"Taunting" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... if in shame, and Raven knew what kind of things they were: things about her eyes, her lips, insulting things to an honest wife, taunting things, perhaps, touching the past. More and more she seemed to him like a mother of sorrows, a child unjustly scourged into the dark ...
— Old Crow • Alice Brown
... the same time more ridiculous and more awful, more laughable and more taunting, than that little fan in those huge hands. It seemed like a make-believe sceptre in the hands of such an old, hideous, and bony giantess! A like effect was produced by the showy percale handkerchief adorning her face by the side of that cut-water nose, hooked and masculine; for ...
— Stories by Foreign Authors: Spanish • Various
... off a piece of ordnance, we had at the least an hours work to load it again, there being a great noise and cry in our ship, as if we had been all cast away, whereupon the English began to mock us, calling out to us with many taunting words. ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume VII • Robert Kerr
... cost of the goods to him, the cost to the seller and the cost to the buyer becoming then identical. Price always implies that an article is for sale; what a man will not sell he declines to put a price on; hence the significance of the taunting proverb that "every man has his price." Value is the estimated equivalent for an article, whether the article is for sale or not; the market value is what it would bring if exposed for sale in the open market; the intrinsic value is the inherent utility of the article ...
— English Synonyms and Antonyms - With Notes on the Correct Use of Prepositions • James Champlin Fernald
... on Mo Mercer's ears as if rusty nails had been thrust into them; the heretofore invulnerable Mercer's knees trembled, the sweat started to his brow, as he heard the taunting whispers of "visiting the Capitol twice" and seeing pianos as ...
— The Wit and Humor of America, Volume V. (of X.) • Various
... the snow-covered ridge, taunting him with merry laughter as she left him clambering in cautious descent down the rock. Jan followed in pursuit, shouting to her in French, in Cree, and in English, and their two voices echoed ...
— The Honor of the Big Snows • James Oliver Curwood
... the plain. They pitch their tents. Fergus is summoned to Ailill to play chess. When Fergus went to the tent, Ailill began to laugh at him. [Note: Here follows about two columns of rhetoric, consisting of a taunting dialogue ...
— The Cattle-Raid of Cualnge (Tain Bo Cualnge) • Unknown
... Hardly had these taunting words escaped his lips, than "bang, crash," and a four-and-twenty pound shot came reeking through the waist-hammocks,—for they had not yet been piped down,—and covered us over with horse-hair, and an abominable composition called flock. The ball took a slanting ...
— Rattlin the Reefer • Edward Howard
... in making fast the rope, a movement which it is the duty of his colleague to present by running up close to the elephant's head and provoking the animal to confront him by irritating gesticulations and taunting shouts of dah! dah! a monosyllable, the sound of which the elephant peculiarly dislikes. Meanwhile the first assailant, having secured one noose, comes up from behind with another, with which, amidst the vain rage and struggles of the victim, he entraps ...
— Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon • J. Emerson Tennent
... now is Donald dear?' Maids cry with taunting sneer; 'Say, is he still sincere To his loved Flora?' Parents upbraid my moan, Each heart is turn'd to stone: 'Ah, Flora! thou 'rt ...
— The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volumes I-VI. - The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century • Various
... bang, and I could hear a half-suppressed hysterical cry. I bounded on, sprang up the drawing-room stair, and entered the first door at a venture. All was dark, and I stopped for a moment to listen. Lights were hurrying across the hall; and I heard the rough voice of a man as if scolding and taunting some person. The girl had doubtless given the alarm, although her information must have been very indistinct; for when she saw me I was in the shadow of the stair, and she could have had little more than a vague impression that she beheld ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 461 - Volume 18, New Series, October 30, 1852 • Various
... seem to have, as it were, an intuitive perception that this is the most vulnerable spot upon the "human face divine." If the head is quietly lowered, and the face covered with the hands, they will often follow a person for some rods, all the time sounding their war note in his ears, taunting him for his sneaking conduct, and daring him, just for one single moment, to look up and allow them to catch but a glimpse of ...
— Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey-Bee - A Bee Keeper's Manual • L. L. Langstroth
... field beside Price, and Irving felt a moment's indignation; was Westby taunting the plucky and exhausted small boy? And then Irving saw that he was not, and at the same instant Barclay turned to him ...
— The Jester of St. Timothy's • Arthur Stanwood Pier
... cries Mezentius, "having robbed my son, Why scare me now? Thy terrors I defy. Only through Lausus were his sire undone. I heed not death nor deities, not I; Forbear thy taunting; I am here to die, But send this gift to greet thee, ere I go." He spake, and quickly let a javelin fly, Another—and another, as round the foe In widening orbs he wheels; the good shield ...
— The Aeneid of Virgil - Translated into English Verse by E. Fairfax Taylor • Virgil
... the house is still, And the dust lies thick On the window sill, And the stairway creaks In a solemn tone This taunting phrase: "You are ...
— When Day is Done • Edgar A. Guest
... for the honour of having Daddy and Bradshaw sup at their cabins, taunting each other on the spareness of their meal. Fires are soon lit, the stew-pans brought into requisition, and the smoke, curling upward among a myriad of mosquitoes, is dispersing them like a band of unwelcome intruders; while the corn-mills rattle and rumble, making the din and clatter more ...
— Our World, or, The Slaveholders Daughter • F. Colburn Adams
... came to her that hateful whisper—that taunting, intolerable sneer; and she fled ...
— The Knave of Diamonds • Ethel May Dell
... Pacifica, she had locked herself in her chamber, alone with her intense agitation. The young men were swaggering about, and taunting each other, and boasting. Luca alone sat apart, thrumming an old lute. Giovanni Sanzio, who had ridden home at evening from Citta di Castello, came in from his own house and put his ...
