"Ensnare" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... climate, the savage warfare, to colonize the graveyards in the sodden earth, to be thrown into the worst evils of war, to face danger and death, and with all this provided by the government that should protect them this dreadful temptation to ensnare their boyish wills and lead ...
— Around the World with Josiah Allen's Wife • Marietta Holley
... thee, my darling! Come, let us be going, So soft is the breeze and so fragrant the air, New health and new strength through our veins will be flowing, And sorrow will vanish and sadness and care! O banish the charms with which sloth would ensnare us, Far purer the joy in the sunshine that lurks, All nature her pinions is spreading to bear us, And show us her Maker, revealed in ...
— Welsh Lyrics of the Nineteenth Century • Edmund O. Jones
... fault, absolutely! I owe you a roll. I'll sign a bill for it. Oh, about this sportsman Salvatore, Well, it's like this, you know. He and I are great pals. I've known him for years and years. At least, it seems like years and years. Lu was suggesting that I seek him out in his lair and ensnare him with my diplomatic manner and superior brain power ...
— Indiscretions of Archie • P. G. Wodehouse
... fiercer than by man's fair laws Is now conceded, men on this account Loathed the old life fostered by force. 'Tis thence That fear of punishments defiles each prize Of wicked days; for force and fraud ensnare Each man around, and in the main recoil On him from whence they sprung. Not easy 'tis For one who violates by ugly deeds The bonds of common peace to pass a life Composed and tranquil. For albeit he 'scape The race of gods and men, he ...
— Of The Nature of Things • [Titus Lucretius Carus] Lucretius
... and his men were well received. He accompanied the inhabitants to church, where all public business was transacted. The intention of Davis was to ensnare the principal inhabitants, and to make them pay a ransom. His object was frustrated, in consequence of one of the pirates violently pushing a man before him, when the Indians, suspecting treachery, took to flight. Upon this Davis and his people fired, and one of the unfortunate Indians ...
— Notable Voyagers - From Columbus to Nordenskiold • W.H.G. Kingston and Henry Frith
... experience that his pursuers, with their imperfect methods of acquiring information, would hunt by sight and not by scent, and he had the mobility of a hare as well as the instinct of a fox. He lay perdu for some days near the left bank of the Vaal, while a net with spacious meshes was being cast to ensnare him. Again he crossed and re-crossed the river in order to bring Steyn away from Ventersdorp, whom two months previously he had conducted into the Transvaal, and who had in the meantime worked round the British Army to Machadodorp and back; ...
— A Handbook of the Boer War • Gale and Polden, Limited
... cheeringly, the rumble of the traffic destroying the carrying-power of their voices. He leaned toward her, very anxious to solve any difficulty which might confront her, perfectly willing to ensnare her by kindness. "Isn't there something I can do? We're going now for a long ride to the pavilion in Jackson Park, and then, after dinner, we'll come back by moonlight. Won't that be nice? You must be smiling now and like yourself—happy. You have no ...
— The Titan • Theodore Dreiser
... least twenty-five years, of the most abject slavery imaginable. This grievous measure caused the utmost misery. No Jewish youth leaving home could be sure of returning and seeing his dear ones again. The scum of the Jewish population (poimshchiki, or "catchers") made it their profession to ensnare helpless young men or poor itinerant students suspected of the Haskalah heresy, destroy their passports, and deliver them up as poimaniki (recruits), to spare the rich who paid for the substitutes. To form an idea of the time we need but read ...
— The Haskalah Movement in Russia • Jacob S. Raisin
... fewer, and some with more. They all seem to be creatures of prey, and to feed on other small Insects, but their ways of catching them seem very differing: the Shepherd Spider by running on his prey; the Hunting Spider by leaping on it, other sorts weave Nets, or Cobwebs, whereby they ensnare them, Nature having both fitted them with materials and tools, and taught them how to work and weave their Nets, and to lie perdue, and to watch diligently to run on any Fly, ...
— Micrographia • Robert Hooke
... thee but my chiding hindereth thee not * How often would my verse with writ o' hand ensnare thee, ah! Then keep thy passion hidden deep and ever unrevealed, * And if thou dare gainsay me Earth shall no more bear thee, ah! And if, despite my warning, thou dost to such words return, * Death's Messenger[FN275] shall go ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 7 • Richard F. Burton
... of such a form, if all be base. But Nature, methinks, doth seldom so belie The inward by the outward; seldom frame A cheat so finish'd to ensnare the senses, And break our faith in all ...
— The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 3 (of 3) • Christopher Marlowe
... universal battle going on between error and religion, between justice and the most insolent selfishness. They found there every type of what was cruel, brutal, loathsome. They saw everywhere men whose business it was to betray and destroy, women whose business it was to tempt and ensnare and corrupt. They thought that they saw too, in those who waged the Queen's wars, all forms of manly and devoted gallantry, of noble generosity, of gentle strength, of knightly sweetness and courtesy. There were those, too, who failed in the ...
— Spenser - (English Men of Letters Series) • R. W. Church
... companion to the regions of champagne and chicken, both of which aided the lady to sustain further doses of dry-as-dust facts dug out of a monastic past by the persevering Dr Alder. It was in this artful fashion that the town mouse strove to ensnare the church mouse, and succeeded so well that when Mr Dean went home to his lonely house he concluded that it was just as well the monastic institution ...
— The Bishop's Secret • Fergus Hume
... a prison, for the emperor has no confidence in her when he remembers the story of Fenice. He keeps her constantly guarded in her room, nor is there ever allowed any man in her presence, unless he be a eunuch from his youth; in the case of such there is no fear or doubt that Love will ensnare them in his bonds. Here ends the ...
— Four Arthurian Romances - "Erec et Enide", "Cliges", "Yvain", and "Lancelot" • Chretien de Troyes
... depriving her for a few days of a lover of whose attachment the latter fancied herself perfectly secure. Love and the senses had nothing to do with it in this matter. The gratification of the senses, it has already been remarked, did not ensnare her; she was proof against their surprises. Previously the Duke de Nemours had addressed his ardent homage to her, but all the attractions of his handsome person and his lofty bearing had made no impression ...
