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Soothe   Listen
verb
Soothe  v. t.  (past & past part. soothed; pres. part. soothing)  
1.
To assent to as true. (Obs.)
2.
To assent to; to comply with; to gratify; to humor by compliance; to please with blandishments or soft words; to flatter. "Good, my lord, soothe him, let him take the fellow." "I've tried the force of every reason on him, Soothed and caressed, been angry, soothed again."
3.
To assuage; to mollify; to calm; to comfort; as, to soothe a crying child; to soothe one's sorrows. "Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak." "Though the sound of Fame May for a moment soothe, it can not slake The fever of vain longing."
Synonyms: To soften; assuage; allay; compose; mollify; tranquilize; pacify; mitigate.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Soothe" Quotes from Famous Books



... if I was a mere working-woman,' Mrs. Hood exclaimed, when Emily endeavoured to soothe her. 'Well, and what else am I, indeed? There was a time when no one would have ventured ...
— A Life's Morning • George Gissing

... wound, and laid Cool leaves and healing honey on the smart. Yet all so little knew the boy of pain, That curiously into his wrist he pressed The arrow's barb, and winced to feel it sting, And turned with tears to soothe his bird again. Then some one came who said, "My Prince hath shot A swan, which fell among the roses here; He bids me pray you send it. Will you send?" "Nay," quoth Siddartha: "If the bird were dead, To send it to the slayer might be well, But the swan ...
— Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol. 2 • Charles Dudley Warner

... you mean?" Larry let his horse go, and flung himself on his knees beside Donovan. Christian, colourless continued to try and soothe Nancy, who lay without moving, though her frightened eye turned from one to another, and her ...
— Mount Music • E. Oe. Somerville and Martin Ross

... and each of them in the extreme, he now lamented her death with the same violence that he had just before seemed to desire it. "Miserable man!" exclaimed he, "what is there now worth living for? since all that could soothe or soften my cares is departed! O Cleopa'tra! our separation does not so much afflict me, as the disgrace I suffer, in permitting a woman to instruct me in ...
— Pinnock's Improved Edition of Dr. Goldsmith's History of Rome • Oliver Goldsmith

... manners, from the representative of the politest of nations, naturally excited lively indignation and disgust among all respectable dwellers, native or foreign, near the court, and a serious disturbance was imminent. But a single dose of the King's English sufficed to soothe the spasmodic official, and reduce him to "a ...
— The English Governess At The Siamese Court • Anna Harriette Leonowens

... But in private it was not safe to speak to her about the captain. Her temper, when the hours of her love-making were over for the day, was extremely bad. Even Hannah, who was a match for most women in the use of her tongue, shrank from the sharp gibes of the Comtesse. Una tried in vain to soothe the ruffled lady, and had to bear much from her, but Una could have borne anything patiently. The east wind blew gently day and night, bringing—surely bringing—the white sails of the brig. The sea remained calm and she was ...
— The Northern Iron - 1907 • George A. Birmingham

... tongue the trick of slighting, though 'tis faithful to the rest, Lest it say her brother's bullet is the bullet in my breast; But if it must be that she learn it despite your tenderest care, 'Twill soothe her bleeding heart to know ...
— Poems Teachers Ask For, Book Two • Various

... love Him God watches in the night, and holds sweetest communion with them, as through the long dark hours they lie upon their beds; but to the wicked He sends no thought of comfort or consolation. He does not soothe them to rest with the remembrance of His loving care. And often He troubles them with dark thoughts and unwelcome dreams, ...
— Little Folks (Septemeber 1884) - A Magazine for the Young • Various

... best to soothe his angry spouse; I fear he suffered a good deal at times from her unmannerliness, though to be sure she was an excellent housewife and had a heart of gold. And Captain Galsworthy, saying never a word in reply to her outbreak, rubbed his elbow and ...
— Humphrey Bold - A Story of the Times of Benbow • Herbert Strang

... to reassure her. Somehow, the presence of these two did much to soothe the mental irritation which Miller had set up in him. They at least were of the world of understandable things. Miller, slouching in his chair, with a cheap tie-clip showing underneath his waistcoat, a bulging mass of sock descending over the ...
— Nobody's Man • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... admits that the conduct of Hampden during this year was mild and temperate, that he seemed disposed rather to soothe than to excite the public mind, and that, when violent and unreasonable motions were made by his followers, he generally left the House before the division, lest he should seem to give countenance to their ...
— Critical and Historical Essays Volume 1 • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... can do; nor this alone; they give New views of life, and teach us how to live; The grieved they soothe, the stubborn they chastise; Fools they admonish, and confirm the wise. Their aid they yield to all; they never shun The man of sorrow, or the wretch undone. Unlike the hard, the selfish, and the proud, They fly not sullen from the suppliant crowd, ...
— Round the Block • John Bell Bouton

... attention. The protection of our laws must be thrown around him; justice must guide our future dealings with him, and sorrow for all the fearful ills we have wrought upon him must awaken larger sympathy, and elicit tender mercy. The race are dying out among us: let us at least soothe their parting hours. And let the Government look well to its avaricious agents. Our people are generous, and mean to be just; that is not enough: they must take the proper means, and see that their ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6, December 1864 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various

... two distinct races. Those who have need of others, whom others distract, engage, soothe, whom solitude harasses, pains, stupefies, like the forward movement of a terrible glacier, or the traversing of the desert; and those, on the contrary, whom others weary, tire, bore, silently torture, while isolation calms them, bathes them in the repose of independency, and plunges them ...
— The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Volume IV (of 8) • Guy de Maupassant