— Bimbi • Louise de la Ramee
... prohibited. When men, to raise an admiration of their wit, to please themselves, or gratify the humours of other men, do expose their neighbour to scorn and contempt, making ignominious reflections upon his person and his actions, taunting his real imperfections, or fastening imaginary ones upon him, they transgress their duty, and abuse their wits; 'tis not urbanity, or genuine facetiousness, but uncivil rudeness or vile malignity. To do thus, as it is the office of mean and ...
— Sermons on Evil-Speaking • Isaac Barrow
... taunting, that is the spell of it; Mocking, baulking, that is the hell of it; But I'll shoulder my pack in the morning, boys, And I'm going because I must; For it's so-long to all When you answer the call ...
— Rhymes of a Rolling Stone • Robert W. Service
... comes on. It burns in the East as the sunrise burns. I see great flashes where the far trail turns. Butting through the delicate mists of the morning, It comes like lightning, goes past roaring, It will hail all the windmills, taunting, ringing, On through the ranges the prairie-dog tills— Scooting past the cattle on the thousand hills. Ho for the tear-horn, scare-horn, dare-horn, Ho ...
— Free Air • Sinclair Lewis
... as disciples. Those men and nations who have been disciples together can scarcely fail to remain friends when the tragedy is ended. What the fool says in his heart at this present is not of any lasting importance. There will always be those who mock, offering vinegar in the hour of agony and taunting, "If thou be what thou sayest...." But in the comradeship of the twilit walk to Emmaus neither the fool nor the mocker ...
— Out To Win - The Story of America in France • Coningsby Dawson
... of the boy a grim smile played, and ever and anon he threw a taunting challenge to the foes that faced him. In this and other ways his manner of fighting was similar to that which had always marked me ...
— The Gods of Mars • Edgar Rice Burroughs
... during the midnight mass of Christmas, whereby a triple end would be achieved: first, a rich booty; secondly, the punishment of idolatry; thirdly, vengeance on the arch-enemies of their party and their faith. They set sail on the eighth of December, taunting those who remained, calling them greenhorns, and threatening condign punishment if, on their triumphant return, they should be refused free entrance to ...
— Pioneers Of France In The New World • Francis Parkman, Jr.
... flung themselves after her, and she left, "laughing" as she went. The kingbirds did not follow beyond their own borders, and the robin soon returned to the nearest tree, where she kept up the taunting "he! he! he!" a long time, seemingly with deliberate intention to insult or enrage her pursuers, but without success; for unless she came to their tree, the kingbirds paid ...
— Little Brothers of the Air • Olive Thorne Miller
... well as the body, to hopeless and unresisting bondage. The iniquity of our cherished institution is no longer a MYSTERY. All Christendom is now made familiar with it, and is sending forth a cry of indignant remonstrance and of taunting scorn. Such is the suppression of anti-slavery agitation given to the slaveholders by their northern friends—such the strength imparted by the fugitive slave law to the system of human bondage. How applicable to the inventors and supporters of that statute are the words of David, in ...
— Autographs for Freedom, Volume 2 (of 2) (1854) • Various
... matrimony-cake," said Bessie, who understood now that my lady was cross; and no one could be more taunting and unpleasant than my lady ...
— The Vicissitudes of Bessie Fairfax • Harriet Parr
... The gaunt spectre of Famine already rose before them with a menace which could not be misunderstood. In their misery they longed for the assaults of the Spaniards, that they might look in the face of a less formidable foe. They paraded the ramparts daily, with drums beating, colors flying, taunting the besiegers to renewed attempts. To inflame the religious animosity of their antagonists, they attired themselves in the splendid, gold-embroidered vestments of the priests, which they took from the churches, and ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley
... on the shore did not reply. They understood perfectly the uncertain temper of "larking" woodsmen. There had been cases in times past when a taunting word had turned rude jollity ...
— The Rainy Day Railroad War • Holman Day
... quietly. A few shots were fired occasionally from the wood, and taunting shouts were heard of the fate which awaited them when ...
— True to the Old Flag - A Tale of the American War of Independence • G. A. Henty
... slept, came to her dreams of her days in the House under the Wood (as very seldom betid), and the witch-wife was speaking to her in friendly fashion (as for her) and blaming her for fleeing away, and was taunting her with the failure of her love, and therewith telling her how fair a man and lovesome was the Black Squire, and what a loss she had of him; and Birdalone was hearkening and weeping for tenderness' sake, while the witch was ...
— The Water of the Wondrous Isles • William Morris
... in the dance and song, turned when he heard these taunting words, and mistaking whence they came, went to Beverley's side and kicked him again ...
— Alice of Old Vincennes • Maurice Thompson
... murder. By slow degrees the gossips resigned themselves to the idea that the secret of Joseph Wilmot's death was to remain a secret for ever. Two or three "sensation" leaders appeared in some of the morning papers, urging the bloodhounds of the law to do their work, and taunting the members of the detective force with supineness and stupidity. I dare say the social leader-writers were rather hard-up for subjects at this stagnant autumnal period, and were scarcely sorry for the mysterious death of the man in the grove. The public grumbled ...
— Henry Dunbar - A Novel • M. E. Braddon
... Greek then,—taunting Nor taunted;—no more England nor France! But one confederate brotherhood planting One flag only, to mark the advance, Onward ...
— The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume IV • Elizabeth Barrett Browning
... in once more, began to sing "How dry I am." The others took it up, and soon the woods rang with the taunting song of the Winnebagos to the Rain Bird, who replied with a heavier gush than ever. Thunder began to crash overhead, lightning flashed all about them, the great pines tossed and roared like the sea. But the Winnebagos, undismayed, made merry over the storm, and gradually dropped off to ...
