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dexterity
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  • This operation demanded the dexterity of a watchmaker.†   (source)
  • Dorian spun Celaena with speed and dexterity, and she snapped into his arms, her shoulders rising with exhilaration.†   (source)
  • She could not bend the last two fingers on her left hand, and the others would never again be dexterous.†   (source)
  • To slam the door impulsively on the past, to shed everything down to my last bit of clothing, to break the pattern of my life—that complex design I had been weaving since birth with all its dark threads, its unexplainable symbols set against a conventional background of domestic white and schoolboy blue, all those tangled strands which required the dexterity of a virtuoso to keep flowing—I yearned to take giant military shears to it, snap!†   (source)
  • With fingers made dexterous from years of practice, she pulled a near-navy dress from a rack of black.†   (source)
  • A blind man without eyelids and eyes as blue as faded jeans, his skin pitted with smallpox scars, chatted to a leper without fingers, taking dexterous drags from scavenged cigarette stubs that lay beside him in a heap.†   (source)
  • Khufu showed as much dexterity with rags and cleaning fluid as he did with a basketball, and it's truly amazing how much polishing, dusting, and scrubbing one can accomplish by attaching large dusting cloths to the wings of a griffin.†   (source)
  • One guide gushed: "The Labrador retriever is known for its intelligence, warm affection for man, field dexterity and undying devotion to any task."†   (source)
  • I returned the favor by giving an impromptu lesson in psychology, probability, and manual dexterity.†   (source)
  • She leaned forward to do it but Hallorann was ahead of her, his large brown fingers moving with smooth dexterity.†   (source)
  • Hanging out with no one but extremely dexterous people all the time was going to give me a complex.†   (source)
  • With unusual dexterity for a man his age, he headed down the path to the hacienda without looking to either side, so that the blow to the back of his head took him by surprise and he fell flat on his face in the dust before he even realized what had happened.†   (source)
  • In the beginning, the frequency of his letters was conditioned by the dexterity of his fingers: first one a week, then two, and at last one a day.†   (source)
  • It's a puzzle we use to test cleverness and dexterity.†   (source)
  • I remembered her warning me that one day time would take the dexterity out of her hands, and she'd only be able to plunk away at one or two keys at a time.†   (source)
  • He performed the maneuver automatically, with a double-jointed collapsible dexterity, throwing himself into it, like a child or a mime.†   (source)
  • While Adam's grip gained strength in rehabilitation, his overall dexterity and fine motor skills weren't the same.†   (source)
  • Far from being a disadvantage, his hand could negotiate crevices and tissue planes that others could not, and his middle finger had developed the dexterity of an index finger.†   (source)
  • Cedric flips off the power switch with a long, dexterous finger.†   (source)
  • Luke was quite dexterous with his thumb and little finger.†   (source)
  • The red flooded Johnnie's face as she knelt before her loom interrogating its workings with a dexterous hand; even the white nape of her neck showed pink to Mandy's examining eye; but she managed to reply in a fairly even tone: "Yes, that was Mr. Stoddard.†   (source)
  • I had little time to wonder if I had won or not, for the standard questions reminded me of the necessity for dexterous lying.†   (source)
  • Max's hopes sank—the kitsune's hands were blessed with seven fingers and each danced with superhuman dexterity.†   (source)
  • In the last analysis, however, it was not Jefferson or the "dextrous" Burr who defeated Adams so much as the Federalist war faction and the rampaging Hamilton.†   (source)
  • Atticus's time also was when the Finches moved to town: Atticus read law in Montgomery and returned to practice in Maycomb; Alexandra, overcome by Uncle Jimmy's dexterity, went with him to Maycomb; John Hale Finch went to Mobile to study medicine; and Caroline eloped at seventeen.†   (source)
  • Their debilitating skin condition reached down into their joints and made dexterity a difficult prospect.†   (source)
  • Phaedrus was a master with this knife, and used it with dexterity and a sense of power.†   (source)
  • Mo often wondered aloud if there was more to his patient's physical dexterity than mere athleticism; oddly enough, there was not.†   (source)
  • He was alert, observant, good with his hands when the nursing-sisters needed dexterous aid, and astoundingly strong when the attorney Giuliani had to be lifted.†   (source)
  • She used it as a karate stick on the beach, twirling the cane around her body and head with great dexterity and skill.†   (source)