— Political Women (Vol. 1 of 2) • Sutherland Menzies
... against him. In this they failed. Though what he said was contrary to their time-worn dogmas, yet nothing came from his lips but sentiments of the purest love, the injunctions of reason and justice, and the language of humanity. Failing in this plan to ensnare him, justice was set abide, and force called in ...
— Town and Country, or, Life at Home and Abroad • John S. Adams
... supper, and be prolonged till the small hours by the waning fire. It was no wonder that Archie was fond of company after his solitary days; and Kirstie, upon her side, exerted all the arts of her vigorous nature to ensnare his attention. She would keep back some piece of news during dinner to be fired off with the entrance of the supper tray, and form as it were the LEVER DE RIDEAU of the evening's entertainment. Once he had heard her tongue wag, she made sure of the result. From ...
— Weir of Hermiston • Robert Louis Stevenson
... the thrush, poor starveling, to ensnare, In filmy net with bait delusive stored, Entraps the travelled crane, and timorous hare, Rare dainties these to glad ...
— Horace • Theodore Martin
... she cast her line with cunnin', she'd hook you soon enough; but that she'll never do, my son—she's too proud an' honest for that. Ay; that's it—too innocent t' conceal her feelin's an' too proud to ensnare you. You was always the lad, Dick, t' scorn what you could have an' crave that which was beyond your reach. Do you mind the time when you took over the little Robin's Wing from Trader Tom Jenkins for the Labrador fishin'? She was offered ...
— Harbor Tales Down North - With an Appreciation by Wilfred T. Grenfell, M.D. • Norman Duncan
... parts of Italy, where the ignorant agricultural labourers bit freely and were caught wholesale. In their case, however, the prospectus varied from that issued in France, which was specially designed to ensnare small capitalists, tradespeople and farmers, as well as the poorer peasants. The various religious fraternities in France, which hoped to benefit financially by their advocacy, boomed the scheme, and sermons were preached on the philanthropy of M. le Marquis, who, like Law and Blount, ...
— Ridan The Devil And Other Stories - 1899 • Louis Becke
... salvation of men hath taken upon him the flesh of man, to the end that he may make men partakers of his divine and intelligent nature and may lead our substance out of the nether parts of hell, and honour it with heavenly glory; to the end that by taking of our flesh he may ensnare and defeat the ruler of the darkness of this world, and free our race from his tyranny. Wherefore, I tell thee, without suffering he met the suffering of the Cross, presenting therein his two natures. For, as man, he was crucified; but, as God, he darkened the ...
— Barlaam and Ioasaph • St. John of Damascus
... successful than they in preserving our presence of mind if some strange power were at every step to ensnare our reason? Let us not be too hasty in condemning the bees for the folly whereof we are the authors, or in deriding their intellect, which is as poorly equipped to foil our artifices as our own would be to foil those of some superior ...
— The Life of the Bee • Maurice Maeterlinck
... these particulars, returned to the Sultan, and related to him what the guards had discovered. But Misnar, recollecting the many devices which the enchanters had prepared to ensnare him, was very doubtful what ...
— Eastern Tales by Many Story Tellers • Various
... To her relief, however, the woman passed on to another car, and Margaret felt as though all danger was over. It gave her a respite from her fears, that was all, for she did not know that the woman's keen eye recognized, and was quietly laying her plans to ensnare her. ...
— Dawn • Mrs. Harriet A. Adams
... Plagues beyond compare, The Devil's Nets, poor Mankind to ensnare. His Traps to catch a Heedless Sinner in, His Instruments to tempt a Saint to Sin. His curst Decoys to bring Destruction on, And make a Man despair when all is gone. His Factors here on Earth, to Trade in Vice, His Catch-poles to ...
— The Fifteen Comforts of Matrimony: Responses from Men • Various
... are hers; a pair Of eyes a cynic to ensnare, A tinted cheek, a perfect nose, A throat as white as winter's snows, And o'er her brow bright ...
— Cap and Gown - A Treasury of College Verse • Selected by Frederic Knowles
... king counsel how he should manage with the people, although he might not curse them and overcome them by power,—so that they sinned against God. Then the king sets up an idol, by name Baal-Peor, and causes that the Moabite women, daughters of lords and princes, should ensnare the people to themselves to sacrifice to their gods; and when they had brought them to themselves, they made supplication to the idol with meats and drinks, and committed sin with the women. Then was God angry, and commanded the chief of the people to be hung upon the gallows, and permitted four ...
— The Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude Preached and Explained • Martin Luther
... her, and had encouraged it under a frantic delusion, that the final detection of it would place her at his mercy. His mind had been so wrought upon by this terrible passion, and the plots and schemes he was forever weaving to win or ensnare her, that much of his conduct which had appeared to me monstrous and absurd, became susceptible of ...
— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, July, 1851 • Various
... ourselves, lest it seduce us from the path of duty. Many a father, from a kind wish to provide well for his family, neglects his own soul. Here, then, is a fault; not that we can love our relations too well, but that that strong and most praiseworthy affection for them may, accidentally, ensnare and corrupt ...
— Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII (of 8) • John Henry Newman
... nature and without verdure! the abode of poetic art, but not of poesy. You Babylon of wisdom and philosophy, I have seen you with your painted cheeks and coquettish smile, your voluptuous form and seductive charms. You shall never ensnare me with your deceitful beauty, and suck the marrow from my bones, or the consciousness of pure humanity from my soul. Beautiful may you be to enslaved intellects, but to the free, they turn their backs to you and thrice strew ashes on your head. Farewell, Berlin, may I never see you again!" ...