— The Campfire Girls at Camp Keewaydin • Hildegard G. Frey
... her. It was Guy—Guy in the flesh—tenderly taunting her with some feminine weakness. So swift and so sharp was the pain that she could not hide it. She bent her face over her work with a quick intake ...
— The Top of the World • Ethel M. Dell
... true I did not feel perfectly easy at this severe rebuke, and under such taunting reproaches; but I refrained from giving utterance to a single thought till after he had concluded his abuse and anathematizing. Had a spirited person been in my situation, he might have knocked him down, and might have had his head taken off for his pains, but as for me, all such ...
— Lander's Travels - The Travels of Richard Lander into the Interior of Africa • Robert Huish
... concocted. She said she was going to bear reproach no longer (for, though her husband never murmured, at least in words, his friends and her neighbors were ever ready to deepen her sorrow and humiliation by taunting her with her impotency), and her eyes rolled in frenzy as she almost shouted: I MUST AND SHALL HAVE A CHILD'! Why am I prohibited from having what many do not know how to value? Many of them cast their treasures from them; shall I, frantic with despair, ...
— The Mysteries of Montreal - Being Recollections of a Female Physician • Charlotte Fuhrer
... his proffered hand their coldest clasp, Or took it not at all; and Poverty, That bruised his body with relentless grasp, Grinned, taunting, when he struggled to be free. But though with helpless hands he beat the air, His need extreme yet found no voice ...
— The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar • Paul Laurence Dunbar
... were only two or three in front of the third player. And just as Allan caught sight of them, the sticks clicked, and a shrill objurgation burst from that third as the last of his markers were raked in by Jung Sin's taloned hand. The circle hunched closer, there was a ribald, taunting laugh from Ra-Jamba and Jung Sin glanced over his ...
— When the Sleepers Woke • Arthur Leo Zagat
... pure intent and soul sincere Sustained and nerved, I will not fear Reproach, shame, scorn, the taunting jeer, And worse than all, ...
— The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb (Vol. 6) - Letters 1821-1842 • Charles and Mary Lamb
... too, are glorious days—days full of work, and health, and hope, and high endeavor. But these days of peace and freedom are the last you shall ever know. Even now they flee as a shadow and fade into mist! Gross stupidity, silent and insensate, sits waiting for you at the door; calumny is near; taunting hate comes riding fast! ...
— Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 5 (of 14) • Elbert Hubbard
... not leave off taunting your virtues, my excellent friend, for I find it sometimes makes you correct them. I scolded you for your modesty in not acquainting me with your "Village Politics" even after they were published; and you have already conquered that unfriendly ...
— Letters of Horace Walpole, V4 • Horace Walpole
... week sped before the tournament; and Richard loved Sancie more and more, and ever Aldobrandino was at his side taunting him until he burst forth into many a torrent of indignation, whereat the other but laughed and leered, so that Richard loathed and hated him ...
— Romance of Roman Villas - (The Renaissance) • Elizabeth W. (Elizbeth Williams) Champney
... a taunting curve on her scarlet lips; the shadow passed from her eyes; her slim, white hands lay idle in her lap. Mr. Grimm regarded her reflectively. There was a determination of steel back of this charming exterior; there was an indomitable will, a keen brain, and all of a woman's intuition to reckon with. ...
— Elusive Isabel • Jacques Futrelle
... followed the movement of his glass and one after another he saw Madame Marsy, Jouvenet, Madame Gerson, so many living and exceedingly taunting recollections, when suddenly Sulpice trembled, shaken by a keener and almost angry feeling as his glance was directed to a box against the dark-red of which two faces were boldly outlined: those of ...
— His Excellency the Minister • Jules Claretie
... kind of demon none too gentle that night. I must acknowledge it was a good thing for us, and though I hate to think of the whole ghastly business, it was something fine, though, to see him raging up and down that room, taunting them for cowards, hurling defiance, and, by Jove, looking all the while like some Greek god in cowboy outfit, if your imagination can get that. I am telling you the whole sickening story, because I must treat ...
— The Foreigner • Ralph Connor
... strange behavior of Bud. Thinking to make him tell her his trouble by taunting him with cowardice, ...
— The Round-up - A Romance of Arizona novelized from Edmund Day's melodrama • John Murray and Marion Mills Miller
... the combatants' yells, shrieks and groans were mingled with the fierce war-whoop, as the Indians rushed on each other. The Crows astounded to find they were confronted by their deadly foes, at first broke and retreated; but the taunting jibes of the Arapahoes as they pressed on them aroused the demon in their natures, and turning, they charged on their pursuers, driving them back before them, towards the camp, at the same moment making ...
— The American Family Robinson - or, The Adventures of a Family lost in the Great Desert of the West • D. W. Belisle
... a thing he should have to place himself at the positive disadvantage of being silent about. He would rather give no account of the matter at all than expose himself to the ridicule that such a story would infallibly excite. Couldn't one see them in advance, the clever, taunting things the daily and weekly papers would say? Peter Baron had his guileless side, but he felt, as he worried with a stick that betrayed him the granite parapets of the Thames, that he was not such a fool as not to know how Mr. Locket would "work" the mystery of his marvellous find. Nothing ...
— Sir Dominick Ferrand • Henry James
... imagined, he was altogether alone in this good custom, and at first the very novelty of it had secured him immunity from pointed notice or comment. But when Damase, thinking he saw in his daily devotions an opening for his malicious purposes, drew attention to them by jeering remarks and taunting insinuations, the others, yielding to that natural tendency to be incensed with any one who seems to assert superior goodness, were inclined to side with him, or at all events to ...
— The Young Woodsman - Life in the Forests of Canada • J. McDonald Oxley
... is wrong, and I must know just what it is. Somebody has been meddling—taunting you. Edna, I ask a plain question, and I want the whole truth. You and Estelle do not like each other; is her presence here the cause of your determination to ...