  • The men in the Lu household were proud of their wives' fluency in nu shu and dexterity in embroidery, though these things had as much importance to survival as a pig's fart.†   (source)
  • ELESIN dances towards the market-place as he chants the story of the Not-I bird, his voice changing dexterously to mimic his characters.†   (source)
  • Regis, dexterous and ever-alert, managed to lurch out of the way, though the blade scratched the side of his head and the momentum of his dodge sent him spinning to the ground.†   (source)
  • They were unmistakably her mother's hands—dexterous, long-fingered, meant for holding a brush or a pen.†   (source)
  • Blame is shifted from one to another with so much dexterity that the public doesn't know who made the decision.†   (source)
  • Mary would comment again how talented and skilled Sunny was, how dexterous and precocious, and I never thought to correct her appraisals, even though the performances were in fact maudlin and probably insulting to her, as they certainly were to me.†   (source)
  • Now he moved the brush to his left and worked with equal dexterity.†   (source)
  • This old black sewing woman, along with her speed and dexterity, brought along a great provision of up-to-the-minute news.†   (source)
  • For an hour the board shuffled figures dexterously.†   (source)
  • You have a certain manual dexterity.   (source)
  • He was valued everywhere for his industry, dexterity, and strength at work, and still more for his kindly and pleasant temper.   (source)
  • The movement was dexterous, as flowing as oil.†   (source)
  • The dancers spread across the stage and in a single dexterous swipe, like unholstering a gun, they pulled off their tearaway trousers and went into a final rousing kick, gams flashing, and drew several waves of applause.†   (source)
  • Max marveled at how David had adapted to the use of his left hand, which was now as dexterous as the one he had lost.†   (source)
  • Quoth asked, gazing up at her and rubbing his hands with nervous dexterity.†   (source)
  • I think of JUPITER scrolled on the sand in his angular script, by his extra, dextrous finger.†   (source)
  • Ghosh didn't hesitate: "Passion for his craft ....and skill, dexterity.†   (source)
  • The horse leaped forward and bounded into Du Weldenvarden, threading his way with incredible dexterity between the gnarled pines.†   (source)
  • Such a spell was a feat of the highest order, a wonder of magical dexterity that few in history could have hoped to carry out.†   (source)
  • They were sunk, point upward, at random intervals along the path, so that it was possible to cross the bridge only very slowly, by picking your way with dexterity.†   (source)
  • The other dwarf did not cover himself with his shield, but rather reached out and, with amazing dexterity, caught the spear by the shaft.†   (source)
  • All too plainly, times had changed: All the old patriots, all the splendid talents, the long experience, both Federalists and Anti-Federalists must be subjected to the humiliation of seeing this dextrous gentleman [Burr] rise like a balloon, filled with uninflammable air over the heads...'What an encouragement to party intrigue and corruption !†   (source)
  • But with a dexterity and swiftness that shocked even Max, his opponent leaped backward and put enough distance between himself and the razor point that he caught it again upon his shield.†   (source)
  • Poirot was dexterously taking them down one by one.†   (source)
  • She herself would come against him when he would be engaged at a certain ford with a man "as strong, as victorious, as dexterous, as terrible, as untiring, as noble, as brave, as great" as himself.†   (source)
  • There were three finished medallions now, each rather pretty in its way, but unhappily each in a different way, for my tastes had changed and I had become more dexterous in the eighteen months since the series was begun.†   (source)
  • The occasional stones which were being thrown at her by the Old Ones she dexterously caught and swallowed, in the maddening way which chickens have when you are trying to drive them off.†   (source)
  • Not as oneself did one find rest ever, in her experience (she accomplished here something dexterous with her needles) but as a wedge of darkness.†   (source)
  • So I had a deck of cards between my fingers as their most familiar object, and actually I became a very dexterous and fancy dealer.†   (source)
  • And you take it and marvel, as I take the careless movements of your body and marvel at its ease, its power—how you fling open windows and are dexterous with your hands.†   (source)
  • So he turned with a passion that made up for his indolence upon Catullus, Horace, Lucretius, lying lazily dormant, yes, but regardant, noticing, with rapture, cricketers, while with a mind like the tongue of an ant-eater, rapid, dexterous, glutinous, he searched out every curl and twist of those Roman sentences, and sought out one person, always one person to sit beside.†   (source)
  • He sat in my deck chair, a cigar half consumed in his white, dexterous-looking fingers.†   (source)
