toggle menu
menu
vocabulary
1000+ books

talisman
in a sentence

show 180 more with this conextual meaning
  • Somehow she managed to hold on to it for years; it's moved with her from Providence to Paris to New York, a secret talisman on her shelves that she would glance at now and again, still faintly flattered by his peculiar pursuit of her, and always faintly curious as to what had become of him.†   (source)
  • By him stood Piggy still holding out the talisman, the fragile, shining beauty of the shell.†   (source)
  • They attach talismanic importance to a special blanket, or a teddy bear, or a stuffed tiger.†   (source)
  • It's a talisman of sorts, one that carries with it all my memories of my dad; every now and then, I remove it from my pocket and stare at it.†   (source)
  • Whose talisman is the bowl he can't put them in?†   (source)
  • It had become a kind of talisman for me, a safeguard against the terrors of prison.†   (source)
  • More than anything, though, the stockings were a talisman for him.†   (source)
  • I kept fingering the Popsicle-stick good-luck talisman Teddy had presented me with before we left.†   (source)
  • Traditionally, talismans were used for bringing luck, warding off evil spirits, or aiding in ancient rituals.†   (source)
  • It wore Bast's collar, but as I watched, the talisman of the goddess crumbled to dust.†   (source)
  • When she saw me, she shot over in her tight quick steps, holding the BlackBerry in front of her like a talisman.†   (source)
  • He looked up at the new talismans flanking the exit to his hall—the mounted bull's head and the oil painting of the Old Duke Atreides, the late Duke Leto's father.†   (source)
  • It was a statue carved out of wood like the kind I saw years later in the anthro textbooks I used to pore over, as if staring at those little talismanic wooden carvings would somehow be my madeleine, bringing back my past to me like they say tasting that cookie did for Proust.†   (source)
  • He called out his own name before him like a talisman against harm.†   (source)
  • Such parents may believe—as fervently as the governor of Illinois believed—that every children's book is a talisman that leads to unfettered intelligence.†   (source)
  • When doubt and shame or worse crept in, the letters and books and visits from my friends and lover and family were powerful proof that I was okay, more effective than charms or talismans or pills to fight those terrible feelings.†   (source)
  • I pressed her close to my motionless heart, holding her like a talisman against rash behavior.†   (source)
  • "That face of Ann's must be a talisman against all men," Elizabeth whispers just loudly enough to be heard.†   (source)
  • He still possesses a talisman that may yet turn the events in the Archipelago in his favor.†   (source)
  • His father came out to greet him, took him by the arm, and pushed him into a bathroom, where without a word he proceeded to pull off all his talismans.†   (source)
  • There are powerful books down there—Binding books, Caster scrolls, Dark and Light talismans, objects of power.†   (source)
  • It dangled on the umbilical cord like an obscene talisman on a headhunter's belt.†   (source)
  • But it is the memory of that woman, that boy and that vast field that continues to ride and ride in my mind, not only because it is a warm, safe and proud thing I carry with me like a talisman into cold, dangerous and spirit-numbing places, but because it so perfectly sums up the way she carried us, with such dignity.†   (source)
  • She already knew the text of Dimensions in Mathematics by heart and was dragging the book around mainly because it represented a physical link to Fermat, as if the book had become some kind of talisman.†   (source)
  • Mr. Mompellion, too, has come upon these talismans.†   (source)
  • Iridescent oils are displayed with amulets, talismans, incense.†   (source)
  • "As the Mortal Cup has been to the Shadowhunters, both a talisman and a means of transformation, so shall this Infernal Cup be to you," she said in her charred, windblown voice.†   (source)
  • Whether my mother placed the eggs here as a protective talisman for us, or whether she is playing out the type of fantasy the old media would have headlined, "The Devil Made Me Do It," I'll never know.†   (source)
  • The least of the jewels with which he was covered was worth more than all the clothes and weapons of the Narnian lords put together: but he was so fat and such a mass of frills and pleats and bobbles and buttons and tassels and talismans that Aravis couldn't help thinking the Narnian fashions (at any rate for men) looked nicer.†   (source)
