Quahaug • Joseph C. Lincoln
... man walked across to his fire and, kneeling down, carefully raked away the ashes. Then he drew out a damper—Norah had never seen one before, but she knew immediately that it was a damper. It looked good, too—nicely risen, and brown, and it sent forth a fragrance that was decidedly appetizing. The old man ...
— A Little Bush Maid • Mary Grant Bruce
... jig on the way back to his bunk, and not even the scowling face of Damase, who had been listening to the conversation in the foreman's room with keen Indian ears, and had caught enough of it to learn of the arrangement made, could cast any damper upon his spirits. In this case half a loaf was decidedly better than no bread at all. Freedom from the restraints and irksome duties of chore-boy's lot for even half the day was a precious boon, and the happy boy lay down to rest that night feeling like ...
— The Young Woodsman - Life in the Forests of Canada • J. McDonald Oxley
... natives, his story was most circumstantial. He described the scene of the murder as being in the neighbourhood of a large lake, so large that it looked like the sea, and that the white men were attacked and killed whilst making a damper. These artistic details with which the blacks embellish their narratives, make it very hard to refuse credence ...
— The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888 • Ernest Favenc
... was only a possibility. The fact was that he was no longer on board, and that he could not cast a damper upon ...
— The Waif of the "Cynthia" • Andre Laurie and Jules Verne
... impudence, when the elephant, who was rocking backwards and forwards, suddenly threw out his trunk and seized our friend by the coat tails; the cloth gave way, and the whole back of the coat was torn out, leaving nothing but the collar, sleeves, and front. As may be supposed, this was a damper upon his amatory proceedings; indeed we never saw a man look so small, as he shuffled away amidst the titters of the company, ...
— The International Monthly Magazine, Volume 5, No. 1, January, 1852 • Various
... of their trade. They are divided into various classes, each known by a distinctive title, and to each of which its respective members cling tenaciously. These are known as Burglars, Bank Sneaks, Damper Sneaks, Safe-blowers, Safe-bursters, Safe-breakers, and Sneak Thieves. The last constitute ...
— Lights and Shadows of New York Life - or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City • James D. McCabe
... shout and scamper And make merry all the day, When there's naught to put a damper To the ardor of their play; When I hear their laughter ringing, Then I'm sure as sure can be That the Dinkey-bird is singing ...
— Here and Now Story Book - Two- to seven-year-olds • Lucy Sprague Mitchell
... gentle reader, to imagine yourself in a small cabin, where there are two beds—that is to say, two scanty portions of damp straw, spread out thinly upon a still damper foot of earth, in a portion of which the foot sinks when walking over it. The two beds—each what is termed a shake down—have barely covering enough to preserve the purposes of decency, but not to communicate the usual ...
— The Black Baronet; or, The Chronicles Of Ballytrain - The Works of William Carleton, Volume One • William Carleton
... up through a still dreary region of moist, sparse turf and shaly slopes of slate and rock and profitless debris. The occupants of the landau, as they look down toward us at times from the turn next above, wave dry and encouraging greetings, through the open windows; and we wave back damper but equally encouraging greetings in return, having found that good spirits had fallen to us with unexpected ...
— A Midsummer Drive Through The Pyrenees • Edwin Asa Dix
... the quite extraordinary scandal that the mere fact of religious disunion caused both to officers and men. It was the big, obvious "damper" on the very threshold of Christianity—"see how these Christians hate one another." Officers would throw the taunt up again and again in the Mess, and the men lying down to talk themselves to sleep in their ...
— The War and Unity - Being Lectures Delivered At The Local Lectures Summer - Meeting Of The University Of Cambridge, 1918 • Various
... entree. alligator pear, apple &c, apple slump; artichoke; ashcake^, griddlecake, pancake, flapjack; atole^, avocado, banana, beche de mer [Fr.], barbecue, beefsteak; beet root; blackberry, blancmange, bloater, bouilli^, bouillon, breadfruit, chop suey [U.S.]; chowder, chupatty^, clam, compote, damper, fish, frumenty^, grapes, hasty pudding, ice cream, lettuce, mango, mangosteen, mince pie, oatmeal, oyster, pineapple, porridge, porterhouse steak, salmis^, sauerkraut, sea slug, sturgeon ("Albany beef"), succotash [U.S.], ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget
... very day of the anniversary," Pao-y rejoined. "Grandmother and my mother bade me put this on and go and pay my visit; and here I go and burn it, on the first day I wear it. Now isn't this enough to throw a damper over ...
