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Mischief   Listen
verb
Mischief  v. t.  To do harm to. (Obs.)






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Mischief" Quotes from Famous Books



... lionesses, hens, and all the mothers in nature; to dart from her ambush and protect her young; but she controlled it by a strong effort; it seemed wiser to descry the truth, and then act with resolution: besides, the young people were now almost at the shrubbery; so the mischief ...
— Hard Cash • Charles Reade

... have an appetite for; but what we only falsely have an appetite for we should resolutely avoid. It is very true; and flimsy, desultory readers, who fly from foolish book to foolish book, and get good of none, and mischief of all—are not these as foolish, unhealthy eaters, who mistake their superficial false desire after spiceries and confectioneries for their real appetite, of which even they are not destitute, though it lies far deeper, far quieter, ...
— On the Choice of Books • Thomas Carlyle

... mystery. But I would not seek to unravel it, Angelique," remarked Amelie, "I feel there is sin in it. Do not touch it: it will only bring mischief upon you if ...
— The Golden Dog - Le Chien d'Or • William Kirby

... may be impatient; I have really some fears That we rock them too little, the poor little dears; Our milk may cause fever, and their stomachs not suit, Or perhaps they are weakened and injured by fruit. Perhaps the whole mischief is caused by the air, And who 'gainst this evil can ever prepare? In their earliest years, it may poison instil, And through their whole lifetime produce every ill. Perhaps it may be, before we are aware, They breathe in a pestilence, borne on the air. Perhaps, for the nerves of us monkeys ...
— Hymns, Songs, and Fables, for Young People • Eliza Lee Follen

... knew it,' said Hal, twinkling. 'Robin, how a-mischief's name am I to tell these innocents what comes ...
— Puck of Pook's Hill • Rudyard Kipling

... he acts, however, he is only in time to repair, not to prevent, the mischief. The rebels have already dethroned Louis and imprisoned him at St Martins in Tours, making Acelin of Rouen, son of Richard, Emperor. William makes straight for Tours, prevails on the castellan of the gate-fortress to let him in, kicks—literally kicks—the ...
— The Flourishing of Romance and the Rise of Allegory - (Periods of European Literature, vol. II) • George Saintsbury

... at liberty to have small meetings among themselves, especially to tea, whereat they may enjoy the ever fresh and pleasant luxury of scandal and mischief-making, and prepare their accusations and taunts for the next general meeting; and this is not only permitted but enjoined and recommended strongly to all ...
— Samuel Butler's Cambridge Pieces • Samuel Butler

... much concerned at what had happened, and greatly displeased with the master for having acted so contrary to my orders; but the mischief being unfortunately done, a boat was sent in the morning [SATURDAY 22 JANUARY 1803] to search for the dead body, the painter being desirous of it to make a drawing, and the naturalist and surgeon for anatomical purposes. The corpse ...
— A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 2 • Matthew Flinders

... honourable and enjoyable." In answer to this, Pharnabazus said: "If the king shall send any other general, and put me under him, I will join you. But if he places me in command, I will cheerfully obey him, and will fight you and do you all the mischief ...
— Plutarch's Lives Volume III. • Plutarch

... compared with some of the sixteenth century choirs. Mr. Innes told an instructive story of how he had lost a most extraordinary treble, the best he had ever had. No, he had not lost his voice; a casual word had done the mischief. The boy had happened to tell his mother that Mr. Innes had said that he would give up cricket for Palestrina, and she, being a fool, had laughed at him. Her laughter had ruined the boy; he had refused to sing any more; he had become a dissipated young rascal, ...
— Evelyn Innes • George Moore

... he said, 'your public men to overrule their ill-conditioned colleague. I told you a year ago, the mischief that you were doing, but I do not think that you believed me. You may find too ...
— Correspondence & Conversations of Alexis de Tocqueville with Nassau William Senior from 1834 to 1859, Vol. 2 • Alexis de Tocqueville

... of your thinking; get out of my sight. Do you 'ear? I want no truck with you whatever. Haven't you done me enough mischief already?" ...
— Esther Waters • George Moore

... going up to him, 'how may that be? What would happen to me and the sheep were these fells to shake? Even now, though they stand steady, you have seen that wayward lambs like Periwinkle will fall over and do themselves a mischief.' So I spake, being but a witless lad. But my words might have been the wind passing by him, so little he heeded them. I doubt if he even heard or knew that I was there although I stood close at his side. For again his eyes were resting on the Irish Sea, and ...
— A Book of Quaker Saints • Lucy Violet Hodgkin

... like the normal tonsil, usually tend to diminish and disappear with the approach of youth, they constitute during childhood a constant source of danger and trouble and not infrequently inflict permanent mischief. Also children afflicted with adenoids are less able to cope with diphtheria, scarlet ...
— Mother's Remedies - Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers - of the United States and Canada • T. J. Ritter

... true that we have not dissuaded him, But out of high deliberate policy Have suffered him to tread the path of folly Rather than mischief. We have ruled the world With wisdom these five years ...
— Nero • Stephen Phillips

... Lewis, Mary Warren and Sarah Churchhill seem to have been among the most active and influential members of the party. Though Abigail Williams, the minister's niece, and Ann Putnam, only eleven and twelve years of age respectively, proved themselves capable of an immense deal of mischief. ...
— Dulcibel - A Tale of Old Salem • Henry Peterson

... Raymond," and the man raised and clenched his right hand, "I was a fool! I suspected that mischief was afoot that night when I found Almanza and the two Greeks talking together; I simply reported the matter to the captain, who thought nothing of it. Had I done my duty I should have watched, for no one can ...
— John Frewen, South Sea Whaler - 1904 • Louis Becke

... Philippines. Nothing better can be done for the islands than to introduce industrial enterprises. Nothing would benefit them so much as throwing them open to industrial development. The connection between idleness and mischief is proverbial, and the opportunity to do remunerative work is one of the surest preventatives of war. Of course no business man will go into the Philippines unless it is to his interest to do so; and it is immensely to the interest of the islands that he should go in. It is therefore necessary ...
— Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present • Various

... (p. 39), and that "prayers for the interruption of God's natural order" are of "doubtful validity" (p. 42). It appears to me that the Bishop's difficulty simply adds another example to those which I have several times insisted upon in the pages of this Review and elsewhere, of the mischief which has been done, and is being done, by a mistaken apprehension of the real meaning of "natural order" and ...
— Collected Essays, Volume V - Science and Christian Tradition: Essays • T. H. Huxley

... are stuck in the tails of most families. Scarce one of us domestic birds but imitates the lanky, pavonine strut, and shrill, genteel scream. O you misguided dinner-giving Snobs, think how much pleasure you lose, and how much mischief you do with your absurd grandeurs and hypocrisies! You stuff each other with unnatural forced-meats, and entertain each other to the ruin of friendship (let alone health) and the destruction of hospitality ...
— The Book of Snobs • William Makepeace Thackeray