— Old Fritz and the New Era • Louise Muhlbach
... Lucifer out of Heaven into Hell. And justly so. For Lucifer had, by his foul, sacrilegious doctrine and action, revealed himself to be the Prince of Darkness not the Prince of Light. To our untold and everlasting misery the Prince of Darkness who failed to ensnare the majority of angels did succeed in ensnaring the majority of mankind. So irredeemably so, even the sweetly and tenderly lyrical Prince of Peace had to be sent to us ...
— The Philosophy of Spinoza • Baruch de Spinoza
... is thousands of miles away from her grave, and his cunning plan already woven to ensnare the Italian when off his guard. Yet Hardin's blood boils to feel that "the secret for a price" is buried in Marie Berard's grave. Toss as he may, his dreams do not discover the lost secret. Even Philip Hardin ...
— The Little Lady of Lagunitas • Richard Henry Savage
... will also be fixed; but if they have not a fixed livelihood, neither will their hearts be fixed. And if they have not fixed hearts, there is nothing in the way of crime which they will not commit. Then, when they have involved themselves in guilt, to follow up and punish them,—this is but to ensnare them." ...
— China and the Chinese • Herbert Allen Giles
... though he could not define; felt, though he could not classify. He was young. Utterly helpless might have been even an older man in the hands of Mary Connynge at a time like this, Mary Connynge deliberately seeking to ensnare. ...
— The Mississippi Bubble • Emerson Hough
... to the Lords— But can the Commons spare him? Besides I'm sure that a coronet's lure Is the very last thing to ensnare him; And I'd rather see him undecked With the gauds that merely glister, In the selfsame box with PITT and FOX And ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, October 13, 1920 • Various
... Rome, with its visible spiritual Head and Sovereign, has no real power. It imagines it has; but let it make any decided step to ensnare the liberties of the people at large, and the result would be somewhat astonishing! Personally—" and he smiled gravely—"I have often thought that my own country would be very much benefited by a couple ...
— Temporal Power • Marie Corelli
... the mosquitos who all day long poised themselves tremblingly, by means of their long legs, upon the leaves. And often I concentrated all my attention upon the old wall where the insects acted out their tragical drama: the cunning spider would come suddenly from his nook and ensnare in his web the heedless little insects,—with the aid of a straw, I was usually able to deliver them ...
— The Story of a Child • Pierre Loti
... I to deepest mischiefe fall: Rather the opened earth deuower me: Rather fierce Tigers feed them on my flesh: Rather, o rather let our Nilus send, To swallow me quicke, some weeping Crocodile. And didst thou then suppose my royall hart Had hatcht, thee to ensnare, a faithles loue? And changing minde, as Fortune changed cheare, I would weake thee, to winne the stronger, loose? O wretch! o caitiue! o too cruell happe! And did not I sufficient losse sustaine Loosing my Realme, loosing my liberty, My tender ...
— A Discourse of Life and Death, by Mornay; and Antonius by Garnier • Philippe de Mornay
... dyed his ruddy cheek; and from his eyes The Archer-star his glittering arrow flies; His wit from Hermes came; and Soha's care, (The half-seen star that dimly haunts the Bear) Kept off all evil eyes that threaten and ensnare, The sage stood mazed to see such fortunes meet, And Luna kissed the earth ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 1 • Richard F. Burton
... for the dead after their ancient manner, or whose friends had presumed to turn the face toward a wall when in the agony of death, all such being vehemently suspected of apostasy, were to be punished accordingly. Thirty-six elaborate articles were furnished whereby everyone was instructed how to ensnare ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 8 - The Later Renaissance: From Gutenberg To The Reformation • Editor-in-Chief: Rossiter Johnson
... as if he were a mere monster of treachery and violent crime. Most Irish legends and stories convert him into a perfect hero and patriot; while other Irish writers of graver order are inclined to dwell altogether upon the wrongs done to him, and the perfidies employed to ensnare him by those who acted for the English government. It is necessary to keep always in mind that, in their dealings with the Irish native populations, the English government only too frequently employed deception and treachery, thus giving ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 1-20 • Various
... (a ballot box) [U.S.]. circumvent, overreach; outreach, out wit, out maneuver; steal a march upon, give the go-by, to leave in the lurch decoy, waylay, lure, beguile, delude, inveigle; entrap, intrap^, ensnare; nick, springe^; set a trap, lay a trap, lay a snare for; bait the hook, forelay^, spread the toils, lime; trapan^, trepan; kidnap; let in, hook in; nousle^, nousel^; blind a trail; enmesh, immesh^; shanghai; catch, catch in a trap; ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget
... never to suffer? Shall no storm ever break on the roof of his dwelling, no traps be laid to ensnare him? Shall wife and friends never fail him? Must his father not die, and his mother, his brothers, his sons—must all these not die like the rest? Shall angels stand guard at each highway through which sorrow can pass into man? Did not Christ Himself ...
— Wisdom and Destiny • Maurice Maeterlinck
... limitations. But unfortunately, even the immediate past is seldom instructive to man, through no fault of his own. For while we are learning to understand the mistakes of our predecessors, time is itself producing new errors which, unobserved, ensnare us, and the account of which is left to the future historian with just as little ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. II • Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke
... her side, while mischief was rejoicing in her heart, first expressed her gratitude to all in words intermixed with smiles and tears, and then carried herself towards every one in particular in the manner which she thought most fitted to ensnare. She behaved to this person with cordiality, to that with comparative reserve; to one with phrases only, to another with looks besides, and intimations of secret preference. The ardour of some she repressed, but still in a manner to rekindle it. To others she was ...
— Stories from the Italian Poets: With Lives of the Writers, Vol. 2 • Leigh Hunt
... enumeration of sins in confession, men are taught in such a way as not to ensnare their consciences. Although it is of advantage to accustom inexperienced men to enumerate some things [which worry them], in order that they may be the more readily taught, yet we are now discussing what is necessary according to divine Law. Therefore, the ...