— Hung Lou Meng, Book II • Cao Xueqin
... said was nothing," she replied. "But the tone in which you spoke was unpleasant. It seemed as though you were trying to put a damper on things. It came like a dash of cold water, and I'm sure that Mr. Parmalee ...
— Doubloons—and the Girl • John Maxwell Forbes
... change of level. On a continent the chief effects would be changes in the numerical proportion of the individuals of the different species; for whether the climate became warmer or colder, drier or damper, more uniform or extreme, some species are at present adapted to its diversified districts; if for instance it became cooler, species would migrate from its more temperate parts and from its higher land; if damper, from ...
— The Foundations of the Origin of Species - Two Essays written in 1842 and 1844 • Charles Darwin
... the war put a damper on many activities, nut and otherwise. Here in Ohio, the nut crops of 1944 and 1945 were virtually failures; even the crop of 1946 is decidedly spotty. Yet in spite of the war and adverse weather conditions, the Ohio growers are looking forward, and planning for the future. As a group we are directing ...
— Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Thirty-Seventh Annual Report • Various
... But the game you have to play with your stove is to let the smoke and gases run up chimney, but to save all the heat you can for the work to be done. So your stove is supplied with dampers. When the fire is new, and there is much smoke or gas, you open the damper into the stovepipe, and in the stovepipe. Try to get a picture of the way the heated air goes from the fire-box up into the chimney. We call this direct draft. Of course a great deal of heat runs away through the chimney, and ...
— Scouting For Girls, Official Handbook of the Girl Scouts • Girl Scouts
... together as pleasant as possible, Lloyd immediately put Bernice out of her mind as far as she was able. But she could not rid herself entirely of the recollection that something disagreeable had happened. The impression bore down on her like a heavy cloud, and was a damper on her high spirits. Outwardly she was as gay as ever, and when the walk was over, led the party on a foraging ...
— The Little Colonel: Maid of Honor • Annie Fellows Johnston
... a damper on de yuthers, but 'fo' Mr. Rooster git outer sight en year'n dey went ter wuk on de pile w'at wuz 'pariently co'n-bread, en, lo en beholes, un'need dem pone er bread wuz a whole passel er meat en greens, en bake' taters, en bile' turnips. Mr. Rooster, ...
— Nights With Uncle Remus - Myths and Legends of the Old Plantation • Joel Chandler Harris
... possible, Paul returned to the lake and saw that one of the boats had swamped. The three men who occupied it were drowned and could not be found. The accident put a damper on the festivities of the day. The bands of music were hushed and much sorrow expressed for the unfortunates. The Syndaco, however, invited Boyton to a dinner, and they were enjoying themselves very well, considering the circumstances, when a delegation of ...
— The Story of Paul Boyton - Voyages on All the Great Rivers of the World • Paul Boyton
... friend?" answered Sam heartily: "let us come together by all means, and if we are to go to the ranges, we had better take a blanket a-piece, and a wedge of damper. So if you will get them from the house, ...
— The Recollections of Geoffrey Hamlyn • Henry Kingsley
... how far this cruel trick Might still have led, but for a tramper That came in danger's very nick, To put Mahoney to the scamper. But still compassion met a damper; There lay the severed nose, alas! Beside the daisies on the grass, "Wee, crimson-tipt" as well as they, According to the poet's lay: And there stood Hunks, no sight for laughter. Away went Hodge to get assistance, With nose in hand, ...
— The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood • Thomas Hood
... comparatively rich men. This was satisfactory, and Ned admitted as much one morning to Tom, as he sat on a three-legged stool in his studio—i.e. a dilapidated log-hut—preparing for a sitter, while the latter was busily engaged in concluding his morning repast of damper, ...
— The Golden Dream - Adventures in the Far West • R.M. Ballantyne
... out for the damper of the stove ostensibly to shake down the ashes, but really to pull himself up out of the soundless spaces ...