... full disclosure of all the measures, demands, or eventual concessions which may have been proposed or contemplated, would be extremely impolitic, for this might have a pernicious influence on future negotiations or produce immediate inconveniences, perhaps danger and mischief to other persons. The necessity of such caution and secrecy was one cogent reason for vesting the power of making treaties in the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, the principle on which that body was formed confining it to ...
— Life And Times Of Washington, Volume 2 • John Frederick Schroeder and Benson John Lossing

... passable on foot, while no boats could cross it, on account of the quantities of ice which were swept down by the current. In order to perform something, and to humble the pride of the Emperor, Banner discourteously fired 500 cannon shots into the town, which, however, did little mischief. Baffled in his designs, he resolved to penetrate farther into Bavaria, and the defenceless province of Moravia, where a rich booty and comfortable quarters awaited his troops. Guebriant, however, began to fear ...
— The Works of Frederich Schiller in English • Frederich Schiller

... only eat the ripest and the best fruit, and in their search for it they climb with great facility along the under side of the branches. In Java, as Dr Horsfield observes, these creatures, from their numbers and fruit-eating propensities, occasion incalculable mischief, as they attack every kind that grows there, from the cocoa-nut to the rarer and more delicate productions, which are cultivated with care in the gardens of princes and persons of rank. The doctor observes, that "delicate fruits, as they ...
— Heads and Tales • Various

... one diversion in a busy but monotonous life was news. She was wretched if she did not receive the latest bulletins; but it was to her credit that she never repeated anything that might work harm or mischief. David was one of her chosen confidants. He was a safe repository of secrets, a sympathetic listener, ...
— David Dunne - A Romance of the Middle West • Belle Kanaris Maniates

... cried the skipper angrily. "Just like a middy. I never had anything to do with one before, but I've heard times enough from those who have, that if there's a bit of mischief afloat, the first nose that goes into it ...
— Fitz the Filibuster • George Manville Fenn

... and Olga, those twin spirits of mischief and kindness, and they stopped him to speak of the great ...
— The Hosts of the Air • Joseph A. Altsheler

... and such as are set on by others, do some Mischief (tho' but very seldom) in the Frontier Plantations, tho' they be guarded with Rangers; and these with such as think themselves injured are the Indians that make Wars, and such Disturbance in the Northern and Southern Colonies: But the tributary Indians, ...
— The Present State of Virginia • Hugh Jones

... possess the power of coherent thought!" Others sit in the presence of a woman as though she was a dish of ice cream. "How sweet." "How refreshing." "How altogether nice!" Many behave in her company as though she was a loaded gun, and liable to do mischief, while a very few act as though she was above the wiles of flattery, and not to be bought for the price of a new bonnet. Hasten the day, good Lord, when she shall be regarded as something wiser and nobler than an automaton, less perishable than a confection, more ...
— A String of Amber Beads • Martha Everts Holden

... position was one of extreme danger and difficulty. Originally set upon the earth by Ormazd in order to maintain the good creation, he was liable to the continual temptations and seductions of the divs or devas, who were "wicked, bad, false, untrue, the originators of mischief, most baneful, destructive, the basest of all things." A single act of sin gave them a hold upon him, and each subsequent act increased their power, until ultimately he became their mere tool and slave. It was however possible to resist temptation, to cling to the side of right, to defy ...
— The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 7. (of 7): The Sassanian or New Persian Empire • George Rawlinson

... The beans have suffered very much, although, luckily, not more than half that I planted have come up. The squashes, both summer and winter, appear to be almost killed. As to the other vegetables, there is little mischief done,—the potatoes not being yet above ground, except two or three; and the peas and corn are of a hardier nature. It is sad that Nature will so sport with us poor mortals, inviting us with sunny smiles to confide in her; and then, ...
— Passages From The American Notebooks, Volume 2. • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... having an unconquerable will, turned his attention to the cultivating of an enlarged usefulness of his legs, feet, and toes, with so excellent effect that in time he was able to perform wonderful feats with those members. Thus his capability, especially for destructive mischief, was considerably restored. ...
— The Ape, the Idiot & Other People • W. C. Morrow

... was something which perplexed and alarmed him. Her long lithe figure was half crouching, half clinging to the horse's back, her loosened hair flying over her shoulders, her dark eyes gleaming with an odd nymph-like mischief. Her white teeth flashed as she recognized him, but her laugh was still mocking and uncanny. He ...
— Tales of Trail and Town • Bret Harte

... age—those of us who had been young with the evening—Lady Blantock thought we might have coffee in the "palm court." We had it, and by rising at last, sweet Molly Winston saved me from doing the musicians a mischief. "Lord Lane, you promised to let us drop you, in the car," she said to me. "Oh, I don't mean to 'drop you' literally. Our auto has no naughty ways. I hope we are not ...
— The Princess Passes • Alice Muriel Williamson and Charles Norris Williamson

... could quiet him. Of course he did n't share our fear about their charges, but he must have had some dreadful experience with them in that portion of his life which is unknown to us. A plumber was to him the devil, and I have no doubt that, in his scheme, plumbers were foreordained to do him mischief. ...
— Baddeck and That Sort of Thing • Charles Dudley Warner

... all have to come to, isn't it?—unless we go to that creature that finds some mischief still for idle hands to do. I don't expect to come to stone-cutting or cattle-driving, but I do expect to settle down into a tolerable ...
— Mae Madden • Mary Murdoch Mason

... till you give the signal that the baths are ready," said Gadarn to the king in that grave, suppressed manner which indicated that the northern chief was inclined to mischief. ...
— The Hot Swamp • R.M. Ballantyne

... saw a great number of villages and patches of cultivation, some of the last looking as if freshly ploughed. The whole aspect of the country was changing for the better, but the inhabitants did not seem more peaceably inclined. Five canoes came out to the ship fully armed, and apparently bent on mischief. Cook was very busy, and did not want them on board, so to keep them off ordered a musket to be fired over them; but as it only caused them to stop for a moment, a round shot was sent over them, and they hurriedly turned tail. The place was given the name Cape Runaway. White Island ...
— The Life of Captain James Cook • Arthur Kitson

... endured / ebbed the night away. Still without the portal / did the keen Fiddler stay And Hagen his good fellow, / o'er shield their bodies leant; They deemed the men of Etzel / still on further mischief bent. ...
— The Nibelungenlied - Translated into Rhymed English Verse in the Metre of the Original • trans. by George Henry Needler

