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abstain
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abstain as in:  abstained from alcohol

show 10 more with this conextual meaning
  • The monk abstained from all worldly pleasures in order to focus on his spiritual practice.
    abstained = refrained (chose not to)
  • The athlete abstained from eating junk food in order to stay in peak physical condition.
  • Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact.   (source)
    abstains = refrains (chooses not to)
  • He promised to abstain from smoking, chewing, and profanity as long as he remained a member.   (source)
    abstain = keep away (chose not to do something)
  • But I have just enough sense left to abstain.   (source)
    abstain = not drink
  • I believe that every man who has ever been earnest to preserve his higher or poetic faculties in the best condition has been particularly inclined to abstain from animal food, and from much food of any kind….   (source)
    abstain = not eat
  • John had recommended that she abstain from such foods as root and leafy vegetables, and that she perform some active physical labor.   (source)
  • Better to abstain from the gardens of delectable delights than to be stuck planting them, dawn to dusk.   (source)
    abstain = keep away
  • Shiftman's definition of a chipper is someone who smokes no more than five cigarettes a day but who smokes at least four days a week. ... reportedly experienced almost no withdrawal symptoms when abstaining from smoking. ... In short, every indicator examined suggests that chippers are not addicted to nicotine...   (source)
    abstaining = keeping away (choosing not to do something)
  • I will let you abstain this time.   (source)
    abstain = keep away (choose not to do something)
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show 11 more with this conextual meaning
  • Toni and I would be asked to abstain from chicken-eating in the chow hall and to instead stick the bird in our pants, to be smuggled out for use in some elaborate, quasi-Tex-Mex creation later that evening.   (source)
    abstain = refrain (not engage in)
  • Max had many questions, but he abstained from asking them until David had had a chance to recover.   (source)
    abstained = refrained (chose not to do something)
  • Aside from diligently taking his medications and abstaining from alcohol, Jared, for the most part, now lived the life of an ordinary twenty-one-year-old.   (source)
    abstaining = keeping away (choosing not to do something)
  • ...to abstain from sex until I marry.   (source)
    abstain = choose to refrain (not engage in)
  • They both followed the Buddha until they reached the town and then returned in silence, for they themselves intended to abstain from on this day.   (source)
    abstain = keep away (choose not to do something)
  • He was a total abstainer and a nonsmoker, had no recreations except a daily hour in the gymnasium, and had taken a vow of celibacy, believing marriage and the care of a family to be incompatible with a twenty-four-hour-a-day devotion to duty.   (source)
    abstainer = non-drinker (of alcohol)
  • As a result Diana had abstained from any further imitative flights of imagination and did not think it prudent to cultivate a spirit of belief even in harmless dryads.   (source)
    abstained = refrained (chose not to do something)
  • I had been accustomed, during the night, to steal a part of their store for my own consumption, but when I found that in doing this I inflicted pain on the cottagers, I abstained and satisfied myself with berries, nuts, and roots which I gathered from a neighbouring wood.   (source)
    abstained = chose not to do that
  • Satisfied that the cause was now on a footing the most proper and hopeful, Sir Thomas resolved to abstain from all farther importunity with his niece, and to shew no open interference.   (source)
    abstain = choose not to do something
  • I purposely abstain from dates on this occasion, that every one may be at liberty to fix their own, aware that the cure of unconquerable passions, and the transfer of unchanging attachments, must vary much as to time in different people.   (source)
    abstain = keep away (choose not to specify)
  • You should listen to me till you were tired, and advise me till you were still tired more; but it is impossible to put a hundredth part of my great mind on paper, so I will abstain altogether, and leave you to guess what you like.   (source)
    abstain = choose not to do something
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abstain as in:  12 votes yes and 3 abstained

show 6 more with this conextual meaning
  • The senator abstained from the vote due to a concern about the appearance of a conflict of interest.
    abstained = chose not to vote
  • "No one may abstain from the vote," says Coin.   (source)
    abstain = formally not vote (so that other voters will make the decision)
  • I guess that's two votes to one, Danny abstains.   (source)
    abstains = keeps away (chooses not to do something)
  • "All in favor?"