— The Apology of the Augsburg Confession • Philip Melanchthon
... wiles of Eve are swift to smite; Aye, swift to smite and not to spare— Red lips and round limbs sweet and white, Dark eyes and sunny, silken hair, Thy betters may ensnare. ...
— Poems • Adam Lindsay Gordon
... is sad that a bosom so fair, And soft lips so seemingly sweet, Should study false ways, to ensnare, And breathe in their kisses deceit. But beauty's no guide to the best: The rose, that out-blushes the morn, While it tempts the glad eye to its breast, Will pierce the fond hand ...
— Life and Remains of John Clare - "The Northamptonshire Peasant Poet" • J. L. Cherry
... busied every one; But thee I dread nor less thy penis Fair or foul, younglings' foe I ween is! 10 Wag it as wish thou, at its will, When out of doors its hope fulfil; Him bar I, modestly, methinks. But should ill-mind or lust's high jinks Thee (Sinner!), drive to sin so dread, 15 That durst ensnare our dearling's head, Ah! woe's thee (wretch!) and evil fate, Mullet and radish shall pierce and grate, When feet-bound, ...
— The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus • Caius Valerius Catullus
... healthy normalities of school than it would have been had he stayed eating his own thoughts at Cloom, when religion either falls away entirely from a boy or flares up into a sudden vitality. Ishmael's blood ran with too much of inherited aptitude for prayer for the former pitfall to ensnare him, but the latter yawned beside him now and he thrilled to its attractions. Sliding his stout, shiny shoe back and forth with the stiff attempt at elegance so deprecated by Mr. Eliot, he asked himself whether the Lord could really countenance ...
— Secret Bread • F. Tennyson Jesse
... corroborated the scout's information of the two defeats, adding (for terror magnified the objects of fear), that the Scots army was incalculable; but was so disposed by Sir William Wallace, as to appear inconsiderable, that he might ensnare his enemies, by filling them with hopes of ...
— The Scottish Chiefs • Miss Jane Porter
... eighteen years in yonder heaven he dwells." The maiden's heart with awe and wonder swells On hearing that mysterious name and birth Which mark him as a being scarce of earth. Then, too, his gallant height and handsome face, Equipment strange, and bearing full of grace Ensnare her fancy. ...
— Indian Legends of Minnesota • Various
... admit that it may be possible to release a poor captive from the Bastille; possible so to conceal him that the king's people shall not again ensnare him; possible, in some unknown retreat, to sustain the unhappy wretch in some ...
— The Vicomte de Bragelonne - Or Ten Years Later being the completion of "The Three - Musketeers" And "Twenty Years After" • Alexandre Dumas
... be quick; you know we are late. I will wear——" she paused a moment. She wanted to look her best that night. The beauty which had caught Drake in the past, the beauty which was to ensnare him again, and win for her the Angleford coronet, must lack no advantage dress could lend it. "The silver gray and the pearls, please," she said, after a moment or two of consideration. "Why, what is the matter with you?" she asked sharply, as she saw ...
— Nell, of Shorne Mills - or, One Heart's Burden • Charles Garvice
... in these labyrinths his slaves detains, And mighty hearts are held in slender chains. With hairy springes we the birds betray, 25 Slight lines of hair surprise the finny prey, Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare, And beauty draws us ...
— The Rape of the Lock and Other Poems • Alexander Pope
... be set for, with his staff? What, save to waylay with his lies, ensnare All travelers who might find him posted there, And ask the road? I guessed what skull-like laugh 10 Would break, what crutch 'gin write my epitaph For pastime in ...
— Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning • Robert Browning
... has beauty might ensnare A conqueror's soul, and make him leave his crown At random, to be scuffled for ...
— The Leavenworth Case • Anna Katharine Green
... to rise again. How he resteth him this animal, when he walketh abroad, hearken how it is here told. For he is all unwieldy, forsooth he seeks out a tree, that it strong and stedfast, and leans confidently against it, when he is weary of walking. The hunter has observed this, who seeks to ensnare him, where his usual dwelling is, to do his will; saws this tree and props it in the manner that he best may, covers it well that he (the elephant) may not be on his guard. Then he makes thereby a seat, himself sits alone and watches whether his trap ...
— Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon • J. Emerson Tennent
... honour. We desire, therefore, the good- natured and candid reader will be pleased to weigh attentively the several unlucky circumstances which concurred so critically, that Fortune seemed to have used her utmost endeavours to ensnare poor Booth's constancy. Let the reader set before his eyes a fine young woman, in a manner, a first love, conferring obligations and using every art to soften, to allure, to win, and to enflame; let ...
— Amelia (Complete) • Henry Fielding
... moved him still. It had hitherto been his portion to do mischief to women and avoid the vengeance of the sex. What was there in Miss Middleton's face and air to ensnare a veteran handsome man of society numbering six-and-thirty years, nearly as many conquests? "Each bullet has got its commission." He was hit at last. That accident effected by Mr. Flitch had fired the shot. Clean through the heart, ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... this. That message might be a trap to ensnare us, though I have two minds about this Black Woman. But if we fail to slay the Dark Master at the Black Tarn, we are like ...
— Nuala O'Malley • H. Bedford-Jones
... of bereavement; of grief. It is all to pass—these happy days at Marshfield; the wife he so fondly cared for; the children he so deeply cherished. Sycophants are to fill, in a measure, the place of friends, the money which now flows in so freely is to entangle and ensnare him; the lofty aspiration which now inspires him is to degenerate into a presidential ambition which will eat into his soul. But to-day let us, as long as we may, see him as he is in the height of his powers. Let us walk with him under the trees which he planted. ...
— The Old Coast Road - From Boston to Plymouth • Agnes Rothery
... progressed, not so unequal as it might seem, considering the frail means used to ensnare the big fish. And the prize was gradually being brought within reach of the ...