— The Lovely Lady • Mary Austin
... remark that, perhaps, ought not to have been made. I know a person to whom it has been objected as a disqualification for friendship, that he never shakes you cordially by the hand. I own this is a damper to sanguine and florid temperaments, who abound in these practical demonstrations and 'compliments extern.' The same person who testifies the least pleasure at meeting you, is the last to quit his seat in your company, grapples with a subject in conversation right earnestly, and is, I take ...
— Table-Talk - Essays on Men and Manners • William Hazlitt
... out of her room with a basin, or a plate, or a tray in her hand, go down to the kitchen and shortly return, generally (oh, romantic reader, forgive me for telling the plain truth!) bearing a pot of porter. Her appearance always acted as a damper to the curiosity raised by her oral oddities: hard-featured and staid, she had no point to which interest could attach. I made some attempts to draw her into conversation, but she seemed a person of few words: a monosyllabic ...
— Jane Eyre - an Autobiography • Charlotte Bronte
... I assure you we could have bought a chainey-faced beauty wi' the good money we've flung away these last ten years upon this old green-faced mortal. And, Martin, you must be wet. My son is gone up to change. John is damper than I should like to be, but 'a calls it nothing. Some of Mrs. Swancourt's servants have been here—they ran in out of the rain when going for a walk—and I assure you the state of ...
— A Pair of Blue Eyes • Thomas Hardy
... always been fond of you, my Polly, but I never realized how fond till just before I went away. I was n't free, you know, and besides I had a strong impression that you liked Sydney in spite of the damper which Fan hinted you gave him last winter. He 's such a capital fellow, I really don't see ...
— An Old-fashioned Girl • Louisa May Alcott
... surmounting all a great chimney which in two-story houses is itself made into a heating-stove with one fire-box for the upper rooms. When the house is to be heated a little door is opened near the base of the chimney and a damper-plate is removed, so that the draft will be direct and the smoke escape freely into the chimney after quite a circuitous passage through the body of the stove. A certain bunch of sergeants nearly asphyxiated themselves before they discovered the secret of the damper in the stove. They were nearly ...
— The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki - Campaigning in North Russia 1918-1919 • Joel R. Moore
... king of piano teachers, numbered among his pupils, Liszt, Doehler, Thalberg and Jaell. The Clementi school was continued in that familiar writer of Etudes, Johann Baptist Cramer (1771-1858), and began to show respect for the damper pedal. Its most eminent virtuoso was John Field ...
— For Every Music Lover - A Series of Practical Essays on Music • Aubertine Woodward Moore
... reveal to them once his unveiled effulgence, content with the one communion, though their rashness be fatal, and the god's benison prove but the ashes of Semele. Towards this class Clarian tended, I knew very well, and hence, from the first, I had thrown a damper upon his artistic aspirations, often rewarded by his mournful and reproaching glances, as I sneered at his sketches,—which, to tell the truth, were most admirable, showing at once a keen poetic insight, fine composition, and an unusual ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 32, June, 1860 • Various
... him to know there's someone left to care, I'll take some things this very night and hold a banquet there! The hard old fare we've often shared together, him and me, Some damper and a bite of beef, a pannikin of tea: We'll do without the bands and flags, the speeches and the fuss, We know who OUGHT to get the cheers and that's enough ...
— Rio Grande's Last Race and Other Verses • Andrew Barton 'Banjo' Paterson
... Fig. 2. The object of the plates is to prevent the heated air of the room from passing up to the ceiling, and send it out into the room. To prevent any of the pipes acting as chimneys, and bringing the products of combustion back into the room, as well as to avoid any back-pressure, a damper is attached to the outlet receptacle. The heated gas becomes cooled so much (to about 100 deg. Fahr.) that water is condensed and precipitated, and collects in the vessel below the outlet. Each burner has a separate cock, by which it may be kept closed, ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 443, June 28, 1884 • Various
... will not throw a damper on that occasion which for whirl and bustle and gayety and excitement is not equalled by any other day in a person's life. The city wedding in New York is marked first by the arrival of the caterer, who comes to spread the wedding breakfast; and later on by the florist, who appears ...