    To my surprise, a lot of hands went up. Dionysus abstained.   (source)
    abstained = did not vote
  • She was supported by Harriet Vanger; Malm abstained.   (source)
    abstained = chose not to vote
  • I'll abstain.   (source)
    abstain = formally not vote either "yes" or "no" (so that other voters will make the decision)
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show 10 more examples with any meaning
  • Harry realised how much Professor McGonagall cared about beating Slytherin when she abstained from giving them homework in the week leading up to the match.†   (source)
  • If the children loiter too long on your side of the loop, all the many years from which they have abstained will descend upon them at once, in a matter of hours.†   (source)
  • Therefore, Harold Crosby abstained.†   (source)
  • It's a struggle for him to abstain at all.†   (source)
  • Maybe you abstain from eating chocolate for a whole year because you prefer to save up all your pocket money and buy a new bike or go on an expensive vacation abroad.†   (source)
  • Perhaps, tonight, he should abstain.†   (source)
  • Or perhaps Galbatorix has abstained from such direct action because he wanted the Black Hand to remain unnoticed.†   (source)
  • He abstained from thoughts of home, from thoughts of his two bellicose sons and the wife he had nicknamed Melao.†   (source)
  • They were denied the chance, for Mr. Clutter, an abstainer aggressively opposed to drink and drunkards, seized a gun and marched them off his property.†   (source)
  • Once in a period of restless enthusiasm he had bought her six times in five days— after which, being ashamed of his extravagance, if not his lust, he abstained for two weeks.†   (source)
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show 190 more examples with any meaning
  • Faisal Baig, tolerant of other cultures' traditions, had acquired a bottle of Chinese vodka, which he offered the guests he housed in his bunkerlike home, but he and Mortenson abstained from drinking.†   (source)
  • I don't know if the hose were clean, but I do notice that everyone on the show abstains from drinking lemonade that day.†   (source)
  • Only Hassan abstained.†   (source)
  • I guess the Church forefathers found it easier to abstain from beef than Harleys.†   (source)
  • Again, as on July 2, twelve colonies voted in the affirmative, while New York abstained.†   (source)
  • I became a vegetarian and abstained from such warm foods as garlic and wine.†   (source)
  • How can I abstain?†   (source)
  • Is he asking you to dedicate your body to him first and abstain from sex until after marriage?†   (source)
  • The minister of war abstained.†   (source)
  • I shall abstain from voting.†   (source)
  • But when they found the place deserted, they abstained from burning the buildings.†   (source)
  • I usually abstained completely on the job, much less matched a subject shot for shot.†   (source)
  • Though still abstaining from suggestions of violence, he began to waver and his insistence upon the necessity of an immediate practical answer to the problem was more and more resolute.†   (source)
  • MORE Yes, I wrote advising her to abstain from meddling with the affairs of Princes and the State.†   (source)
  • Abstaining from human blood makes us more civilized—lets us form true bonds of love.†   (source)
  • "The queen abstains," said Eugenides shortly.†   (source)
  • He required his pupils to take the following oath: I will follow that system or regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider to be for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous.†   (source)
  • 'If she catches yeh, it'll be all of our necks on the line,' he told them flatly, and with no desire to do anything that might jeopardise his job further they abstained from walking down to his hut in the evenings.†   (source)
  • Whenever I go into a house, I will go for the benefit of the sick and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief and corruption, and further, from the seduction of females or males, whether freemen or slaves.†   (source)
  • It's the same for Tanya's family in the north, and Carlisle speculates that abstaining makes it easier for us to be civilized, to form bonds based on love rather than survival or convenience.†   (source)
  • Blood calls to blood, and if ever your Family should need help, do then what you can for the Church and for others who acknowledge the power of our Dread Lord...To affirm and reaffirm our fealty to the Triumvirate, recite with me the Nine Oaths...By Gorm, Ilda, and Fell Angvara, we vow to perform homage at least thrice a month, in the hour before dusk, and then to make an offering of ourselves to appease the eternal hunger of our Great and Terrible Lord...We vow to observe the strictures as they are presented in the book of Tosk...We vow to always carry our Bregnir on our bodies and to forever abstain from the twelve of twelves and the touch of a many-knotted rope, lest it corrupt ....†   (source)
  • New York continued to abstain, but South Carolina, as hinted by Edward Rutledge, joined the majority to make the decision unanimous in the sense that no colony stood opposed.†   (source)
  • And so, on this day (May 26) I am making a vow to God to totally abstain from having sex until my wedding day.†   (source)
  • Dr. Ferris did not smile as he walked toward Rearden's desk; he merely wore a look suggesting that Rearden knew full well that he had good reason to smile and so he would abstain from the obvious.†   (source)
  • Building is not done by abstaining from demolition; centuries of sitting and waiting in such abstinence will not raise one single girder for you to abstain from demolishing-and now you can no longer say to me, the builder: 'Produce, and feed us in exchange for our not destroying your production.'†   (source)
  • The all-important Pennsylvania delegation, despite popular opinion in Pennsylvania, stood with John Dickinson and voted no. The New York delegates abstained, saying they favored the motion but lacked specific instructions.†   (source)
  • Building is not done by abstaining from demolition; centuries of sitting and waiting in such abstinence will not raise one single girder for you to abstain from demolishing-and now you can no longer say to me, the builder: 'Produce, and feed us in exchange for our not destroying your production.'†   (source)