... of the universal fear of witches in old times. Whether the persons accused of this offence really did imagine that they were possessed of unusual power of any kind; or whether they had the will at least, if not the power, of doing mischief to their neighbours; or whether all the confessions, of which there are so many, were extorted by the cruelty of the witch-finders—these are questions which are not, I fancy, yet solved. And the present narrative gives me pause. I ...
— Ghost Stories of an Antiquary • Montague Rhodes James

... encouraged him, which certainly she did not, I daresay his love might have come out; but I presume that he had been comfortably content until now, when perhaps some remark of his mother had made him fear a rival. Mischief of some sort was evidently brewing. A human cloud, surcharging itself with electric fire, lay swelling on the horizon of our little assembly; but I did not anticipate much danger from any storm that could break from such a quarter. ...
— Adela Cathcart - Volume II • George MacDonald

... think," said Sam, "that was my idea." He waved his stick at a passing taxi. "I'm late," he said. He abandoned Hollis on the sidewalk, chuckling and grinning with delight, and unconscious of the mischief he ...
— The Red Cross Girl • Richard Harding Davis

... Alice, solemnly; "and therefore I would have you depart these fatal bounds, where your love, as well as your hatred, threatens sure mischief, or at least disgrace, both to yourself and others. I would shield, were it in the power of this withered hand, the Ashtons from you, and you from them, and both from their own passions. You can have nothing—ought to have nothing, in common with them. Begone from among them; ...
— Bride of Lammermoor • Sir Walter Scott

... avail. For a very few days had passed when the mischief befell Stoffer Zuter his spotted cow, and he, too, like all the rest, came running to fetch my daughter; she accordingly went with him, but could do no good, and the beast ...
— Sidonia The Sorceress V2 • William Mienhold

... her again. "I am sorry to see you in such company," she said. "Those girls are all older than you are, and they will lead you into mischief." ...
— The Beth Book - Being a Study of the Life of Elizabeth Caldwell Maclure, a Woman of Genius • Sarah Grand

... Mary's,—is it Scott who says that nothing improves the manners like piracy?—I peacefully withdrew the men when the work was done. There were faces of disappointment among the officers,—for all felt a spirit of mischief, after the last night's adventure,—when, just as we had fairly swung out into the stream and were under way, there came, like the sudden burst of a tropical tornado, a regular little hailstorm of bullets into the open end of the boat, driving every gunner in an instant from ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 90, April, 1865 • Various

... and Meriamun laughed, but I foresaw mischief. The stakes were too high, the match was too strange, but Meriamun would not listen to me, for she was ...
— The World's Desire • H. Rider Haggard and Andrew Lang

... the mischief is the matter? Why, the folk downstairs have been kicking up the biggest fuss for the last three hours. How could you sleep? Gracious, how those girls are tearing around—no ...
— Marguerite Verne • Agatha Armour

... held flat against his body at his belt, turning the old thing foolishly like a wheel, so unexpectedly confronted by this girl again, before whom he desired to appear as a man, and the best that was in the best man that he could ever be. And she stood smiling before him, mischief and mastery in her laughing eyes, confident as one who had subjugated him already, playing a tune on him, surely—a tune that came like a little ...
— Trail's End • George W. Ogden

... which the Peel administration have chosen to engage with the agricultural interest of England, has added to the mischief. Their unexampled political tergiversation has deprived them of the support of almost all their former adherents; and now, when they see the evil consequences of the vacillating policy which they have pursued with regard to Ireland, and are desirous of repressing the enormities which ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 367, May 1846 • Various

... to the romantic elements above described, we have here also that page-prattle which is so characteristic of all Lyly's plays. These urchins, full of mischief and delighting in quips, were probably borrowed from Edwardes, but Lyly made them all his own; and one can understand how naturally their parts would be played by his boy-actors. Their repartee, when it is not pulling to pieces some Latin quotation familiar ...
— John Lyly • John Dover Wilson

... I've met you," said Pedro to Ignacio, as they turned aside into the bushes together, "for I've got news to tell, and I'll want your help. There's mischief brewing in the ...
— The Rover of the Andes - A Tale of Adventure on South America • R.M. Ballantyne

... throws light on the points of disagreement. General Pinckney first proposed to extend the slave-trading limit to 1808, and Gorham of Massachusetts seconded the motion. This brought a spirited protest from Madison: "Twenty years will produce all the mischief that can be apprehended from the liberty to import slaves. So long a term will be more dishonorable to the American character than to say nothing about it in the Constitution."[16] There was, however, evidently another "bargain" here; for, without farther debate, the South and the East ...
— The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America - 1638-1870 • W. E. B. Du Bois

... part, I have yet a worse custom. I scorn to mend myself by halves. If my shoe go awry, I let my shirt and my cloak do so too: when I am out of order I feed on mischief. I abandon myself through despair, and let myself go towards the precipice, and as the saying is, throw the helve after the hatchet.' We should not need, perhaps, the aid of the explanations already ...
— The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded • Delia Bacon

... little favour would do well; though not that I would stop the current of your wit, or any other plot, to do them mischief; but they were first discoverers of this isle, first traded hither, and ...
— The Works of John Dryden, Volume 5 (of 18) - Amboyna; The state of Innocence; Aureng-Zebe; All for Love • John Dryden

... parliament, after the recess, a bill was brought into the commons for enabling the admiralty to grant letters of marque and reprisal to privateers against vessels belonging to the revolted colonies, which were now doing much mischief, not only among our West India Islands, but also in the narrow seas of Europe. This bill passed the commons without a debate, and it went through the lords without any amendment, except that the words "letters of permission" were substituted for ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

... sprites were gentle and docile; but there was one who had a strain of wildness in him. In his hand he carried a bow, and at his shoulder a quiver of arrows, and he looked as if, some day or other, he might be up to mischief. ...
— The Unknown Quantity - A Book of Romance and Some Half-Told Tales • Henry van Dyke

... that my turn must come to fall by the dagger. Last night, Bernardo, I had rare sport. I knocked down eight, wounded one in the arm, and as to three or four others whom I left extended on the ground, my dagger knows better than I what mischief was done them. Come in with me, and I will tell you all ...
— The Amulet • Hendrik Conscience

... vivid sketch of a new course of fortune for her. Emilia gave one joyful outcry; and now Wilfrid retreated, questioning within himself whether he should have remained so long. But, as he argued, if he was convinced that the rascally Greek fellow meant mischief to her, was he not bound to employ every stratagem to be her safeguard? The influence of Mr. Pericles already exercised over her was immense and mysterious. Within ten minutes she was singing triumphantly indoors. Wilfrid could hear that her voice was firm and assured. She ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... save the monarchy by joining with the nation to reform the government; but that, since acting vigorously was the one thing which the king could not do, it would have been better for all parties that he should have left a scene where his apathy could only do mischief, exasperate the people, and endanger his own safety and that of his family. The queen had burned a great many papers, and had her diamonds packed in a little box, which she meant to take in her own carriage: she had also written a paper of directions ...
— The Peasant and the Prince • Harriet Martineau