— Manners and Social Usages • Mrs. John M. E. W. Sherwood
... that the more I told them the more convinced they would be that I was a wandering lunatic. I learned that these men were a party of decent young fellows from Coolgardie. They offered me a meal of tea and damper, and pressed me to stay the night with them, but I declined their hospitality. I gratefully accepted a pair of trousers, but declined the offer of a pair of boots, feeling certain that I could not yet bear these on my feet. My rough benefactors told me that I ...
— The Adventures of Louis de Rougemont - as told by Himself • Louis de Rougemont
... there can be a demonstration of the fact that we exist at all—a demonstration for which, as for that of a personal God, many have hunted but which none have found. The only solid foundation is, as in the case of the earth's crust, pretty near the surface of things; the deeper we try to go, the damper, darker, and altogether more uncongenial we find it. There is no quagmire of superstition into which we may not be easily lured if we once cut ourselves adrift from those superficial aspects of things, in which alone our nature ...
— Selections from Previous Works - and Remarks on Romanes' Mental Evolution in Animals • Samuel Butler
... Buddleia, Cookia, Loquat, Litchi, Longan, all kinds of the orange tribe, and the cocoa-nut, some from their presence, and many from their profusion, indicated a decided change of climate, a receding from the desert north-west of India, and its dry winds, and an approach to the damper regions of ...
— Himalayan Journals (Complete) • J. D. Hooker
... voice would be a contralto and suggested that we all try On the Road to Mandalay together. But Lady Allie acknowledged that she had neither a voice nor an ear, and would prefer listening. We couldn't remember the words, however, and the song wasn't much of a success. I think the damper came when Struthers stepped out into full view, encased in my big bungalow-apron of butcher's linen. Lady Alicia, after the manner of the English, saw her without seeing her. There wasn't the flicker of an ...
— The Prairie Mother • Arthur Stringer
... they are competent to do; and the want of success of many an ambitious teacher can often be attributed to his, her, worrying disposition. Remember, therefore, that when you worry you are making others unhappy as well as yourself, you are putting a damper, a blight, upon other lives as well as your own, you are destroying the efficiency of other workers as well as your own, you are robbing others of the joy of life which God intended them freely to possess. So that for the sake of ...
— Quit Your Worrying! • George Wharton James
... the paper may be slightly damper than it should be for key-block impressions, and a heavier pressure is necessary on the baren if the colour masses are large. If the baren is pressed lightly the colour will not completely cover the paper, but will leave ...
— Wood-Block Printing - A Description of the Craft of Woodcutting and Colour Printing Based on the Japanese Practice • F. Morley Fletcher
... as she was friends with everybody—even when she got into one of her tantrums, and took to jawing you, you couldn't help liking her—and knowing she wasn't feeling like she ought to feel put a big lot more of a damper on all hands. So we just kept on taking drinks and getting miserabler with 'em—and feeling all the time surer something was coming bouncing out at us from round the corner, and wondering what kind of a stir-up we ...
— Santa Fe's Partner - Being Some Memorials of Events in a New-Mexican Track-end Town • Thomas A. Janvier
... Haugwitz seemed deeply impressed, and Duroc said to us, after we had left the room, "The count will write tonight to Berlin, to tell his government of the destruction of Jellachich's force, which will put a damper on the war party, and give the king new reasons for holding off. Which is what ...
— The Memoirs of General the Baron de Marbot, Translated by - Oliver C. Colt • Baron de Marbot
... at the same meeting, said: "An underdrained soil will be found damper in dry weather, than an undrained one, and the thermometer shows a drained soil warmer in cold weather, and cooler in hot weather, ...
— Farm drainage • Henry Flagg French
... in the burner head to prevent firing back, and one in the nozzle portion of the burner. The conical chamber has a perforated base-plate below which is a circular plate B which rotates on a screw cut on the lower part of the nozzle portion A of the burner. This plate serves as a damper to control the amount of air admitted through the base of the conical chamber to the mixing tube. There are six small notches in the lower edge of the conical chamber to prevent the inflow of air being cut of entirely by the damper. The mixing tube in both ...