... common brethren of the ground, 65 Wherein, were we not dull, Some words of highest wisdom might be found; Yet earnest faith from day to day may cull Some syllables, which, rightly joined, can make A spell to soothe life's bitterest ache, 70 And ope Heaven's portals, which are near us still, Yea, nearer ever than ...
— The Vision of Sir Launfal - And Other Poems • James Russell Lowell

... to embroil them with France as the patroness of the Turks. The court of London engaged not to abandon Prussia: but both of them relaxed a little the tone of their proceedings. The King of Prussia sent a Mr. Alvensleben here, expressly to explain and soothe: the King of England, notwithstanding the cold reception of his propositions by Grenville, renewed conferences here through Eden and the Duke of Dorset. The minister, in the affection of his heart for peace, readily joined ...
— Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson - Volume I • Thomas Jefferson

... Germany, had all alike been doubtful of dinner, and trembled about a night's lodging. They all knew the life of mean hazard, sorry shift, and petty expedient again and again renewed. It is sorrowful to think how many of the compositions of that time that do most to soothe and elevate some of the best hours of our lives, were written by men with aching hearts, in the midst of haggard perplexities. The man of letters, as distinguished alike from the old-fashioned scholar and the systematic thinker, now first became a distinctly marked type. Macaulay has contrasted ...
— Diderot and the Encyclopaedists (Vol 1 of 2) • John Morley

... much of the wisdom of heaven is discovered in it, and because the best saint is, or may be, concerned with it. Nor must we by any means let this truth be lost, because it is the truth; the text has declared it so, and to say otherwise is to belie the Word of God, to thwart the apostle, to soothe up hypocrites, to rob Christians of their privilege, and to take the glory from the head of Jesus Christ ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... passion breathed through every feature. It seemed to him she saw nothing before her. Her longing soul was back in the old haunts, surrounded by the old loved forms and sounds. It went to his heart. He tried to soothe her with the tenderest words remorseful love could find. But the conflict of feeling—grief, rebellion, doubt, self-judgment—would not be soothed, and long after she had made him leave her and ...
— Robert Elsmere • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... didn't. I don't want it. I don't hold by any o't. You'm very kind," she went on, her voice trembling for an instant and then recovering its firmness, "and I reckon it soothed mother. But I reckon it don't soothe me. I reckon it rubs me the wrong way. There's times, when I hears a body prayin', that I wishes we was Papists again and worshipped images, that I might ...
— The Delectable Duchy • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... Europe; but my poor little brown wings were often so weary in my flight across the sea that I wished, like the birds, I could drop into the waves and die; for what was to me the use of immortality when I could no longer soothe the sorrow of mortals? But I cannot die; and after I had fluttered across into Egypt, where the glaring light of the sun almost blinded me, I was thankful to find a ruined tomb or temple underground, where great ...
— Wonder-Box Tales • Jean Ingelow

... of moving feet; a sudden cessation; then Lourenco's voice speaking to some one concealed behind the intervening undergrowth. His tone was slow, quiet, easy—the tone which, even if the words were not understood, would soothe suspicious and abruptly alarmed minds. After another short silence he resumed talking, pointing carelessly to the place behind him where stood the silent file of Mayorunas. A guttural voice replied. A head peered cautiously ...
— The Pathless Trail • Arthur O. (Arthur Olney) Friel

... of hony and of watre soden to gidre. For in that contree is nouther wyn ne ale. Thei lyven fulle wrecched liche; and thei eten but ones in the day, and that but lyttle, nouther in courtes ne in other places. And in soothe, o man allone in this contree wil ete more in a day, than on of hem will ete in 3 dayes. And zif ony straunge messagre come there to a lord, men maken him to ete but ones a day, and ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, - and Discoveries of The English Nation, Volume 9 - Asia, Part 2 • Richard Hakluyt

... which his wife and child would be exposed in his absence. How much he did not know. Perhaps he had no desire to know. Anyway, being a man of some wisdom, being possessed of a home, and a wife, and family of his own, he applied himself assiduously to the pipe which never failed to soothe his feelings, however much they ...
— The Heart of Unaga • Ridgwell Cullum

... walking fast and angry; nor when I caught her up and tried to soothe, would she answer me but in the shortest words. Woman's justice, as I had just learn'd, has this small defect—it goes straight enough, but mainly for the wrong object. Which now I proved in ...
— The Splendid Spur • Arthur T. Quiller Couch

... stand at noon upon the peak of heaven, Then with unwilling steps I wander down Into the clouds of the Atlantic even— For grief that I depart they weep & frown [;] What look is more delightful than the smile With which I soothe them ...
— Proserpine and Midas • Mary Shelley

... stream. Leave the ocean, which cares nothing for you or any living thing that walks the solid earth; leave the river, too busy with its own errand, too talkative about its own affairs, and find peace with me, whose smile will cheer you, whose whisper will soothe you. Come to me when the morning sun blazes across my bosom like a golden baldric; come to me in the still midnight, when I hold the inverted firmament like a cup brimming with jewels, nor spill one star of all the constellations ...
— A Mortal Antipathy • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

... disordered—everything shows it. Sometimes she carries the fish in her arms half the night when it complains and wants to get to the water. At such times the water comes out of the places in her face that she looks out of, and she pats the fish on the back and makes soft sounds with her mouth to soothe it, and betrays sorrow and solicitude in a hundred ways. I have never seen her do like this with any other fish, and it troubles me greatly. She used to carry the young tigers around so, and play with ...
— The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories • Mark Twain