— St. Elmo • Augusta J. Evans
... Flora advised Sylvia not to tell her mother of Elinor's unkindness, or of her taunting words. But it was rather difficult for Sylvia to keep a secret ...
— Yankee Girl at Fort Sumter • Alice Turner Curtis
... of Videha's king, While Rama strove to soothe the sting Of her deep anguish, thus began Once more in furtherance of her plan: And with her spirit sorely tried By fear and anger, love and pride, With keenly taunting words addressed Her hero of the stately breast: "Why did the king my sire, who reigns O'er fair Videha's wide domains, Hail Rama son with joy unwise, A woman in a man's disguise? Now falsely would the people say, By idle fancies led astray, That Rama's own are power ...
— The Ramayana • VALMIKI
... gaiety of Cavigni, on the contrary, was somewhat clouded by anxiety. He kept a watchful eye upon Verezzi, whom, with the utmost difficulty, he had hitherto restrained from exasperating Montoni further against Morano, by a mention of his late taunting words. ...
— The Mysteries of Udolpho • Ann Radcliffe
... his savage heart for love of his white-skinned foster child, or the inventions thereof. There had been other times, too, when Tublat had swung helplessly in midair, the noose tightening about his neck, death staring him in the face, and little Tarzan dancing upon a near-by limb, taunting him and making ...
— Jungle Tales of Tarzan • Edgar Rice Burroughs
... you have much reason for taunting me with being respectable," Blake answered with a grim smile. "Anyway, I want ...
— The Intriguers • Harold Bindloss
... for your warning, but I'm going to try and ride her," he went on with quiet decision. "Not because I think I can, but because that bully up there"—with a nod in Jake's direction—"would only be too glad of the chance of taunting me with 'weakening.' She shall throw me till she makes it a physical impossibility for me to mount her again. All I ask is that you fellows stand by to keep her off ...
— The Night Riders - A Romance of Early Montana • Ridgwell Cullum
... jests and jeers—and descending by odd jerks to the thicket. After a few weeks he abandons these clown-like maneuvers and becomes a shy, suspicious haunter of the depths of the thicket, contenting himself in taunting, teasing, and misleading, by his variety of calls, any bird, beast, or human ...
— Birds Illustrated by Color Photography [December, 1897], Vol 2. No 6. • Various
... and her husband at Albany. They took such liberties in taunting us at our conduct in Canada that it came almost to a quarrel. We parted civilly, but coldly. I think they both have an excellent talent for making enemies, and I believe where they live they will never ...
— Famous Firesides of French Canada • Mary Wilson Alloway
... properly desired to be given up as the author of the book, if any inquiry should take place concerning it; and he is not affected in evidence, directly or indirectly, with any illegal or suspicious conduct, not even with uttering an indiscreet or taunting expression, nor with any one matter or thing inconsistent with the best subject ...
— Ancient and Modern Celebrated Freethinkers - Reprinted From an English Work, Entitled "Half-Hours With - The Freethinkers." • Charles Bradlaugh, A. Collins, and J. Watts
... right to laugh. But they have no right to judge. Being a believer may be, if you like, as bad as being drunk; still if we were extracting psychological facts from drunkards, it would be absurd to be always taunting them with having been drunk. Suppose we were investigating whether angry men really saw a red mist before their eyes. Suppose sixty excellent householders swore that when angry they had seen this crimson cloud: surely it would be absurd ...
— Orthodoxy • G. K. Chesterton
... him from the breakfast-table and out of the house. She would be enjoying it somewhere; but the house empty of a person it was used to contain had an atmosphere of the vaults, and inside it the sunlight she loved had an effect of taunting ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... would watch his opportunity to drag Amos forward, as it were, when he could present him to his father and his friends in a ridiculous light; and then he would clap his hands, point to his brother's flushed face, and make some taunting or sarcastic remark about his "rosy cheeks." Poor Amos, on these occasions, tingling in every nerve, and ready almost to weep tears of vexation, would shrink into himself and retreat into another room at the earliest opportunity, followed not unfrequently by an outspoken ...
— Amos Huntingdon • T.P. Wilson
... Victor rushed, still hearing the shouts in the wood behind, and as he seemed, in spite of his burden, to be gaining ground upon his pursuers, he was elate at the prospect of escape. In his gladness he threw a taunting cry behind, a hunter's ...
— Doom Castle • Neil Munro
... Quilp, the dwarf, and his elfin errand boy (in the "Old Curiosity Shop"), enjoying the agonies of Sampson Brass as he essays to smoke a long churchwarden. Behold Quilp upon his back taunting the large fierce dog with hideous grimaces, triumphant in the consciousness that the shortness of his chain will not permit him to advance another inch. Look at Mrs. Jarley's wax-work brigand, "with the blackest possible head and the clearest possible complexion," going his rounds in the company ...
— English Caricaturists and Graphic Humourists of the Nineteenth Century. - How they Illustrated and Interpreted their Times. • Graham Everitt
... meetings ceased for a space, but Tungku Uteh was not to be so easily baulked, and a taunting message soon brought Tuan Bangau once more to her feet. The meetings, however, no longer took place within the palace itself, the lovers meeting and passing the night in a wood-shed within the fence ...
— In Court and Kampong - Being Tales and Sketches of Native Life in the Malay Peninsula • Hugh Clifford
... rose shriller and more piercing still she kept lashing them with her tongue, expectorating insult on them, and taunting them for dastards with the full force of her lungs. And the laughter ceased, it seemed as if a cold wind had blown over the ranks. The men hung their heads, ...