... immorality! They keep chopping and changing their bits of land. Not a sight of a horse or a cow. The peasant's dying of hunger, but just go and take him on as a laborer, he'll do his best to do you a mischief, and then bring you up before the justice ...
— Anna Karenina • Leo Tolstoy

... Philammon's coming out; and the rest, balked of their prey, turned the tide of their wrath against the Prefect, and rejoined the mass of their party, who were still hanging round his chariot, ready for mischief. ...
— Hypatia - or, New Foes with an Old Face • Charles Kingsley

... she will come with the others. I've heard that she's full of moods and mischief. She cares nothing for convention. It seems to run ...
— Walter Pieterse - A Story of Holland • Multatuli

... threats. It was one of the occasions on which it is good to be an Irishman. We have been accustomed to riots all our lives, and mind them less than most other people. We know—this is a fact which Englishmen find it difficult to grasp—that cheerful rioters seldom mean to do any serious mischief. ...
— A Padre in France • George A. Birmingham

... quietly. "And knows also that I am an honorable man. See here, Chaldea, you are dangerous, because this silly love of yours has warped your common sense. You can make a lot of mischief if you so ...
— Red Money • Fergus Hume

... bird, flying through the air; its bright tracks are seen in the heavens, before you hear the clapping of its wings. But it is the young ones who do the mischief. The parent bird would not hurt a Dahcotah. Long ago a thunder bird fell dead from the heavens; and our fathers saw it as it lay not far from Little ...
— Dahcotah - Life and Legends of the Sioux Around Fort Snelling • Mary Eastman

... mischief do you mean, mother? I a'n't a standing into nobody's light, much less my own flesh and blood's!" exclaimed John, raising ...
— Victor's Triumph - Sequel to A Beautiful Fiend • Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth

... life as the consequence of blows and falls, and consequently were often present without any of the classical symptoms by which we are accustomed to locate such fissures. Secondly, the peculiar form was not uncommon in which extensive mischief was produced from within by direct contact of ...
— Surgical Experiences in South Africa, 1899-1900 • George Henry Makins

... on his person for it, she fancied that he feared she would choke herself, and shaking her head, said, with a smile, "You have nothing to fear now; and here is the doctor, who will pledge his word that I will do myself no mischief." ...
— CELEBRATED CRIMES, COMPLETE - THE MARQUISE DE BRINVILLIERS • ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE

... and in merchandise, which yourselves know better than I can do how much they have abounded in the kingdom? Doth not God now punish the secret injustice of his people by the open injustice of their enemies? Do ye not remember that mischief was framed by a law? And now, when your enemies execute mischief against law, will you not say, Righteous art thou, O Lord, and just are thy judgments. One thing I may not forget, and that is, that the Lord is punishing blood with blood, the blood of the oppressed, the blood ...
— The Works of Mr. George Gillespie (Vol. 1 of 2) • George Gillespie

... telegram that would have aroused the heart of a feather-bed and made it be with me in three hours, but it did not rouse him and he did not come; and before that silly Mrs. Bannister got back with the two girls, the mischief was done, and that little Drane had taken advantage of the opportunity I had given her to trap Mr. Ralph. Oh, she is a sharp one! and with you and me to help her, she could do almost anything. You take off her rival, and I send away the interfering sister; and all she has to do ...
— The Girl at Cobhurst • Frank Richard Stockton

... I did not conceive that your concerns together would ever again move with a cordiality that would render them lasting; but still, I imagined that mutual interest and forbearance would allow them to subside into that indifference which, without animosity or mischief, would leave either party at liberty to enter upon such new arrangements as offered to their separate advantage. I do not, however, doubt but that all things have been properly considered, and perhaps finally settled for the best; ...
— A Publisher and His Friends • Samuel Smiles

... are wympish; but then, we 're not bores, Though we own to a weakness for wiping off scores. Ah! Skilful and Wilful and Captious and Queer Are never far off when mischief is near! ...
— All the Way to Fairyland - Fairy Stories • Evelyn Sharp

... conversation. How did it feel to be a jailbird? When he told her that it felt fine, she bade him not be too proud—she had served thirty days for picketing in a shirt-waist strike! As she looked at him, her pretty brown eyes sparkled with mischief, and her wicked little dimples lost no curtain-calls. Poor, humble Jimmie was stirred to his shoe-tips, for he had never before received the attentions of such a fascinating creature—unless perchance it had been to sell her a newspaper, or to beg the price of a sandwich in his tramp days. ...
— Jimmie Higgins • Upton Sinclair

... brought Phil back to his senses. His arms dropped and he drew away, ashamed, remorseful. He was no saint. According to his way of thinking a man might kiss a girl now and then, under impulsion of moonshine or mischief, but lightly always, like thistledown. A man didn't kiss a girl as he had just kissed Carlotta unless he had the right to marry ...
— Wild Wings - A Romance of Youth • Margaret Rebecca Piper

... time and oft with his shield as he would revenge himself upon her in unseemly fashion. The maiden ware a robe of green silk, that was rent in many places, 'twas the cruel knight had wrought the mischief. She rode a sorry hack, bare backed, and her matchless hair, which was yellow as silk, hung even to the horse's croup—but in sooth she had lost well nigh the half thereof, which that fell knight had afore torn out. 'Twas past belief, the maiden's sorrow and shame; ...
— The Romance of Morien • Jessie L. Weston

... travels, saying that the natives are so stupid they do not even know whether their trees are clipped into odd shapes by nature or art. But the apparently grave and courteous Palermitan knew what he was doing all the time and was enjoying it as a child enjoys committing a harmless piece of mischief. ...
— Castellinaria - and Other Sicilian Diversions • Henry Festing Jones

... thought it rather grand to bang about in a careless manner; and if I knocked any thing down, I supposed it was the thing's fault. I once swept down with my tail a whole trayful of crockery; and when I was scolded for doing mischief, I thought it quite sufficient excuse to say to myself, "I did not do it on purpose; what is the use of making such a fuss?" But I now saw clearly that Pussy's care not to do any mischief at all was both more agreeable to others and ...
— Cat and Dog - Memoirs of Puss and the Captain • Julia Charlotte Maitland

... "Ah! the mischief!" thought he; "what a woman! she is either a sly one or an angel"; and he got into his hired coach, the horses of which were stamping on the pavement of the silent courtyard, while the coachman was asleep on his box after cursing for the hundredth ...
— Madame Firmiani • Honore de Balzac