... They loved each other with a friendship true: From early years it daily stronger grew; Look through the universe you'll scarcely find, So great a likeness, both in heart and mind. The slave, more clever than the lady fair, At first her mistress left to wild despair; She then essayed to soothe each torment dire; But reason 's fruitless, with a soul on fire. No consolation would the belle receive, For one no more, she constantly would grieve, And sought to follow him to regions blessed:— The sword had shortest proved, ...
— The Tales and Novels, Complete • Jean de La Fontaine

... and there is no letter, and I cannot understand it," says the girl, apparently to herself, and then she begins to cry silently, while her half-sister goes to her, and puts her arm around her neck, and tries to soothe her. ...
— The Galaxy - Vol. 23, No. 1 • Various

... ivied lattice shows My fair one slumbers in repose. Come, ye that know the lovely maid, And help prepare the serenade. Hither, before the night is flown, Bring instruments of every tone. But lest with noise ye wake, not lull, Her dreaming fancy, ye must cull Such only as shall soothe the mind And leave the harshest all behind. Bring not the thundering drum, nor yet The harshly-shrieking clarionet, Nor screaming hautboy, trumpet shrill, Nor clanging cymbals; but, with skill, Exclude each one that would disturb ...
— Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals - In Two Volumes, Volume II • Samuel F. B. Morse

... all in his power to soothe their savage breasts, and soon after returned to Grimross Neck. In a short time the rebellion broke out, and affairs in New England were fast assuming a most serious aspect. The rebels in the vicinity of Grimross were fully aware of Captain Godfrey's ...
— Young Lion of the Woods - A Story of Early Colonial Days • Thomas Barlow Smith

... did not sob, or cry out; but every muscle of her face quivered with irrepressible emotion, and her trembling limbs seemed scarcely able to support her. There was more than the sorrow of parting there; there was of ever seeing her father again. Her sister tried to soothe hers. Her mother spoke sharply to her; then, with true maternal instinct, went forward to the baggage car, and brought her father back to her. The mother herself did not shed a tear; but her parting time had not come, for she was to accompany her ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol 2, No 6, December 1862 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy • Various

... spoke directly of this element of his; but she made many a gentle effort to meet it and soothe what could be soothed. To this end partly were her very full accounts of all the course of her quiet life. As fearlessly and simply as possible Faith talked, to him; quite willing to be found wrong and to be told so, wherever wrong was. It was rather by the fulness of what she gave ...
— Say and Seal, Volume II • Susan Warner

... sugar-cane grew in the clayey soil. He reared some plants of coffee on the hills, where the grain, although small, is excellent. His plantain-trees, which spread their grateful shade on the banks of the river, and encircled the cottages, yielded fruit throughout the year. And lastly, Domingo, to soothe his cares, cultivated a few plants of tobacco. Sometimes he was employed in cutting wood for firing from the mountain, sometimes in hewing pieces of rock within the enclosure, in order to level the paths. The zeal which inspired him enabled him to perform ...
— Paul and Virginia • Bernardin de Saint Pierre

... the trial of the day, of which we have seen nothing, came back sharper in sleep. While the strong self in the man lay torpid, whatever holier power was in him came out, undaunted by defeat, and unwearied, and took the form of dreams, those slighted messengers of God, to soothe and charm and win him out into fuller, kindlier life. Let us hope that they did so win him; let us hope that even in that unreal world the better nature of the man triumphed at last, and claimed its reward before the terrible reality broke ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 09, No. 51, January, 1862 • Various

... he said, with his easy imperiousness. "I can't spare you yet. I must have one more dance just to soothe my nerves. I've been dancing with a faultless automaton who didn't understand me in the least. Now I want the real ...
— Greatheart • Ethel M. Dell

... danger and despair Still let our deeds be true, For nought but what is right and fair Can heal our hopeless view. The beautiful will soothe us, like The sunshine of a friend, And when things are at ...
— The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume VI - The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century • Various

... nothing outside of camp requirements, but the men would forage at night, bring in a sheep or hog, divide up, and by the immutable law of camps it was always proper to hang a choice piece of mutton or pork at the door of the officers' tent. This helped to soothe the conscience of the men and pave the way to immunity from punishment. The stereotyped orders were issued every night for "Captains to keep their men in camp," but the orders were as often disregarded as ...
— History of Kershaw's Brigade • D. Augustus Dickert

... to soothe her by patting and holding her hands. For a good while the resolution of the girl faltered, and she was but as a little child. Then her habitual strength of mind asserted itself. She did not ask Harold ...
— The Man • Bram Stoker

... If you are thus permitted, why may not I be? I am your wife, a portion of yourself; and when I am left over a desolate hearth while you pursue your course of danger, may not I appeal also to the immaterial world to give me that intelligence which will soothe my sorrow, lighten my burden, and which, at the same time, can hurt no living creature? Did I attempt to practise these arts for evil purposes, it were just to deny them me, am wrong to continue them; but I would but follow in the step of my husband, and seek, as ...
— The Phantom Ship • Frederick Marryat

... prisoned in my heart (Panting in vain its message to impart) Hover around thee, Love, on trembling wing, To tell thee of the soft-eyed hopes that cling To Love's white feet, the doubts and fears that start And pierce his bosom with a poisoned dart,— The smiles that soothe, the ...
— Sonnets • Nizam-ud-din-Ahmad, (Nawab Nizamat Jung Bahadur)

... are dark and drear, And though the mountains everywhere Rise steep and rugged round me here To bar me out from life! there lives One Star which shineth bright and clear From out the sky and comfort gives To soothe ...
— Welsh Lyrics of the Nineteenth Century • Edmund O. Jones