  • I'll give you a talisman.†   (source)
  • David was just pouring himself another cup of coffee while studying a golden talisman that he dangled from a finger.†   (source)
  • Whereas someone in his situation might have squandered his money in restaurants and in the theater, and on clothing, ca. bs, and useless talismans like walking sticks and fancy watches, Rafi ate with the railroad workers, dressed modestly, and walked every place he went.†   (source)
  • John walked down the street beside them, still holding the envelope as though it were a talisman.†   (source)
  • And she remembered Roarke had it, carried it like some sort of superstitious talisman.†   (source)
  • Some of them promised to come; some offered their talismans-a branch from a peach tree, a Christian cross, a red paper with good words written on it.†   (source)
  • Music had become his talisman against the loneliness which, one day, must surely overwhelm him.†   (source)
  • He had the kind of superstition which runs not to avoiding black cats, walking around ladders, or carrying talismans, but to nervous presentiment and an obscure sense of the stirrings of omens and portents.†   (source)
  • The Talisman could unbind that lock, could warm him against the cold, could transport him anywhere in the world…… There came a sound of wings, beating.†   (source)
  • It had been worn as a talisman by soldiers in the last imperialist war.†   (source)
  • When she bought it, in a kind of scarlet rage, she held like a talisman at the back of her mind the thought: "I can give it back, I can sell it.†   (source)
  • "Trust me," he says; which in itself has never been a talisman, carries no guarantee.†   (source)
  • This tiny capstone was a talisman, but not the magic kind …. the far older kind.†   (source)
  • With these talismanic objects in his hands, George would never touch him again.†   (source)
  • When Peter had told Langdon the package contained a talisman, Langdon had laughed.†   (source)
  • So now I am asking you to trust me when I tell you this talisman is powerful.†   (source)
  • Long before talisman had magical connotations, it had another meaning—"completion."†   (source)
  • By definition, a talisman was an object with magical powers.†   (source)
  • Peter, you do realize that talismans went out of vogue in the Middle Ages, right?†   (source)
  • He ran his fingers along Randolph's collection of trinkets and talismans.†   (source)
  • Brigid's odd collection of talismans is still there.†   (source)
  • "Aye, well, the horse is her talisman, but she's near sleeping on his back."†   (source)
  • Sadie stared the talisman glittering in her palm.†   (source)
  • Her Check Would Be in the Mail — wonderful, mystical, talismanic phrase.†   (source)
  • How can he be doing this, all from a talisman that caused so much evil and misery?†   (source)
  • Bram's talisman had burst into a phosphorescent flame.†   (source)
  • It was said to be a powerful talisman, the broken bond of a broken heart.†   (source)
  • He'd given her a talisman, and she'd kept it.†   (source)
  • "You have a talisman of Kali," I answer.†   (source)
  • THE TWINS WEREN'T EASY to tell apart but for the anklet which Hema had kept on Shiva as a talisman.†   (source)
  • That's why I got into talismans and amulets.†   (source)
  • It had been my talisman on a harrowing journey, an escape from Ethiopia which he knew nothing about.†   (source)
  • Aside from which, I'm not sure anything can Bind such a dark talisman."†   (source)
  • "Is he?" asked David, glancing up from the talisman.†   (source)
  • David reached inside his sweater and brought out the talisman, laying it on the table.†   (source)
  • David reached out to hand her the talisman, but Ms.†   (source)
  • David reached into his shirt and lifted out Bram's golden talisman.†   (source)
  • "The talisman indicates if the book is safe from Astaroth," said David.†   (source)
  • A traitor planted that letter and talisman so we'd go fetch the Book for Astaroth!†   (source)
  • Since we have discovered the talisman, it has burned brighter each day.†   (source)
  • I'm careful," David said defensively, still examining the talisman.†   (source)
  • Max watched the talisman swinging gently back and forth on David's finger.†   (source)
  • With the exception of a teary, indignant Mum, they were now all staring at Bram's talisman.†   (source)
  • Cooper's eyes flicked to the sphere and then to the burning talisman.†   (source)
  • "You put the letter and talisman in the Archives," said Max.†   (source)
  • Dr. Rasmussen stabbed an accusatory finger at the talisman and then at David.†   (source)