  • During the short space of time since Nathan's return Sophie had, I noticed, abstained from the booze, possibly only because of Nathan's cautionary presence; in the "old days" I had rarely seen either of them indulge much more in alcohol than their ritual bottle of Chablis.†   (source)
  • I abstained entirely.†   (source)
  • 18 There was also a cautious injunction to the "liberated" slaves "to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense," and another to "labor faithfully for reasonable wages."†   (source)
  • So he said to her: "If thou be determined not to marry and there be no help for it: abstain from going and coming in and out."†   (source)
  • I am not only a middle-class man, living a regular life, fond of work and punctuality; I am also an abstainer and nonsmoker, and these bottles in Haller's room pleased me even less than the rest of his artistic disorder.†   (source)
  • Tess looked down again, and carefully abstained from gazing in that direction.†   (source)
  • I decided to abstain from so inadequate a gesture, and turned my head away.†   (source)
  • May not one lost soul be permitted to abstain?†   (source)
  • A gentleman simply stayed at home and abstained.†   (source)
  • The brandy I did not touch, for I have been an abstainer from my birth.†   (source)
  • This had had really to do with making her abstain from interference.†   (source)
  • Ah, no; don't ye know him to be the celebrated abstaining worthy of that name?†   (source)
  • But she purposely abstained from mentioning Mrs. Waule's more special insinuation.†   (source)
  • 'To abstain from action is well—except to acquire merit.†   (source)
  • I abstained from communicating these fears to Professor Liedenbrock.†   (source)
  • He had abstained for several reasons from saying some of these things to Bellegarde.†   (source)
  • Still she had sufficient self-command to abstain from turning her head.†   (source)
  • As for excesses, he had always abstained from them, as much from cowardice as from refinement.†   (source)
  • The judicious historian abstains from narrating precisely what ensued.†   (source)
  • You may observe, Mr. Bucket, that I abstain from examining this paper myself.†   (source)
  • Thou shalt abstain—renounce—refrain!†   (source)
  • During this fast they abstain from the gratification of every appetite and passion whatever.†   (source)
  • Some physical gratifications cannot be indulged in without crime; from such they strictly abstain.†   (source)
  • But I am not now abstaining from doing so at the first moment when I asked the question.†   (source)
  • He still abstained from addressing Jean Valjean as thou.†   (source)
  • Isabel had many questions to ask about Ralph, but she abstained from asking them all.†   (source)
  • In the meanwhile, he abstained from touching that money.†   (source)
  • 'To abstain from action is well—except to acquire merit.'†   (source)
  • She was vexed and disappointed, but she was bent on abstaining from useless words.†   (source)
  • 'At the Gates of Learning we were taught that to abstain from action was unbefitting a Sahib.†   (source)
  • No, thanks; I'm an abstainer.†   (source)
  • To this, and particularly the closing reiteration, the marine soldier knowing not how aptly to reply, sadly abstained from saying aught.†   (source)
  • And not only did the Martians either not know of (which is incredible), or abstain from, the wheel, but in their apparatus singularly little use is made of the fixed pivot or relatively fixed pivot, with circular motions thereabout confined to one plane.†   (source)
  • Germany a commercial Power, Germany a naval Power, Germany with colonies here and a Forward Policy there, and legitimate aspirations in the other place, might appeal to others, and be fitly served by them; for his own part, he abstained from the fruits of victory, and naturalised himself in England.†   (source)
  • I was careful, however, to show no concern and to abstain from any pursuit of them, and in the course of a day or two things got back to the old footing.†   (source)
  • Oh, let him know again the joy of a manly courage to abstain from evil—" Sheldon Smeeth came frolicking into the study.†   (source)
  • You don't believe that you ought to preach my doctrine, and, therefore, do no despite to your conscience in abstaining.†   (source)
  • Unlike so many people, who, either from lack of energy or else from a resigned sense of the obligation laid upon them by their social grandeur to remain moored like houseboats to a certain point on the bank of the stream of life, abstain from the pleasures which are offered to them above and below that point, that degree in life in which they will remain fixed until the day of their death, and are content, in the end, to describe as pleasures, for want of any better, those mediocre distractions, that just not intolerable tedium which is enclosed there with them; Swann woul†   (source)
  • She began to ask herself whether these gesticulations might not, perhaps, be a necessary concomitant of the piece of music that was being played, a piece which, it might be, was in a different category from all the music that she had ever heard before; and whether to abstain from them was not a sign of her own inability to understand the music, and of discourtesy towards the lady of the house; with the result that, in order to express by a compromise both of her contradictory inclinations in turn, at one moment she would merely straighten her shoulder-straps or feel in her golden hair for the little balls of coral o†   (source)
  • Whether or not Venn abstained from riding thither because he had met Thomasin in the same place might easily have been guessed from her proceedings about two months later in the same year.†   (source)
  • So they did not abstain; and, in the midst of the uproar, there was a frightful concert of blasphemies and enormities of all the unbridled tongues, the tongues of clerks and students restrained during the rest of the year, by the fear of the hot iron of Saint Louis.†   (source)
  • She could have made an inquiry or two, as to the expedition and the expense of the Irish mails;—it was at her tongue's end—but she abstained.†   (source)
  • Bob abstained from remark and passed on, choosing, however, to walk in the shallow edge of the overflowing river by way of change.†   (source)
  • By carefully abstaining from looking towards those behind him, he lessened the chances of discovery, and waited with the indomitable patience of an Indian for the instant when he should be required to act.†   (source)