  • He was a good workman, dexterous, and one who, when he was in a good humour, always sang.†   (source)
  • He was rather dexterous in avoiding of Carrie's past.†   (source)
  • After a time the tall soldier slid dexterously through the hole.†   (source)
  • The young wife worked easily, merrily, and dexterously.†   (source)
  • It would have been impossible for the sycophants of Louis XIV to flatter more dexterously.†   (source)
  • Never had the crew seen so jolly and dexterous a fellow.†   (source)
  • But for the rigidity of his arms, and the play and sudden tension of his leg-muscles, the Indian's work would have appeared commonplace, so dexterous was he, so perfectly at home in his dangerous seat.†   (source)
  • JODELET (catching the purse dexterously and weighing it): At this price, you've authority To come each night, and stop 'Clorise,' Sir!†   (source)
  • In a moment he dexterously lifted upon his knee the great board with its assembled notabilities divine and human, and raised it to the top of his head, bringing them on to her and resting the board on the stile.†   (source)
  • And all about that neighbourhood, even from the august London and Country Banking Company, from the tills of shops and inns—doors standing that sunny weather entirely open—money had been quietly and dexterously making off that day in handfuls and rouleaux, floating quietly along by walls and shady places, dodging quickly from the approaching eyes of men.†   (source)
  • But then I perceived the resemblance of its grey-brown, shiny, leathery integument to that of the other sprawling bodies beyond, and the true nature of this dexterous workman dawned upon me.†   (source)
  • He was very fond of driving by night, and she had very quickly adopted his fancy: as she sat next to him hour after hour, admiring the dexterous, certain way in which he handled the reins, she often wondered what went on in that slow-going head of his.†   (source)
  • I was surprised, considering the fierce struggle in the forecastle, at the superficiality of his hurts, and I pride myself that I dressed them dexterously.†   (source)
  • She was before the mirror again, adjusting her hair with a light hand, drawing down her veil, and giving a dexterous touch to her furs.†   (source)
  • And that chap, coming into a room, snapped up the gaze of every woman in it, as dexterously as a conjurer pockets billiard balls.†   (source)
  • I told him what I had seen; told him in broken sentences, with gasps of pain between them, and very dexterously and swiftly he bound my arm meanwhile.†   (source)
  • Sir Andrew quickly and dexterously put out the flames and replaced the candelabra upon the table; but this had taken him a few seconds to do, and those seconds had been all that Marguerite needed to cast a quick glance at the paper, and to note its contents—a dozen words in the same distorted handwriting she had seen before, and bearing the same device—a star-shaped flower drawn in red ink.†   (source)
  • The general reined strongly at his charger's opened and foamy mouth and guided it with dexterous horsemanship past the man.†   (source)
  • However, all these discoveries are nothing, to my mind, compared with that which I was able to make, in the presence of the acting-manager, in the managers' office, within a couple of inches from the desk-chair, and which consisted of a trap-door, the width of a board in the flooring and the length of a man's fore-arm and no longer; a trap-door that falls back like the lid of a box; a trap-door through which I can see a hand come and dexterously fumble at the pocket of a swallow-tail coat.†   (source)
  • Between sunset and starlight this dexterous machine must have made more than a hundred such bars out of the crude clay, and the mound of bluish dust rose steadily until it topped the side of the pit.†   (source)
  • It was (at least it might have been, always excepting for that wise resolution) like his dexterous impudence to call it a Paradise.†   (source)
  • Mrs Nickleby, who had been eagerly watching her opportunity, came dexterously in, before Kate could reply.†   (source)
  • Then, hand-over-hand, down the other part, the Indian drops through the air, till dexterously he lands on the summit of the head.†   (source)
  • After a few dull efforts to get to sleep again, which the man dexterously combated by stirring the fire continuously for five minutes, he got up, tossed his hat on, and walked out.†   (source)
  • The man from Shropshire ventures another remonstrative "My lord!" but the Chancellor, being aware of him, has dexterously vanished.†   (source)
  • I can understand that it may be advisable to cut off a man's arm in order to save his life; but it would be ridiculous to assert that he will be as dexterous as he was before he lost it.†   (source)
  • A woman—in the old time she would have been called a handmaid—answered, and dexterously piled the pillows and bolsters as rests for the back; after which they sat upon the side of the divan, while water was brought fresh from the lake, and their feet bathed and dried with napkins.†   (source)