  • "Tell my dad not to worry," said Max, handing Nick and the talisman to Cooper.†   (source)
  • David held out the talisman, a golden disk on a slender chain engraved with an eight-pointed sun.†   (source)
  • All eyes were fixed on the talisman, which burned hot and bright as a blacksmith's fire.†   (source)
  • He removed Bram's talisman and passed it back to Max.†   (source)
  • He brought out Bram's talisman, holding it gingerly by its slender chain.†   (source)
  • David tapped the talisman with his finger, squinting at the sun on its face.†   (source)
  • The Talisman glowed with a pale fire about his waist.†   (source)
  • I have with me the Talisman of the Binder.†   (source)
  • He wears it now as his only talisman.†   (source)
  • Admittedly he had not, as he had with Sirius, looked desperately for some kind of loophole, some way that Dumbledore would come back … he felt in his pocket for the cold chain of the fake Horcrux, which he now carried with him everywhere, not as a talisman, but as a reminder of what it had cost and what remained still to do.†   (source)
  • — CHAPTER NINETEEN — The Lion and the Serpent Harry felt as though he were carrying some kind of talisman inside his chest over the following two weeks, a glowing secret that supported him through Umbridge's classes and even made it possible for him to smile blandly as he looked into her horrible bulging eyes.†   (source)
  • The fact of his own survival burned inside him, a talisman against them, as though his father's stag kept guardian in his heart.†   (source)
  • When a younger character takes on an older character's talisman, she also assumes some of the elder's power.†   (source)
  • They filled the Baron with an odd sense of foreboding, and he wondered what thoughts these talismans had inspired in the Duke Leto as they hung in the halls of Caladan and then on Arrakis—the bravura father and the head of the bull that had killed him.†   (source)
  • Beneath these talismans, white linen shone around the burnished reflections of the Atreides silver, which had been placed in precise arrangements along the great table—little archipelagos of service waiting beside crystal glasses, each setting squared off before a heavy wooden chair.†   (source)
  • He had driven back to his own house in the VW with the radio turned up, and some disco group chanted over and over again, talismanic in the house before dawn: Do it anyway … you wanta do it …. do it anyway you want … No matter how loud he heard the squealing tires, the crash.†   (source)
  • From the Greek telesma, meaning "complete," a talisman was any object or idea that completed another and made it whole.†   (source)
  • Exactly as Peter Solomon had promised, the golden capstone was a potent talisman with the power to bring order from chaos.†   (source)
  • A capstone, symbolically speaking, was the ultimate talisman, transforming the Unfinished Pyramid into a symbol of completed perfection.†   (source)
  • "And this talisman," he continued, extracting the golden capstone, "did indeed bring order from chaos, exactly as promised."†   (source)
  • Even so, the claim that a talisman could impart any power at all was absurd, much less the power to bring order from chaos.†   (source)
  • Langdon couldn't imagine why the CIA would want a little box containing a talisman …. or even what the talisman could be.†   (source)
  • Peter Solomon entrusted me with a talisman …. a deluded lunatic tricked me into bringing it to the Capitol and wants me to use it to unlock a mystical portal …. possibly in a room called SBB13.†   (source)
  • And it is indeed …. a talisman .†   (source)
  • "This talisman," Solomon continued, "would be dangerous in the wrong hands, and unfortunately, I have reason to believe powerful people want to steal it from me."†   (source)
  • Much like the word talisman.†   (source)
  • Did he say a talisman?†   (source)
  • A talisman, of sorts.†   (source)
  • "And finally," Solomon said, "like the stone box in your hand, many cornerstones are little vaults …. and have hollow cavities so that they can hold buried treasures …. talismans, if you will—symbols of hope for the future of the building about to be erected."†   (source)
  • My glowing eyes were a talisman.†   (source)
  • She held a blue plastic hairbrush that she tapped nervously against her thigh like a good luck talisman.†   (source)
  • He did not think, but it did not frighten him to operate on pure instinct He held the jawbone's frozen, prehistoric grin up in front of him, holding his other arm out stiffly, first and last fingers poked out in the ancient forked talisman, the ward against the evil eye.†   (source)