... with his untidy hair and bent shoulders, who was just as bad the other way, and was forever moping and reading. There was that little Hop-o'-my-thumb, as lively as any of them, a young monkey, the worst of all; who was always in mischief, and consorting with the low boys in the village. There was the second brother, who was Melchior's chief companion, and against whom he had no particular quarrel. And there was the little pale lame sister, whom he dearly loved; but whom, odd to say, he never tried to improve at all. There were ...
— In the Yule-Log Glow, Book II - Christmas Tales from 'Round the World • Various

... in the brightest of red plush, sat beside him, his office being to jump down whenever anybody was knocked down, or run over, for Sir Charles drove as it pleased God. The horse was mercifully a very quiet animal, and much too small for the carriage, or the mischief would have been worse. Lady Morgan, in the large bonnet of the period, and a cloak lined with fur hanging over the back of the carriage, gave, as she conceived, the crowning grace to a neat and elegant turn-out. ...
— Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth Century • George Paston

... appeared on the scene, Laurence immediately made him, unknown to himself, the clown of the play; she amused her cousins by arguing with Robert, and leading him, step by step, into some bog of ignorance and stupidity. She excelled in such clever mischief, which, to be really successful, must leave the victim content with himself. And yet, though his nature was a coarse one, Robert never, during those delightful months (the only happy period in the lives of the three young people) said one virile word which might have brought ...
— An Historical Mystery • Honore de Balzac

... said he. "You now feel punishment for your former neglect; but those who, having no foresight of their own, despise the wholesome admonition of their friends, deserve the mischief which their own obstinacy or negligence brings ...
— The Talking Beasts • Various

... thrown upon his Back in the Scuffle, and that he would wrestle with Mr 'Nicolini' for what he pleased, out of his Lion's Skin, it was thought proper to discard him: And it is verily believed to this Day, that had he been brought upon the Stage another time, he would certainly have done Mischief. Besides, it was objected against the first Lion, that he reared himself so high upon his hinder Paws, and walked in so erect a Posture, that he looked more like an old Man than a Lion. The second Lion was a Taylor by Trade, who belonged to the Play-House, and had the Character of a mild and ...
— The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - With Translations and Index for the Series • Joseph Addison and Richard Steele

... expect favors in return, and that every public man should be inflexibly opposed to the reception of presents. Remarks by him about the President, and remarks by the President about him were carried to and fro by mischief-makers, like the shuttle of a loom, and Mr. Sumner directly found himself placed at the head of a clique of disappointed Republicans, who were determined to prevent, if possible, the re-election of ...
— Perley's Reminiscences, Vol. 1-2 - of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis • Benjamin Perley Poore

... scant attention to David before the advent of Carol, except to follow his movements with her eyes in a way of which he could not remain unconscious. But when Carol came, entered the demon of mischief. Carol was young, Mrs. Waldemar was forty. Carol was lovely, Mrs. Waldemar was only unusual. Carol was frank as the sunshine, Mrs. Waldemar was mysterious. What woman on earth but might wonder if the devoted groom were immune ...
— Sunny Slopes • Ethel Hueston

... Sweet elfin mischief of the hill, We'll share a laugh together— Oh half the world is hoyden still, And ...
— A Cluster of Grapes - A Book of Twentieth Century Poetry • Various

... country, they are certainly the smallest and most miserable race of men that I have ever seen. In height about five feet, their arms and legs remarkably thin, they do not seem to want the inclination of doing mischief if they could get an opportunity, but they find we are rather too watchful to give them a chance. From their manner I have no doubt there were many more concealed, who intended attacking us under cover of the smoke—indeed ...
— Explorations in Australia, The Journals of John McDouall Stuart • John McDouall Stuart

... Satire, that he spares no man: and though he cannot strike a blow to hurt any, yet ought to be punished for the malice of the action; as our witches are justly hanged, because they think themselves so, and suffer deservedly for believing they did mischief, because they meant it." ...
— An English Garner - Critical Essays & Literary Fragments • Edited by Professor Arber and Thomas Seccombe

... here's a point that accounts for Sir Reginald giving no alarm—Sir Reginald knew the man and couldna believe he meant mischief!" ...
— Simon • J. Storer Clouston

... certain, nor was the General, though he was determined to be on the safe side, and have you placed beyond a chance of making mischief." ...
— "Forward, March" - A Tale of the Spanish-American War • Kirk Munroe

... tongue had he,"—as much as to say, it is n't looks, after all, but cunning words, that win our Eves over,—just as of old when it was the worst-looking brute of the lot that got our grandmother to listen to his stuff and so did the mischief. ...
— The Professor at the Breakfast Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes (Sr.)

... religious and national union by ecclesiastical reforms. "Why," asked Bacon, "should the civil state be purged and restored by good and wholesome laws made every three years in Parliament assembled, devising remedies as fast as time breedeth mischief, and contrariwise the ecclesiastical state still continue upon the dregs of time, and receive no alteration ...
— History of the English People, Volume V (of 8) - Puritan England, 1603-1660 • John Richard Green

... professed thieves who are again turned loose in a short period on the town, all of whom appear in due course again at the court of the Old Bailey, or at some other, many times in the revolution of one year. Here lies the mischief. An old thief will be sure to enlist others to perpetuate the race. There is no disguising the fact: the whole blame is with the court whose duty it is to take cognizance of these characters. Whilst the present system is pursued, of allowing so many old offenders to escape with trifling ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Vol. 19, Issue 551, June 9, 1832 • Various

... out by Ascham, who says that young men up to 17 were well looked after, but after that age were turned loose to get into all the mischief ...
— Early English Meals and Manners • Various

... Treasury, and they occupy positions that expose them to all the temptations and seductions which the cupidity of peculators and fraudulent claimants can prompt them to employ. It will be but a wise precaution to protect the Government against that source of mischief and corruption, as far as it can be done, by the enactment of all proper legal penalties. The laws in this respect are supposed to be defective, and I therefore deem it my duty to call your attention to the subject and to recommend that provision be made by law for the punishment not ...
— Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present • Various

... Rhodope He flies, or Getic desert, and quaffs milk With horse-blood curdled. Seest one far afield Oft to the shade's mild covert win, or pull The grass tops listlessly, or hindmost lag, Or, browsing, cast her down amid the plain, At night retire belated and alone; With quick knife check the mischief, ere it creep With dire contagion through the unwary herd. Less thick and fast the whirlwind scours the main With tempest in its wake, than swarm the plagues Of cattle; nor seize they single lives alone, But sudden clear whole feeding grounds, the flock With all its promise, and extirpate the breed. ...
— The Georgics • Virgil