  • The hump-backed man stared, as if in excess of amazement and indignation; then, twisting himself, dexterously, from the doctor's grasp, growled forth a volley of horrid oaths, and retired into the house.†   (source)
  • With his usual frankness and delicacy he told Mrs. Haggistoun that he would give her a cheque for five thousand pounds on the day his son was married to her ward; and called that proposal a hint, and considered it a very dexterous piece of diplomacy.†   (source)
  • A powerful and dexterous sweep of Mohegan's paddle sent the canoe directly over the spot where the steward had fallen, and a loud shout from the Leather-Stocking announced that he saw the body.†   (source)
  • He examined the bullets with which Monte Cristo performed this dexterous feat, and saw that they were no larger than buckshot.†   (source)
  • "Nothing in the world," was the reply; and, replacing the paper, I saw him dexterously tear a narrow slip from the margin.†   (source)
  • Here the Professor laid hold of the fossil skeleton, and handled it with the skill of a dexterous showman.†   (source)
  • She then broke the lace off short, and dexterously throwing it into a ditch, was presently obliged to entreat them to stop, and acknowledged her inability to put herself to rights so as to be able to walk home in tolerable comfort.†   (source)
  • His fame had reached me before I ever saw him; and I did hope he would prove to be as stout a warrior as he is dexterous with the deer.†   (source)
  • Sam tumbled up accordingly, dexterously contriving to tickle Andy as he did so, which occasioned Andy to split out into a laugh, greatly to Haley's indignation, who made a cut at him with his riding-whip.†   (source)
  • I was secretly afraid of him when I saw him so dexterous; but I felt morally and physically convinced that his light head of hair could have had no business in the pit of my stomach, and that I had a right to consider it irrelevant when so obtruded on my attention.†   (source)
  • As he approached the moccasin, having now nearly completed the circuit of the building, he threw the ominous article into the canoe, by a dexterous and almost imperceptible movement of his paddle.†   (source)
  • Sam's palm-leaf had been ingeniously disentangled from all pretensions to braid, as respects its brim; and the slivers starting apart, and standing upright, gave it a blazing air of freedom and defiance, quite equal to that of any Fejee chief; while the whole brim of Andy's being departed bodily, he rapped the crown on his head with a dexterous thump, and looked about well pleased, as if to say, "Who says I haven't got a hat?"†   (source)
  • Again and again to such gamesome talk, the dexterous dart is repeated, the spear returning to its master like a greyhound held in skilful leash.†   (source)
  • "It may be well enough, to try the rifle," muttered a dull looking man, whose features, both in outline and expression, bore no small resemblance to the first speaker, and who loosened the stock of his piece and brought it dexterously to the front, while delivering this opinion; "the Pawnee Loups are said to be hunting by hundreds in the plains; if so, they'll never miss a single man from their tribe."†   (source)
  • 'As I neared the shore, I noticed a large number of strange-looking birds, who would sometimes flutter round me, and then dart back again to the border of the forest, where they were feeding on what appeared to be the pepper-plant; they seized the berries in their great ponderous beaks, threw them up into the air and then dexterously caught them in their fall.†   (source)
  • Quick and dexterous as was this movement, and ready as had been the expedient, it was not quicker or more ready than that of the Tuscarora.†   (source)
  • In fact, as he threw himself at one dexterous dive into his former seat, Mr. Brownlow returned, accompanied by Oliver, whom Mr. Grimwig received very graciously; and if the gratification of that moment had been the only reward for all her anxiety and care in Oliver's behalf, Rose Maylie would have been well repaid.†   (source)
  • At the same instant, she saw the shining tines of Natty's spear approaching the head of the sufferer, and entwinning themselves, rapidly and dexterously, in the hairs of his cue and the cape of his coat.†   (source)
  • See ye how dexterously they avail themselves of every cover which a tree or bush affords, and shun exposing themselves to the shot of our cross-bows?†   (source)
  • Troy threw the coin dexterously across the front plot and over the fence towards Gabriel, who shunned it in its fall, his face turning to an angry red.†   (source)
  • As prosperity is the sole aim of exertion, it is excellently well attained; nature and mankind are turned to the best pecuniary advantage, and society is dexterously made to contribute to the welfare of each of its members, whilst individual egotism is the source of general happiness.†   (source)