  • She remembered the childhood games of hide-and-seek that had always ended when the shadows joined each other and grew into purple lagoons, that mystic call drifting through the suburban streets of her childhood, talismanic and distant, the high voice of a child announcing suppers that were ready, doors ready to be shut against the night: 'Alleee-alleee-infree!†   (source)
  • The Bedouins came out ripping the remains of his Hawaiian shirt into strips, which they carefully wrapped around their arms, their radio antenna, and their rearview mirror as good luck talismans.†   (source)
  • "What opens one way can be opened the other," she whispers as she rubs the talisman that hangs from her neck.†   (source)
  • But he was determined to achieve peace at any cost—and this talisman was the object that he believed would help him to do it.†   (source)
  • "How would they know it's a talisman?"†   (source)
  • "What talisman?" said Bert.†   (source)
  • It was my talisman for protection.†   (source)
  • The powerful talisman wasn't buried with Genevieve; it was in my pocket, and a Dark talisman according to Macon and Amma.†   (source)
  • "It's some kind of Dark talisman, whatever that means, and your uncle told Amma that I never buried it.†   (source)
  • Throughout the episode, Max noticed that David had not moved, but was staring at the talisman on the table.†   (source)
  • The Book of Thoth exists, and he's looking for it right now," continued David, playing with the strange talisman that lay on his palm.†   (source)
  • In the darkened room, the talisman shone like a fiery coin, noticeably brighter than when Max had last seen it.†   (source)
  • I'm not doing anything to it," said David, peering closely at the talisman, which now shone with the luminescence of a full moon.†   (source)
  • Before he became a traitor, Marley Augur fashioned this talisman to warn Bram if the Book was in danger.†   (source)
  • "That's the only good news we have," said Cooper, replacing the talisman around David's neck and tucking it in the boy's sweater.†   (source)
  • Dr. Rasmussen spoke quietly into his phone while the burning light of the talisman reflected in the smooth ovals of his glasses.†   (source)
  • The letters and talisman are mine, planted by my servants, and you have danced to my tune, a merry little puppet indeed!†   (source)
  • Richter motioned for an aide to dim the lights as David unbuttoned his collar and reached inside his shirt to retrieve the talisman that hung on a chain around his neck.†   (source)
  • No, David, I'd like you to hold on to that just now You've done some excellent work, and I can't think of anyone whom I'd rather have in possession of that talisman for the time being.†   (source)
  • Bram's talisman sparked.†   (source)
  • The talisman!†   (source)
  • The round moon cakes and round doorways, the round tables of graduated sizes that fit one roundness inside another, round windows and rice bowls-these talismans had lost their power to warn this family of the law: a family must be whole, faithfully keeping the descent line by having sons to feed the old and the dead, who in turn look after the family.†   (source)
  • They secured their prisoners in chains, removing the Talisman of the Binder and the crimson cloak of Death.†   (source)
  • Sam tipped his smile forward and continued: "Unknown to most, as a part of this display there is an item which was once known as the Talisman of the Binder.†   (source)
  • Citragupta, serving man to Lord Yama, built a mighty pyre at Worldsend, out of aromatic woods, gums, incenses, perfumes and costly cloths; and upon the pyre he laid the Talisman of the Binder and the great blue-feather cloak that had belonged to Srit, chief among the Kataputna demons; he also placed there the shape-changing jewel of the Mothers, from out the Dome of the Glow, and a robe of saffron from the purple grove of Alundil, which was said to have belonged to Tathagatha the…†   (source)
  • …with him, who aped his clothing and manner and (to the extent which they were able) his very manner of living, looked upon Bon as though he were a hero out of some adolescent Arabian Nights who had stumbled upon (or rather, had thrust upon him) a talisman or touchstone not to invest him with wisdom or power or wealth, but with the ability and opportunity to pass from the scene of one scarce imaginable delight to the next one without interval or pause or satiety; and the very fact that,…†   (source)
  • I had my secret and sure defense, like a talisman worn in the bosom, felt for in the moment of danger, found and firmly grasped.†   (source)