  • It is well for you that a low fever has forced you to abstain for the last three days: there would have been danger in yielding to the cravings of your appetite at first.†   (source)
  • Proceeding upon that policy, the predecessors of Gratus had carefully abstained from interfering with any of the sacred observances of their subjects.†   (source)
  • Though it was evidently in the grain of his character, and of his respect for his own case, that he should abstain from idle murmuring, it was evident that he had grown the older, the sterner, and the poorer, for his long endeavour.†   (source)
  • I hinted that of course he did wisely in abstaining from writing for a while; and urged him to embrace that opportunity of taking wholesome exercise in the open air.†   (source)
  • He exerted preterhuman self-denial in abstaining from finishing him completely; but getting out of breath, he finally desisted, and dragged the apparently inanimate body on to the settle.†   (source)
  • To be good, she must be patient, respectful, abstain from judging her father too harshly, and from committing any act of open defiance.†   (source)
  • Some considering touch of humanity was in him; for at times like these, he usually abstained from patrolling the quarter-deck; because to his wearied mates, seeking repose within six inches of his ivory heel, such would have been the reverberating crack and din of that bony step, that their dreams would have been on the crunching teeth of sharks.†   (source)
  • 'As for you,' said Squeers, turning round and addressing Nicholas, who, as he had caused him to smart pretty soundly on a former occasion, purposely abstained from taking any part in the discussion, 'see if I ain't down upon you before long.†   (source)
  • Thou art the captive of my bow and spear—subject to my will by the laws of all nations; nor will I abate an inch of my right, or abstain from taking by violence what thou refusest to entreaty or necessity.†   (source)
  • There was no limit to his drinking powers, but he could abstain from drink altogether; he sometimes went too far in his pranks; but he could do without pranks altogether.†   (source)
  • But perhaps he will not come; he may write, or he may come himself, and studiously abstain from meeting me—he did when he went away.†   (source)
  • This is not the fault of the law: the negroes have an undisputed right of voting, but they voluntarily abstain from making their appearance.†   (source)
  • Later, they learn that good sense and character make their own forms every moment, and speak or abstain, to take wine or refuse it, stay or go, sit in a chair or sprawl with children on the floor, or stand on their head, or what else soever, in a new and aboriginal way: and that strong will is always in fashion, let who will be unfashionable.†   (source)
  • In addition to the dulcet piping of Gabriel's flute, Boldwood supplied a bass in his customary profound voice, uttering his notes so softly, however, as to abstain entirely from making anything like an ordinary duet of the song; they rather formed a rich unexplored shadow, which threw her tones into relief.†   (source)
  • There were at the time as many reasons for the step as against it, and there was no overbalancing consideration to outweigh his invariable rule of abstaining when in doubt.†   (source)
  • 'And, John,' said Mr Dorrit, giving his hand a final pressure, and releasing it, 'I hope we—ha—agree that we have spoken together in confidence; and that you will abstain, in going out, from saying anything to any one that might—hum—suggest that—ha—once I—' 'Oh!†   (source)
  • After waiting here some time, he was joined by that young gentleman, who had prudently abstained from showing himself until he had looked carefully abroad from a snug retreat, and ascertained that his new friend had not been followed by any impertinent person.†   (source)
  • He did not abstain from conversing with me: he even called me as usual each morning to join him at his desk; and I fear the corrupt man within him had a pleasure unimparted to, and unshared by, the pure Christian, in evincing with what skill he could, while acting and speaking apparently just as usual, extract from every deed and every phrase the spirit of interest and approval which had formerly communicated a certain austere charm to his language and manner.†   (source)
  • It is easy now to understand the significance of these events—if only we abstain from attributing to the activity of the mass aims that existed only in the heads of a dozen individuals—for the events and results now lie before us.†   (source)
  • They are forever varying, altering, and restoring secondary matters; but they carefully abstain from touching what is fundamental.†   (source)
  • I believe that every man who has ever been earnest to preserve his higher or poetic faculties in the best condition has been particularly inclined to abstain from animal food, and from much food of any kind.†   (source)
  • In the mean time, the Indian and his friend had their secret consultation; for, though it wanted some three or four hours to the rising of the star, the former could not abstain from canvassing his scheme, and from opening his heart to the other.†   (source)
  • This end would not have been accomplished if the courts of the several States had been competent to decide upon cases in their separate capacities from which they were obliged to abstain as Federal tribunals.†   (source)
  • It must be noted, by the way, that Pyotr Petrovitch had during those ten days eagerly accepted the strangest praise from Andrey Semyonovitch; he had not protested, for instance, when Andrey Semyonovitch belauded him for being ready to contribute to the establishment of the new "commune," or to abstain from christening his future children, or to acquiesce if Dounia were to take a lover a month after marriage, and so on.†   (source)
  • Besides, a man with the milk of human kindness in him can scarcely abstain from doing a good-natured action, and one cannot be good-natured all round.†   (source)
  • As soon as Mabel had taken possession of her own really comfortable cabin, in doing which she could not abstain from indulging in the pleasant reflection that some of Jasper's favor had been especially manifested in her behalf, she went on deck again.†   (source)
  • A chance to abstain from inflicting a terrible blot upon the memory of a man who certainly had his faults, but who, personally, had done you no wrong.†   (source)