... should contain all things necessary to their several characters, but nothing very superfluous; and their whole arrangement should indicate, and be subservient to, the idea that prompted it. Above all, they should have in them some thing, or things, to soothe the thoughts, stimulate the fancy, and suggest something higher than the ordinary uses which they serve. Human beings, even in the life of a day, experience many fluctuations of mood, of joy or sadness; and there should be some thing, if not person, in their homes, that would suggest ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 460 - Volume 18, New Series, October 23, 1852 • Various

... but I must have merited the accusation; yet, to clear myself,-you know not how painful will be the task. But I cannot resist your kind entreaties;-indeed I do not wish to resist them; for your friendship and affection will soothe my chagrin. Had it arisen from any other cause, not a moment would I have deferred the communication you ask;-but as it is, I would, were it possible, not only conceal it from all the world, but endeavour ...
— Evelina • Fanny Burney

... mind he began to walk rapidly up and down the lonely deck, the governess following, and trying to soothe him. ...
— Lady Audley's Secret • Mary Elizabeth Braddon

... just like her in all your little ways," continued she, as Jennie stole up to her and patted her black head with her tiny hand, as if to soothe her sorrows; "Missus would have been clean gone and done with this life if she had not lighted upon you to take the sadness out of her heart ...
— The Elm Tree Tales • F. Irene Burge Smith

... himself a title that, as in Household Words, might be capable of illustration by a line from Shakespeare; and alighting upon that wherein poor Henry the Sixth is fain to solace his captivity by the fancy, that, like birds encaged he might soothe himself for loss of liberty "at last by notes of household harmony," he for the time forgot that this might hardly be accepted as a happy comment on the occurrences out of which the supposed necessity had arisen of replacing the old by a new household friend. "Don't you think," he ...
— The Life of Charles Dickens, Vol. I-III, Complete • John Forster

... her feelings. He was only aware that she was crying, and tried in a bungling way to soothe her. But now that she had given way, she sat down in ...
— Main-Travelled Roads • Hamlin Garland

... afflicted parts in the cooling element. There he sat with his hands plunged deep, when Mr Winterbottom made his appearance at the same spot and Mr Quince was comforted by witnessing the state of his enemy. Indeed, the sight of Winterbottom's distress did more to soothe Mr Quince's pain than all the Thames water in the world. He rose, and leaving Winterbottom, with his two hands to his head, leaning against a tree, joined the party, and pledged the ladies in succession, till he was more ...
— Jacob Faithful • Captain Frederick Marryat

... wide-open old-fashioned fireplaces of the days of our grandmothers. There are small grooves at certain sections in the flooring over which chairs and couches can be brought to a desired position. When the master drops into his favorite chair by the fireplace if he wishes a tune to soothe his jangled nerves, there is an electric attachment to the piano and he can adjust it to get the air of his choice without having to ask any one to play for him. In the drawing-room an electric fountain may be playing, its jets ...
— Marvels of Modern Science • Paul Severing

... that thou art, So to dissemble with thy sovereign; And afterward, under a show of love, Thou cam'st to soothe thy lesing to the king, Meaning by that to make me to conceive, That thy intent was just and honourable. But, see, at last thou hast deceived thyself, And Edgar hath found out thy subtlety; Which to requite think Edgar ...
— A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. VI • Robert Dodsley

... puzzled astonishment, believed her to be laboring under some temporary hallucination, the result of weakness. He set himself to soothe her, but it seemed that she could not be soothed. She burst into a storm of tears ...
— East Lynne • Mrs. Henry Wood

... employed in the service of the rich. In their dress, their table, their houses, and their furniture, the favorites of fortune united every refinement of conveniency, of elegance, and of splendor, whatever could soothe their pride or gratify their sensuality. Such refinements, under the odious name of luxury, have been severely arraigned by the moralists of every age; and it might perhaps be more conducive to the virtue, as well as happiness, of mankind, if all possessed the ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 1 • Edward Gibbon

... love of doing return. Never did I now see a tear that I did not dry. Never did I hear a sigh that I did not change to a laugh; never a wound that I did not heal; never a pain that I did not soothe; nor a care I did not lighten. Where the sick were found, I visited them; where the poor were, I bought them bread. Out on the plains and in the desert I lifted the Cross of Hope and the Chalice of Salvation. To the dying I sped the Minister of Pardon. Into the darkness and the shadow ...
— The City and the World and Other Stories • Francis Clement Kelley

... you had been there. She put her arms round me and all at once I understood that the poor thing mistook me just for a moment for her own daughter come back to life. It was a sudden fancy and I don't think it lasted, but I didn't know how to deal with it, or contradict it, so I simply tried to soothe her and let her ease her heart by talking to me. She said when I left her: 'Where is your house? I hope it is near! Do come again and sit with me. Strength flows into my weakness when you hold my hand!' I somehow feel, Patty, that she needs a woman friend even more than a doctor. ...
— The Story Of Waitstill Baxter • By Kate Douglas Wiggin

... nephew had by an act of self-sacrifice surrendered this bed as a luxury for lodgers in the season, having himself a strong congenital love of bisection. He hadn't slept nigh so sound two months past, and the crossbar would soothe his slumbers. ...
— Somehow Good • William de Morgan

... midst of this contest she died. During her last sickness she sent for some of the leaders of the Protestant party, and did all that she could to soothe and conciliate their minds. She mourned the calamities and sufferings which the civil war had brought upon the country, and urged the Protestants to do all in their power, after her death, to heal these dissensions and restore peace. She also exhorted ...
— Mary Queen of Scots, Makers of History • Jacob Abbott