— The Downfall • Emile Zola
... hers, and the pussies ran by on a mouse-hunt, they would see both standing, and would often laugh and titter so loudly that the children would hear them and grow angry. The violet had confided it to the strawberry, she told it to her friend, the gooseberry, and she never stopped taunting when Hyacinth passed; so that very soon the whole garden and the goods heard the news, and whenever Hyacinth went out they called on every side: "Little Roseblossom is my sweetheart!" Now Hyacinth was vexed, and again he could not help laughing from the bottom of his heart when the lizard would ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. IV • Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke
... all the bitter hostility that a contracted neighbourhood, and a constant crossing by the editors of each other's path, could engender. The competition, too, for advertisements, was keen, and the editors were continually taunting each other with taking them for the duty alone. AEneas M'Quirter was the editor of the Patriot, and Felix Grimes that of the ...
— Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour • R. S. Surtees
... came associated with the speeches of the following day; her passionate declaration that there was not a man in all that violent and desperate crowd, for whom she did not care as much as for him. And at the remembrance of her taunting words, his brow grew stern, though his heart beat thick with longing love. 'No!' said he, 'I put it to the touch once, and I lost it all. Let her go,—with her stony heart, and her beauty;—how set and terrible her look is now, for all her loveliness ...
— North and South • Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
... an old and rotten thread." So when Cassander saw him come, he seized him; and first brought out the son and killed him so close before his face, that the blood ran all over his clothes and person, and then, after bitterly taunting and upbraiding him with his ingratitude ...
— Plutarch's Lives • A.H. Clough
... since he had heard the taunting "Dance, freshy!" of the seniors, and felt the mighty rush of the freshman hosts; since the "rah, rah, rah, Landers!" had shook the old amphitheatre and the dozens of welcoming hands had greeted him; and then—the darkness—the hesitating ...
— A Breath of Prairie and other stories • Will Lillibridge
... repeated by a chat, unseen, but quite near. The robin, apparently surprised or interested, called again, and was a second time mocked. Then he lost his temper, and began a serious reproof to the levity of his neighbor, which ended in a good round scolding, as the saucy chat continued to repeat his taunting laugh. This went on till the red-breast flew ...
— A Bird-Lover in the West • Olive Thorne Miller
... earnest than you prophesied. Look; I have worn this since the night you began the conflict, which has ended in defeat to me, as it shall to you. I do not war with women, but you shall have one man's blood upon your soul, for I will goad that tame boy to rebellion by flinging this in his face and taunting him with a perfidy blacker than my own. Will that rouse him to forget your commands and answer like ...
— Pauline's Passion and Punishment • Louisa May Alcott
... (London, 1897.) Describing a characteristic incident in one of the strange confused battles Hinde says: "Wordy war, which also raged, had even more effect than our rifles. Mahomedi and Sefu led the Arabs, who were jeering and taunting Lutete's people, saying that they were in a bad case, and had better desert the white man, who was ignorant of the fact that Mohara with all the forces of Nyange was camped in his rear. Lutete's people replied: 'Oh, we know all about Mohara; we ...
— Introduction to the Science of Sociology • Robert E. Park
... Buck Tooth to expose the trick. The wily Indian, perhaps knowing the habits of the race he had forsaken, had been prowling about among the sullen prisoners. He openly laughed at them for the plight in which he found them, taunting them as ...
— The Boy Ranchers Among the Indians - or, Trailing the Yaquis • Willard F. Baker
... drawing of a curtain over it, like a golden veil; and then she was standing there, and the gold had gathered about her in the wonderful mantle of her hair—shining, dishevelled hair—a bare, white arm thrust upward through its sheen, and her face—taunting, unafraid—laughing at him! Good God! could he never kill that memory? Was it upon him again to-night, clutching at his throat, stifling his heart, grinding him into the agony he could not fight—that vision of her—his wife? That girl on her rock, so like a slender ...
— The Courage of Marge O'Doone • James Oliver Curwood
... boyhood. Of course, that had been mere puppy love. Still, it was something to look back to and sigh over. He liked to think that he could still feel a sort of consoling sadness at the thought of it. He, a timid, dreaming boy, had loved a timid, dreaming girl. Her brother broke up the romance by taunting Mark who, with boyish bashfulness, avoided her after that. Then her parents moved to London and Mark was sent to school. After school he had traveled. For the last ten years England had been merely a ...
— Charred Wood • Myles Muredach
... my state of mind during these school days. I fairly hated even to start to school in the morning—not because I disliked to go to school, but because I was sure to meet some of my taunting comrades, sure to be humiliated and laughed at because I stammered. And having reached the school room I had to face the prospect of failing every time I stood up on my feet and ...
— Stammering, Its Cause and Cure • Benjamin Nathaniel Bogue
... could tear out my hair, Or dash my brains out in despair!— Me every scurvy knave may twit, With stinging jest and taunting sneer! Like skulking debtor I must sit, And sweat each casual word to hear! And though I smash'd them one and all,— Yet them I could not liars call. Who comes this way? who's sneaking here? If I mistake not, two draw near. If he be one, have at him;—well ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, • Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke
... suburbs; and as joyous voices and innocent laughter fell upon the still air, she remembered with keen sorrow that she had no ties, no kindred, no companions. Lilly's cherub face looked out at her from the somber frame of the past, and Eugene's early friendship seemed now a taunting specter. In her warm, loving heart were unfathomable depths of intense tenderness. Was it the wise providence of God which sealed these wells of affection, or was it a grim, merciless fate which snatched her idols from her, one by one, and left her heart desolate? Such an inquiry darted ...
— Beulah • Augusta J. Evans
... and in some unaccountable way he seemed to be once more heavily engaged with Big Jem, whose fists kept up a regular pendulum-like beat upon his head, while in spite of all his efforts he could never get one blow back in return at the malicious, jeering, taunting face, whose lips moved as they kept on saying words which nearly drove him wild ...