— The Golf Course Mystery • Chester K. Steele
... almost every Town in Spain (and more especially, if of any great Account) has its Spies, or Informers, for treacherous Intelligence. These make it their Business to ensnare the simple and unguarded; and are more to be avoided by the Stranger, than the Rattle Snake. Nature have appointed no such happy Tokens in the former to foreshew the Danger. I had Reason to believe, that one of those Vermin once made his Attack upon me in ...
— Military Memoirs of Capt. George Carleton • Daniel Defoe
... party of men of letters in a hotel resplendent with royal luxury, with carefully chosen works of art shining in the setting. Tullia allowed du Bruel to enthrone himself amid the tribe; there were plenty of journalists whom it was easy enough to catch and ensnare; and, thanks to her evening parties and a well-timed loan here and there, Cursy was not attacked too seriously—his plays succeeded. For these reasons he would not have separated from Tullia for an empire. If she had been unfaithful, he would probably ...
— A Prince of Bohemia • Honore de Balzac
... he never confessed it. His friends would marvel at his serenity. Only when they saw him sit silent, saw his brows knit, his hand comb at his beard, they knew his inexhaustible brain was weaving the web which should ensnare the lord ...
— A Victor of Salamis • William Stearns Davis
... and despatcheth it to far countries, that her report and the beauty of her broidery, which none in the world can match, may be bruited abroad. As for thy beloved, the daughter of Dalilah the Wily, this cloth came to her hand, and she used to ensnare folk with it, showing it to them and saying, 'I have a sister who wrought this.' But she lied in so saying, Allah rend her veil! This is my parting counsel; and I have not charged thee with this charge, but because ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 3 • Richard F. Burton
... She entreated; she remonstrated; she wept, and raved; but finding riches irresistible, fled away into the uplands, and lived in a cave upon such berries as she could gather, and the birds or hares which she had the fortune to ensnare, taking care, at an hour when she was not likely to be found, to view the sea every day, that her lover might not miss her ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson - Volume IV [The Rambler and The Adventurer] • Samuel Johnson
... for a fierce, unholy joy was in her veins; she could have sung, she could have laughed, she could have danced; she held them in her power; they had come to ensnare Adone, and she had got them in her power as if they were so ...
— The Waters of Edera • Louise de la Rame, a.k.a. Ouida
... change the faith in the medicine-man to that abstract power named God. Then one day I became righteously mad with anger that the medicine-man should thus ensnare my father's soul. And when he came to chant his sacred songs I pointed toward the door and bade him go! The man's eyes glared upon me for an instant. Slowly gathering his robe about him, he turned his back upon the sick man and stepped out of ...
— American Indian stories • Zitkala-Sa
... lady fair The easier 'tis to gain her grace, And the more surely we ensnare Her in the pitfalls which we place. Time was when cold seduction strove To swagger as the art of love, Everywhere trumpeting its feats, Not seeking love but sensual sweets. But this amusement delicate Was worthy of that old baboon, Our ...
— Eugene Oneguine [Onegin] - A Romance of Russian Life in Verse • Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin
... fifteen or so resorting to self-mutilation, to save themselves from the temptations of early manhood. These apostles of purity do not always scruple to have recourse to violence or deceit. They ensnare their victims by equivocal forms of speech, and having thus obtained their consent virtually upon false pretences, they reveal to the confiding dupes the real meaning of the engagement they have entered into only at the last moment, when it is too late for ...
— The Satyricon, Complete • Petronius Arbiter
... astonished at the queer turn the engagement had taken; and then again possibly he did not exactly like the idea of being compelled to acknowledge his identity, fearing it might be only a trap to ensnare him in the meshes of the law he had been defying ...
— Eagles of the Sky - With Jack Ralston Along the Air Lanes • Ambrose Newcomb
... to him. What could I do? All things are in the hand of heaven, and Folly, eldest of Jove's daughters, shuts men's eyes to their destruction. She walks delicately, not on the solid earth, but hovers over the heads of men to make them stumble or to ensnare them. ...
— The Iliad • Homer
... this anxious period with her relations at Wells,) cautioning her against being led into any acknowledgment, which might further the views of the elders against their happiness. Many methods were tried upon both sides, to ensnare them into a confession of this nature; but they eluded every effort, and persisted in attributing the avowal which had escaped from Miss Linley, before Mr. Panton, and others, to the natural agitation and bewilderment into which her mind was ...
— Memoirs of the Life of the Rt. Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan V1 • Thomas Moore
... could easily be gulled. Jack had more than once told me how artfully Preston played his cards when on the track of people he suspected and wished to entrap, so that I could well imagine Preston's leading the Gastrells on to ensnare him—as they no doubt supposed they were doing. For that he would not have been admitted to this gambling den—it evidently became one at night—unless the Gastrells had believed they could trust him and his friends implicitly, I ...
— The Four Faces - A Mystery • William le Queux
... proof of Cromwell's guilty complicity in that attempt, it is brought home to him by a variety of antecedent circumstances. He knew precisely how to spread the only lure that could ensnare the King; for the counsels of the 'Sealed Knot' were no secret to Cromwell. He was aware that the King had, in consequence, written, 4th Jan. 1655, to Mr. Roles, 'his loving friend,' and probably also the Protector's friend, in a tone of utter despair.[33] And who could set against the King a stream ...
— The Quarterly Review, Volume 162, No. 324, April, 1886 • Various
... overtake, snatch, capture, discover, grip, secure, take, clasp, ensnare, gripe, seize, take hold of. clutch, entrap, lay hold ...
— English Synonyms and Antonyms - With Notes on the Correct Use of Prepositions • James Champlin Fernald
... enchant him; indeed, she had treated him with easy indifference—but this, his experience of her sex and the world told him, was probably assumed. She could hardly help knowing that he was something of a "catch" from her point of view, and scheming to ensnare him. ...
— In Brief Authority • F. Anstey
... many a slip between the cup and the lip. The old saw was illustrated in the case of the shikaree while endeavouring to ensnare the storks; though it was not the snare, but the birds that ...