... overcoming her own pain and horror at the double tragedy—for Jasper's body had been recovered and brought back to the house an hour after the death of Jessica—had retired with poor, remorseful Ada to her own rooms, where she did her best to soothe and comfort the unhappy woman. Overwhelmed with remorse at her previous neglect of the girl, Ada blamed herself bitterly for not watching her enemy more closely, and thus protecting all concerned ...
— Adrien Leroy • Charles Garvice

... in the way of economy than mere silence. Neither they nor any other human being can possibly have a right to expect us, not merely to abstain from the open expression of dissents, but positively to profess unreal and feigned assents. No fear of giving pain, no wish to soothe the alarms of those to whom we owe much, no respect for the natural clinging of the old to the faith which has accompanied them through honourable lives, can warrant us in saying that we believe to be true what we are convinced ...
— On Compromise • John Morley

... of youth's eternal sorrow. His best lyrics use words that fall into their places with the "dying fall" of an actual fit of sobbing. And they are so naturally chosen, his images and metaphors! Even when they seem most remote, they are such as frail young hearts cannot help happening upon, as they soothe their "love-laden ...
— Visions and Revisions - A Book of Literary Devotions • John Cowper Powys

... hath sent these strangers here, These dying men to soothe and cheer? To do what mortal skill may do To lighten their burdens of grief and woe; To shrive these dying souls of blame, To bid them hope in Heaven above. Who hath sent these in my dear name To do this holiest work of love? Hath ...
— Nothing to Say - A Slight Slap at Mobocratic Snobbery, Which Has 'Nothing - to Do' with 'Nothing to Wear' • QK Philander Doesticks

... and thought he saw me; but I was not there. Descending from the mast almost distracted, he grappled Jimmy as he struck the deck, shouting in a voice that startled him, 'Where is Tommo?' The old fellow faltered, but soon recovering, did all he could to soothe him, assuring him that it had proved to be impossible to get me down to the shore that morning; assigning many plausible reasons, and adding that early on the morrow he was going to visit the bay again in a French boat, when, if he did not find me on the beach—as this time he certainly expected ...
— Typee - A Romance of the South Sea • Herman Melville

... an Enchanter runs away with the Bride, in the very hour of her nuptials, He brings her to his cave, and tries to soothe her. They sit down on a sofa (the regular sofa! in the regular place, O. P. Second Entrance!) and a procession of musicians enters; one creature playing a drum, and knocking himself off his legs at every blow. These failing to delight her, dancers appear. Four first; then two; THE two; the flesh-coloured ...
— Pictures from Italy • Charles Dickens

... preferred to see the Emperor beaten and humiliated. But that seemed to him outside all possibility. The Emperor's triumph was as inevitable as the changing of the seasons. A man may not wish for winter or the east winds of spring; but he does not soothe himself with hopes that the long days of summer will continue. It seemed to Konrad Karl merely foolish that Gorman should speak as if the issue of the war ...
— The Island Mystery • George A. Birmingham

... have borne almost death itself for the sake of being nursed by the young girl beside him, and he signified his willingness to proceed, while at the same time his hand involuntarily grasped that of Maggie, as if in the touch of her snowy fingers there were a mesmeric power to soothe his pain. In the meantime a hurried consultation had been held between Mrs. Jeffrey and Theo as to the room suitable for the stranger ...
— Maggie Miller • Mary J. Holmes

... and fair— Who to these modest pages turn, To raise a smile, to soothe a care, Or some moot point of duty learn,— Forget not this: that whilst you live, Your hearts may yield to pride or sin, Take, then, the warning here I ...
— Enquire Within Upon Everything - The Great Victorian Domestic Standby • Anonymous

... well she stood with her mistress, sought to soothe her, but he found it impossible to do so; for, leaving him where he stood, she furiously betook herself to her mistress, who, loving Jambicque as she did herself, left all the company to come and speak with her, and, on finding her in such great ...
— The Tales Of The Heptameron, Vol. IV. (of V.) • Margaret, Queen Of Navarre

... gown. She is really quite a happy woman again, for it is several years since any deep sorrow struck her; and that is a long time. No one, you know, understands the Colonel as she does, no one can soothe him and bring him out of his imaginings as she can. He hastens to her. He is no longer cold. That is her great reward for all she does ...
— Echoes of the War • J. M. Barrie

... she was blindly endeavoring to clear herself, yet thinking only how he might soothe her, inexpressibly shocked by both words and manner. "I know, I understand—you found him there in the dark, and it ...
— Beth Norvell - A Romance of the West • Randall Parrish

... mother! "come off best when we are most afraid." She told me that, once when she asked me about forming verbs I said, "I did not form them in an ugly shape." "You could not," said she "speak plain; and I was proud that I had a boy who was forming verbs" These little memorials soothe ...
— Life Of Johnson, Vol. 1 • Boswell

... himself: and what will he see? Decency on a monument smiling reproachfully at her unprincipled traducer. MacMorrogh will rub it into you good and hard. Can't you feel the Sunday-school atmosphere right here in the headquarters this morning? Look down yonder at the Nadia—wouldn't that soothe ...
— Empire Builders • Francis Lynde

... I remained silent. Spoken in his soft melodious voice his words seemed to soothe me, by way of contrast to the storm of passion I had listened to so recently. I did not try to think. I felt that he had not finished, and I wished to hear him to the end. Perhaps I was conscious, too, that it would be impossible for me to come to a ...
— A Romantic Young Lady • Robert Grant

... enough from you now, Phil," said the old ex-Confederate good-naturedly, leading him toward the house and trying to soothe ...
— Brand Blotters • William MacLeod Raine

... think otherwise," she answered. "But now that you are with me—that I can hear you speak to me—" And at this point her voice failed her altogether; and he could only draw her closer to him, and soothe and caress her, and stroke the raven-black hair that had never before thrilled his fingers with ...
— Sunrise • William Black