— The Lost Middy - Being the Secret of the Smugglers' Gap • George Manville Fenn
... "Afraid?" he laughed, taunting, jeering them, all discretion swept away from him. "Why don't you send some more men? There might be a little whisky ...
— Under Handicap - A Novel • Jackson Gregory
... the parades from the Raynor windows, were mostly petticoated and exclamatory. Jock stayed away from the window now. It seemed to his tortured mind that there was a fresh parade hourly, and that bugles and bands sounded a taunting note. ...
— Half Portions • Edna Ferber
... would rather abide by silly old rules than have a good time it's your loss, not mine. I wouldn't be such a baby." She went back to her bed and lay down with the air of a martyr. Every few seconds she would look over at Sahwah and pronounce the word "baby" in a taunting tone. ...
— The Camp Fire Girls in the Maine Woods - Or, The Winnebagos Go Camping • Hildegard G. Frey
... administered by the "soldier band," are only for serious offenses against the regulations of the camp. He who simply violates social customs in the tribe often subjects himself to no worse punishment than an occasional sneer or taunting remark; but for grave transgressions he may lose the regard of his friends. With the Hidatsa, as with other western tribes, it is improper for a man to hold a direct conversation with his mother-in-law; but this custom seems to be ...
— Siouan Sociology • James Owen Dorsey
... whatever of evil appeared in her conduct was more the result of her mother's training than of a naturally bad disposition. At times her mother petted and caressed her, and again, in a fit of ill-humor, drove her from the room, taunting her with the strong resemblance which she bore to the man whom she had once called father! On such occasions Lenora was never at a loss for words, and the scenes which sometimes occurred were too disgraceful for repetition. On one subject, however, they were ...
— Homestead on the Hillside • Mary Jane Holmes
... This taunting and braggart speech of Grant was made in the face of the conciliatory bill of the venerable Chatham, devised with a view to redress the wrongs of America. The councils of the arrogant and scornful prevailed; and instead of the proposed bill, further measures of a stringent nature were adopted, ...
— The Life of George Washington, Volume I • Washington Irving
... I," laughed Kitty. She had been rather frightened while Nora was taunting her on the ground, but now she felt so secure that she could afford to laugh, and even in her ...
— Red Rose and Tiger Lily - or, In a Wider World • L. T. Meade
... the morning light; Whom my heart bounding springs to greet, Seeks not, but always hopes to meet; With eager joy unlocks its store, Yet ever pines to tell thee more!' To him, should feign'd indifference bring A killing scorn, a taunting sting? To Osvalde, drooping and forlorn, A flower fast fading on the stem, All exultation seem'd like scorn, For what was hope and joy to them? As with awakening judgment came These feelings of remorse and shame, With the throng'd crowd, the bustling scene, Did deep abstractions intervene, ...
— The Lay of Marie • Matilda Betham
... small notion of Curly's locality, but he heard his voice, half taunting and half encouraging, and calling on all his pluck as he saw some hope of a successful issue, he resolved to ride it out if it lay within him so to do. He was well on with his resolution when he heard another voice, which he ...
— The Girl at the Halfway House • Emerson Hough
... efficient, guarding treasures bought with gold; and the tall elm-trees looked over it as though they wanted to escape. The murmuring in their branches seemed to be of discontent, and the birds singing in them had a taunting note. The road mounted a little and the wall went with it, backed by the imprisoned trees. But at last, at the cross-roads, the wall turned and the road went on without it. There were open fields now on either hand, the property ...
— THE MISSES MALLETT • E. H. YOUNG
... katcina, offered a prayer-stick to a maiden, and as she received it he cut her throat with a stone knife. He is said to have escaped to the mesa top and to have made his way along its edge to his own town, taunting his pursuers. It is also related that the Walpians fell upon the village of Sikyatki to avenge this bloody deed, but it is much more likely that there was ill feeling between the two villages for other reasons, probably disputes about farm limits or the control of the water ...
— Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895 • Jesse Walter Fewkes
... time, Lord Chetwynde, in my opinion, happens to be that tenth man who would not come home; for, if he did, it would be Lady Chetwynde's money that he would enjoy, and to a man of his nature this would be intolerable—especially as she has been diligently taunting him with the fact that he has cheated her for the ...
— The Cryptogram - A Novel • James De Mille
... mockingly, beholding the carriage of the men, to say unto them, What will ye buy? But they, looking gravely upon him, answered, "We buy the truth." [Prov. 23:23] At that there was an occasion taken to despise the men the more; some mocking, some taunting, some speaking reproachfully, and some calling upon others to smite them. At last things came to a hubbub and great stir in the fair, insomuch that all order was confounded. Now was word presently brought to the great one of the ...
— The Pilgrim's Progress - From this world to that which is to come. • John Bunyan
... up the idea disdainfully. As well try to leave his hand-print on an iron bar or a gray granite slab as to seek to impress on Kathryn's mind the vital nature of the questions that were haunting him, taunting him, turning his life into a purgatory of uncertainties whether his choice of profession had been aught but a selfish wish for an easy and spectacular road ...
— The Brentons • Anna Chapin Ray
... taunting of the unconscious man, the Girl, fumbling in her bosom for her pistol, turned upon him ...
— The Girl of the Golden West • David Belasco
... held it in his power went on carelessly, not knowing that the mere sound of his step had raised it as from the dead. She, and her right, and her pain, were nothing to him now, she remembered, staring out at the taunting hot sky. Yet so vacant was the sudden life opened before her when he was gone, that, in the desperation of her weakness, her mad longing to see him but once again, she would have thrown herself at his feet, and ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 8, Issue 49, November, 1861 • Various
... lamps like the eyes of dragons. It drinks gasoline from big red flagons. Butting through the delicate mists of the morning, It comes like lightning, goes past roaring. It will hail all the wind-mills, taunting, ringing, Dodge the cyclones, Count the milestones, On through the ranges the prairie-dog tills— Scooting past the cattle on the thousand hills.... To be read or sung in a rolling bass, with some deliberation. Ho for the tear-horn, scare-horn, dare-horn, Ho ...