— Acetylene, The Principles Of Its Generation And Use • F. H. Leeds and W. J. Atkinson Butterfield
... scalding tears of still another sort of penitence: Aunt 'Senath was such a darling! The back of Miss Asenath's woolly white wrapper was rapidly getting damper ...
— The Heart of Arethusa • Francis Barton Fox
... were not built that way. Had it been so there must have followed a dire disaster that would have put a damper on ...
— The Banner Boy Scouts on a Tour - The Mystery of Rattlesnake Mountain • George A. Warren
... character was a rather more difficult one than the others, and although I was perfect in my part, I was reported in the next morning's Colonist by "Leigh Harnett" as looking very sweet, etc., but "as not speaking up," which, of course, was a serious defect. This criticism was a damper on my theatrical aspirations in female parts, for I returned to the commonplace parts of a poacher, a brigand and a footman. The performances were generally given for some charity, such as the Orphans of St. Ann, the fire department, ...
— Some Reminiscences of old Victoria • Edgar Fawcett
... on the subject, I devising all sorts of plans, and arguing tooth and nail with Aunt Deb, for I had made up my mind to go to sea, and to go I was determined by hook or by crook; but that fifty pounds a year was, I confess, a damper to my hopes of becoming ...
— Dick Cheveley - His Adventures and Misadventures • W. H. G. Kingston
... were thrown into a dark lockup, by far cleaner than the lousy one of Ballaarat. Captain Thomas, who must have acknowledged that we had behaved as men, sent us a gallon of porter, and plenty of damper; he had no occasion to shoot down any of us. I write now this his ...
— The Eureka Stockade • Carboni Raffaello
... the captain of the little steamer had felt that he was in possession of any unusual liberty. It might have been otherwise with him and his companions if the threatening presence of the Fatime had not been a serious damper upon them. As it was, the voyage to Cyprus had resulted in a ...
— Asiatic Breezes - Students on The Wing • Oliver Optic
... governor, his name and age were registered, and then two of the prison guards, one going before and the other behind, led him down a narrow and steep stairway. It reminded him of his descent into the pyramid, but here the air seemed damper. They went down many steps and came into a narrow corridor upon which a number of iron doors opened. The guards unlocked one of the doors, pushed Ned in, relocked the door on ...
— The Texan Star - The Story of a Great Fight for Liberty • Joseph A. Altsheler
... April, May, and June, are hot months, but not unhealthy, and during this season, moreover, he lives in the hills, under favorable conditions, getting plenty of outdoor exercise. July, August, and September, are nearly as hot, but much damper, and more trying; during these months, E.M. is living in the city, and his work is then, also, more exacting than at other times, September is the worst month of all; he has a short holiday at the end of it. During December, ...
— Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1 (of 6) • Havelock Ellis
... hotel had put something of a damper on the crowd, and all the talk was of how Jason Sparr had acted and who had been mean enough to play such ...
— Dave Porter and the Runaways - Last Days at Oak Hall • Edward Stratemeyer
... tone-color of exquisite sensuous beauty and enchanting variableness. Hence, whenever the melodic movement and harmonic changes are not too rapid, a pianist should press the pedal constantly, whether he plays loudly or softly; because it is only when the damper is raised from the strings that the overtones can enrich and beautify the sound by causing their corresponding strings to vibrate in sympathy with them. Those who heard Schumann play say that he used the pedal persistently, sometimes twice in the same bar to avoid harmonic ...
— Chopin and Other Musical Essays • Henry T. Finck
... provisions that did duty for a Sunday dinner, that she had jumped to the conclusion that another day would see her sitting up before the fire as she had seen her in the celebrated chair with cushions at Sapps Court. It was therefore rather a damper to be told by Dr. Nash that he had felt that absolute rest continued necessary, and that he had not been able to sanction any attempt to get Mrs. Prichard up ...
— When Ghost Meets Ghost • William Frend De Morgan
... a damper on any little scheme which the over-confident De Banyan had proposed to carry out; but the captain was a profound student in the mysteries of human nature, and at once correctly read the character of the gentleman who stood ...