  • Had he been less violent, or more dexterous, he might have succeeded in his supplications to Jos; but the civilian was not a little jealous of the airs of superiority which the Major constantly exhibited towards him, as he fancied (indeed, he had imparted his opinions to Mr. Kirsch, the courier, whose bills Major Dobbin checked on this journey, and who sided with his master), and he began†   (source)
  • The words were barely uttered when four or five of the younger warriors, stepping behind Heyward and the scout, passed thongs so dexterously and rapidly around their arms, as to hold them both in instant bondage.†   (source)
  • 'Well, Tommy,' said this gentleman, making a thrust at his friend, who parried it dexterously with his slipper, 'what's the news?'†   (source)
  • The shaft-horses were tilted against the shafts by the ruts, but the dexterous driver sitting on the box held the shaft over the ruts, so that the wheels ran on the smooth part of the road.†   (source)
  • While life's middle summer had set its hardening mark on the mother's face, her former spring-like specialities were transferred so dexterously by Time to the second figure, her child, that the absence of certain facts within her mother's knowledge from the girl's mind would have seemed for the moment, to one reflecting on those facts, to be a curious imperfection in Nature's powers of continuity.†   (source)
  • I know it was a slight knowledge,' said Mr Meagles, dexterously forestalling an angry interruption which he saw about to break.†   (source)
  • One of the attending harpooneers now advances with a long, keen weapon called a boarding-sword, and watching his chance he dexterously slices out a considerable hole in the lower part of the swaying mass.†   (source)
  • The girl, who wore no riding-habit, looked around for a moment, as if to assure herself that all humanity was out of view, then dexterously dropped backwards flat upon the pony's back, her head over its tail, her feet against its shoulders, and her eyes to the sky.†   (source)
  • So suddenly and dexterously was this manoeuvre performed, that the canoe was on the lee quarter of the Scud before the Sergeant was aware of the artifice, and quite in her wake ere he had time to announce it to his companions.†   (source)
  • At this instant a rope of bark, having an eye, was passed dexterously within the two arms of Hurry, the end threaded the eye, forming a noose, and his elbows were drawn together behind his back, with a power that all his gigantic strength could not resist.†   (source)
  • 'And what, sir,' said Squeers, catching the little boy suddenly by the arms and whisking up his drapery in a most dexterous manner, 'what reason have you to suppose that any boy would want to run away from this establishment?†   (source)
  • Then, having a particular end in view, this dexterous captain proceeded to describe Mrs. Major O'Dowd packing her own and her Major's wardrobe, and how his best epaulets had been stowed into a tea canister, whilst her own famous yellow turban, with the bird of paradise wrapped in brown paper, was locked up in the Major's tin cocked-hat case, and wondered what effect it would have at the French king's court at Ghent, or the great military balls at Brussels.†   (source)
  • Resenting this little success more than anything, Drummle, without any threat or warning, pulled his hands out of his pockets, dropped his round shoulders, swore, took up a large glass, and would have flung it at his adversary's head, but for our entertainer's dexterously seizing it at the instant when it was raised for that purpose.†   (source)
  • He averred, that upon first thrusting in for him, a leg was presented; but well knowing that that was not as it ought to be, and might occasion great trouble;—he had thrust back the leg, and by a dexterous heave and toss, had wrought a somerset upon the Indian; so that with the next trial, he came forth in the good old way—head foremost.†   (source)
  • 'Oh, I'm sure,' returned Miss Ledrook, with considerable vivacity, 'if YOU can't persuade him—' Miss Ledrook said no more, but intimated, by a dexterous playfulness, that if Miss Snevellicci couldn't persuade him, nobody could.†   (source)
  • Springing down into Boldwood's pastures, each pocketed his halter to hide it from the horses, who, seeing the men empty-handed, docilely allowed themselves to be seized by the mane, when the halters were dexterously slipped on.†   (source)
  • Tapeworm, so long as he could have an opportunity of admiring the bright eyes of Mrs. Osborne (whose freshness of complexion bore daylight remarkably well) was not ill pleased to accept any invitation to stay in Mr. Sedley's lodgings; he put one or two dexterous questions to him about India and the dancing-girls there; asked Amelia about that beautiful boy who had been with her; and complimented the astonished little woman upon the prodigious sensation which she had made in the house; and tried to fascinate Dobbin by talking of the late war and the exploits of the Pumpernickel contingent under the command of the Hereditary Prince, now Duke of Pumpernickel.†   (source)