— The Cliff Climbers - A Sequel to "The Plant Hunters" • Captain Mayne Reid
... anything; but do so in particular before you go on a journey, so that you may be quite sure that it is the will of God that you should undertake that journey, lest you should needlessly expose yourself to one of the special opportunities of the devil to ensnare you. So far from envying those who have a carriage and horses at their command, or an abundance of means, so that they are not hindered from travelling for want of means, let us who are not thus situated rather thank God that in this particular we are not exposed to the temptation of needing ...
— George Muller of Bristol - His Witness to a Prayer-Hearing God • Arthur T. Pierson
... is like a crow perched upon the neighboring top of a far distant mountain, which some fisherman vainly strives, to no purpose, to ensnare. He looks at the crow, Mr. President,—and—Mr. President the crow looks at him; and, sir, they both look at each other. But the moment he attempts to reproach him, he banishes away like the schismatic taints of the rainbow, the cause of which ...
— The American Union Speaker • John D. Philbrick
... horses of all colours. The next day the party endeavoured to catch some of them, by riding up, and throwing nooses over them. The horses stood, neighing and whinnying, till the assailants approached within thirty or forty yards; but all attempts to ensnare ...
— Travels in North America, From Modern Writers • William Bingley
... computation, a dozen kites might have fallen, while I have been only trying to ensnare this single lark. Nor yet do I see when I shall be able to bring her to my lure: more innocent days yet, therefore!—But reformation for my stalking-horse, I hope, will be a sure, though a slow method to ...
— Clarissa, Volume 3 (of 9) • Samuel Richardson
... he said, "from Austria, who wanted to ensnare and annihilate us by her perfidious schemes, and to compel us to fight at her side for foreign interests; from Austria, the hereditary foe of our house and of our independence, who is just now going to make another attempt to devour Bavaria, and degrade her to the position of an Austrian province. ...
— LOUISA OF PRUSSIA AND HER TIMES • Louise Muhlbach
... without satisfying the Duke's passion. Yet Marcello did not despair. The stakes were high enough to justify great risks; and all he put in peril was his sister's honour, the fame of the Accoramboni, and the favour of Montalto. Vittoria, for her part, trusted in her power to ensnare and secure the noble prey both ...
— Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, Complete - Series I, II, and III • John Symonds
... from the rest of the world in his mountain retreat in southern Spain, he keeps in touch with affairs outside so far as they affect him, and is able, in mysterious ways, to anticipate, and so defeat, all attempts to ensnare him. Surprise is impossible for him, as it was ...
— Ainslee's, Vol. 15, No. 5, June 1905 • Various
... because it makes us always more unlike, and because no thought passes through another's ear unchanged. Companionship can only be perfect when it is founded on things, for things are always the same under the hand, and at last one comes to hear with envy of the voices of boys lighting a lantern to ensnare moths, or of the maids chattering in the kitchen about the fox that carried off a turkey before breakfast. This book is full of fellowship untroubled like theirs, and made noble by a courtesy that has gone perhaps out of the world. I do not know in literature better friends and lovers. ...
— Gods and Fighting Men • Lady I. A. Gregory
... resembles that of our own day, but was certainly fiercer than it is now, the reason being that the questions at issue were absolutely fundamental. When the question was whether the Constitution of the United States was a sure defence for freedom or a trap to ensnare an unsuspecting people, intensity of feeling on both sides was well-nigh inevitable. During Washington's two administrations a considerable number of the most eminent American publicists feared that dangerous ...
— Four American Leaders • Charles William Eliot
... grim aspects are these These oughly-headed Monsters? Mercy guard me! Hence with thy brew'd inchantments, foul deceit Hast thou betrai'd my credulous innocence With visor'd falshood, and base forgery, And wouldst thou seek again to trap me here With lickerish baits fit to ensnare a brute? 700 Were it a draft for Juno when she banquets, I would not taste thy treasonous offer; none But such as are good men can give good things, And that which is not good, is not delicious To a ...
— The Poetical Works of John Milton • John Milton
... Wright has collected many of these in his antiquarian works. He relates an amusing incident that once befell a minstrel who had been borne into hell by a devil. The devils went forth in a troop to ensnare souls on earth. Lucifer left the minstrel in charge of the infernal regions, promising, if he let no souls escape, to treat him on the return with a fat monk roasted, or a usurer dressed with hot sauce. But while the fiends ...
— The Destiny of the Soul - A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life • William Rounseville Alger
... her by the palm: Ay, well said, whisper; with as little a web as this, will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio. Ay, ...
— Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher • S. T. Coleridge
... many agents ready to present any and every kind of error to ensnare souls,—heresies prepared to suit the varied tastes and capacities of those whom he would ruin. It is his plan to bring into the church insincere, unregenerate elements that will encourage doubt and unbelief, and hinder all who desire to see the work of God advance, and to advance with it. Many ...
— The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan • Ellen G. White
... handsome. But come," she added, observing the effect her words had upon them, "be not alarmed. My design is not to arraign, but to instruct. The fact is, my sister is not treacherous, but she is injudicious. Her power is very limited, and the few gifts she has to bestow, are more likely to ensnare than to benefit those whom she means to serve. She gave you, indeed, good advice, but she could not endow you with the good sense that would enable you to follow it. Even you, my quiet Claribel, have not, I fancy, profited much by her favor. Say, were you very happy in the possession of your lily?" ...
— The Flower Basket - A Fairy Tale • Unknown
... rake exerts his art T' ensnare the unsuspecting heart. The prostitute, with faithless smiles, Remorseless plays her tricks and wiles. Her gesture bold and ogling eye, Obtrusive speech and pert reply, And brazen front and stubborn tone, Show all her native virtue's flown. By her the thoughtless youth is ta'en, Impoverished, disgraced, ...