... cotes out at both elbowes; for who can tell if such men are worth a grote when their apparel is so homely, and all their behavior so base?" (fo. 86.) The word is found in Todd's Johnson, where Coles is cited to show that snudge means "one who hides himself in a house to do mischief." No examples of the employment of the word by any of ...
— A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. VIII (4th edition) • Various

... beneficent work. The country recognises by this time that anything short of that would mean disaster to the commonwealth. Even with a small majority, the forces of disorder would be able to work untold mischief. Such a result, however, is not within the bounds of possibility, seeing that the Election will be fought purely and simply on the Irish question, which has been placed fully before the electorate in all its bearings. Our organisation is ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 103, July 23, 1892 • Various

... in the God-guarded city of Cairo a cobbler who lived by patching old shoes.[FN1] His name was Ma'aruf[FN2] and he had a wife called Fatimah, whom the folk had nicknamed "The Dung;"[FN3] for that she was a whorish, worthless wretch, scanty of shame and mickle of mischief. She ruled her spouse and abused him; and he feared her malice and dreaded her misdoings; for that he was a sensible man but poor-conditioned. When he earned much, he spent it on her, and when he gained ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 10 • Richard F. Burton

... might engage in and cast loose at pleasure.... If fiends had set themselves to work to discover a mode of most effectually destroying whatever is venerable, graceful, or permanent in domestic life, and of obtaining at the same time an assurance that the mischief which it was their object to create should be perpetuated from one generation to another, they could not have invented a more effectual plan than the degradation of marriage.... Sophie Arnoult, an actress famous for the witty things she said, described the republican ...
— The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan • Ellen G. White

... was so thoroughly and always her guide that it was not likely she thought of the white-feathers being the telltale. But now she realized that a man, one she knew of old as a treacherous character, one whose scent had always meant mischief to her, that had been associated with all her own troubles and the cause of nearly all her desperate danger, was close to her darlings; was tracking them down, in a few minutes would surely have them in ...
— Johnny Bear - And Other Stories From Lives of the Hunted • E. T. Seton

... serve what purposes, they were at first contracted, by what negligence or corruption they have so prodigiously grown, and what methods have since been taken to provide not only for their payment, but to prevent the like mischief for the time to come. Although, in an age like ours, I can expect very few impartial readers, yet I shall strictly follow truth, or what reasonably appeared to me to be such, after the most impartial inquiries I could make, and the best opportunities of ...
— The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, Vol. X. • Jonathan Swift

... be just, Should for those doubts and that reluctance prove The deepest vengeance of the powers above." The tale declares that not pronounced in vain Came forth the warning from the sacred fane: Ere long no branch of that devoted race Could mortal man on soil of Sparta trace! Thus but intended mischief, stayed in time, Had all the mortal guilt of finished crime. If such his fate who yet but darkly dares, Whose guilty purpose yet no act declares, What were it, done! Ah! now farewell to peace! Ne'er on this earth ...
— The World's Best Poetry Volume IV. • Bliss Carman

... it, Elsie,' I cried, clutching her arm with a vague sense of fear, 'this man means mischief. There is danger ahead. When a creature of Higginson's sort, who has risen to be a count and a fashionable physician, descends again to be a courier, you may rest assured it is because he has something to gain ...
— Miss Cayley's Adventures • Grant Allen

... That's just how my wife fell in love with me. I assure you it often begins that way." Nick shook his head wisely. "I should take steps to be nice to him if I were you, before the mischief spreads." ...
— The Keeper of the Door • Ethel M. Dell

... however, to know, when one sees a country ruined, that the perpetrators of the mischief have not ruined it to their own advantage. We purpose showing how signal in the case of Sutherland this ruin has been, and how very extreme the infatuation which continues to possess its hereditary lord. We are old enough ...
— Leading Articles on Various Subjects • Hugh Miller

... Chuk lead you into mischief," continued Mrs. Wuz, rubbing one long ear with her paw lazily. "Those red squirrels are reckless things and ...
— Boys and Girls Bookshelf; a Practical Plan of Character Building, Volume I (of 17) - Fun and Thought for Little Folk • Various

... wur shoiting in an' aat, An' gravel ratches wur abaat, An' th' folk, he sed thay little knew Wat mischief it began to brew. An' news he spread abaat the taan Wat lots o' rain wud tumble daan An' like his anshent sires he spoke The shockin news withaat ...
— Th' History o' Haworth Railway - fra' th' beginnin' to th' end, wi' an ackaant o' th' oppnin' serrimony • Bill o'th' Hoylus End

... the second duel was fought, which created as great a sensation as that between Mr. Sparling and Mr. Grayson, in the previous year. In this encounter the principals were Colonel Bolton and Major Brooks, the same party who had caused the mischief in the previously-mentioned affair. ...
— Recollections of Old Liverpool • A Nonagenarian

... grand campaign of 1813, the weather had an extraordinary influence on Napoleon's fortunes, the rains of Germany really doing him far more mischief than he had experienced from the snows of Russia; and, oddly enough, a portion of this mischief came to him through the gate of victory. The war between the French and the Allies was renewed the middle of August, ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 9, No. 55, May, 1862 • Various

... said, getting up and taking him by the arm; 'you sit down again, where you were sitting. There, sit still; I'll have no more of this; you'll do yourself a mischief. Come, take a drink of this good ale, and I'll warm a tankard for you. La, we'll pull through, you'll see. I'm young, as you say, and it's my turn to carry the bundle; and don't you worry your bile, or we'll have sickness, too, as ...
— Lay Morals • Robert Louis Stevenson

... him in that stuffy little library—just in the height of the season, too—why, I cannot think of doing it. If you will just go and sit with him sometimes, and read to him a little, it will be an absolute charity to me. I'll see that Alice and Emily do not get into any mischief." ...
— Not Pretty, But Precious • John Hay, et al.