  • It was very tiresome she should be so sure, when she had carefully abstained from informing herself; almost as tiresome as that poor Mr. Rosier should have taken it into his own head.†   (source)
  • And the Bond of Joy, who on account of always having the whole of his little income anticipated stood in fact pledged to abstain from cakes as well as tobacco, so swelled with grief and rage when we passed a pastry-cook's shop that he terrified me by becoming purple.†   (source)
  • In the absence of clear proofs of his condition, I deemed it best to abstain from noticing his curious conduct; and, five minutes afterwards, the entrance of Heathcliff relieved me, in some measure, from my uncomfortable state.†   (source)
  • The poor girl liked to be thought clever, but she hated to be thought bookish; she used to read in secret and, though her memory was excellent, to abstain from showy reference.†   (source)
  • He prescribed more physical exercise as far as possible, and as far as possible less mental strain, and above all no worry—in other words, just what was as much out of Alexey Alexandrovitch's power as abstaining from breathing.†   (source)
  • 'To put him,' said Madame Mantalini, looking at Ralph, and prudently abstaining from the slightest glance at her husband, lest his many graces should induce her to falter in her resolution, 'to put him upon a fixed allowance; and I say that if he has a hundred and twenty pounds a year for his clothes and pocket-money, he may consider himself a very fortunate man.'†   (source)
  • Therefore, my dear, he—ha—he laid his parental injunctions upon her, to remember that she was a lady, who had now to conduct herself with—hum—a proper pride, and to preserve the rank of a lady; and consequently he requested her to abstain from doing what would occasion—ha—unpleasant and derogatory remarks.†   (source)
  • I concealed the fact of his having swallowed nothing for four days, fearing it might lead to trouble, and then, I am persuaded, he did not abstain on purpose: it was the consequence of his strange illness, not the cause.†   (source)
  • The appearance of the little girls suggested to uncle Pullet the further solace of small sweet-cakes, of which he also kept a stock under lock and key for his own private eating on wet days; but the three children had no sooner got the tempting delicacy between their fingers, than aunt Pullet desired them to abstain from eating it till the tray and the plates came, since with those crisp cakes they would make the floor "all over" crumbs.†   (source)
  • They might have said, as I have no doubt they thought, that they had believed me to be without any friends save them: for, indeed, I had often said so; but, with their true natural delicacy, they abstained from comment, except that Diana asked me if I was sure I was well enough to travel.†   (source)
  • But I like her poor old father, and for his sake I beg you to abstain from any attempt to verify your theories.†   (source)
  • Each man lives for himself, using his freedom to attain his personal aims, and feels with his whole being that he can now do or abstain from doing this or that action; but as soon as he has done it, that action performed at a certain moment in time becomes irrevocable and belongs to history, in which it has not a free but a predestined significance.†   (source)
  • As an enemy was known to be near, Hutter directed his daughters to abstain from the use of lights, luxuries in which they seldom indulged during the warm months, lest they might prove beacons to direct their foes where they might be found.†   (source)
  • Isabel was by no means sure of this, but she abstained from expressing further doubt, for she was disposed in these days to extend a great charity to her cousin.†   (source)
  • A peculiarity of this species of war is, that the attack of the barricades is almost always made from the front, and that the assailants generally abstain from turning the position, either because they fear ambushes, or because they are afraid of getting entangled in the tortuous streets.†   (source)
  • Even good Mr. Powderell, who in his constant charity of interpretation was inclined to esteem Lydgate the more for what seemed a conscientious pursuit of a better plan, had his mind disturbed with doubts during his wife's attack of erysipelas, and could not abstain from mentioning to Lydgate that Mr. Peacock on a similar occasion had administered a series of boluses which were not otherwise definable than by their remarkable effect in bringing Mrs. Powderell round before Michaelmas from an illness which had begun in a remarkably hot August.†   (source)
  • In this state of doubt men abstain from them altogether, and a sort of public opinion passes current which tends to cause any association whatsoever to be regarded as a bold and almost an illicit enterprise.†   (source)
  • She had been accustomed from childhood to address herself to the Deity in prayer; taking example from the Divine mandate of Christ Himself, who commanded His followers to abstain from vain repetitions, and who has left behind Him a petition which is unequalled for sublimity, as if expressly to rebuke the disposition of man to set up his own loose and random thoughts as the most acceptable sacrifice.†   (source)
  • And when I came to inquire into the prevailing spirit of the clergy I found that most of its members seemed to retire of their own accord from the exercise of power, and that they made it the pride of their profession to abstain from politics.†   (source)
  • "Let me remind you that we offered you these explanations," the marquis observed, "with the express understanding that you should abstain from violence of language."†   (source)
  • So they enjoyed themselves in high felicity, abstaining, as the Rule demands, from evil words, covetous desires; not over-eating, not lying on high beds, nor wearing rich clothes.†   (source)
  • When the war broke out between ourselves and the English in 1810, I saw this young man again; he was serving in our army, at the head of the warriors of his tribe, for the Indians were admitted amongst the ranks of the Americans, upon condition that they would abstain from their horrible custom of scalping their victims.†   (source)
  • The first time I heard in the United States that 100,000 men had bound themselves publicly to abstain from spirituous liquors, it appeared to me more like a joke than a serious engagement; and I did not at once perceive why these temperate citizens could not content themselves with drinking water by their own firesides.†   (source)
