The general tuckermanities are
arrant Bubbles - ephemeral and so transparent - But this is, now, - you may depend upon it - Stable, opaque, immortal - all by dint Of the dear names that lie concealed within 't.
Then tell me; art thou not an
arrant, all-grasping, inter-meddling, monopolizing, heathenish old scamp, to be one day making legs, and the next day coffins to clap them in, and yet again life-buoys out of those same coffins?
Not that I feel the least indebted, upon this score, to my exceedingly weak-minded parents, who, beyond doubt, would have made an
arrant genius of me at last, if my guardian angel had not come, in good time, to the rescue.
The Bishop no sooner saw this action than he knew his man, and that there was a trap set; and being an
arrant coward, he wheeled his horse sharply and would have made off down the road; but his own men, spurred on the charge, blocked his way.
As
arrant a whore-master as any within five miles o'un.
Here are such numbers, I will not say of
arrant thieves, but of errant knights and errant squires, errant monks and errant minstrels, errant jugglers and errant jesters, that a man with a single merk would be in danger, much more a poor swineherd with a whole bagful of zecchins.
At first I thought them angels, but they did not leave me long under that delusion; three of the eldest and handsomest undertook the task of setting me right, and they managed so cleverly that in five minutes I knew them, at least, for what they were--three
arrant coquettes."
Here voyageurs frolicked away their wages, fiddling and dancing in the booths and cabins, buying all kinds of knick-knacks, dressing themselves out finely, and parading up and down, like
arrant braggarts and coxcombs.
"Well, Mary," he said, with a curious laugh, "I must be an
arrant fool, for I thought you did." They walked for a minute or two in silence, and suddenly he turned to her, looked at her, and exclaimed: "I don't believe you, Mary.
I had expected a bitter fight from him after the wild tales the natives have been telling of his ferocity, but it was soon evident that he is an
arrant coward, for I did not even have to fire my revolver--a few thumps with the butt of it upon his brainless skull sent him howling into the jungle with his pack at his heels."
Have you ever observed the remarkable adherence to set forms of speech which characterizes the talkers of
arrant nonsense!
He maintained that the exiled communist leader's latest statement was just 'another
arrant raving and incorrigible ranting coming from an aging armchair passe rebel, whose illusory vision has outsprinted the ticking hands of time.'