... walked among the animals, but was still unable to find the cause of the trouble. He knew everyone by name and nature, and they knew him, for they had been comrades on a long journey, and he patted their backs and rubbed their noses and tried to soothe them. They became a little quieter, but he could not remain any longer with them because his sister was waiting at the wagon for the water. So he went to the spring and, ...
— The Young Trailers - A Story of Early Kentucky • Joseph A. Altsheler

... with fighting, his scars in front, the force and fire of his eye, he perceived that a man whose body was seamed with so many traces of wounds had no weakling soul. He therefore rebuked his wife, and charged her roundly to put away her haughty tempers, and to soothe and soften with kind words and gentle offices the man she had reviled; to comfort him with food and drink, and refresh him with kindly converse; saying, that this man had been appointed his tutor by his father long ago, and had been a most tender guardian of his childhood. ...
— The Danish History, Books I-IX • Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Learned")

... had yet in the depths of his nature one drop of sweetness that redeemed and made him human. This love had survived all hatreds and revenges; and now that hope was over, that its object never could soothe his agonies or reward his devotion, that even the sufferings he was undergoing on her account only rendered him more repulsive in her eyes, nothing but tenderness and forgiveness toward her remained, with the bitterest regrets ...
— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, July, 1851 • Various

... mo'tified, sah, if yo' didn't hab something afo' he come." He opened a well-filled sideboard as he spoke. It was the first evidence Paul had seen of the colonel's restored fortunes. He would willingly have contented himself with this mere outward manifestation, but in his desire to soothe the ruffled dignity of the old man he consented to partake of a small glass of spirits. George at once became radiant and communicative. "De Kernel bin gone to Santa Clara to see de young lady dat's finished her edercation dah—de Kernel's only ward, sah. She's one o' dose million-heiresses ...
— A Ward of the Golden Gate • Bret Harte

... chances of far greater value than the ripest peach that ever mellowed in the sun. The opportunity to say a kind and encouraging word swings low upon the bough of to-day. Why not gather it in? The chance to help, to succor, to protect, the chance to lend a helping hand, to share a burden, to soothe a sorrow, to plant a loving thought, or twine a memory that shall blossom like a rose upon the terrace of to-morrow, all are our own as we pass through the world on our way to heaven. We may not come this way ...
— A String of Amber Beads • Martha Everts Holden

... member of the class which graduated at Harvard College in the year 1793, under the date of December 23d, 1789, Exhibition, is the following memorandum: "Music was intermingled with elocution, which (we read) has charms to soothe even a savage breast." Again, on a similar occasion, April 13th, 1790, an account of the exercises of the day closes with this note: "Tender music being interspersed to enliven the audience." Vocal music was sometimes introduced. In the same Journal, date October 1st, 1790, Exhibition, the ...
— A Collection of College Words and Customs • Benjamin Homer Hall

... Unable to control or soothe her, Spencer gently divided the clasp of her hands, and having freed himself from her embrace, hastened from the room and abruptly left the house. He slept at his lodgings; and the next morning he was horror-struck on hearing that ...
— A Book About Lawyers • John Cordy Jeaffreson

... he might taste only the joy. So far, amid their spare living, the child, as if looking up to the warm broad wing of her love above him, seemed replete with comfort. Yet in his moments of childish sickness, the first passing shadows upon the deep joy of her motherhood, she teaches him betimes to soothe [165] or cheat pain— little bodily pains only, hitherto. She ventures sadly to assure him of the harsh necessities of life: "Courage, child! Every one must take his share of suffering. Shift not thy body so vehemently. Pain, taken ...
— Greek Studies: A Series of Essays • Walter Horatio Pater

... the whole cousinhood. She has many accomplishments: she does not talk French, Spanish, or Italian, but she knows how to play every game that ever was invented, can tell stories to suit every age, can soothe a screaming child sooner than any one else, can rattle off cotillions on the piano-forte of a winter's evening without thinking it hard that she cannot join in the dance; and lastly, can lay down an interesting book or piece of crochet work to run on an errand for Aunt, or untangle ...
— Holidays at the Grange or A Week's Delight - Games and Stories for Parlor and Fireside • Emily Mayer Higgins

... dwell upon the fury manifested by Delessert, the cool obduracy of the notary, or the cynical comments of the clerk. Enough to say, that M. Destouches departed without his money, after civilly intimating that legal proceedings would be taken forthwith. The son strove to soothe his father's passionate despair, but his words fell upon unheeding ears; and after several hours passed in alternate paroxysms of stormy rage and gloomy reverie, the elder Delessert hastily left the house, taking the direction ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 442 - Volume 17, New Series, June 19, 1852 • Various

... of the people. He was very thankful, feeling intuitively that there was no fear but that Abenali would be understood, and for his own part, the very contact with the man whom he revered seemed to calm and soothe him, though on that solemn errand no word could be spoken. Ambrose went on slowly before, his dark head uncovered, the priestly stole hanging over his arm, his hands holding aloft the tall candle of virgin wax, ...
— The Armourer's Prentices • Charlotte Mary Yonge

... what sort of men they are that hold the trust of everything that is dear to us. Nothing can render this a point of indifference to the nation, but what must either render us totally desperate, or soothe us into the security of idiots. We must soften into a credulity below the milkiness of infancy to think all men virtuous. We must be tainted with a malignity truly diabolical to believe all the world to be equally wicked and corrupt. Men are in public ...
— The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. I. (of 12) • Edmund Burke