  • Deerslayer did her full justice in the translation, and this so much the more readily, since the girl carefully abstained from uttering any direct untruth; a homage she paid to the young man's known aversion to falsehood, which he deemed a meanness altogether unworthy of a white man's gifts.†   (source)
  • It is still possible that Bulstrode was innocent of any criminal intention—even possible that he had nothing to do with the disobedience, and merely abstained from mentioning it.†   (source)
  • I lift it, but ask myself: could I have abstained from lifting my arm at the moment that has already passed?†   (source)
  • For the present she abstained from provoking further revelations; to intimate that he had not told her everything would be more familiar and less considerate than she now desired to be—would in fact be uproariously vulgar.†   (source)
  • "We'll see about it," was the answer he always gave, carefully abstaining from any sign of compliance till a suitable number of minutes had passed.†   (source)
  • The Bernardines-Benedictines of this obedience fast all the year round, abstain from meat, fast in Lent and on many other days which are peculiar to them, rise from their first sleep, from one to three o'clock in the morning, to read their breviary and chant matins, sleep in all seasons between serge sheets and on straw, make no use of the bath, never light a fire, scourge themselves every Friday, observe the rule of silence, speak to each other only during the recreation hours, which are very brief, and wear drugget chemises for six months in the year, from September 14th, which is the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, until Easter.†   (source)
  • Although Jasper's astonishment remained undiminished,—the Sergeant cautiously abstaining from making any allusion to his suspicions,—the young man was accustomed to obey with military submission; and he quietly acquiesced, with his own mouth directing the little crew to receive their further orders from Cap until another change should be effected.†   (source)
  • That I did not lift my arm a moment later does not prove that I could have abstained from lifting it then.†   (source)
  • Stephen wilfully abstained from self-questioning, and would not admit to himself that he felt an influence which was to have any determining effect on his conduct.†   (source)
  • It is the good fortune of a man who for the greater part of a lifetime has abstained without effort from making himself disagreeable to his friends, that when the need comes for such a course it is not discredited by irritating associations.†   (source)
  • June was quite as anxious as Mabel could be on any other point to know where the Sergeant had gone and when he was expected to return; but she abstained from putting the question, with a delicacy that would have done honor to the highest civilization; nor did she once frame any other inquiry in a way to lead indirectly to a betrayal of the much-desired information on that particular point: though when Mabel of her own accord touched on any matter that might by possibility throw a light on the subject, she listened with an intentness which almost suspended respiration.†   (source)
  • In relating these events, however, it may be well to say that the speaker touched only on the outlines, more particularly abstaining from saying anything about his encounter with, and victory over the Iroquois, as well as to his own exertions in behalf of the two deserted young women.†   (source)
  • I could frequently have quoted names which are either known to him, or which deserve to be so, in proof of what I advance; but I have carefully abstained from this practice.†   (source)
  • But if he had not received any money—if Bulstrode had never revoked his cold recommendation of bankruptcy—would he, Lydgate, have abstained from all inquiry even on finding the man dead?†   (source)
  • Newman made no distinct affirmation that he would come back to Paris; he even talked about Rome and the Nile, and abstained from professing any especial interest in Madame de Cintre's continued widowhood.†   (source)
  • Is there not, dear Madame, something truly evangelical in this delicacy which abstains from sermon, from moralizing, from allusions?†   (source)
  • The more the conditions of men are equalized and assimilated to each other, the more important is it for religions, whilst they carefully abstain from the daily turmoil of secular affairs, not needlessly to run counter to the ideas which generally prevail, and the permanent interests which exist in the mass of the people.†   (source)
  • The awkwardness of the Delaware in his new attire caused his friend to smile more than once that day, but he carefully abstained from the use of any of those jokes which would have been bandied among white men on such an occasion, the habits of a chief, the dignity of a warrior on his first path, and the gravity of the circumstances in which they were placed uniting to render so much levity out of season.†   (source)
  • Mr. Brooke on this occasion abstained from boasting of his tactics to Ladislaw, who for his part was glad enough to persuade himself that he had no concern with any canvassing except the purely argumentative sort, and that he worked no meaner engine than knowledge.†   (source)
  • He refused to see him, as he passed through on his return from the island of Elba, and he abstained from ordering public prayers for the Emperor in his diocese during the Hundred Days.†   (source)
  • Girls are so accustomed to think of dress as the main ground of vanity, that, in abstaining from the looking-glass, Maggie had thought more of abandoning all care for adornment than of renouncing the contemplation of her face.†   (source)
  • At those dangerous times genius no longer abstains from presenting itself in the arena; and the people, alarmed by the perils of its situation, buries its envious passions in a short oblivion.†   (source)
  • He judges himself before he is judged by the law, and, abstaining from prohibited associations, he embarks in those which are legally sanctioned.†   (source)
  • Boris, speaking with deliberation, told them in pure, correct French many interesting details about the armies and the court, carefully abstaining from expressing an opinion of his own about the facts he was recounting.†   (source)
  • The inhabitants of the United States seem themselves to consider the matter in this light; and they show their long experience of parliamentary life not by abstaining from making bad speeches, but by courageously submitting to hear them made.†   (source)