... young Hopeful, "this looks like mischief; better hang them, I reckon, than to be stuck like pigs. They look as if they'd do it, ...
— The Privateer's-Man - One hundred Years Ago • Frederick Marryat

... you about it. You see they have a way of pushing long, slender needles into you for the cure of rheumatism and other complaints, and it seems there is a choice of spots for the operation, though it is very strange how little mischief it does in a good many places one would think unsafe to meddle with. So they had a doll made, and marked the spots where they had put in needles without doing any harm. They must have had accidents from sticking the needles into ...
— The Poet at the Breakfast Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

... I went to him, and showed him the report himself brought up from the fleete, where every ship, by the Commander's report, do need more or less, and not to mention more of Sir W. Pen for doing him a mischief. So I said I would, but do not think that all this will redound to my hurt, because the truth of what I said will soon appear. Thence, having been informed that, after all this pains, the King hath found out how to supply ...
— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys

... her ancestors didn't sail with the Conqueror it was probably because they had an appointment at the Moulin Rouge and were too gentlemanly to break it—which was his way of tipping me the wink; and "Britten, my boy," says he, "keep her out of mischief, for you are all she has got ...
— The Man Who Drove the Car • Max Pemberton

... driver, and they were soon jolting and rumbling along to their destination. He had asked the man behind the news-stand about a hotel, casually mentioning that he had money—plenty of it—and wanted a "bang- up good place." The spirit of mischief had entered the heart of the news-man, and he had given Reuben the name of one of the very highest- priced, most luxurious hotels ...
— Across the Years • Eleanor H. Porter

... of anybody," I said in some confusion, for Mr. Thorold's eyes were dancing with mischief and pleasure; - "I do not know - of course I do not know what he was afraid of; but I know how ...
— Daisy in the Field • Elizabeth Wetherell

... give way to unreasoning panic and sacrifice their property or their interests under the influence of exaggerated fears. Nevertheless, every day's delay in removing one of the plain and principal causes of the present state of things enlarges the mischief already done and increases the responsibility of the Government for its existence. Whatever else the people have a right to expect from Congress, they may certainly demand that legislation condemned ...
— Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Volume 8, Section 2 (of 2): Grover Cleveland • Grover Cleveland

... back looking blacker than night and saying in the seclusion of the corral, to beetle-browed hermano mio and his dusky wife, things that even in Spanish sounded ill and would not be publishable in English. Both officers by this time felt that there was mischief abroad. It was decided between them that if by midnight the stage did not arrive, Loring, with the precious packet in one saddle-bag and the court proceedings in the other, should take eight men as escort and gallop for the west until he reached the platoon sent forward ...
— A Wounded Name • Charles King

... and will do something, either good or bad, but oftener bad; and the respective individuals, who were separately very quiet, when met together in numbers, grow tumultuous as a body, and ripe for any mischief that may be pointed out to them by the leaders; and, if their leaders have no business for them, they will find some for themselves. The demagogues, or leaders of popular factions, should therefore be very careful not to assemble the people ...
— The PG Edition of Chesterfield's Letters to His Son • The Earl of Chesterfield

... Mischief was a cunning little fellow from the very first day that I saw him. Such a round, plump little body, such short, clumsy legs, and such a roguish face; just the one of all his nine brothers and sisters about whom to write ...
— Boys and Girls Bookshelf; a Practical Plan of Character Building, Volume I (of 17) - Fun and Thought for Little Folk • Various

... because acquisition is their principle, but for most other intelligent inheritors there must be this twinge of conscientious doubt. "Why particularly am I picked out for so tremendous an advantage?" If the riddle is not Nolan, then it is rent, or it is the social mischief of the business, or the particular speculative COUP that established ...
— The Research Magnificent • H. G. Wells

... to these things, might coexist with them and not be sensible of their presence. Yet the child, I suppose, had her crying fits, and her pouting fits, and naughtiness enough to entitle her to live on earth; at least crusty Hannah often said so, and often made grievous complaint of disobedience, mischief, or breakage, attributable to little Elsie; to which the grim Doctor seldom responded by anything more intelligible than a puff of tobacco-smoke, and, sometimes, an imprecation; which, however, hit crusty Hannah instead of the child. Where the child got the tenderness that a child needs ...
— Doctor Grimshawe's Secret - A Romance • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... disgust. "Just like that evil-tongued mischief-maker! I've told you already that I detest her. She was my friend once—it was she who allured me from my husband's side. Why she exercises such an influence over poor Ethelwynn, I can't tell. I do hope she'll leave their house and come back home. You ...
— The Seven Secrets • William Le Queux

... four days the old folks were away we had run free; games and jokes had been in full swing. There was still mischief in us, for the next morning when we came down to do the chores before any one else was ...
— A Busy Year at the Old Squire's • Charles Asbury Stephens

... upon her glove Cheeks whose dimples tempt to love, And, with saintly look above, Hears her "Pa" exhort her; But, within those upturned eyes, Fair as sunny summer skies, Just a hint of mischief ...
— Cape Cod Ballads, and Other Verse • Joseph C. Lincoln

... "I really must give the child another bedroom, this sort of thing is so bad for her. It is small wonder the darling does not get back her health—the dreadful way in which she is over-excited and injudiciously treated. Really, my good folks, I wish you would go back to town and not make mischief." ...
— Daddy's Girl • L. T. Meade

... about the same care in selecting a friend that most men do in selecting a wife. Tell Dr. Leet that I am glad he found me in a pigeon hole of his memory, but that I am a long way from being "the blue-eyed bunch of mischief" he describes. I wish you would tell him that I am slender, pale, and pensive with a glamour of romance and mystery hovering about me; that is the way I ...
— Lady of the Decoration • Frances Little

... deep pitfalls in many parts of the public pathway, the which they covered with branches and green sods, that the saint when journeying might fall unawares therein. But a certain damsel discovered the contrived snare, and she hastened to show it unto the man of God, that he might avoid the mischief. Then he, trusting in the Lord, commanded his people to drive forward the horses, and, having blessed them, he passed over with unfailing foot. For the soft and tender herbage supported them like the solid earth, inasmuch as the holy troop bore in their hearts and on their bodies Him who bore all ...
— The Most Ancient Lives of Saint Patrick - Including the Life by Jocelin, Hitherto Unpublished in America, and His Extant Writings • Various

... turning round as fast as Jack turned, always faced him, and his beak was too formidable to be encountered. I was frequently awakened by the quick trampling of feet at this early hour, and knew it arose from a pursuit of Jack, in consequence of some mischief on his part. Like all other nautical monkeys, he descended into the forecastle, where he twisted off the night-caps of the sailors as they lay in their hammocks, stole their knives, tools, etc., and if they were not very active in the pursuit, ...
— Anecdotes of the Habits and Instinct of Animals • R. Lee

... been rigidly executed, enforcing attendance on divine service; and in the view of rendering, by the destruction of the building, the Sabbath a day of as little decency and sobriety as any other in the week. The perpetrators of this mischief were, however, disappointed in their expectation; for the governor, justly deeming this to have been the motive, and highly irritated at such a shameful act, resolved, if no convenient place could immediately be found ...
— An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Vol. 2 • David Collins

... the Duke said. "He stands for a ministry of his own selection. Heaven only knows what mischief this may mean. His doctrines are thoroughly revolutionary. He is an iconoclast with a genius for destruction. But he has the ear of the people. ...
— The Yellow Crayon • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... in the mischief," thought he, "am I to find anything here?" He held up his lantern and looked about. "I can't move these rocks to see what ...
— The Adventures of Captain Horn • Frank Richard Stockton

