I knew a wise man that had it for a
byword, when he saw men hasten to a conclusion, Stay a little, that we may make an end the sooner.
Every mistake was attributed to me, until "Makar Alexievitch" became a
byword in our department.
There is no longer a Popish tyrant on the throne of England, and by to-morrow noon, his name shall be a
byword in this very street, where ye would make it a word of terror.
that is their mean yet mighty
byword of reproach -- the watchword with which they assassinated, hanged, and made away with Concini; and if I gave them their way they would assassinate, hang, and make away with me in the same manner, although they have nothing to complain of except a tax or two now and then.
And besides, when folk talk of a country covered with troops, it's but a kind of a
byword at the best.
The casuists have become a
byword of reproach; but their perverted spirit of minute discrimination was the shadow of a truth to which eyes and hearts are too often fatally sealed,--the truth, that moral judgments must remain false and hollow, unless they are checked and enlightened by a perpetual reference to the special circumstances that mark the individual lot.
Once a
byword! Now, an indistinctly remembered ignominy!
To do things "railroad fashion" is now the
byword; and it is worth the while to be warned so often and so sincerely by any power to get off its track.
OEDIPUS No, that has grown a
byword throughout Greece.
In consequence of Dobbin's victory, his character rose prodigiously in the estimation of all his schoolfellows, and the name of Figs, which had been a
byword of reproach, became as respectable and popular a nickname as any other in use in the school.
Three days ago my preference for blue eyes was a
byword. You have a shocking temper.
Has he all that the world loves and admires and covets?--he must cast behind him their admiration, and afflict them by faithfulness to his truth, and become a
byword and a hissing.