  • It was not until the evening before Tom went to school, at the beginning of August, that Mrs. Glegg paid a visit to her sister Tulliver, sitting in her gig all the while, and showing her displeasure by markedly abstaining from all advice and criticism; for, as she observed to her sister Deane, "Bessy must bear the consequence o' having such a husband, though I'm sorry for her," and Mrs. Deane agreed that Bessy was pitiable.†   (source)
  • This was the care which he had hitherto abstained from mentioning to Rosamond; and he believed, with some wonder, that it had never entered her mind, though certainly no difficulty could be less mysterious.†   (source)
  • If they have not the greater number of voters on their side, they assert that the true majority abstained from voting; and if they are foiled even there, they have recourse to the body of those persons who had no votes to give.†   (source)
  • On the present occasion, he would have abstained from betraying a feverish haste by a too speedy return, since it would have contained a tacit admission that the time asked for was more than had been wanted; but, on the other hand, had the idea occurred to him, he would have quickened his movements a little, in order to avoid the dramatic appearance of returning at the precise instant set as the utmost limit of his absence.†   (source)
  • He would never go far along that road again; but a man likes to assure himself, and men of pleasure generally, what he could do in the way of mischief if he chose, and that if he abstains from making himself ill, or beggaring himself, or talking with the utmost looseness which the narrow limits of human capacity will allow, it is not because he is a spooney.†   (source)
  • Mr. Tulliver, not without a particular reason, had abstained from a seventh recital of the cool retort by which Riley had shown himself too many for Dix, and how Wakem had had his comb cut for once in his life, now the business of the dam had been settled by arbitration, and how there never would have been any dispute at all about the height of water if everybody was what they should be, and Old Harry hadn't made the lawyers.†   (source)
  • The foreign policy of the United States is reduced by its very nature to await the chances of the future history of the nation, and for the present it consists more in abstaining from interference than in exerting its activity.†   (source)
  • In fact, he had it in his thought to tell her that she ought not to have received young Ladislaw in his absence: but he abstained, partly from the sense that it would be ungracious to bring a new complaint in the moment of her penitent acknowledgment, partly because he wanted to avoid further agitation of himself by speech, and partly because he was too proud to betray that jealousy of disposition which was not so exhausted on his scholarly compeers that there was none to spare in other directions.†   (source)
  • Political principles and all human laws and institutions were moulded and altered at their pleasure; the barriers of the society in which they were born were broken down before them; the old principles which had governed the world for ages were no more; a path without a turn and a field without an horizon were opened to the exploring and ardent curiosity of man: but at the limits of the political world he checks his researches, he discreetly lays aside the use of his most formidable faculties, he no longer consents to doubt or to innovate, but carefully abstaining from raising the curtain of the sanctuary, he yields with submissive respect to truths which he will not discuss.†   (source)
  • Nay, said the queen, that shall I never do, but abstain you from such works: and they departed.†   (source)
  • They'll know then how long they had been spared the deaths of men, while I abstained from war!†   (source)
  • It makes him hated above all things, as I have said, to be rapacious, and to be a violator of the property and women of his subjects, from both of which he must abstain.†   (source)
  • I have also thought it expedient to restrict myself still further, having abstained from the use of many expressions, in themselves proper and beautiful, but which have been foolishly repeated by bad Poets, till such feelings of disgust are connected with them as it is scarcely possible by any art of association to overpower.†   (source)
  • The proposal was agreeable, and I consented; his father was in town and approv'd of it; the more as he saw I had great influence with his son, had prevail'd on him to abstain long from dram-drinking, and he hop'd might break him off that wretched habit entirely, when we came to be so closely connected.†   (source)
  • Nevertheless a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred; because he can endure very well being feared whilst he is not hated, which will always be as long as he abstains from the property of his citizens and subjects and from their women.†   (source)
  • As you command, we shall indeed abstain from battle—merely, now and again, dropping a word of counsel to the Argives, that all may not be lost through your displeasure.†   (source)
  • As you command, we shall indeed abstain from battle—merely, now and again, dropping a word of counsel to the Argives, that all may not be lost through your displeasure.†   (source)
  • Fewer Akhaians would have died hard at enemy hands, while I abstained in anger— Hektor's gain, the Trojans' gain.†   (source)
  • All my family are abstainers.†   (source)
  • He is practically a total abstainer and I can affirm that he sleeps on a straw litter and eats the most Spartan food, cold dried grocer's peas.†   (source)
  • he could drink it with the oatmealwater for milk after the Friday herrings they had eaten at two a penny with an egg apiece for Maggy, Boody and Katey, the cat meanwhile under the mangle devouring a mess of eggshells and charred fish heads and bones on a square of brown paper, in accordance with the third precept of the church to fast and abstain on the days commanded, it being quarter tense or if not, ember days or something like that.†   (source)
  • To Stephen: the problem of the sacerdotal integrity of Jesus circumcised (I January, holiday of obligation to hear mass and abstain from unnecessary servile work) and the problem as to whether the divine prepuce, the carnal bridal ring of the holy Roman catholic apostolic church, conserved in Calcata, were deserving of simple hyperduly or of the fourth degree of latria accorded to the abscission of such divine excrescences as hair and toenails.†   (source)