  • Bathsheba, after throwing a glance here, a caution there, and lecturing one of the younger operators who had allowed his last finished sheep to go off among the flock without re-stamping it with her initials, came again to Gabriel, as he put down the luncheon to drag a frightened ewe to his shear-station, flinging it over upon its back with a dexterous twist of the arm.†   (source)
  • To be sure Miss Squeers was in a desperate flutter as the time approached, and to be sure she was dressed out to the best advantage: with her hair—it had more than a tinge of red, and she wore it in a crop—curled in five distinct rows, up to the very top of her head, and arranged dexterously over the doubtful eye; to say nothing of the blue sash which floated down her back, or the worked apron or the long gloves, or the green gauze scarf worn over one shoulder and under the other; or any of the numerous devices which were to be as so many arrows to the heart of Nicholas.†   (source)
  • Such was the thunder of his voice, that spite of their amazement the men sprang over the rail; the sheaves whirled round in the blocks; with a wallow, the three boats dropped into the sea; while, with a dexterous, off-handed daring, unknown in any other vocation, the sailors, goat-like, leaped down the rolling ship's side into the tossed boats below.†   (source)
  • He had looked at the clock many scores of times; and at the street, where the rain was pattering down, and the people as they clinked by in pattens, left long reflections on the shining stone: he tattooed at the table: he bit his nails most completely, and nearly to the quick (he was accustomed to ornament his great big hands in this way): he balanced the tea-spoon dexterously on the milk jug: upset it, &c.†   (source)
  • These gentlemen had not yet quite recovered the jest, when dinner was announced, and then they were thrown into fresh ecstasies by a similar cause; for Sir Mulberry Hawk, in an excess of humour, shot dexterously past Lord Frederick Verisopht who was about to lead Kate downstairs, and drew her arm through his up to the elbow.†   (source)
  • With a grating rush, the three lines flew round the loggerheads with such a force as to gouge deep grooves in them; while so fearful were the harpooneers that this rapid sounding would soon exhaust the lines, that using all their dexterous might, they caught repeated smoking turns with the rope to hold on; till at last—owing to the perpendicular strain from the lead-lined chocks of the boats, whence the three ropes went straight down into the blue—the gunwales of the bows were almost even with the water, while the three sterns tilted high in the air.†   (source)
  • But the third Emir, now seeing himself all alone on the quarter-deck, seems to feel relieved from some curious restraint; for, tipping all sorts of knowing winks in all sorts of directions, and kicking off his shoes, he strikes into a sharp but noiseless squall of a hornpipe right over the Grand Turk's head; and then, by a dexterous sleight, pitching his cap up into the mizentop for a shelf, he goes down rollicking so far at least as he remains visible from the deck, reversing all other processions, by bringing up the rear with music.†   (source)
  • Miss Knag bestowed a reverential smile upon Madame Mantalini, which she dexterously transformed into a gracious one for Kate, and said that certainly, although it was a great deal of trouble to have young people who were wholly unused to the business, still, she was sure the young person would try to do her best—impressed with which conviction she (Miss Knag) felt an interest in her, already.†   (source)
  • The only danger I apprehend of obstruction to your march is from ambuscades of Indians, who, by constant practice, are dexterous in laying and executing them; and the slender line, near four miles long, which your army must make, may expose it to be attack'd by surprise in its flanks, and to be cut like a thread into several pieces, which, from their distance, can not come up in time to support each other.†   (source)
  • If I lie open to the pressure of society I often succeed with the dexterity of my tongue in putting something difficult into the currency.†   (source)
  • Mostly for the satisfaction of dexterity, though Stashu invented the game of stripping in the cellar and putting on girl's things swiped from the clotheslines.†   (source)
  • He was doing card tricks for them and noting the dexterity of his shuffling and handling of the cards, Poirot remembered the General's story of a career on the music hall stage.†   (source)
  • The barber did his work with extraordinary dexterity— indeed, with agility, for he stood like a swordsman in a ballet sometimes on the point of one foot, sometimes on the other, lightly flicking the lather off his blade, and swooping back to my chin as the ship righted herself; I should not have dared use a safety razor on myself.†   (source)
  • The man drew out paper and tobacco and twirled the one up in the other with surprising dexterity.†   (source)
  • The will to it and the sinister dexterity were alike wanting.†   (source)