— Cottage Poems • Patrick Bronte
... bard,[90] Shadowing his wildest landscapes! AEtna's fires, Bebrycian rocks, Anapus' holy stream, And woods of ancient Pan; the broken crag 270 And the old fisher here; the purple vines There bending; and the smiling boy set down To guard, who, innocent and happy, weaves, Intent, his rushy basket, to ensnare The chirping grasshoppers, nor sees the while The lean fox meditate her morning meal, Eyeing his scrip askance; whilst further on Another treads the purple grapes—he sits, Nor aught regards, but the green rush he weaves. O Beaumont! let this pomp of light and shade 280 Wake thee, to ...
— The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. 1 • William Lisle Bowles
... I'm responsible for and they have acknowledged the eleven grandchildren for me. I want you to make four of my children (Ben is already ensnare) members of the association, for which I will enclose a check for $12.00 (if I don't forget.) (The many typing mistakes of this letter are due mostly to the age of the machine, ...
— Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 43rd Annual Meeting - Rockport, Indiana, August 25, 26 and 27, 1952 • Various
... am no novice at the art of painting," he said; "and much as your charms dazzle and ensnare me, they do not disqualify my brain and hand from perfectly delineating them upon my canvas. I love you to distraction; but my passion shall not hinder me from ...
— Ziska - The Problem of a Wicked Soul • Marie Corelli
... of men assuming to act in the place of such State, attempting to ensnare or coerce the inhabitants thereof into a confederation hostile to the Union, is rebellious, treasonable, and destitute of all moral authority; and that such combination is a usurpation incapable of any constitutional existence and utterly lawless, so that everything dependent upon ...
— The Galaxy - Vol. 23, No. 1 • Various
... cast light on some idea of detection, on some doubt, bewilderment, or conjecture. He would ask the farthest-off questions: who could tell what might send him into the track of discovery? He would give to the talk the strangest turns, laying trap after trap to ensnare the most miserable of facts, elevated into a desirable secret only by his hope to learn through it something equally valueless beyond it. Especially he delighted in discovering, or flattering himself ...
— Mary Marston • George MacDonald
... great reluctance, depart from them, nor apply himself to them without applause. In times past, when those of Crete would curse any one, they prayed the gods to engage him in some ill custom. But the principal effect of its power is, so to seize and ensnare us, that it is hardly in us to disengage ourselves from its gripe, or so to come to ourselves, as to consider of and to weigh the things it enjoins. To say the truth, by reason that we suck it in with our milk, and that the face of the world presents itself in this posture to our first sight, it ...
— The Essays of Montaigne, Complete • Michel de Montaigne
... a thing is it for women as well as men, without the least remorse, to ensnare, to cage, and torment, and even with burning knitting-needles to put out the eyes of the poor feather'd songster [thou seest I have not yet done with birds]; which however, in proportion to its bulk, has more ...
— Clarissa, Volume 4 (of 9) - History Of A Young Lady • Samuel Richardson
... promise of amity which they had exchanged, would most likely have made Sir Kenneth take measures to change his note. As it was, the Crusader felt as if he had by his side some gay, licentious fiend, who endeavoured to ensnare his soul, and endanger his immortal salvation, by inspiring loose thoughts of earthly pleasure, and thus polluting his devotion, at a time when his faith as a Christian and his vow as a pilgrim called ...
— The Talisman • Sir Walter Scott
... doth mar? To me, thou son of hell, explain, How earnest thou in, if this thine exit bar? Could such a spirit aught ensnare? ...
— Faust Part 1 • Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
... St. Michael's rectory and explained first, and smoked companionably with the Major in the library afterward. Further along, there was a one-sided discussion polemical, it being meat and drink to Major Caspar to ensnare a young theologian to his discomfiture in the unaxiomatic field of religion. Ardea was in and out of the library frequently while the discussion was in progress, but she had little to say; indeed, there was scant room for a third when ...
— The Quickening • Francis Lynde
... mentioned the fact—that she is as beautiful as she is charming, and that she sings wonderfully. She must be something remarkable, I am sure, because Eliza Layard evidently detests her, and says that she is trying to ensnare the affections of that squire of dames, her brother Stephen, now temporarily homeless after a visit to Jane Rose. What will you do when you have to get on without her? I am afraid you must accustom yourself ...
— Stella Fregelius • H. Rider Haggard
... try to ensnare the King again; Carlo is like his better self; he {35} disperses his Sire's melancholy by singing to him and rekindles his ...
— The Standard Operaglass - Detailed Plots of One Hundred and Fifty-one Celebrated Operas • Charles Annesley
... spiders there is as great a difference in respect to venom as among serpents, and that those which depend upon their jaws for taking and holding their prey, such as the field and hunting spiders, are poisonous, while the web-builders which ensnare their victims are not so. In regard to our spiders, I have caused a large one to bite, so as to draw blood, a kitten three days old, and the kitten has not appeared to suffer in ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 106, August, 1866 • Various
... quarter can the danger proceed? Are we afraid of foreign gold? If foreign gold could so easily corrupt our federal rulers and enable them to ensnare and betray their constituents, how has it happened that we are at this time a free and independent nation? The Congress which conducted us through the Revolution was a less numerous body than their successors will be; they were not chosen by, nor responsible to, their fellowcitizens at large; ...
— The Federalist Papers • Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison
... Yhi, the sun, after many lovers, tried to ensnare Bahloo, the moon; but he would have none of her, and so she chases him across the sky, telling the spirits who stand round the sky holding it up, that if they let him escape past them to earth, she will throw down ...
— The Euahlayi Tribe - A Study of Aboriginal Life in Australia • K. Langloh Parker
... is fatal to them and would be easy to another, and sometimes brings it to them just when they are least fitted to face it? How is it that Othello comes to be the companion of the one man in the world who is at once able enough, brave enough, and vile enough to ensnare him? By what strange fatality does it happen that Lear has such daughters and Cordelia such sisters? Even character itself contributes to these feelings of fatality. How could men escape, we cry, such vehement propensities ...