  • You promised to abstain from all violence.†   (source)
  • Nay, said the queen, that shall I never do, but abstain you from such works: and they departed.†   (source)
  • Our Maker bids encrease; who bids abstain
    But our Destroyer, foe to God and Man?†   (source)
  • The Sibyl cried, "and from the grove abstain!†   (source)
  • —Far hence be souls profane,
    The sibyl cry'd, and from the grove abstain.†   (source)
  • And without waiting for the shepherd's answer, he stretched out his hand and took up some of those that were nearest to him; seeing which Ambrosio said, "Out of courtesy, señor, I will grant your request as to those you have taken, but it is idle to expect me to abstain from burning the remainder."†   (source)
  • That "they should every Seventh day abstain from their ordinary labour," and employ that time in doing him Publique Honor.†   (source)
  • Lechery, and its remedy in chastity and continence, alike in marriage and in widowhood; also in the abstaining from all such indulgences of eating, drinking, and sleeping as inflame the passions, and from the company of all who may tempt to the sin.†   (source)
  • An effectual expedient for this purpose will be, mutually, to abstain from those objects which either side may have first had recourse to.†   (source)
  • has told you of their choosing by consent, can be reckoned a marriage, nor any more than an agreement to keep them from quarrelling among themselves; for, Sir, the essence or sacrament of matrimony (so he called it) not only consists in mutual consent, but in the legal obligation, which compels them to own and acknowledge one another, to abstain from other persons, the men to provide for their wives and children, and the woman to the same and like conditions, nutatis mutandis, on their side: whereas, Sir, these men, upon their own pleasure, on any occasion, may forsake those women and marry others, and by disowning their children, suffer them utterly to perish.†   (source)
  • Of these there are two sorts: some live unmarried and chaste, and abstain from eating any sort of flesh; and thus weaning themselves from all the pleasures of the present life, which they account hurtful, they pursue, even by the hardest and painfullest methods possible, that blessedness which they hope for hereafter; and the nearer they approach to it, they are the more cheerful and earnest in their endeavours after it.†   (source)
  • If thou dost acknowledge this fairly and openly, thou shalt escape death and save me the trouble of inflicting it upon thee; if thou fightest and I vanquish thee, I demand no other satisfaction than that, laying aside arms and abstaining from going in quest of adventures, thou withdraw and betake thyself to thine own village for the space of a year, and live there without putting hand to sword, in peace and quiet and beneficial repose, the same being needful for the increase of thy substance and the salvation of thy soul; and if thou dost vanquish me, my head shall be at thy disposal, my arms and horse thy spoils, and the renown of my deeds transferred and added to thine.†   (source)
  • Yet what thou canst attain, which best may serve
    To glorify the Maker, and infer
    Thee also happier, shall not be withheld
    Thy hearing; such commission from above
    I have received, to answer thy desire
    Of knowledge within bounds; beyond, abstain
    To ask; nor let thine own inventions hope
    Things not revealed, which the invisible King,
    Only Omniscient, hath suppressed in night;
    To none communicable in Earth or Heaven:
    Enough is left besides to search and know.†   (source)
  • In other cases, the probability is that the United States will either wholly abstain from the objects preoccupied for local purposes, or will make use of the State officers and State regulations for collecting the additional imposition.†   (source)
  • Therefore the People are to be taught, to abstain from violence to one anothers person, by private revenges; from violation of conjugall honour; and from forcibly rapine, and fraudulent surreption of one anothers goods.†   (source)
  • He therefore strictly ordered the former of these gentlemen to abstain from laying violent hands on Tom for what had past.†   (source)
  • If the Soveraign command a man (though justly condemned,) to kill, wound, or mayme himselfe; or not to resist those that assault him; or to abstain from the use of food, ayre, medicine, or any other thing, without which he cannot live; yet hath that man the Liberty to disobey.†   (source)
  • But if thou judge it hard and difficult,
    Conversing, looking, loving, to abstain
    From love's due rights, nuptial embraces sweet;
    And with desire to languish without hope,
    Before the present object languishing
    With like desire; which would be misery
    And torment less than none of what we dread;
    Then, both ourselves and seed at once to free
    From what we fear for both, let us make short,—
    Let us seek Death;—or, he not found, supply
    With our own hands his office on ourselves:
    Why stand we longer shivering under fears,
    That show no end but death, and have the power,
    Of many ways to die the shortest choosing,
    Destruction with destruction to destroy?†   (source)
  • And in practice there is little reason to apprehend any inconvenience; because, in a short course of time, the wants of the States will naturally reduce themselves within A VERY NARROW COMPASS; and in the interim, the United States will, in all probability, find it convenient to abstain wholly from those objects to which the particular States would be inclined to resort.†   (source)
  • Can any man who is really a Christian abstain from relieving one of his brethren in such a miserable condition?†   (source)
  • And in all places, where men have lived by small Families, to robbe and spoyle one another, has been a Trade, and so farre from being reputed against the Law of Nature, that the greater spoyles they gained, the greater was their honour; and men observed no other Lawes therein, but the Lawes of Honour; that is, to abstain from cruelty, leaving to men their lives, and instruments of husbandry.†   (source)
  • All that kind of policy by which nations anticipate distant danger, and meet the gathering storm, must be abstained from, as contrary to the genuine maxims of a free government.†   (source)
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