  • He had begun to think that this bag, in which he kept his valuables, had a talismanic quality, because of the way he had found it after the explosion, standing handle-side up in the doorway of his room, while the desk under which he had previously hidden it was in splinters all over the floor.†   (source)
  • "There is another that applies to here," Joaquan said, bringing them out as though they were talismans, "Pasionaria says it is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees."†   (source)
  • Probably Gawaine or his men would be skulking at his heels, in case for a moment he should lay the talisman aside.†   (source)
  • He experienced awake the bliss of deep sleep, and returned to the light of day with such a convincing talisman of his unbelievable adventure that he was able to retain his self-assurance in the face of every sobering disillusionment.†   (source)
  • I will seek out a face, a composed, a monumental face, and will endow it with omniscience, and wear it under my dress like a talisman and then (I promise this) I will find some dingle in a wood where I can display my assortment of curious treasures.†   (source)
  • And my men, for whom I am no more than a standard or a talisman, are the knights who were leaders—the rich defending their possessions, the powerful unready to let it slip.†   (source)
  • The talismanic ring from the soul's encounter with its other portion in the place of recollectedness betokens that the heart was there aware of what Rip van Winkle missed; it betokens too a conviction of the waking mind that the reality of the deep is not belied by that of common day.†   (source)
  • The talisman fell to the floor, and he regarded it fearfully.†   (source)
  • Dress was the one unfailing talisman and charm used for keeping all things in their places.†   (source)
  • Here is a talisman will remove all difficulties;' and she held out a pretty gold ring.†   (source)
  • It is not only a valuable diamond, but it is an enchanted talisman.†   (source)
  • Well, now I'm grown up, the talisman's lost its power.'†   (source)
  • But no, he did not touch his talisman, and what is the reason he gives for it?†   (source)
  • I who bear with me your memory as a talisman!†   (source)
  • But ambition is a talisman more powerful than witchcraft.†   (source)
  • People remarked that the ring which he had dropped on his lap fell and rolled against the foot of the white man, and that poor Jim glanced down at the talisman that had opened for him the door of fame, love, and success within the wall of forests fringed with white foam, within the coast that under the western sun looks like the very stronghold of the night.†   (source)
  • She sighed with satisfaction, holding the paper tightly between her jewelled fingers; that talisman which perhaps would save her brother Armand's life.†   (source)
  • After many inquiries and almost as many refusals, and perpetually using the words 'PALL MALL GAZETTE' as a sort of talisman, I managed to find the keeper of the section of the Zoological Gardens in which the wolf department is included.†   (source)
  • Her husband drew the talisman from pocket, and then all three burst into laughter as the sergeant-major, with a look of alarm on his face, caught him by the arm.†   (source)
  • But he was a man of more resources than I knew; searched the wood until he found the quill of a cushat-dove, which he shaped into a pen; made himself a kind of ink with gunpowder from his horn and water from the running stream; and tearing a corner from his French military commission (which he carried in his pocket, like a talisman to keep him from the gallows), he sat down and wrote as follows: "DEAR KINSMAN,—Please send the money by the bearer to the place he kens of.†   (source)
  • And so was wafted to my ears the name of Gilberte, bestowed on me like a talisman which might, perhaps, enable me some day to rediscover her whom its syllables had just endowed with a definite personality, whereas, a moment earlier, she had been only something vaguely seen.†   (source)
  • She had forgotten everything else—her rank, her dignity, her secret enthusiasms—everything save that Armand stood in peril of his life, and that there, not twenty feet away from her, in the small boudoir which was quite deserted, in the very hands of Sir Andrew Ffoulkes, might be the talisman which would save her brother's life.†   (source)
  • In the business of supper the talisman was partly forgotten, and afterward the three sat listening in an enthralled fashion to a second instalment of the soldier's adventures in India.†   (source)
  • The old man, with an unspeakable sense of relief at the failure of the talisman, crept back to his bed, and a minute or two afterward the old woman came silently and apathetically beside him.†   (source)