... only learned to take it with an outward appearance of indifference—his mind within him always chafed; this time the affront to his vanity was worse because he believed that Madame Le Maitre had prompted, or certainly permitted, the insult. It did not soothe him to think that, with a woman's nervousness, she might have more regard for his safety than that of the horse. The brightness died out of the beautiful day, and in a lofty mood of ill-used indifference he assured ...
— The Mermaid - A Love Tale • Lily Dougall

... indistinct as she ceased to speak; and leaning her face upon Lizzie's shoulder, a burst of tears and choking sobs relieved her. Poor Sue—and poor Mary! It would not have been so hard could she have watched by her sister's bedside and aided to soothe the pain and the fear of the dear little one who had from the time of her birth been Mary's ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII No. 6 June 1848 • Various

... of an hour, gained conviction not only of this man's ability, but of his humanity, of his possession of the peculiar gentleness which so often, mercifully, goes along with unusual strength. As the coarse-looking hand could soothe, touching delicately, so the hard intellect and rough tongue could, he believed, modulate themselves to very consoling and inspiring ...
— The History of Sir Richard Calmady - A Romance • Lucas Malet

... cloying, As skylarks sweet, I hear: The sounds I'm still enjoying, They'll always soothe ...
— Inns and Taverns of Old London • Henry C. Shelley

... Pearl continued to moan and pray until Seagreave, who had been so dazed that he had been almost in a state of trance, again became aware of her presence and, partially realizing her piteous state of terror, lifted her in his arms and, wrapping them about her, endeavored to soothe her and allay her fears, although he had not yet sufficiently recovered himself to know fully what he was doing, and was merely following the ...
— The Black Pearl • Mrs. Wilson Woodrow

... Though it is little I can do for the poor, I ought to feel it both a duty and a pleasure to devote some time to them most days. To see the aged, whose poverty we have witnessed, whose declining days we have tried to soothe, safely gathered home, is a comfort and pleasure I would not forego; and, though the real benefit we render to them must depend on our own spiritual state, their cottages have often been to me places of ...
— A Brief Memoir with Portions of the Diary, Letters, and Other Remains, - of Eliza Southall, Late of Birmingham, England • Eliza Southall

... impossible to hide entirely from Agnes my doubts of her love, and I soon saw that my involuntarily altered manner had made a corresponding change in hers. The proud spirit within her was roused, and instead of endeavouring to soothe my suspicions, and show me my mistake, she went on her way apparently unheeding, holding her head high, and letting me form my own opinion of her actions. I ought to have told you that her uncle had been so annoyed at her marriage with me that he had forbidden ...
— By Berwen Banks • Allen Raine

... death they had a horror proportional to their acute and sensitive enjoyment of life; but their natural impulse was to turn for consolation to the interests and achievements of the world they knew, and to endeavour to soothe, by memories and hopes of deeds future and past, the inevitable pains of ...
— The Greek View of Life • Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson

... walked over to the nearest car-line and caught the next street car for the city. Part of her chief's orders at least she would obey. She would go down to the Victoria and see "Jean, of the Lazy A," but she was not going because of any impulse of vanity, or to soothe her soul with the applause of strangers. She wanted to see the ranch again. She wanted to see the dear, familiar line of the old bluff that framed the coulee, and ride again with Lite through those wild places they ...
— Jean of the Lazy A • B. M. Bower

... Earl.—I love the violet, indeed, So modest in perfection, So gently sweet—yet more I need To soothe my heart's dejection. To thee alone the truth I'll speak, That not upon this rock so bleak Is to be ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 57, No. 352, February 1845 • Various

... and laugh, and hug little Ida; and Ida and her mother would cry too, and then Nettie would ask, sobbing, "if her mother hadn't earned money enough yet to take her away," and say that she'd rather starve with her mother, than live there, she was so wretched. And Nettie's mother would kiss her, and soothe her, and tell her how late she sat up toiling to get money; and then Nettie would cry for fear her mother would get sick, and then they'd all kiss each other, and almost wish that God would let them die ...
— Little Ferns For Fanny's Little Friends • Fanny Fern

... put her about, heading her to the south-west. Miss Collingsby took the helm at my request. She was pale and excited; but she was firm. For my own part I felt like new man, and the new order of things seemed to soothe the ...
— Desk and Debit - or, The Catastrophes of a Clerk • Oliver Optic

... between her and the model she followed, was, that her counsels came not from a bosom that had never been shaken with the passions she admonished, or the sorrows she endeavoured to soothe. Her character was one of deep sensibility and passions strong even to violence; but they were controlled and directed by such vivid faith as has never been surpassed. Her long life had tried her with almost every pang ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 54, No. 335, September 1843 • Various

... alarm in the eye and manner of Mr. Clifton, a tremulous restlessness in his speech, which warned me to avoid discussion, and endeavor to soothe his agitation. It was only to the last interrogatory, therefore, that ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. XII. September, 1863, No. LXXI. - A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics • Various

... was the son of his friend, and had been always one of his great favourites, had, during his last illness, the satisfaction of contributing to soothe and comfort him. That gentleman's house, at Islington, of which he is Vicar, afforded Johnson, occasionally and easily, an agreeable change of place and fresh air; and he attended also upon him in town in the discharge of the sacred ...
— Life of Johnson - Abridged and Edited, with an Introduction by Charles Grosvenor Osgood • James Boswell

... Trevor, lighting a cigar, tried to soothe his somewhat ruffled feelings. He had never liked Mrs. Aylmer less than he did at ...
— The Time of Roses • L. T. Meade

... I would like to go out and get lost in it, and I will, too! Not get lost, perhaps, but go out in it, and alone. I won't have even Veronique. I shall go by myself into the park. It is growing nearly dark, though only three o'clock. I have got an hour. It looks mysterious, and will soothe me, and suit my mood, and then, when I come in again, I shall perhaps be able to bear ...
— Red Hair • Elinor Glyn