... upon me in a gathering of women—especially of girls. With Sally I never forgot that I was a strong man,—with Bonny Page I remembered only that I was a plain one. As she stood there, with her arm about Sally, and her black eyes dancing with fun, she looked the incarnate spirit of mischief,—and beside the spirit of mischief I felt decidedly heavy. She was a tall, splendid girl, with a beautiful figure,—the belle of Richmond and the best horsewoman of the state. I had seen her take a jump that had brought my heart to my ...
— The Romance of a Plain Man • Ellen Glasgow

... she thought, "imagines himself to be in love with me. Why should he not become my servant instead of the General's? He is good-natured, obliging, and understands dress; and besides, it will keep him out of mischief. He is positively too ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 4 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson

... fungus, this smoke pillar swayed and fluctuated, up, up, into the sky—making the Downs seem low and all other objects petty, and in the foreground, led by Cossar, the makers of this mischief followed the path, eight little black figures coming wearily, guns shouldered, ...
— The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth • H.G. Wells

... course, was Bartolome de las Casas, so widely known as the Apostle of the Indies. There are many who fling themselves heart and soul into a cause of which they know nothing, and who, from the sheer impetus of good-hearted ignorance, cause infinite mischief. The case of Las Casas was different. Before he took up his spiritual labours he had lived for years at the theatre of his future work, and understood the conditions of ...
— South America • W. H. Koebel

... 'There's mischief in the forest.... They're cutting a tree down on Mares' Ravine,' he added, in reply ...
— A Sportsman's Sketches - Works of Ivan Turgenev, Vol. I • Ivan Turgenev

... had not been exaggerating) for Di's sake, and love's sake. But there was no going back now, even if I would. The train was already travelling almost at full speed, and there was nothing to do but resign myself to the inevitable, and hope for the best. Someone, it was clear, had tried to work mischief between Diana and me, and there were only too many chances that he had succeeded. Could it be Bob West, I asked myself, as I half-dazedly looked for a place to sit down among the litter of small luggage ...
— The Powers and Maxine • Charles Norris Williamson

... full of the joy of living, fun-loving, given to ingenious mischief for its own sake, with a disregard for pretty convention which is an unfailing source ...
— What's-His-Name • George Barr McCutcheon

... I should not wish them to be quoted as typical Americans. The domination of such persons has an effect which is by no means measurable by their personal acts. What they can do is of infinitesimal importance. But the mischief is that they incline every one of us to believe, as Emerson puts it, in two gods. They make the morality of Wall Street and the White House seem to be a different thing from that of our parlors and nurseries. "He may be a little shady on 'change," ...
— Confessions and Criticisms • Julian Hawthorne

... uselessly, to obtain some explanation upon these alarms. All that she could unravel was that the strangers were Englishmen, and in a violent excitement about something, that something very important was at stake,—and that they meditated mischief. She fancied thereupon that the Pretender was in question; resolved to save him; mentally arranged her plans, and fortunately ...
— The Memoirs of Louis XIV., His Court and The Regency, Complete • Duc de Saint-Simon

... your grandsons alone, Godfrey," she said at last, "if you'll take my advice; which I don't think you ever did yet. You'll only make mischief. And there is Sissy to be considered. Let ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, October, 1877, Vol. XX. No. 118 • Various

... be trusted to dispose of petty criminal prosecutions and to conduct preliminary examinations into charges of any offence for the purpose of determining whether there is ground for holding the accused for trial before a jury, although even here mischief often results from their ignorance of law, and the sufferers have little means of redress.[Footnote: See McVeigh v. Ripley, 77 Connecticut Reports, 136; 58 Atlantic Reporter, 701.] Such prosecutions are brought by ...
— The American Judiciary • Simeon E. Baldwin, LLD

... mark! and tremble at heaven's just award: While thy insatiate wrath and fell revenge Pursu'd the innocence which never wrong'd thee, Behold, the mischief falls on thee and me: Remorse and heaviness of heart shall wait thee, And everlasting anguish be thy portion. For me, the snares of death are wound about me, And now, in one poor moment, I am gone. Oh! if thou hast one tender thought remaining, Fly to thy closet, fall upon thy ...
— Jane Shore - A Tragedy • Nicholas Rowe

... "The Moor-woman who brews. I was at it. The bung was in the cask, but one of the little moor-imps pulled it out in his mischief, and flung it up into the yard, where it beat against the window; and now the beer's running out of the cask, and that won't do good ...
— Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen • Hans Christian Andersen

... a horseman came cantering toward me. "Hello!" he saluted, as he drew up beside the wagon. "Goin' up to the house? Better not. Mrs. Louderer is not at home, and there's no one there but Greasy Pete. He's on a tear; been drunk two days, I'm tellin' you. He's full of mischief. 'T ain't safe around old Greasy. I advise you to go some'eres else." "Well," I asked, "where can I go?" "Danged if I know," he replied, "'lessen it 's to Kate Higbee's. She lives about six or seven miles west. She ain't been here long, but I guess you can't miss her ...
— Letters of a Woman Homesteader • Elinore Pruitt Stewart

... of a potent and exceptional human being emancipated from the pettier limitations of integrity with the Napoleonic legend. It gave his imagination a considerable outlet. That Napoleonic legend! The real mischief of Napoleon's immensely disastrous and accidental career began only when he was dead and the romantic type of mind was free to elaborate his character. I do believe that my uncle would have made a far less egregious smash if there had been ...
— Tono Bungay • H. G. Wells

... ingredient in happiness. No work would be called, in a special sense, a work of art, for all works would be such intrinsically; and even instinctive mimicry and reproduction would themselves operate, not when mischief or idleness prompted, but when some human occasion and some general utility made the exercise of such skill entirely delightful. Thus there would need to be no division of mankind into mechanical blind workers and half-demented poets, and no ...
— The Life of Reason • George Santayana

... he was always called Earee Tutti, and then was absent on a visit to the eastward, but expected to return in four or five days: At the same time, he said, messengers had been sent to acquaint him of the ship's arrival. He also informed Mr. Watts, that Maheine, the chief of Eimeo, to retaliate the mischief done him by Capt. Cook, had, after the departure of the Resolution and Discovery from the islands, landed in the night at Oparree, and destroyed all the animals and fowls he could lay hold of, and that O'too was obliged to fly to the ...
— The Voyage Of Governor Phillip To Botany Bay • Arthur Phillip



Words linked to "Mischief" :   blaze, maleficent, mischievousness, misbehavior, mischief-maker, maleficence, balefulness, devilment, roguishness, hooliganism, mischief-making, evil, evilness, roguery, monkey business, misdeed, beneficence, devilry, shenanigan, misbehaviour, hell, vandalism



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