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Solve   Listen
verb
Solve  v. t.  (past & past part. solved; pres. part. solving)  To explain; to resolve; to unfold; to clear up (what is obscure or difficult to be understood); to work out to a result or conclusion; as, to solve a doubt; to solve difficulties; to solve a problem. "True piety would effectually solve such scruples." "God shall solve the dark decrees of fate."
Synonyms: To explain; resolve; unfold; clear up.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Solve" Quotes from Famous Books



... taken up with a statement of tangled situations and deep problems which will require the combined intelligence of the whole American people to solve. ...
— The Young Man and the World • Albert J. Beveridge

... to me.) 'I ask you first, Sir, what would you do if you were affronted?' I answered I should think it necessary to fight[531]. 'Why then, (replied Goldsmith,) that solves the question.' JOHNSON. 'No, Sir, it does not solve the question. It does not follow that what a man would do is therefore right.' I said, I wished to have it settled, whether duelling was contrary to the laws of Christianity. Johnson immediately entered on the subject, and treated it in a masterly manner; and so ...
— Life Of Johnson, Vol. 2 • Boswell

... Africa was known in Prince Henry's days as far as Cape Bojador. It would appear that Norman sailors had already advanced beyond Cape Non, or Nun, which was so called because it was supposed that nothing existed beyond it. Consequently the problems that Prince Henry had to solve were whether the coast of Africa trended sharply to the east after Cape Bojador, and whether the ideas of the ancients about the uninhabitability of the torrid zone were justified by fact. He attempted ...
— The Story of Geographical Discovery - How the World Became Known • Joseph Jacobs

... Have made my brain like any sparrow's. When you come near, my foolish heart Goes pit-a-pat with throb and start, And when I try my love to utter, My fairest speech is but a stutter. How to propose is all my task, Whether to write or just to ask, And ere I solve the problem knotty I really fear I shall go dotty. Oh, lady fair, in pity stop And list while I the question pop. 'Tis here on paper; think it over, And let me be your ...
— The Princess of the School • Angela Brazil

... became President of the Royal Society I cannot precisely say. Let him who penned, and those who supported this resolution solve the enigma: ...
— Decline of Science in England • Charles Babbage

... very reason he was doubting it now. Gelsen suspected that you don't solve human problems so easily. There had to be ...
— Watchbird • Robert Sheckley

... own. Finally, he had a little building and was one of the proudest young men we ever saw. Little by little, he added to his apparatus the things he needed. Several nights a week, after his hard day's work in the engine room, he toiled, trying to solve the problem upon which he had fixed his mind. About this time he married, and he and his wife moved into a narrow little flat. Years passed, children came into the little flat, and still he worked at his problem. Again and again, ...
— Analyzing Character • Katherine M. H. Blackford and Arthur Newcomb

... metempsychosis is founded on the consciousness of gradation between beasts and men. The belief in a soul-endowed animal world was present among the ancients, and the laws of intelligence and instinct were misconstrued, or were regarded as a puzzle, which no man might solve. ...
— The Book of Were-Wolves • Sabine Baring-Gould

... "that all of you are in too much of a hurry. Some scientists estimate that man has been eight million years coming to his present state of life. In contrast, civilized man is only four thousand years old. This being true, we should be more patient. Given time, man will solve his problems." ...
— Herein is Love • Reuel L. Howe

... by Monk, afterwards Duke of Albemarle, when he crossed the border to march to London, perhaps with no definite intention to restore the Monarchy—perhaps also prompted by his brother Nicholas, a Wadham man, to solve the great problem in that simple way. The rest of the New Model were disbanded after the Restoration, but, doubtless in deference to Monk, the Coldstreams were reformed, and became the King's Bodyguard. To Monk, who like Blake was half soldier, ...
— The Life and Times of John Wilkins • Patrick A. Wright-Henderson

... different causes, failure would equally result if done too soon or too late. The determination as to which army should be reenforced from the other, and the exact time of the transfer, must have been a difficult problem, as both the generals appear to have been unable to solve it (each asking reenforcements from ...
— The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government • Jefferson Davis

... To solve it we will not rely upon the accidents which good fortune may now and again procure for us. We must employ the breeding-cage, which will permit of assiduous visits, continued inquiry and a variety of artifices. But how populate ...
— The Wonders of Instinct • J. H. Fabre

... to soul, eye speaks to eye, And mind by mind is read; The heart bounds in sweet ecstasy Whene'er a light is shed, That shines to illume a cherished thought That seemed to dwell alone, But on through years has nobly sought To solve some truth unknown. ...
— Our Profession and Other Poems • Jared Barhite

... looking up, aware I somehow grew, 'Spite of the dusk, the plain had given place All round to mountains—with such name to grace 165 Mere ugly heights and heaps now stolen in view. How thus they had surprised me—solve it, you! How to get from them was no ...
— Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning • Robert Browning

... Turbulent, solve me, then, this difficulty; what choice has a poor female with whom she may converse? Must she not, in company as in dancing, take up with those Who choose to take ...
— The Diary and Letters of Madam D'Arblay Volume 2 • Madame D'Arblay

... against the British and the Spanish, and protection in their ordinary civil life. The former was a detail of military organization and was in due time provided by the establishment of military forts and garrisons; the latter was the problem which Jefferson's committee was attempting to solve. ...
— The Fathers of the Constitution - Volume 13 in The Chronicles Of America Series • Max Farrand

... will be easy to solve the difficulty: the dining-table itself shall be our platform, and you shall mount on top of that." This was Basil Ransom's sportive reply to his companion's very natural appeal for light, and the reader will remark that if it led her to ...
— The Bostonians, Vol. II (of II) • Henry James

... fuddle! Was there ever such a muddle? Fuddle, feedle, faddle, fiddle! Who is there will solve the riddle? ...
— The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat • Thornton W. Burgess

... the knowledge of a Master is, as regards you or me, practical omniscience, it is by no means omniscience on His own plane, relative to the problems with which He has to deal and which He has to solve. A Master amongst Masters, a Master within the Great White Lodge, He is amongst His peers, in the presence of His Superiors, and the problems with which that Lodge has to deal, the questions on which that Lodge has to decide, ...
— London Lectures of 1907 • Annie Besant

... the policy of the Turks. They have been obsessed with the idea that if only they had enough of physical force, ruthlessly exercised, they could solve the whole question of government, of existence for that matter, without troubling about social adjustment, understanding, equity, law, commerce; "blood and iron" were all that was needed. The success of that policy can now ...
— Peace Theories and the Balkan War • Norman Angell

... satisfactorily. In its present form it has been almost wholly recast, and much broadened in its scope. It touches upon several modern and very difficult problems. I have not in the remotest degree attempted to solve them, but rather have sought to direct attention to them. In our society public opinion is exceedingly powerful. It is the torrent that sweeps away obstructing evils. The cleansing tide is composed originally of many rills and streamlets, and it is my hope that this volume ...
— Without a Home • E. P. Roe

... for such an audience, but took it for granted that some great social evil would be remedied or some great want supplied by unfolding the glories of the Pharaohs to an audience whose thoughts were busy with the price of coal and flour, and whose lives were spent in trying to solve harder riddles than ...
— Little Women • Louisa May Alcott

... Vivie was thought to be fully equal in her knowledge of the law to her cousin, though not allowed to qualify for the Bar. Case after case was referred to her with the hope that if she could not solve it, she might submit it to her cousin's judgment. In this way, excellent legal advice was forthcoming which drove the Home Office officials ...
— Mrs. Warren's Daughter - A Story of the Woman's Movement • Sir Harry Johnston

... disturb his calm. He knew in his philosopher's soul that when it was ripe he would solve it. In the meantime he enforced the lesson that complacent as he might be, he was nevertheless the absolute dictator of the Achun destinies. The family held out for a week, then returned, along with Ah Chun and the many servants, to occupy the bungalow once more. And thereafter no question ...
— The House of Pride • Jack London

... right direction, Frances," whispered the President in grateful tones, when at last the dinner was ended and the chattering group were filing out of the dining-room. "I was beginning to wonder what in the world to do with our little Peace, but I think perhaps Miss Smiley will help solve the ...
— The Lilac Lady • Ruth Alberta Brown

... with a person named Isaac Madley, or Bradley, and through his mother with the Turners of Kirkleatham. This inquiry is made in the hope of unravelling a genealogical difficulty which has hitherto baffled all endeavour to solve it. ...
— Notes and Queries, No. 209, October 29 1853 • Various

... is possible that what you say is true and that you are not the coward I have thought you. In that case you shall have justice at my hands. Before I give you up to the Committee of Safety, who will deal shortly with you, I will resolve the doubt. Until I find the means to solve ...
— In Kings' Byways • Stanley J. Weyman

... distinguished an artist and philosopher as Sir Christopher Wren was engaged, as late in his life as the year 1720, in attempting to solve this important problem. As has been observed, in the memoir of him contained in the 'Biographia Britannica,'[3] "This noble invention, like some others of the most useful ones to human life, seems to be reserved for the peculiar glory of an ordinary mechanic, who, by indefatigable ...
— Men of Invention and Industry • Samuel Smiles

... back to Paris, your brother to his house, and I to mine, while he continued his courtship, and I could not understand what he meant by such strange behaviour. M. de Sauci, who knew that nothing serious had taken place between us, tried in vain to solve the enigma. 'No doubt he is afraid of getting you with child,' he said, 'and of thus being obliged to marry you.' I began to be of the same opinion, but I thought it a strange line for a man in ...
— The Memoires of Casanova, Complete • Jacques Casanova de Seingalt

... we began to feel a slight motion of the ship, for the wind had freshened. Before long a gale, blowing from the south, kicked up a heavy sea and caused the boat to pitch and roll. [Notice how combining the last two sentences helps to solve the problem of the last began, besides giving firmer texture to ...
— The Century Handbook of Writing • Garland Greever

... three sheep and twenty bushels of wheat for a cook stove and brought it home in the big wagon. Rodney Barnes came with him to help set up the stove. He was a big giant of a man with the longest nose in the township. I had often wondered how any one would solve the problem of kissing Mr. Barnes in the immediate region of his nose, the same being in the nature of ...
— The Light in the Clearing • Irving Bacheller

... the Sphinx, proposed to her a riddle, and because she was no more than a poor, sweet, limited woman she could not solve it, and Life ground her in its ...
— The Wagnerian Romances • Gertrude Hall

... you thinking about so seriously, Clara?" asked her governess. "If it is a puzzle, let me see if I cannot solve it for you." ...
— Among the Trees at Elmridge • Ella Rodman Church

... young brown buds bursting to green. What know they of a critic in the palate, and a frame all revelry! And mark you, revelry in sobriety, containment in exultation; classic revelry. Can they, dear though they be to us, light up candelabras in the brain, to illuminate all history and solve the secret of the destiny of man? They cannot; they cannot sympathize with them that can. So therefore this division is between us; yet are we not turbaned Orientals, nor are they inmates of the harem. We are not Moslem. Be assured of it in the ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... exclaimed Schryhart. "I will join in any programme that looks to the elimination of this man. The present situation may be just what is needed to accomplish this. Anyhow, it may help to solve our difficulty. If so, it will certainly be a case of good coming out ...
— The Titan • Theodore Dreiser

... at all; it was as if some contagious fever disturbed them. Each had gone to his work: Thomas was filing something at his bench; Francois and Antoine were on either side of their table, the first trying to solve a mathematical problem, and the other copying a bunch of poppies in a vase before him. It was in vain, however, that they strove to be attentive. They quivered at the slightest sound, raised their heads, and darted questioning glances at one another. ...
— The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete - Lourdes, Rome and Paris • Emile Zola

... sward. As a matter of fact, she saw only two faces— Fischer's and Lutchester's. Her chief impulse in life for the immediate present seemed to have resolved itself into a fierce, almost a passionate curiosity. It was the riddle of those two brains which she was so anxious to solve. ... Fischer, the cold, subtle intriguer, with schemes at the back of his mind which she knew quite well that, even in the moment of his weakness, he intended to keep to himself; and Lutchester, with his almost ...
— The Pawns Count • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... our children tests harder than they can bear. Often we put those which are harder than we could face. What you will do just then depends on what you have been doing for the training of the child or youth. Do not expect him to solve problems in moral geometry if you have neglected simple ...
— Religious Education in the Family • Henry F. Cope

... Gusterson agreed, "but I get to wondering about the little guys. They were so serious and intense about everything. I never did solve their problem, you know. I just shifted it onto other shoulders than ours. No joke intended," ...
— The Creature from Cleveland Depths • Fritz Reuter Leiber

... will have to solve will be that of making your body do the work required. Every one else will be doing exactly what you are doing, and you have too much pride to want to take even a shorter step than the man by your side. Some men have to leave the training camps because they are not in the proper physical ...
— The Plattsburg Manual - A Handbook for Military Training • O.O. Ellis and E.B. Garey

... as the closing of public-houses, the idea is ridiculous to anybody who knows the foxy cunning, the fixed determination of a female soaker. It is a great moral and physical problem that we want to solve, and Bills and clauses are only so much ink and paper which are ineffective as a schoolboy's copybook. If a man has the desire for alcohol there is no power known that can stop him from gratifying himself; the end to be aimed at is to remove the desire—to get the drinker ...
— The Ethics of Drink and Other Social Questions - Joints In Our Social Armour • James Runciman

... to gain an intimate knowledge of plantation life in war-time. Whether we succeeded or failed, we would learn more about the freedmen than we had hitherto known, and would assist, in some degree, to solve the great problem before the country. Success would be personally profitable, while failure could not ...
— Camp-Fire and Cotton-Field • Thomas W. Knox

... to solve the military problems involved. A nation aspiring to territory extending from Hamburg to Bagdad must firmly control the Balkan States. That meant that Austria must become, in effect, a German province; Serbia must be crushed; Bulgaria must ...
— Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights • Kelly Miller

... least one thing well. As a general rule, the painter, who has spent his youth and manhood in studying the canvas, had better not study the stars; and the artist, who has power to bring the form of life from the cold marble, has no right to solve problems in geometry, weigh planets, or calculate eclipses. The proper choice of the business of life may do much to perfect our social system, and it will certainly advance our material prosperity. There is everywhere in our civilization mutual dependence, and there must be mutual support. ...
— Thoughts on Educational Topics and Institutions • George S. Boutwell

... Jennie, and sat for a long time wondering just how deeply she had unintentionally wounded the feelings of her father's field-hand; deciding that if he was driven from her forever, it would solve the problem of terminating that old childish love affair which still persisted in occupying a suite of rooms all of its own in her memory; and finally repenting of the unpremeditated thrust which might easily have hurt too deeply so sensitive a man as Jim Irwin. ...
— The Brown Mouse • Herbert Quick

... helping himself to marmalade, "that he has dropped upon some large deposit of ivory; that will turn out to be the solution of the mystery. It is the solution of most mysteries in this country. I wish I could solve the mysteries of ways and means and drop upon a large deposit of ivory, or spice, or precious stones. We should soon be out of this country, should ...
— With Edged Tools • Henry Seton Merriman

... which should exist between an increase of population and the exhaustion of the soil by too frequent crops of wheat; and she wound up by propounding a series of hypothetical problems based on the doctrines she had set forth, for Austin to solve offhand. ...
— Austin and His Friends • Frederic H. Balfour

... that ends well!" Not so, however; for there remains uneffaced the murder of Job's children, who were hurriedly despatched out of the world in the very midst of their festivity. When the celestial and infernal powers play at conundrums, it is a great pity that they do not solve them up above or down below, and leave the poor denizens of this world free from the ...
— Bible Romances - First Series • George W. Foote

... one side of him and the waiting-maid on the other; but she was so dazzled that she did not recognize the Princess in her glittering garments. Now when they had eaten and drunk, and were merry, the old King asked the waiting-maid to solve a knotty point for him. "What," said he, "should be done to a certain person who has deceived everyone?" and he proceeded to relate the whole story, ending up with, "Now what sentence should be passed?" Then the false bride answered: "She deserves to be put stark naked into a barrel lined with ...
— The Blue Fairy Book • Various

... humane instincts; nor could Americans be indifferent to a neighboring people struggling to be free. The suppression of filibustering expeditions taxed our Treasury and our patience. Equally embarrassing were the operations of Cuban juntas from our ports. To solve the complex difficulty Presidents Polk, Buchanan, and Grant had each in his time vainly sought to purchase the island. The Virginius outrage during Grant's incumbency brought us to the very verge of war, prevented ...
— History of the United States, Volume 5 • E. Benjamin Andrews

... thousands and thousands of birds, we could find no flamingo nests, either old or new, search as we would. It offers a most interesting problem for some enterprising biological explorer. Probably Mr. Frank Chapman will some day solve it. ...
— Inca Land - Explorations in the Highlands of Peru • Hiram Bingham

... Continued Fractions.—The numerators and denominators of the convergents to the general continued fraction both satisfy the difference equation un a{n}u{n-1} b{n}u{n-2}. When we can solve this equation we have an expression for the n^{th} convergent to the fraction, generally in the form of the quotient of two series, each of n terms. As an example, take the fraction (known as Brouncker's fraction, ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 2 - "Constantine Pavlovich" to "Convention" • Various

... of the Ox Tribe. In what manner the food passes through this curious arrangement of cavities is a problem which has engaged the attention of naturalists from a very early period. A host of great men might be cited who have failed to solve it. The French physiologist, M. Flourens, by his recent experiments, has done more than any or all of his predecessors to give clearness and precision ...
— Delineations of the Ox Tribe • George Vasey

... property. Here then in Land Purchase and the abolition of dual ownership, we have one of the twin pillars on which, on its constructive side, the Irish policy of the Unionist party rests. But to solve the problem of rural Ireland—which, as I have said, is the Irish problem—more is required than the conversion of the occupying tenant into a peasant proprietor. The sense of ownership may be counted on to do much; but it will not make ...
— Against Home Rule (1912) - The Case for the Union • Various

... whole document was a mass of unintelligible formulae. My rusty university education could make nothing of it. But I could not waste time in trying to solve the puzzle, for I did not know what moment some other visitor might arrive to see how Brande fared. I first examined with a pocket microscope the ink of the manuscript, and then making a scratch with Brande's pen on a page of my note-book, I compared ...
— The Crack of Doom • Robert Cromie

... yet it was her father's wish, and who is he, the professor, that he should pretend to know how girls should be treated? What if he should make a mistake? And yet again, should a little brilliant face like that know sadness? It is a problem difficult to solve. All the professor's learning ...
— A Little Rebel • Mrs. Hungerford

... economy," (for the words seem now to be used in a larger sense), bore the mark of their origin in the eighteenth century. Here, as elsewhere, it was the belief of Frenchmen of that age that the application of a few simple rules derived from natural laws would solve the difficulties of a complicated subject. The principles of political economy were conceived as forming "a true science, which does not yield to geometry itself in the conviction which it carries to the soul, and ...
— The Eve of the French Revolution • Edward J. Lowell

... the reports that reached them, and curious to solve the mystery that enshrouded Prester John and his wonderful kingdom, the Portuguese went on making their searches, under Pedre de Covilham, of renown, fixed upon Abyssinia, entered it, and secured the friendship of the chief ruler. Strange to relate, the Portuguese made ...
— Our Sailors - Gallant Deeds of the British Navy during Victoria's Reign • W.H.G. Kingston

... therefore to use all their ingenuity and subtlety in support of their own positions, and to discover the defects of the rival schools that attacked them. A system as it was originally formulated in the sutras had probably but few problems to solve, but as it fought its way in the teeth of opposition of other schools, it had to offer consistent opinions on other problems in which the original views were more or less involved but to which no attention ...
— A History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. 1 • Surendranath Dasgupta

... not get at her at all,' replied Ralph, 'but I'll try. I have hunted people in this city, before now, who have been better hid than she; and I know quarters in which a guinea or two, carefully spent, will often solve darker riddles than this. Ay, and keep them close too, if need be! I hear my man ringing at the door. We may as well part. You had better not come to and fro, but wait till you ...
— The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby • Charles Dickens

... locomotion; whether she considered that the rays of the morning sun visited them more directly on that plane, or that the elevation exposed them to peculiar atmospheric advantages; these were questions which the curious mind was left to solve for itself, for the grave office of carrying out and bringing in the milk-pans was performed by Grandma with an air of mysterious calm, which admitted of no profane comment ...
— Cape Cod Folks • Sarah P. McLean Greene

... intuition of the unsophisticated mind is found to be in more substantial agreement with the last results of reflex philosophical thought, than those early philosophizings which halt between the affirmation and denial of bodily attributes, unable to prescind from the difficulty and unable to solve it. The history of the Jews, nay, the history of our own mind proves to demonstration that the thought of God is a far easier thought and a far earlier, than that of a spirit. Our mind, oar heart, our conscience, affirm the former ...
— The Faith of the Millions (2nd series) • George Tyrrell

... all the essential forms which can affect the organism. This is a universal algebraic formula, by which we can solve all organic problems. We apply it to the hand, to the shoulder, to the eyes, to the voice—in a word, to all the agents of oratorical language. For example, it suffices to know the eccentro-eccentric form of the hand, of the eyes; and we reserve ...
— Delsarte System of Oratory • Various

... You can't solve these great mysteries of life which confront us at every crisis of our existence, by jumping off the handle. I am ready to tell you, however, that I have hastily turned over in my mind such data as you have ...
— Cupid's Middleman • Edward B. Lent

... the preliminary problem I had to solve; I have not solved it to this day. What am I? I am a great gentleman, walking through the world with dauntless heart and head erect, scornful of all meanness, impatient of all littleness. I am a mean-thinking, little-daring man—the type of man that I of the dauntless heart and ...
— The Second Thoughts of An Idle Fellow • Jerome K. Jerome

... above the two other chief Christological systems, the Nestorian and the catholic. No analysis of monophysitism which omitted a reference to these systems would be complete. They were three nearly contemporary attempts to solve the same problem. The comparison is of special interest when, as here, fundamental principles are under examination. It demonstrates the closeness of the connection between the Christological and the cosmic problems. In each of the three cases we find that a school of philosophy corresponds ...
— Monophysitism Past and Present - A Study in Christology • A. A. Luce

... me. Freddy, how do you solve the problem?—had they electric torches, or were these tombs only built ...
— There was a King in Egypt • Norma Lorimer

... make a pile recipes. Instead, I prefer to compliment your intelligence and first explore the principles behind composting. I believe that an understanding of basics will enable you to function as a self-determined individual and adapt existing methods, solve problems if they arise, or create something personal and uniquely correct ...
— Organic Gardener's Composting • Steve Solomon

... society are enormous. But man's prodigality with his material treasures does but interpret his wastefulness of the greater riches of mind and heart. Life's chief destructions are in the city of man's soul. Many persons seem to be trying to solve this problem: "Given a soul stored with great treasure, and three score and ten years for happiness and usefulness, how shall one kill the time and waste the treasure?" Man's pride over his casket stored with gems must be modified ...
— A Man's Value to Society - Studies in Self Culture and Character • Newell Dwight Hillis

... synonym for a woman tempting to sin, and the moral weakness and physical strength of Samson show the power of heredity. But whether the stories should be in the hands of our youth, without sufficient explanation and wise commentaries, is a question which coming days will solve to the extent of a wise elimination. Solemn lessons, and those of moral import, are given in the Book of Judges; yet, as a whole, the book does not leave one with an exalted opinion of either the men or the women of those days. But it certainly gives ...
— The Woman's Bible. • Elizabeth Cady Stanton

... was nevertheless an important step to have found that there was a relation between them. A century passed away, and Guettard's specimen, preserved at the Jardin des Plantes, waited with Sphinx-like patience for the man who should solve its riddle. ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 10, No. 57, July, 1862 - A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics • Various

... in its congruity with our nature as thinkers; and, however it may fare with its truth, to derive from this subjective adequacy the strongest possible guaranty of its permanence. It is and will be the classic mean of rational opinion, the centre of gravity of all attempts to solve the riddle of life,—some falling below it by defect, some flying above it by excess, itself alone satisfying every mental need in strictly normal measure. Our gain will thus in the first instance be psychological. We shall merely have investigated a chapter in the natural history ...
— The Will to Believe - and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy • William James

... weary world, Why search the hills and seas? All Nature is in secrecy enfurled And thou canst never solve her mysteries; Thou canst not understand nor comprehend Her varied movements nor the intricate, The systems that so far ...
— Oklahoma and Other Poems • Freeman E. Miller

... aback, but not unduly; so then I added, 'I'm an inquiry agent with a very delicate case in hand, and if you'll tell me it may solve at heart-breaking a mystery as I've ever handled.' Is was treating him like a gentleman, but I believe in that; there's no shorter cut to whether a man is one ...
— The Camera Fiend • E.W. Hornung

... and his companions were very easily convinced, as if their adhesion to such tremendous claims as those of Jesus Christ was much too facile a thing to be a very deep one. But what can be put down in black and white goes a very short way to solve the secret of the power which ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture - St. John Chapters I to XIV • Alexander Maclaren

... enough, but a green dragon, with claws and a long wriggling fork-pointed tail, was out of the question; the very idea was enough to drive her distracted. The Lord High Steward was a man who always took the bull by the horns in a dilemma, and so he resolved forthwith to take steps to solve the mystery. He had heard that in the Black Forest in Germany there lived a powerful enchantress, Kalyb by name, who would, without doubt, be able at once to give him all the information he required. Sir Albert, for that was the High Steward's name, ...
— The Seven Champions of Christendom • W. H. G. Kingston

... went home and told friend wife about it. She approved eagerly because she felt that it might solve the ...
— You Should Worry Says John Henry • George V. Hobart

... solve the problem. He looked at it with perturbation, and left it. The consoling thing was that the Orgreaves had always expressed high esteem for Hilda. He ...
— Clayhanger • Arnold Bennett

... Josiah, always wantin' to embark in some new enterprise, thought he should go up in one whilst he wuz there. He said he wanted to brag on't to Deacon Henzy and Deacon Huffer. And I told him that wuzn't the right sperit to show, it wuzn't the sperit of a true Discoverer tryin' to solve the problems of the future through love ...
— Samantha at the St. Louis Exposition • Marietta Holley

... matter FRANKLAND remarks: "In those early days the innermost secrets of nature lay in the lap of geometry, and the extraordinary inference follows that Euclid's Elements, which are devoted to the investigation of the regular solids, are therefore in reality and at bottom an attempt to 'solve the universe.' Euclid, in fact, made this goal of the Pythagoreans the aim of his Elements."—Op. ...
— Bygone Beliefs • H. Stanley Redgrove

... there?—impossible. And yet she says she has had it done to her, and my thumb went in easily enough. The more I thought, and the more I reflected how a hard turd hurt me sometimes in passing it, the more I was puzzled about the intense pleasure which she said the operation gave! To solve my doubts (although I had determined not), I went to her again, and saw the pictures. She again talked about them, until scarcely knowing what I was doing, "Will you let me?" I asked. "Don't talk loud," said she, "it will never do to let any one know what we are at." ...
— My Secret Life, Volumes I. to III. - 1888 Edition • Anonymous

... requires no sphynx to solve that problem, my gracious master," said the favourite, toying with his plumed cap; "they will endeavour to effect the exile of Concini and his dark-browed wife: your good subjects have no love for foreigners, and believe that you, their sovereign, ...
— The Life of Marie de Medicis, Vol. 2 (of 3) • Julia Pardoe

... but was more correctly thought by others to have been the Congo River. On account of the interest aroused in Livingstone, the New York Herald and the Daily Telegraph of London decided to send Stanley on a fully equipped expedition to solve the many problems relating to the heart of Africa about which the civilised world was still in ...
— History Of Egypt From 330 B.C. To The Present Time, Volume 12 (of 12) • S. Rappoport

... right about that matter of family trees. I know a man right now who doesn't have to go back one minute in his pedigree to prove that he's a gentleman. I've left some tough propositions for you to solve, Joe. Lots of times, when I couldn't see the way out, I've put it up to you. If I merely say 'thanks, Joe,' and let it go at that, do you think ...
— Then I'll Come Back to You • Larry Evans

... Cause smile upon you in all your endeavors until you solve the Mystery: may your descendants soon reach the Ultimate ...
— The Skylark of Space • Edward Elmer Smith and Lee Hawkins Garby

... and Princess. They know too well what Letters may be there: and there is a seal on the Desk, and no key to it; neither must it, in time coming, seem to have been opened, even if we could now open it. A desperate pinch, and it must be solved. Female wit and Wilhelmina did solve it, by some pre-eminently acute device of their despair; [Wilhelmina, i. 253-257.] and contrived to get the Letters out: hundreds of Letters, enough to be our death if read, says Wilhelmina. These Letters they burnt; and set to writing fast as the pen would ...
— History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 7 • Thomas Carlyle

... Ancyrus decisively, "that we would solve a grave difficulty by accepting the suggestion made by Hortensius Martius. The imperium—as is only just—would remain in the family of the great Augustus. We should have a brave, noble and rich Caesar whose virtuous and beautiful wife would wield beneficial influence over ...
— "Unto Caesar" • Baroness Emmuska Orczy

... "As though trying to solve the riddle of her fate, she shrugged her shoulders in perplexity, shook her head, and clasped her hands. She spoke as though she were singing, moved gracefully, and reminded me of a celebrated ...
— Love and Other Stories • Anton Chekhov

... as much life and pleasantry in his discourses, as the poet in his comedies. The pungent raillery of Aristophanes, and the fondness of the Athenians for it, are, therefore, not the true reason why the poet was spared, when Socrates was condemned. I shall now solve ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson in Nine Volumes - Volume V: Miscellaneous Pieces • Samuel Johnson

... in one word that I do not for a moment pretend to solve the Ossianic mystery. Any theory which has yet been proposed presents serious difficulties, but I maintain that Mr Campbell's presents the greatest of all, and in the present state of our knowledge cannot ...
— The Celtic Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 1, November 1875 • Various

... who devoted themselves to this problem had considerable difficulties and when their ventures proved practical failures with the theater audiences, they were inclined to blame their inability to solve the technical problem perfectly. They were not aware that the real difficulty was an esthetic and internal one. Even if the voices were heard with ideal perfection and exactly in time with the movements on the screen, the effect on an esthetically conscientious audience would have been disappointing. ...
— The Photoplay - A Psychological Study • Hugo Muensterberg

... delayed longer than I could have wished acknowledging the letter which I had the honour to receive from your Royal Highness last night, in hopes that by this time I should have been enabled to solve the difficulties connected with the Household Appointments; but I regret to say they are rather increased than otherwise. I will not trouble your Royal Highness now with any details; but if I might be honoured with an audience at any hour after the Levee to-morrow, I shall perhaps ...
— The Letters of Queen Victoria, Vol 2 (of 3), 1844-1853 • Queen Victoria

... I lament to say that from the moment I heard of his son, an inexperienced young man, undertaking an enterprise of such magnitude, as that of penetrating alone into the interior of an unknown country, to solve a problem in the pursuit of which so many distinguished travellers had failed and fallen, I confess I never supposed he would live to return: in fact, the project appeared to me, what is emphatically expressed in the old proverb, "a wild-goose chase." For where men of maturer judgment ...
— A Voyage Round the World, Vol. I (of ?) • James Holman

... transparency of his malt wine. His object does not end with the malt distiller's, nor, like his, concentre in one focal point, the solution of the whole of the farina of the plant or grain employed, regardless of milkiness or transparency; he must carefully take the heats of his liquor, so as to solve and combine the qualities he has in view; which, if he misses in the first mash, is partly irremediable in the succeeding ones. His cares do not end here; independent of the minutiae of fermentation and cleansing, he has the flavour, fining, and bringing forward of his malt wines, nearly ...
— The American Practical Brewer and Tanner • Joseph Coppinger

... first step in trying to solve the problem of man's origin, where can we stop? Can we find any point in his history where we can say, Here his natural history ends, and his supernatural history begins? Does his natural history end with the pre-glacial man, with the cave man, or the river-drift man, with the ...
— Time and Change • John Burroughs

... descent. You spend time and labour, eyesight and midnight oil in trying to discover missing links, and very often it is all in vain; the chain remains broken, and you cannot piece it together. Some of us whose fate it is to have to try and solve some of these genealogical problems, and spend hours over a manorial descent, are inclined to envy other writers who fill their pages currente calamo and are ignorant of the joys and disappointments of ...
— Vanishing England • P. H. Ditchfield

... we hope, finally established this Indian affinity, and disposed of mere Indian copying, let us lift our eyes and see if something more is not to be discerned on the wide horizon now open on our view. The most interesting problem for man to solve is the origin of his race. Of late years comparative philology, having accomplished her task in proving the affinity of language between Europe and the East, and so taken a mighty step towards fixing the first seat of the greatest—greatest in wit and wisdom, if not in actual ...
— Popular Tales from the Norse • Sir George Webbe Dasent

... expect that it is something of the kind. That coin has to be shown, and the word 'Masulipatam' spoken to the guardian, whoever he may be, of your uncle's treasure. But who that guardian may be or how he is to be found is a mystery. I myself have never tried to solve it. There was nothing whatever to go upon. The things may be in England or, it may be, anywhere in India. To me it looked an absolutely hopeless business to set about. I did not see how even a first step was to be taken, and as ...
— Colonel Thorndyke's Secret • G. A. Henty

... to her old friend in the jasmine-covered porch of Vineyard Cottage, Cyril Blake was sitting on a stile in one of the Brail lanes, trying to solve a difficult problem. ...
— Lover or Friend • Rosa Nouchette Carey

... were overthrown. The question now presses upon our attention, Where shall we find an object for the tremendous judgment to be inflicted by the third and last woe? This question requires a solution. It demands it; and he who succeeds in the application of history to solve this apparent enigma in the Apocalypse, will be able to attain to a satisfactory, a certain, understanding of much that is yet to most readers as if the "sealed book" were to this day in the "right hand of Him ...
— Notes On The Apocalypse • David Steele

... answer to this problem which at that point in my experience I could not solve, I determined to study conditions in Europe. Perhaps there I might discover a new approach, a great illumination. Just before the outbreak of the war, I visited France, Spain, Germany and Great Britain. Everywhere I found the same dogmas ...
— The Pivot of Civilization • Margaret Sanger

... hope of some tolerable bargain from Austria? Shall I have to join with the French, in despair of any?" Readers may consider how stringent upon Friedrich that question now was, and how ticklish to solve. And it must be solved soon,—under penalty of "being left with no ally at all" (as Friedrich expresses himself), while the whole world is grouping itself into armed heaps for and against! If the English would but get me a bargain—? Friedrich ...
— History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. XIII. (of XXI.) • Thomas Carlyle



Words linked to "Solve" :   solver, settle, factorize, riddle, work, figure out, answer, reason, determine, calculate, break, figure, understand, square up, reckon, cipher, solvent, solution, puzzle out, square off, strike, cypher, resolve, infer, lick



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