... freedom, combined with poverty, can not secure it in those conditions, because it can not render service or labor. The slave of the South enjoys this sympathy in all conditions from birth till death. There is a spontaneous heart-felt flow of it, to soothe his sorrows, to supply his wants, and smooth his passage to the grave. Interest, honor, humanity, public opinion, and the law, all combine to awaken it, and ...
— Cotton is King and The Pro-Slavery Arguments • Various

... a lesson. Do we always give our best to Christ? He gave his best for us, and is ever giving his best to us. Do we not too often give him only what is left after we have served ourselves? Then we try to soothe an uneasy conscience by quoting the Master's commendation of Mary, "She hath done what she could." Ah, Mary's "what she could" was a most costly service. It was the costliest of all her possessions that she gave. The word of Jesus about her and her ...
— Personal Friendships of Jesus • J. R. Miller

... and obliged to find fault, but the Boy could always soothe him. "I am sure you love me," he would say. "Your life was not worth living until I came, and you could not live without me now. I am a horrid little brute I know, but I have my finer feelings too, my capacity for loving, and ...
— The Heavenly Twins • Madame Sarah Grand

... Your brother I have scarcely seen," replied Tyrrel, much distressed, and apparently uncertain in what tone to address her, which might soothe, and not irritate her mental malady, of which he could now ...
— St. Ronan's Well • Sir Walter Scott

... Eva spoke in a voice like a deaf-mute's, quite free from inflections. There was something dreadful about her rigid attitude. Little Amabel looked at her mother's eyes, then cowered down and began to cry aloud. Ellen came in and took her in her arms, whispering to her to soothe her. She tried to coax her away, but the child resisted violently, though she was usually so docile ...
— The Portion of Labor • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

... heavenly lore? They say thy Christ His enemies did bless, Thou addest insult to my deep distress. How is my soul so dark—which was so fair?— Thou call'dst me 'lovely'—'dear'—'beyond compare!'— Of my bereavement have I said no word, I stilled my grief that I might soothe my lord! They say that love has wings, and all they say is true, For all thy love has flown; yet can I ne'er undo The vows I made, the troth I plighted binds me still! Thou fain wouldst quit thy wife, and thou shalt have thy will. Oh, but to leave my side with rapture, ...
— Polyuecte • Pierre Corneille

... as are the dead. "O sister, speak!" "Child, by this loving kiss," Spake one of them, "and that remembered bliss We dwelt in when our mother was alive, Or ever we began with ills to strive, By all the hope thou hast to see again Our aged father and to soothe his pain, I charge thee tell me,—Hast thou seen the thing Thou callest Husband?" Breathless, quivering, Psyche cried out, "Alas! what sayest thou? What riddles wilt thou speak unto me now?" "Alas!" she said; "then is it as I thought. Sister, in dreadful places have we sought To learn about ...
— The Earthly Paradise - A Poem • William Morris

... much as He will the prayers of the great, and wealthy, and learned, and young, and strong, and happy,' Then she suddenly stopped, and began to shriek wildly and wring her hands, moaning out, 'No father, no husband, no child—all, all gone. Oh, my child, my boy, my hope, my pride!' Jenny tried to soothe and comfort her, and after a long time succeeded in leading her back into the hut, where she became more tranquil, but still apparently was unable to give any connected account of herself. Jenny then, from the basket she was carrying ...
— Mountain Moggy - The Stoning of the Witch • William H. G. Kingston

... flush passed over that young lady's face, and something glittered in the hard blue eyes. She drew Druse tight against her heart, as though she would never let her go, and then she laughed nervously, trying to soothe her. "There, there, it ain't anything. They're all brutes, but I was ugly myself last night, 'n' made him mad. Tell me something about the country, Druse, like you did the other day—anything. ...
— A Village Ophelia and Other Stories • Anne Reeve Aldrich

... ambassador in Spain, and when he asked the fellow if he had ever dressed any magnificent dinners the answer was:—"Monsieur, j'ai accommode un diner qui faisait trembler toute la France."' Scott, in Guy Mannering (ed. 1860, iii. 138), describes 'Miss Bertram's solicitude to soothe and accommodate her parent.' See ante, iv. 39, note 1, for 'accommodated the ladies.' To sum up, we may say with Justice Shallow:—'Accommodated! it comes of accommodo; very good; a good phrase.' 2 Henry IV, ...
— Life Of Johnson, Volume 5 • Boswell

... animated bust, Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? Can honour's voice provoke the silent dust, Or flatt'ry soothe the dull ...
— The Hundred Best English Poems • Various

... and at length her fury broke out. She threw her broom at the bird, who was perched on a bracket high up on the wall. The broom missed the bird, but knocked down and broke the vase on the bracket, which did not soothe the angry woman. Then she chased it from place to place, and at last had it safe between her fingers, almost as frightened as on the day that it had made its ...
— The Pink Fairy Book • Various

... the least inquiry into this business was made, it would create a flame in the Nabob's mind, on account of the active, energetic, spirited part he had taken in these transactions. "Therefore," says he, "oh, for God's sake, soothe the matter! It is a green wound; don't uncover it; do nothing to irritate. It will be to little purpose to tell them that their conduct has in our estimation of it been very wrong, and at the same time announce to them the orders of our superiors, ...
— The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. XII. (of XII.) • Edmund Burke



Words linked to "Soothe" :   comfort, quieten, palliate, calm, solace, tranquillize, quiet, still, ease, assuage, alleviate, lull, relieve, calm down, allay



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