— The Young Lieutenant - or, The Adventures of an Army Officer • Oliver Optic
... the sweetest of cradle-songs, the professor with damper on his strings, the professor's wife ...
— David Lockwin—The People's Idol • John McGovern
... life that comes from above, let us not ignore the fact that many of the clergy to-day need more gymnastics, more fresh air, more nutritious food. Prayer cannot do the work of beefsteak. You cannot keep a hot fire in the furnace with poor fuel and the damper turned. ...
— Around The Tea-Table • T. De Witt Talmage
... robe or rug, but dampen the inside first with clear water, then paint over with the paste and it will strike through to the fur side and be taken up around the fur roots by capillary action. This tends to put a damper on the activities of the moth, whose favorite grazing ground is at the hair ...
— Home Taxidermy for Pleasure and Profit • Albert B. Farnham
... with my story, I find it is not relished, nor indeed tolerated, by those who have no interest in condemning it, but a strong interest in putting even a face" (? force) "upon their consciences. Was not this, in the circumstances, a damper to an invalid already afraid that the sharp edge might be taken off his intellect, though he was not himself sensible of that?" In fact, no more masterly discussion of the question whether his mind were failing ...
— Sir Walter Scott - (English Men of Letters Series) • Richard H. Hutton
... clambering round and round the window-frames, the table with shining white cloth, the kettle humming and steaming, something bubbling in a pan on the stove, the fire throwing out sweet little gleams of welcome through the open damper. All this was taken in with one incredulous, rapturous twinkle of an eye; but something else, too: Rose of all roses, Rose of the river, Rose of the world, standing behind a chair, with her hand pressed against her heart, her lips parted, her breath coming and ...
— Homespun Tales • Kate Douglas Wiggin
... curtains. "I'm ready if you are. Did I talk your head off? I ask your pardon; but that 'Heart of a Sailor' touched mine, I guess. I know I was afraid I'd laugh until it stopped beatin'. And all around the people were cryin'. It was enough sight damper amongst the seats than in ...
— Cap'n Warren's Wards • Joseph C. Lincoln
... hands is served like the stranger's tobacco, though he may not have tasted food for days; nor does he accept a portion of the damper cooked in his presence until he has seen others eat. Then he feeds reluctantly and with extreme caution, not to gratify the palate, ...
— Tropic Days • E. J. Banfield
... delayed by the circumstances in which I was placed. The heat in the store-tent, a portion of which I occupied, was sometimes as high as 136 degrees of Fahrenheit, and until the return of Mr. Walker I had been able to obtain nothing to eat or drink but damper and tea without sugar; I also reclined upon the ground, until sores broke out from lying on so hard a surface in one position. Corporal Auger latterly however made a sort of low stretcher, which gave me a little more ease. Added to these bodily ills were many mental ones—but I will ...
— Journals Of Two Expeditions Of Discovery In North-West And Western Australia, Vol. 1 (of 2) • George Grey
... to the township, and peace came to his mind as he sat at the long, bare table which occupied the centre of the living-room of the hotel, munching the beef and damper the red-cheeked girl brought to him. Vaguely the idea came to him that the presence of such a girl at his homestead would be a decided improvement to the loneliness he had for the first time experienced on his return from his former visit to ...
— Colonial Born - A tale of the Queensland bush • G. Firth Scott
... time when Mr. Burroughs was dropping the Emersonian manner, and while his style was in the transition stage, he wrote an essay on "Analogy," and sent it also to the "Atlantic," receiving quite a damper on his enthusiasm when Lowell, the editor, returned it. But he sent it to the old "Knickerbocker Magazine," where it appeared in 1862. Many years later he rewrote it, and it was accepted by Horace Scudder, then the "Atlantic's" editor; in 1902, ...
— Our Friend John Burroughs • Clara Barrus
... the Admiral was going, Ward (of the Intelligence) crossed over with a nasty little damper. The Turks keep just one lap ahead of us. Two new Divisions have arrived and have been launched straightway at our trenches. At the moment we get promises that troops asked for in the middle of May will arrive ...
— Gallipoli Diary, Volume I • Ian Hamilton
... volcanic activity, which began in July 1995, has put a damper on this small, open economy. A catastrophic eruption in June 1997 closed the airports and seaports, causing further economic and social dislocation. Two-thirds of the 12,000 inhabitants fled the island. Some began to return ...