  • Gulden was throwing a pack, which action he performed with ease and dexterity.†   (source)
  • He had learned to despise technical dexterity.†   (source)
  • He admired the dexterity with which their host directed the conversation.†   (source)
  • But helped by the Canadian's strength and Conseil's dexterity, we overcame every obstacle.†   (source)
  • To grasp him required additional dexterity and unusual force.†   (source)
  • "Tuscarora!" returned the other, smiling with exultation at the dexterity of her husband.†   (source)
  • The grace and dexterity and daring of that rider's act won something more than admiration from Venters.†   (source)
  • Thinking himself without the pale of humanity, he was restrained by no scruples and he employed his extraordinary gifts of dexterity and imagination, which he had received by way of compensation for his extraordinary uglinesss, to prey upon his fellow-men.†   (source)
  • It tasted like paste, like coal, like anything except what it should; nevertheless he continued to smoke it as he watched Joachim get ready for his rest cure, slipping into his tuniclike house jacket, putting an old overcoat on over that, and then taking the nightstand lamp and his Russian grammar with him out to the balcony, where he turned on the lamp, stuck his thermometer in his mouth, sat down, and began to wrap himself with amazing dexterity in two large camel-hair blankets that lay spread over the chair.†   (source)
  • His left leg was cut off close by the hip, and under the left shoulder he carried a crutch, which he managed with wonderful dexterity, hopping about upon it like a bird.†   (source)
  • They knew their one chance of holding on to life lay in their own distrust, watchfulness, dexterity, and that hope, by the very nature of their lives, could not be lasting.†   (source)
  • All this academic art is far worse than the trade in sham antique furniture; for the man who sells me an oaken chest which he swears was made in the XIII century, though as a matter of fact he made it himself only yesterday, at least does not pretend that there are any modern ideas in it, whereas your academic copier of fossils offers them to you as the latest outpouring of the human spirit, and, worst of all, kidnaps young people as pupils and persuades them that his limitations are rules, his observances dexterities, his timidities good taste, and his emptinesses purities.†   (source)
  • Dr. Seward tried one or two skeleton keys, his mechanical dexterity as a surgeon standing him in good stead.†   (source)
  • Her hands, as she endeavored to put up the loosened strands of hair, trembled and failed of their accustomed dexterity.†   (source)
  • But she could not, as at other times, hit the exact under-surface of the cream with the delicate dexterity required, try as she might; sometimes she was cutting down into the milk, sometimes in the air.†   (source)
  • Once, when a lady had dropped her purse on the sidewalk, the gnarled woman had grabbed it and smuggled it with great dexterity beneath her cloak.†   (source)
  • They were soft and helpless, made much noise, and floundered around clumsily trying to accomplish by main strength what he accomplished by dexterity and cunning.†   (source)
  • You have a certain manual dexterity.†   (source)
  • The ebb had already run some time, and I had to wade through a long belt of swampy sand, where I sank several times above the ankle, before I came to the edge of the retreating water, and wading a little way in, with some strength and dexterity, set my coracle, keel downwards, on the surface.†   (source)
  • Miss Chalice, who had a clever dexterity which impressed Lawson notwithstanding his contempt for feminine art, started a picture in which she tried to circumvent the commonplace by leaving out the tops of the trees; and Lawson had the brilliant idea of putting in his foreground a large blue advertisement of chocolat Menier in order to emphasise his abhorrence of the chocolate box.†   (source)
  • And the dwindling shreds of the humanity still startled me every now and then,—a momentary recrudescence of speech perhaps, an unexpected dexterity of the fore-feet, a pitiful attempt to walk erect.†   (source)
  • Dexterity, coolness, bravery, and cunning were virtues he possessed to a high degree, and it took a truly crafty baleen whale or an exceptionally astute sperm whale to elude the thrusts of his harpoon.†   (source)
  • But, he was on his feet directly, and after sponging himself with a great show of dexterity began squaring again.†   (source)
  • All cleverness, whether in the rapid use of that difficult instrument the tongue, or in some other art unfamiliar to villagers, was in itself suspicious: honest folk, born and bred in a visible manner, were mostly not overwise or clever—at least, not beyond such a matter as knowing the signs of the weather; and the process by which rapidity and dexterity of any kind were acquired was so wholly hidden, that they partook of the nature of conjuring.†   (source)