  • The talisman was in its place, and a horrible fear that the unspoken wish might bring his mutilated son before him ere he could escape from the room seized upon him, and he caught his breath as he found that he had lost the direction of the door.†   (source)
  • His father, smiling shamefacedly at his own credulity, held up the talisman, as his son, with a solemn face, somewhat marred by a wink at his mother, sat down at the piano and struck a few impressive chords.†   (source)
  • We look upon woman only to gratify the lust of the eye, and to take pleasure in what men call her beauty; and the Ancient Enemy, the devouring Lion, obtains power over us, to complete, by talisman and spell, a work which was begun by idleness and folly.†   (source)
  • Mr. Tulkinghorn takes out his papers, asks permission to place them on a golden talisman of a table at my Lady's elbow, puts on his spectacles, and begins to read by the light of a shaded lamp.†   (source)
  • The little circlet of the schoolboy's copper coin—dim and lustreless though it was, with the small services which it had been doing here and there about the world—had proved a talisman, fragrant with good, and deserving to be set in gold and worn next her heart.†   (source)
  • His face was a talisman to the porters and servants of his more dashing clients, and procured him ready admission, though he trudged on foot, and others, who were denied, rattled to the door in carriages.†   (source)
  • For it was set apart and sanctified to one awe-striking end; and however wanton in their sailor ways, one and all, the mariners revered it as the white whale's talisman.†   (source)
  • "Oh, indeed!" said Annie with a funny look, as Meg slipped the note into her pocket as a sort of talisman against envy, vanity, and false pride, for the few loving words had done her good, and the flowers cheered her up by their beauty.†   (source)
  • O Fiend, whose talisman was that fatal symbol, wouldst thou leave nothing, whether in youth or age, for this poor sinner to revere?†   (source)
  • Its mystic imagery are so many talismans and gems inscribed with unknown hieroglyphics; she folds them in her bosom, and expects to read them when she passes beyond the veil.†   (source)
  • The ambiguous phrase by means of which Montparnasse had warned Gavroche of the presence of the policeman, contained no other talisman than the assonance dig repeated five or six times in different forms.†   (source)
  • 'That aspen-tree,' began Bazarov, 'reminds me of my childhood; it grows at the edge of the clay-pits where the bricks were dug, and in those days I believed firmly that that clay-pit and aspen-tree possessed a peculiar talismanic power; I never felt dull near them.†   (source)
  • They could not help it, for he carried the talisman that opens all hearts, and these simple people warmed to him at once, feeling even the more friendly because he was poor.†   (source)
  • And having put three or four double pistoles into his pocket to answer the needs of the moment, he placed the others in the ebony box, inlaid with mother of pearl, in which was the famous handkerchief which served him as a talisman.†   (source)
  • Though by no means less liable than their fellow-men to age and infirmity, they had evidently some talisman or other that kept death at bay.†   (source)
  • The minister—painfully embarrassed, but hoping that a kiss might prove a talisman to admit him into the child's kindlier regards—bent forward, and impressed one on her brow.†   (source)
  • …talent, and the kindest heart that ever got its owner into scrapes by trying to get other people out of them, he stood in great danger of being spoiled, and probably would have been, like many another promising boy, if he had not possessed a talisman against evil in the memory of the kind old man who was bound up in his success, the motherly friend who watched over him as if he were her son, and last, but not least by any means, the knowledge that four innocent girls loved, admired,…†   (source)
  • It may be that it was the talisman of a stern and severe, but yet a guardian spirit, who now forsook her; as recognising that, in spite of his strict watch over her heart, some new evil had crept into it, or some old one had never been expelled.†   (source)
  • Then wide-eyed Hera smiled . and smiling put the talisman in her breast.†   (source)
  • Say the following talisman three times with hands folded: —Se el yilo nebrakada femininum!†   (source)
  • I should not have parted with my talisman.†   (source)
  • BLOOM: A talisman.†   (source)
▲ show less (of above)