— Shakespearean Tragedy - Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth • A. C. Bradley
... precinct of Athene. There, till reived, They kept the Pallium, sacred and still grieved By all who held the city consecrate To Her, as first it was, till she learned hate For what had once been lovely, and let in The golden Aphrodite, and sweet sin To ensnare Prince Paris and send him awooing A too-fair wife, to be his own undoing And Troy's and all the line's of Dardanos, That traced from Zeus to him, from him to Tros, From Tros to Ilos, to Laomedon, Who begat Priam as his ...
— Helen Redeemed and Other Poems • Maurice Hewlett
... hero was sleeping there passed by seven knights of Turan, and they beheld Rakush and coveted him. So they threw their cords at him to ensnare him. But Rakush, when he beheld their design, pawed the ground in anger, and fell upon them as he had fallen upon the lion. And of one man he bit off the head, and another he struck down under his hoofs, and he would ...
— Legends That Every Child Should Know • Hamilton Wright Mabie
... said, addressing her, "I can see quite clearly that all this comes from you and not from brother-in-law Charles. It was you who planned this massacre to ensnare me into a trap which was to destroy us all. It was you who made your daughter the bait. It has been you who have separated me now from my wife, that she might not see ...
— The World's Greatest Books, Vol III • Arthur Mee and J.A. Hammerton, Eds.
... two proverbs have in common a reference to the effect of speech upon the speaker. 'In the transgression of the lips is an evil snare'; that is, sinful words ensnare their utterer, and whoever else he harms, he himself is harmed most. The reflex influence on character of our utterances is not present to us, as it should be. They leave stains on lips and heart. Thoughts expressed ...
— Expositions Of Holy Scripture - Volume I: St. Luke, Chaps. I to XII • Alexander Maclaren
... all things which may ensnare their consciences, as evill councell, evill company, false informations, rash promises, and especially that they beware of taking any Oathes, subscribing any Bonds, which may relate to the Covenant and Cause of God, unlesse such Oaths or Bonds ...
— The Acts Of The General Assemblies of the Church of Scotland
... were joined in the errand: Two such excellent men would be irreproachable judges. O my father! believe me, she's none of those wandering maidens, Not one of those who stroll through the land in search of adventure, And who seek to ensnare inexperienced youth in their meshes. No: the hard fortunes of war, that universal destroyer, Which is convulsing the earth and has hurled from its deep foundations Many a structure already, have sent the poor girl into exile. Are ...
— Hermann and Dorothea • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
... force. Emigrant girls, who have strolled from the depot at Castle Garden into the lower part of the city, are decoyed into these places by being promised employment. Men and women are sent into the country districts to ensnare young girls to these city hells. Advertisements for employment are answered by these wretches, and every art is exhausted in the effort to draw pure women within the walls of the dance house. Let such a woman once cross the threshold, and she will be drugged or forced to submit ...
— Lights and Shadows of New York Life - or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City • James D. McCabe
... any other previous one; and the visit of her majesty, although beneficial for a time, on the whole, was not likely to give any permanent effect to the loyalty of those who might, during her visit, display the like. The Young Ireland press denounced the policy of the visit as a trick to ensnare the generosity of the Irish character, and to divert the people from the only true political pursuit for Irishmen—the separation of their country from Great Britain; and those papers predicted that the reception of her majesty, notwithstanding that national generosity which ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan
... succeeded excellently well at first, till, in the midst of the enterprize, Andrew Govean was taken away by a sudden death, which proved mighty prejudicial to his companions: For, after his decease, all their enemies endeavoured first to ensnare them by treachery, and soon after ran violently upon them as it were with open mouth; and their agents and instruments being great enemies to the accused, they laid hold of three of them, and haled them to prison; whence, after a long and ...
— Biographia Scoticana (Scots Worthies) • John Howie
... incumbent on the promulgators to do it in the most public and perspicuous manner; not like Caligula, who (according to Dio Cassius) wrote his laws in a very small character, and hung them up upon high pillars, the more effectually to ensnare the people. There is still a more unreasonable method than this, which is called making of laws ex post facto; when after an action is committed, the legislator then for the first time declares it to have been a crime, and inflicts a punishment upon the person who has committed ...
— Commentaries on the Laws of England - Book the First • William Blackstone
... Mrs. Spencer thinking me the same type as herself, without conscience, character, or morals, had evolved this plan either to test me or to ensnare me. To test me, because she is jealous of you; or to ensnare me because she wants to win out diplomatically—or both, it may be. I am a poor hand at pretence; but I played the game, as you would say, to the best of my ability. So I seemed to fall ...
— The Cab of the Sleeping Horse • John Reed Scott
... natural enough, and if it amuses them, I'm not going to find fault. My only fear is that Legard and the rest think they are really living with these people. They are not doing that; they are only being roped in for the fun of the performance. These charming ladies just ensnare the big people, make them chatter, and then get together, as they did to-day, and compare the locks of hair they have snipped from their Samsons. But it isn't a bit malicious—it's simply childish; and, by Jove, I enjoyed myself tremendously. Now, ...
— Father Payne • Arthur Christopher Benson
... and bitterly upbraiding fortune that they are not millionaires; suffering the vigor of their years to exhale in idle wishes and pointless regrets; disgracing their manhood by lying in wait behind their "so gentlemanly" and "aristocratic" manners, until they can pounce upon a "fortune" and ensnare an heiress into matrimony: and so, having dragged their gifts—their horses of the sun—into a service which shames all their native pride and power, they sink in the mire; and their peers and emulators exclaim that they have "made a good ...
— The Wit and Humor of America, Volume II. (of X.) • Various
... experience, D'Urfey may no doubt Ensnare a gudgeon, or sometimes a trout; Yet Dryden once exclaimed, in partial spite, 'He fish!'—because ...
— The Dramatic Works of John Dryden Vol. I. - With a Life of the Author • Sir Walter Scott |
