All 4 Uses of
refrain
in
Crime and Punishment, by Dostoyevsky
- I purposely refrained from referring to your affair, though I am devoured by curiosity.†
Chpt 6.5 *refrained = avoided or resisted (doing something)
- He was very drunk: and had dropped asleep on the bench; every now and then, he began as though in his sleep, cracking his fingers, with his arms wide apart and the upper part of his body bounding about on the bench, while he hummed some meaningless refrain, trying to recall some such lines as these: "His wife a year he fondly loved His wife a—a year he—fondly loved."†
Chpt 1.1
- Kindly refrain from shouting!†
Chpt 2.1
- Can you refrain from any question about my sister and from mentioning her name?†
Chpt 4.1
Definitions:
-
(1)
(refrain as in: a repeated refrain) something repeated regularlyespecially:
- lines repeated after each verse of a song
- a phrase or idea often repeated by someone or within a poem
-
(2)
(refrain as in: refrain from laughing) avoid or resist doing something