  • 'This is a miniature lasso,' said I. 'The Mexicans, Patagonians, and various tribes of South America, make use of this weapon in hunting, with marvellous dexterity, only, having no bullets, they fasten stones to their ropes, which are immensely longer than this.†   (source)
  • By its perfect shape, its vigour, and its natural dexterity in the use of all its untried limbs, the infant was worthy to have been brought forth in Eden: worthy to have been left there to be the plaything of the angels after the world's first parents were driven out.†   (source)
  • It was a small tube or trochar, with a lance passing down the inside; and Gabriel began to use it with a dexterity that would have graced a hospital surgeon.†   (source)
  • As the main body continued the direct course, this little band of the elite, in returning from its wild exhibition of savage contempt, took its place in the rear, with a dexterity and a concert of action that showed the manoeuvre had been contemplated.†   (source)
  • I had also been forced to notice that my tormentor, for a very long period of time, (while scrupulously and with miraculous dexterity maintaining his whim of an identity of apparel with myself,) had so contrived it, in the execution of his varied interference with my will, that I saw not, at any moment, the features of his face.†   (source)
  • I thanked him, and took my seat at the board; but found it extremely difficult to handle my knife and fork with anything like dexterity, or to avoid splashing myself with the gravy, while he was standing opposite, staring so hard, and making me blush in the most dreadful manner every time I caught his eye.†   (source)
  • Long practised in all the subtle arts of his race, he drew, with great dexterity and quickness, the fantastic shadow that the natives were accustomed to consider as the evidence of a friendly and jocular disposition.†   (source)
  • He stood behind Farfrae's chair, watching his dexterity in clearing up the numerical fogs which had been allowed to grow so thick in Henchard's books as almost to baffle even the Scotchman's perspicacity.†   (source)
  • In his fourth combat with De Grantmesnil, the Disinherited Knight showed as much courtesy as he had hitherto evinced courage and dexterity.†   (source)
  • So saying, with the dexterity of a monkey, he flung a bit of silver into the gray felt hat which the beggar held in his ailing arm.†   (source)
  • Meg, in the other boat, was delightfully situated, face to face with the rowers, who both admired the prospect and feathered their oars with uncommon 'skill and dexterity'.†   (source)
  • But Chingachgook continued unmoved, as he remained unhurt by the missiles, accomplishing his task with the dexterity of long habit.†   (source)
  • Mr. Bucket lost no time in transferring this paper, with the dexterity of a conjuror, from Mr. Smallweed to Mr. Jarndyce.†   (source)
  • When a workman is unceasingly and exclusively engaged in the fabrication of one thing, he ultimately does his work with singular dexterity; but at the same time he loses the general faculty of applying his mind to the direction of the work.†   (source)
  • Mr. Micawber, with a perfect miracle of dexterity or luck, caught his advancing knuckles with the ruler, and disabled his right hand.†   (source)
  • When the Westons arrived, the kindest looks of love, the strongest of admiration were for her, from both husband and wife; the son approached her with a cheerful eagerness which marked her as his peculiar object, and at dinner she found him seated by her—and, as she firmly believed, not without some dexterity on his side.†   (source)
  • —she lowered her voice with singular dexterity, and, going nearer, spoke so her breath was warm upon his cheek—"son of Hur!†   (source)
  • Perceiving a flock of beach-birds that fed and fluttered along the shore, the naughty child picked up her apron full of pebbles, and, creeping from rock to rock after these small sea-fowl, displayed remarkable dexterity in pelting them.†   (source)
  • He was, indeed, the Custom-House in himself; or, at all events, the mainspring that kept its variously revolving wheels in motion; for, in an institution like this, where its officers are appointed to subserve their own profit and convenience, and seldom with a leading reference to their fitness for the duty to be performed, they must perforce seek elsewhere the dexterity which is not in them.†   (source)
  • Nevertheless, I'm counting on your dexterity to catch me one of these delightful representatives of tropical nature!†   (source)
  • Instantly Mrs. Bagnet put some pins into her mouth and began pinning up her skirts all round a little higher than the level of her grey cloak, which she accomplished with surpassing dispatch and dexterity.†   (source)
  • "Friend Wamba," said he, "of all those who are fools enough to serve Cedric, thou alone hast dexterity enough to make thy folly acceptable to him.†   (source)
  • Young John locked his door for him as they went out, slided the key into his pocket with great dexterity, and led the way to his own residence.†   (source)
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