— The 2001 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.
... had finished the recitation of this exquisite passage, the sky, which had been all the afternoon dull and heavy, began to look more and more threatening; darker clouds, like wreaths of black smoke, flew across the dead leaden tint; a cooler, damper air blew over the meadows, and a few large heavy drops splashed in the water. 'We shall have a storm. Lizzy! May! where are ye? Quick, quick, my ...
— Our Village • Mary Russell Mitford
... occasion. The Base knew this spot as the favourite resting-place of the Hamran hunting-parties, and they might be not far distant now, as we were in the heart of their country. This intelligence was a regular damper to the spirits of some of the party. Mahomet quietly retired and sat down by Barrake, the ex-slave woman, having expressed a resolution to keep awake every hour that he should be compelled to remain in that horrible ...
— The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia • Samuel W. Baker
... course of nearly three hundred steps eastward, and again nearly three hundred steps westward amid those magnificent tombs, you can, for instance, compare in the most leisurely way the dry dustiness which ultimately pervades the persons of kings and bishops with the damper dustiness that is usually the final shape of commoners, curates, and others who take their last rest out of doors. Then, if you are in love, you can, by sauntering in the chapels and behind the episcopal chantries with the bright-eyed ...
— A Group of Noble Dames • Thomas Hardy
... the loss sustained put a damper on the supper, and several of Diana's best dishes were hardly touched. But nothing could just then be done, and after Mrs. Lyon and the girls had told how they had been surprised by Gaffy Denny and his men and locked up in the storeroom off of the dining apartment, each of the party retired ...
— An Undivided Union • Oliver Optic
... present the three sovereigns with their ministers—Talleyrand for France, Kurakin and Labanoff for Russia, Kalkreuth and Goltz for Prussia; at the latter were sometimes all three of the monarchs, frequently only the two principals, for they found Frederick William a damper on their hilarity. The generals, the staff, and the men of the two great armies which had fought so bravely at Friedland harmonized in mutual respect; but the unwarlike King and his suite, both military and civil, were outsiders. Immediately ...
— The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte - Vol. III. (of IV.) • William Milligan Sloane
... trenches are in a lively state now, all mud and water; however, now November has come I expect they will generally be in a damper state, and so we shall have to get used to it, as we had to ...
— One Young Man • Sir John Ernest Hodder-Williams
... said Jim, putting the billy on; 'here's some damper and mutton to go on with while the ...
— Robbery Under Arms • Thomas Alexander Browne, AKA Rolf Boldrewood
... Here? no; but in the Prince's own apartment, As fits a noble guest:—'tis damp, no doubt, Not having been inhabited these twelve years; But then he comes from a much damper place, So scarcely will catch cold in't, if he be Still liable to cold—and if not, why He'll be worse lodged to-morrow: ne'ertheless, I have ordered fire and all appliances To be got ready for the worst—that is, ...
— The Works of Lord Byron - Poetry, Volume V. • Lord Byron
... cradled in a throne. A miserable race, to be sure, they were,—the Stuarts; and the most devout genealogist might deem it dubious honor to own them for great-grandfathers by innumerable degrees removed. So she used to tell us, over and over, as a damper on our childish vanity, looking such a very queen as she spoke, in every play of feature, and every motion of her hand, that it was the old story of preachers who did not practise. The very baby ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 106, August, 1866 • Various
... a bitter sort of smile, and his eyes drooped furtively as he struck the damper of the stove heavily with his foot; then he ...
— Northern Lights • Gilbert Parker
... after day with telegrams about our Adelaide stroke, and descriptions of Starlight's own look and way of speaking. We got into the old way of working hard all day and sleeping well at night. We could eat and drink well; the corned beef and the damper were good, and Jim, like when we were at the back of Boree when Warrigal came, wished that we could stick to this kind of thing always, and never have any fret or crooked dealings again as ...
— Robbery Under Arms • Thomas Alexander Browne, AKA Rolf Boldrewood
... Spoon to any other college honor or prize, because it comes directly from their classmates, and hence, perhaps, the Faculty disapprove of it, considering it as a damper to ambition ...
— A Collection of College Words and Customs • Benjamin Homer Hall
... Indeed, this day was throughout one of great enjoyment, being full of the very aroma of festivity and good cheer and gala times, and even sweeter than the occasion which it preceded. Ann Mary had only one damper all day, and that was the non-arrival of a letter. Mrs. Little had invited her son and his family to spend Thanksgiving, but now they probably were not coming, since not a word in reply had been received. ...
— Young Lucretia and Other Stories • Mary E. Wilkins
... of interesting talk, as the Colonel had just come from the front. Just as we were settling down to our conversational Marathon, up walked ——, the —— Charge and bade himself to dine with us. He is strongly pro-German in his sympathies, and, of course, that put a complete damper on conversation. We talked about everything on earth save the one thing we were interested in, and sat tight in the hope that he would move on. Not only did he stay, but after a time the —— First Secretary came and joined us, and we gave up in despair. The only result of the evening was that ...
— A Journal From Our Legation in Belgium • Hugh Gibson
... But there, there, what am I talking about? Without the clerks, where should we be, I'd like to know? Go along and look after your stoves and mind you never say harm of a government clerk, you fellows. Gabriel, the stove in the large office draws like the devil; you must turn the damper." ...
— Bureaucracy • Honore de Balzac
... started, the damper should be opened wide in order to allow the escape of smoke; but after the fire is well started there is less smoke, and the damper may be partly closed. If the damper is kept open, coal is rapidly consumed, and the additional heat passes ...
— General Science • Bertha M. Clark
... and now the other automobiles proceeded on their way. The girls were very nervous, and the boys did all in their power to remove the strain. But the girls declared that they had had a narrow escape from a serious accident, and it put much of a damper on the trip. ...
— Dave Porter and His Rivals - or, The Chums and Foes of Oak Hall • Edward Stratemeyer
... feel more hungry? Why do we breathe faster? Why do we feel warmer? Why does the fire burn better when the damper is opened? ...
— Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Nature Study • Ontario Ministry of Education
... pipe on the stove and gazed thoughtfully at the streak of brilliant light under the edge of the front damper. ...
— The Man in the Twilight • Ridgwell Cullum
... search of game, which is usually to be found near a water-hole in Australia. We soon came back, Guy with a brace of pigeons and I with three parrots, so that we had ample food for all hands. As we had damper and tea, we enjoyed a satisfactory meal which greatly revived our new friend. While we were seated round the fire—Toby watching the horses—the stranger inquired if we were related to Mr Strong. This led us to give him a ...
— Adventures in Australia • W.H.G. Kingston
... the publication of the first number of the Dominican had been such as to throw a damper over the future success of that valuable paper. It was most uncomfortably connected in the minds of the Fifth with the cowardice of Oliver Greenfield, and with the stigma which his conduct had cast upon the whole Form, and they one and all experienced ...
— The Fifth Form at Saint Dominic's - A School Story • Talbot Baines Reed
... tea," said Prudence. "Come on quick; I'm as hungry as a hunter, and Biddy said she would make some damper, because we are rather ...
— The Happy Adventurers • Lydia Miller Middleton
... that he dares not say anything about religion except what comes direct from Rome. Or, if they can stretch their imagination to realize that the Pope speaks only after discussion, that we must look to have our every word snatched at, and a damper put upon us, before we have well begun. This last is the central objection of intelligent Protestants, who know well that it will never do to fly in the face of facts like their more ignorant neighbors. They have taken the trouble to examine the definition ...
— Donahoe's Magazine, Volume 15, No. 1, January 1886 • Various
... boots. She fastened her skirt high with an old silk cord and took her umbrella. Remembering that she had not covered the fire, and that it would have burnt away before she returned, she took a bucket out to the coal-house. The wet dross hissed and smoked as she covered the fire. She drew out the damper to heat the water, turned back the rag hearthrug lest a cinder should fall on it in her absence, and once more taking her umbrella, and lifting the key from its nail on the cupboard door, went out into the rain. She locked the door on the outside, and ...
— Women of the Country • Gertrude Bone |