— The Congo and Other Poems • Vachel Lindsay
... she had waited a moment in the taunting stillness, she withdrew a little, that her voice should reach ...
— Country Neighbors • Alice Brown
... his head ominously and the taunting smile on his lips turned to a threat as he returned her look. Even by the faint moonlight the sudden leap of anger and the desire to hurt were apparent in his countenance. ...
— The Plunderer • Henry Oyen
... them," said the dear taunting lady; "for I don't doubt they're mighty good ones. What are they, ...
— Pamela (Vol. II.) • Samuel Richardson
... stranger smiled his wry smile, mocking and gibing at him, whereat Beltane's mouth grew the grimmer and his blows the heavier, yet wherever he struck, there already was the stranger's blade to meet him, whereat the stranger laughed fierce and loud, taunting him on ...
— Beltane The Smith • Jeffery Farnol
... heavily laden with portraits which are to confront her from day to day with the taunting presence. She is obliged to tell callers that the crayon upon the opposite wall is "the first Mrs. ——." There are also pictures of the first wife's dead children, and here and there the inevitable photograph, of years gone by, of bride and groom in wedding garments—the ...
— The Spinster Book • Myrtle Reed
... said Rose. "A boy is punished unjustly by a passionate teacher, who uses taunting words as well as smarting blows. Now the pain of these blows is gone in less than an hour, but the word-strokes received on his spirit hurt him, maybe, to the end of his mortal life. Is it not so? And if so, why? There must be substance ...
— After the Storm • T. S. Arthur
... was nearly angry at that, for it seemed to set light store on my valour; but there seemed something more in the old woman's tone than her taunting words would ...
— A Thane of Wessex • Charles W. Whistler
... hundreds of miles to get a fruit or vegetable thing—a thing so luxurious, so out of all reason that one did not know whether it was to be baked, or eaten raw. There they lay, in their foreign-looking basket, taunting Jennie who ...
— Buttered Side Down • Edna Ferber
... the many sheep with goodly fleece, and to sail over the salt sea water. So they embarked forthwith, and sate upon the benches, and sitting orderly smote the grey sea water with their oars. But when I had not gone so far, but that a man's shout might be heard, then I spoke unto the Cyclops taunting him: ...
— DONE INTO ENGLISH PROSE • S. H. BUTCHER, M.A.
... not take the hint, but kept on berating the fresh men as they passed—taunting them by disparaging comparison with the Rebel troops. A neighbor, by informing them of the fact of her having two sons in the Rebel service, imparted the secret of ...
— Red-Tape and Pigeon-Hole Generals - As Seen From the Ranks During a Campaign in the Army of the Potomac • William H. Armstrong
... Andrew, wise in wit, Unlock to him the treasure of his words:— "It is not seemly that with arrogance And words of taunting thou demand reply, When God hath given thee abundant wealth And worldly fortune; better for each man 320 That with humility he kindly greet A traveler bound to other lands far off, As Christ commanded, Lord most glorious. We are His thanes, chosen as champions; He is the King ...
— Andreas: The Legend of St. Andrew • Unknown
... whole length and breadth of the land, bidding fair to leave unscathed no green spot or living thing; while on its bosom are riding, like demons on the wave of Hell, the imps of the Evil Spirit, and fiendishly taunting all those who dare to resist its destroying course with the hopelessness of their efforts; and knowing this, I cannot deny that all may be swept away. Broken by it I, too, may be; bow to it, I never will. The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us ...
— Abraham Lincoln: A History V1 • John G. Nicolay and John Hay
... were not separate. There was this curious taunting intimacy between them. When the fair came, she wanted to go in the swing-boats. He took her, and, standing up in the boat, holding on to the irons, began to drive higher, perilously higher. The child clung fast ...
— The Rainbow • D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence
... Norwegian sailors in calling upon the Dutchmen to come out and share their festivities, but not a sound proceeds from the phantom vessel. Suddenly the weird mariners appear upon the deck, and while blue flames hover upon the spars and masts of their fated vessel, they sing an uncanny song taunting their captain with his failure as a lover. The Norwegian sailors in terror hurry below, the girls beat a hasty retreat, and silence descends once more upon the two vessels. Senta issues from Daland's house, ...
— The Opera - A Sketch of the Development of Opera. With full Descriptions - of all Works in the Modern Repertory • R.A. Streatfeild
... moreover, by the troops which she had obtained in the north of England, came marching on down the country in great force. When she came into the neighborhood of York, she encamped, and then sent messengers to Prince Richard, taunting and deriding him for having shut himself up within fortified walls, and daring him to come out into the ...
— Richard III - Makers of History • Jacob Abbott
... me," said I, bitterly, "by this cold and taunting kindness; tell me, tell me only, who it is that ...
— Devereux, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... of time and seasons. She had ceased hoping for a letter from her mother; even a taunting missive from Ahenobarbus would have been a diversion. She was so closely guarded that she found herself praying that Drusus would not try to steal a second interview, for the attempt might end in his murder. Only one stray crumb of comfort at last did she obtain, and it was Artemisia who brought ...
— A Friend of Caesar - A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic. Time, 50-47 B.C. • William Stearns Davis
... almost pitch dark within the hut. Only from a crack under the door could any light enter. For an instant after the taunting of the voices of the men who had locked them in reached their ears, the trio of youthful ...
— The Girl Aviators' Motor Butterfly • Margaret Burnham
... with him in those sad times, was inflamed with drink, and Dorothy's conduct, I must admit, was maddening. In the midst of her taunting Thomas stepped into the room bearing an armful of fagots. Sir George turned ...
— Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall • Charles Major
... woman then, "that you are one of the kind of knights who like to keep out of fighting. You are lucky to have so good an excuse for staying at home." And she laughed a thin and taunting laugh. ...
— Children's Literature - A Textbook of Sources for Teachers and Teacher-Training Classes • Charles Madison Curry
... but the rock With ragged points beset dash'd both his brows In pieces, and his eyes fell at his feet. 905 He diver-like, from his exalted stand Behind the steeds pitch'd headlong, and expired; O'er whom, Patroclus of equestrian fame! Thou didst exult with taunting speech severe. Ye Gods, with what agility he dives! 910 Ah! it were well if in the fishy deep This man were occupied; he might no few With oysters satisfy, although the waves Were churlish, plunging headlong from his bark As easily as from his chariot here. 915 So then—in ...
— The Iliad of Homer - Translated into English Blank Verse • Homer
... night for Philip, and a restless one. At any other time the swing of the cars would have lulled him to sleep, and the rattle and clank of wheels and rails, the roar of the whirling iron would have only been cheerful reminders of swift and safe travel. Now they were voices of warning and taunting; and instead of going rapidly the train seemed to crawl at a snail's pace. And it not only crawled, but it frequently stopped; and when it stopped it stood dead still and there was an ominous silence. Was anything the matter, ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain
... Parliamentary war; but in some places an unfair, and everywhere a most superficial account. I said so; and my uncle, who had an old craze in behalf of the book, opposed me with asperity; and, in the course of what he said, under some movement of ill-temper, he asked me, in a way which I felt to be taunting, how I could consent to waste my time as I did. Without any answering warmth, I explained that my guardians, having quarrelled with me, would not grant for my use anything beyond my school allowance of one hundred ...
— Memorials and Other Papers • Thomas de Quincey
... so real that he thought he could hear the taunting voice of Jellup. In feverish excitement Ned sprang upright, to find a pair of strong arms clasped about him. He did not cry out. A wave of cold fear seemed to benumb his tongue and brain. He knew this ...
— The Air Ship Boys • H.L. Sayler
... beautiful young husbands, but the youngest, named Oweenee, fixed her affections on Osseo, who was "old, poor and ugly," but "most beautiful within." All being invited to a feast, the nine set upon their youngest sister, taunting her for having married Osseo; but forthwith Osseo leaped into a fallen oak, and was transformed into a most handsome young man, his wife to a very old woman, "wrinkled and ugly," but his love changed not. Soon another change occurred; Oweenee resumed her former beauty, and all ...
— Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama - A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook, Vol. 3 • E. Cobham Brewer
... was raging still, but the heart of it seemed to be lacking. The English were crying out that the White Witch was dead, taunting their foes with being led by a woman, and asking them where she ...
— A Heroine of France • Evelyn Everett-Green
... is taunting in tone, and bitter in sense. She intends it to be both—only in seeming. But to still further impress a lesson on the lover who has slighted her, she draws closer the mantle, and makes ...
— The Death Shot - A Story Retold • Mayne Reid
... enough that there was a plot afloat, and it seemed that the scheme was to make him lose money on his horse. If he had been timid he would have hesitated about backing Nemo for anything; but the ones who had been taunting him had reckoned well on his mettle, and they had succeeded in pricking his pride ...
— Frank Merriwell's Races • Burt L. Standish
... paradox is true that the only use of rhetoric is in self-accusation, and Polus was right in saying that to do wrong is worse than to suffer wrong, and Gorgias was right in saying that the rhetorician must be a just man. And you were wrong in taunting me with my defenceless condition, and in saying that I might be accused or put to death or boxed on the ears with impunity. For I may repeat once more, that to strike is worse than to be stricken—to do than to suffer. What I said then is now made fast in adamantine bonds. I myself know not the ...
— Gorgias • Plato
... this wise: "Whatsoever becomes of any of us in this dangerous enterprise, we will here promise, that albeit, I, you, and your nannye, every of us, by name, should accuse any of us of this, or any part touching this enterprise, bye and bye to revile him with most taunting and naughty rebukes that may be devised. And thereby setting a stern countenance, and for our couraging and better comfort herein, he shewed us of a matter that was most true, and accused by Strangways against two brethren, meaning [the] Tremaynes, who being but little men in personage, ...
— The Reign of Mary Tudor • James Anthony Froude
... to Knight, and indulged in a bitter invective against a certain Colonel Gibson, from whom, he said, he had received deep injury; and dwelt upon the delight with which he would see him undergo such tortures as those which Crawford was then suffering. He observed, in a taunting tone, that most of the prisoners had said, that the white people would not injure him, if the chance of war was to throw him into their power; but that for his own part, he should be loath to try the experiment. "I think, (added he with a laugh,) that they would roast me alive, with ...
— Heroes and Hunters of the West • Anonymous
... hotel bitterly weeping. His identity was revealed, the parents were notified at once, and the boy was sent on the first train back to his home. On the way to the station he sobbed out through his tears, "Well, my brother can't call me a coward any more, anyway." Who knows but that this everlasting taunting of the child with the accusation of being a baby or being a coward has much to do with many such escapades and other daring exploits on the part of the juveniles who are chafed by such unjust insinuations? Those of us who are acquainted with the vice and crime ...
— The Mother and Her Child • William S. Sadler
... command; but he had no discretion allowed him; it was in writing—it was distinct—and the officer who delivered it, coming directly from Lord Baglan, must have known what the latter really intended. It has been universally believed that Captain Nolan used insulting language to the Earl of Lucan, taunting him with cowardice. This is untrue; the author of this history can declare so upon the authority of the noble lord himself. Captain Nolan did point to the enemy and the captured guns borne by them from the Turkish redoubts, and directed ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan |
