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At the least   /æt ðə list/   Listen
At the least

adverb
1.
Not less than.  Synonym: at least.  "A tumor at least as big as an orange"






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"At the least" Quotes from Famous Books



... "spurn his addresses;" His merits may still be as high As the sort that your hero possesses, Though they leap not so quick to the eye; At the least, you've the comfort of knowing, Since his heart at your feet he has placed, That in one thing at least he is showing A ...
— Punch or the London Charivari, October 20, 1920 • Various

... Kayans, we have seen that the fear of the TOH serves as a constant check on the breach of customs, which customs are in the main salutary and essential for the maintenance of social order; this fear does at the least serve to develop in the people the power of selfcontrol and the habit of deliberation before action. The part which the major spirits or gods are supposed to play in bringing or fending off the major calamities remains extremely vague and incapable of definition; in the main, faithful ...
— The Pagan Tribes of Borneo • Charles Hose and William McDougall

... boy, they are heathens, or Jews, or Mahommedans at the least, and neither worship Our Lady, nor the Saints" (crossing himself) "and steal what they can lay hands on, and sing, and tell ...
— Quentin Durward • Sir Walter Scott

... fire upon it, and burn them all to ashes. I found Friday had still a hankering stomach after some of the flesh, and was still a cannibal in his nature; but I discovered so much abhorrence at the very thoughts of it, and at the least appearance of it, that he durst not discover it; for I had, by some means, let him know that I would kill ...
— The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1808) • Daniel Defoe

... better waxen[20] were, And some there be of other moison[21] That drew(e) nigh to their season, And sped 'em fast(e) for to spread; I love well such roses red; For broad[22] roses, and open also, Be passed in a day or two; But knop(e)s[18] will(e) fresh(e) be Two day(e)s at the least, or three, The knop(e)s greatly liked[23]me, For fairer may there no man see Whoso might have one of all It aught him be full lief[24]withall. Might I one garland of 'em get For no riches I would it let.[25] Among the knop(e)s I chose one So fair, that of the ...
— Song and Legend From the Middle Ages • William D. McClintock and Porter Lander McClintock

... there was a dead silence, disturbed only by myself, for, in my growing confusion of thought, I believe that I rang the bell violently in every room I entered. No such summons, however, was needed, for the servants, two of whom at the least were most faithful creatures, and devotedly attached to their young mistress, stood ready of themselves to come and make inquiries of me as soon as they became aware of the alarming fact, that I had ...
— Narrative And Miscellaneous Papers • Thomas De Quincey

... no more am I: goe to then, there's simpathie: you are merry, so am I: ha, ha, then there's more simpathie: you loue sacke, and so do I: would you desire better simpathie? Let it suffice thee (Mistris Page) at the least if the Loue of Souldier can suffice, that I loue thee: I will not say pitty mee, 'tis not a Souldier-like phrase; but I say, loue me: By me, thine owne true Knight, by day or night: Or any kinde of light, with all his might, ...
— The First Folio [35 Plays] • William Shakespeare

... is no deliverance from under the curse of the Law of God; and therefore, however the law of man may be made of none effect sometimes by showing mercy without giving of a full satisfaction, yet the Law of God cannot be so contented, nor at the least give way, that the person offending that should escape the curse and not be damned, except some one do give a full and complete satisfaction to it for him, and bring the prisoner into another covenant—to wit, the Covenant of Grace, which is more ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... turned the head of the head of the nation; And by all the grand court were so very much courted." The end of the nose was portentously tipped up, And both the bright eyes shot forth indignation, As she burst upon me with the fierce exclamation, "I have worn it three times at the least calculation, And that and most of my dresses are ripped up!" Here I ripped out something, perhaps rather rash— Quite innocent, though; but to use an expression More striking than classic, it "settled my hash," And proved very soon the last act of our session. "Fiddlesticks, ...
— The Book of Humorous Verse • Various

... out, but don't you lose sight of the little sitting-room. At the least movement call me; fire a ...
— The Secret of the Night • Gaston Leroux

... brought him to the house. Then the servant delivered his message to him and to Rebekah's father, Bethuel; and they answered: "Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife." And he wanted to take her next day, but they wished her to abide with them at the least ten days longer. "And they said, We will call the damsel, and inquire at her mouth. And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go. And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, ...
— Primitive Love and Love-Stories • Henry Theophilus Finck

... Winchester could remain no longer at Rouen, and it behooved to make an end of the business. Therefore it was resolved to get up a great and terrible public scene, which should either terrify the recusant into submission, or, at the least, blind the people. Loyseleur, Chatillon, and Morice were sent to visit her the evening before, to promise her that, if she would submit and quit her man's dress, she should be delivered out of the hands of the English, and placed ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 07 • Various

... cried, "This is murder, whatever you call it. It will hang you yet; at the least, it will transport you ...
— Jack Harkaway and his son's Escape From the Brigand's of Greece • Bracebridge Hemyng

... where, in view of all, you may publish your suit in what manner you affect most, either with the slide of your cloake from the one shoulder, and then you must (as twere in anger) suddenly snatch at the middle of the inside (if it be taffata at the least) and so by the meanes your costly lining is betrayed, or else by the pretty advantage of complement. But one note by the way do I especially wooe you to, the neglect of which makes many of our gallants cheape and ordinary; that you by no means be seen above fowre ...
— Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 11 • Various

... been wise. Who knows? At the least, the question would have been settled 'for better or for worse.' It is easier to face the trouble which one cannot escape than deliberately to make choice of entering into the state that may or may not bring about the dreaded misfortune. Had you married me then, Tom, I would surely have ...
— Out of the Primitive • Robert Ames Bennet

... corypha; and is called in the country palma de sombrero, the footstalks of the leaves being employed in weaving hats resembling our straw hats. This grove of palm-trees, the withered foliage of which rustles at the least breath of air—the camels feeding in the plain—the undulating motion of the vapours on a soil scorched by the ardour of the sun, give the landscape an African aspect. The aridity of the land augments as the traveller ...
— Equinoctial Regions of America V2 • Alexander von Humboldt

... pleasant in watching the old hen as she sits so patiently on her nest, and to see the little birds issue from the eggs, with the proud but careful mother strutting by them, and scratching and toiling to obtain them food; and nothing is more touching to a sensitive mind than to behold her at the least chill of air, or overcasting of the clouds, calling her young brood under her wings for warmth, shelter, and security. There are many lessons of good to ...
— The Book of Sports: - Containing Out-door Sports, Amusements and Recreations, - Including Gymnastics, Gardening & Carpentering • William Martin

... When a patient is disposed to lie upon his back continually during the progress of an acute disease, it is a sign of muscular debility. If he manifests no desire to change his position, or cannot do so, and becomes tremulous at the least effort, it indicates general prostration. When this position is assumed, during the progress of continued fever, and is accompanied by involuntary twitching of the muscles, picking of the bed-clothes, etc., then danger is imminent and the patient is sinking. Fever, resulting from ...
— The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English • R. V. Pierce

... rising in the volcanic duct is exploded into fine dust by the steam which permeates it; glassy lava, hurled into the air and cooled suddenly, is brought into a state of high strain and tension, and, like Prince Rupert's drops, flies to pieces at the least provocation. The clash of rising and falling projectiles also produces some dust, a fair sample of which may be made by grating together two ...
— The Elements of Geology • William Harmon Norton

... and with me minutes were drawn out into hours. "Surely, it is midnight. I have been here three hours at the least. The road must have forked, and I have gone the wrong way. The most sagacious of horses could not be expected to know which of two roads to take. There is nothing to be done. I am in for the night, and had better stay here than go farther ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 9, No. 52, February, 1862 • Various

... despatched late. The fact of the matter in this is, Sire, that the Audiencia is powerless to remedy that, beyond the repeated telling of it to the governor. If they should do more, besides not being obeyed by a single man, at the least little thing, the governor would seize the auditor who said it and clap him into prison; and, as he is the sole and absolute ruler, he is, notwithstanding what has been said to him this year, despatching ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XX, 1621-1624 • Various

... none shall be admitted to the Barr but only such as be at the least seven years' continuance, and have kept the exercises within the House and abroad in Inns of Chancery, according to the orders ...
— The Customs of Old England • F. J. Snell

... impenetrable thorny jungle. Nevertheless our guide insisted upon pushing on to a place which he compared to that which we had unfortunately left behind us. Instead of going two miles, as we had originally intended, we had already ridden sixteen at the least, and still the headman persisted in pushing on. No coolies were up; the tents and baggage were far behind; we had nothing to eat; we had left the fine open country, which was full of game, miles behind us, and we were in a close jungle country, where a rifle was not worth ...
— The Rifle and The Hound in Ceylon • Samuel White Baker

... that night till morning, he fell like a shooting star, and sank at last into an Italian river. His sisters trembled so at his fall and wept so bitterly that they changed into poplar trees upon the river banks. Even to this day they mourn for him and tremble at the least breeze from heaven. Apollo's horses, calmed by Jupiter's voice, finally found the track. When evening came they entered the western gates of the sky and were taken back, by way of the north, to ...
— Classic Myths • Retold by Mary Catherine Judd

... me up body and soul. You suppose me a very old man—but I am not. It took less than a single day to change these hairs from a jetty black to white, to weaken my limbs, and to unstring my nerves, so that I tremble at the least exertion, and am frightened at a shadow. Do you know I can scarcely look over this little cliff without ...
— Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 8 • Charles H. Sylvester

... too bad of me. I come at an unheard-of hour, and frighten away your fair friends; but the fact is, I have an appointment at two, and I don't know how long they will keep me, so I thought I would make sure of two happy hours at the least." ...
— A Terrible Temptation - A Story of To-Day • Charles Reade

... herring fishery during the proper seasons: that they might use such barrels for packing the fish as they then used, or might hereafter find best adapted for that purpose: that they should have liberty to make use of any waste or uncultivated land, one hundred yards at the least above high water mark, for the purpose of drying their nets; and that Campbelton would be the most proper and convenient place for the rendezvous of the busses belonging to Whitehaven. This last resolution, however, was not inserted in the bill which ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. - From William and Mary to George II. • Tobias Smollett

... agreed with a nod. He was rather grateful for Fitzgerald's presence. This occupation was not going to be menial; at the least, there would be pleasant sides to it. And, then, it might not take him a week to complete his own affair. There was no misreading the admiral; he was a gentleman, affable, kindly, and a good story-teller, too, crisp ...
— A Splendid Hazard • Harold MacGrath

... a voice so close to him that Grandfather Frog made a long jump before he thought. You see, at the Smiling Pool he always jumped at the least hint of danger, and because one jump always took him into the water, he was always safe. But there was no water here, and that jump took him right out where anybody passing could see him. Then he turned around to see who had startled him so. It was ...
— The Adventures of Grandfather Frog • Thornton W. Burgess

... on thus, he was the beau ideal of a cavalier. His seat in the saddle was firm; his blue eyes dazzling; his heavy mustache curled with laughter at the least provocation. Something in this man seemed to spring forward to meet danger. Peril aroused and strung him. All his energies were stimulated by it. In that ride through the May forest, to attack Sheridan, and arrest him or die, Stuart's bearing and expression were superbly ...
— Mohun, or, The Last Days of Lee • John Esten Cooke

... bed and waited. At the least sound he started, thinking it might be the call from the governess. But the few sounds he did hear always resolved themselves into the moaning of the wind, and no voice came. With his eyes on the open window, trying to pierce the gloom ...
— Jimbo - A Fantasy • Algernon Blackwood

... insists on facts and details, the greater his quandary. A majority of students incline to parrot what they have heard, to the dismay of the teacher who wants them to make the subject their own. Hence tests calling the memory only into play do not satisfy the true teacher or the thoughtful student. At the least there should be some questions requiring constructive or synthetic thinking by the student. Above all, the instructor of introductory work should form a first-hand personal opinion of the student by requiring ...
— College Teaching - Studies in Methods of Teaching in the College • Paul Klapper

... the town of Baden in our rear. I must say that I never left a place, which had so many attractions, with keener regret, and a more fixed determination to revisit it. That "revisit" may possibly never arise; but I recommend all English travellers to spend a week, at the least, at Baden—called emphatically, Baden-Baden. The young may be gratified by the endless amusements of society, in many of its most polished forms. The old may be delighted by the contemplation of nature in one of her most picturesque aspects, as well as invigorated by the waters which gush in ...
— A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume Three • Thomas Frognall Dibdin

... as if she thought that precious wit. I turn her nonsense into argument, And think I reason. Shall I give her up? Rail at her heartlessness, and bid her go Back to Ravenna? But she clings to me, At the least hint of parting. Ah! 'tis sweet, Sweeter than slumber to the lids of pain, To fancy that a shadow of true love May fall on this God-stricken mould of woe, From so serene a nature. Beautiful Is the first vision of a desert brook, Shining beneath its palmy garniture, To one who travels on his ...
— Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911: Francesca da Rimini • George Henry Boker

... himself in all he has written, it is necessary to know the man. 'He gave me the impression of a cat,' some interviewer once wrote of him; 'courteous, perfectly polite, almost amiable, but all nerves, ready to shoot out his claws at the least word.' And, indeed, there is something of his favourite animal about him. The face is grey, wearily alert, with a look of benevolent malice. At first sight it is commonplace, the features are ordinary, one seems to have seen it at the Bourse or the Stock Exchange. But gradually that strange, unvarying ...
— Figures of Several Centuries • Arthur Symons

... dried up," returned Sigbert. "But look you here, comrades, leave me a word with my young lord here, and I plight my faith that you shall have enow to quench your thirst within six hours at the least." ...
— More Bywords • Charlotte M. Yonge

... Publishing Committee have felt Constitutional scruples. Till this question arose, they were like men in perfect health, never suspecting that they had any constitution at all; but now, like hypochondriacs, they feel it in every pore, at the least breath from ...
— The Writings of James Russell Lowell in Prose and Poetry, Volume V - Political Essays • James Russell Lowell

... 4th Commandant Wessels formally summoned the town, and it is asserted that he gave Colonel Kekewich leave to send out the women and children. That officer has been blamed for not taking advantage of the permission—or at the least for not communicating it to the civil authorities. As a matter of fact the charge rests upon a misapprehension. In Wessels' letter a distinction is made between Africander and English women, the former being offered an asylum in his camp. This offer was made known, and half a dozen persons ...
— The Great Boer War • Arthur Conan Doyle

... about the question of the exclusion of the king's Catholic brother, James, from the throne, and was given special interest by the conflict of groups foreshadowing political parties; but Charles maintained unfailingly an attitude which, at the least, did not endanger his ...
— The Governments of Europe • Frederic Austin Ogg

... he insisted, laughing and nodding; so we pocketed our pride and peeped. Through an overarching vista of dark foliage was seen, white and golden in a blaze of sunshine, the cupola of St. Peter's, which is at the farthest end of the city, two miles at the least as the crow flies. When the gate was opened we entered a sweet little garden full of violets, traversed by an alley of old ilex trees, through which appeared the noble dome, and which led from ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 15, - No. 86, February, 1875 • Various

... I told myself so the moment I had uttered it. The thing must have weighed three pounds at the least; it was an exceptionally large and heavy shoe. The bump on his head was swelling visibly before my eyes. Anyone but an idiot must have seen that he was hurt. I expected an irritable reply. I should have given one myself had I been in his place. Instead, however, he seemed to regard ...
— Sketches in Lavender, Blue and Green • Jerome K. Jerome

... strike On empty helmets, while he gapes to see Bones as of giants from the trench untombed. Gods of my country, heroes of the soil, And Romulus, and Mother Vesta, thou Who Tuscan Tiber and Rome's Palatine Preservest, this new champion at the least Our fallen generation to repair Forbid not. To the full and long ago Our blood thy Trojan perjuries hath paid, Laomedon. Long since the courts of heaven Begrudge us thee, our Caesar, and complain That thou ...
— The Georgics • Virgil

... warning. At the least little consciousness in the region of the pericardium, off will go a note by a district messenger, and when you come I'll do whatever ...
— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells

... "An old skinflint, at the least. Shame on you, Nan! Ingua is a dear little girl, and you—you're an unnatural mother. Why, I never ...
— Mary Louise in the Country • L. Frank Baum (AKA Edith Van Dyne)

... articulate reply, "It will be time, I think, to understand each other," I continued. "You took me for a country Johnnie Raw, with no more mother-wit or courage than a porridge-stick. I took you for a good man, or no worse than others at the least. It seems we were both wrong. What cause you have to fear me, to cheat me, and to ...
— Kidnapped • Robert Louis Stevenson

... shall be made to pass under the keel three times; and for the second be thrown overboard. The captain must stand one watch each night. Each captain shall have a body-guard of six men. All fire must be kept away from the powder. At the least appearance of mutiny immediate measures are to be taken; if it is not possible to inform Villalobos, then the captain is empowered to execute summary justice. The captain is to keep a compass in his room, which he shall constantly consult, and must keep close watch on the course. ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803, Volume II, 1521-1569 • Emma Helen Blair

... said, he was brindled, and gray like Rubislaw granite; his hair short, hard, and close, like a lion's; his body thickset, like a little bull—a sort of compressed Hercules of a dog. He must have been ninety pounds' weight, at the least; he had a large blunt head; his muzzle black as night, his mouth blacker than any night, a tooth or two—being all he had—gleaming out of his jaws of darkness. His head was scarred with the records of old wounds, a sort of series of fields of battle ...
— The Junior Classics Volume 8 - Animal and Nature Stories • Selected and arranged by William Patten

... Fox, like most of the other little people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows, sleeps with her ears wide open. Her eyes may be closed, but not her ears. Those are always on guard, even when she is asleep, and at the least sound open fly her eyes, and she is ready to run. If it were not for the way her sharp ears keep guard, she wouldn't dare take naps in the open right in broad daylight. If you ever want to catch a Fox asleep, you mustn't make the teeniest, ...
— Old Granny Fox • Thornton W. Burgess

... "also is aware of the economic advantages of an old abandoned nest"; the Anthophora is careful to establish her family "at the least expense," and profits on occasion by galleries which have been mined by previous generations; adapting herself to these new conditions, she repairs the tunnels which she did not construct ...
— Fabre, Poet of Science • Dr. G.V. (C.V.) Legros

... side, beautifully free—he would absolutely not be able, for any qualifying purpose, to name Charlotte either. As his father-in-law's wife Mrs. Verver rose between them there, for the time, in august and prohibitive form; to protect her, defend her, explain about her, was, at the least, to bring her into the question—which would be by the same stroke to bring her husband. But this was exactly the door Maggie wouldn't open to him; on all of which she was the next moment asking herself ...
— The Golden Bowl • Henry James

... desire of pleasing you and showing my love to my friends, these second labours of Master Dowland—whose very name is a large preface of commendation to the book—had for ever lain hid in darkness, or at the least frozen in a cold and foreign country." The expenses of publication were heavy, but he consoled himself with the thought that his high-spirited enterprise would be appreciated by a select audience. In 1603 appeared ...
— Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age • Various

... because you don't know the truth. It is not possible that you would consider me a proper person to visit Sylvia. I don't believe in your religion; I don't believe in anything that you would call religion, and I argue about it at the least provocation. I deliver violent harangues on street-corners, and have been arrested during a strike. I believe in woman's suffrage, I even argue in approval of window-smashing. I believe that women ought to earn their own living, ...
— Sylvia's Marriage • Upton Sinclair

... really pick them all to-day?" persisted Amy, eyeing the milk-pail respectfully. "It would take me a year, at the least calculation." ...
— Peggy Raymond's Vacation - or Friendly Terrace Transplanted • Harriet L. (Harriet Lummis) Smith

... sure. Staunch must not be lost. We cannot throw away a single vote, much more one of such weight,—eighteen stone at the least! I'll stop at C——- on pretence of seeing after my ward's houses, and have a quiet conference with Mr. Winsley. Hem! Peers must not interfere in elections, eh? Well, good-by: take care of yourself. I shall be back in a ...
— Alice, or The Mysteries, Book VII • Edward Bulwer Lytton

... Jehova Mosen, in Ore duorum aut trium Testium, etc. If Christ requireth it, as it appeareth Matt. xviii.; if by the Canon, Civil Law, and God's Word, it be required, that there must be two Witnesses at the least, bear with me if I desire one. I would not desire to live, if I were privy to Cobham's proceedings. I have been a slave, a villain, a fool, if I had endeavoured to set up Arabella, and refused so gracious a lord and ...
— State Trials, Political and Social - Volume 1 (of 2) • Various

... to the extent that all life has become more serious on account of the war. These demands made upon the deepest elements of the psychic life suggest the need once more of a new philosophy of education, or, at the least, a greatly increased recognition and application of ...
— The Psychology of Nations - A Contribution to the Philosophy of History • G.E. Partridge

... climbed the stairs to Ruth's little room. Mrs. Moody hovered about behind them, and the mercenary sheltered her body behind the kitchen door, her head through the narrow opening, looking as if she were ready to pop it back at the least startling movement. ...
— Youth Challenges • Clarence B Kelland

... formation of this luxury. If I remember rightly, it was an entire loaf that Stout cut up and toasted each morning for breakfast. He knew nothing of delicate treatment. Every slice was an inch thick at the least! It was quite a study to see him go to work. He never sawed with the knife. Having a powerful hand and arm, one sweep of the blade sufficed for one slice, and he cut up the whole loaf before beginning to toast. Then, he always ...
— Personal Reminiscences in Book Making - and Some Short Stories • R.M. Ballantyne

... his purse, he lacked courage to make advances to Etienne; he was afraid of beginning a fresh series of blunders of which he was still repenting. And he was still under the yoke of provincial creeds; his two guardian angels, Eve and David, rose up before him at the least approach of an evil thought, putting him in mind of all the hopes that were centered on him, of the happiness that he owed to the old mother, of all the ...
— Lost Illusions • Honore De Balzac

... time for thought—thou shalt know all, Adelheid, sooner or later. Yes, this is, at the least, due to thy noble frankness, Thou shouldst in justice have known it ...
— The Headsman - The Abbaye des Vignerons • James Fenimore Cooper

... Saturday, they came in order of battle, being well armed both on horse and foot, ilk horseman having five shot at the least, whereof he had ane carbine in his hand, two pistols by his sides, and other two at his saddle-torr; the pikemen in their ranks with pike and sword; the musketeers in their ranks with musket, musket-staff, bandelier, sword, powder, ball, and match. Ilk ...
— The Book-Hunter - A New Edition, with a Memoir of the Author • John Hill Burton

... litterate persons, that the party against whom such citations have been awarded hath been cited or summoned; and thereupon the same party so certified to be cited or summoned hath not appeared according to the certificate, the same party therefore hath been excommunicated, or, at the least, suspended from all divine service; and thereupon, before that he or she could be absolved, hath been compelled, not only to pay the fees of the court whereunto he or she was so called, amounting to ...
— The Reign of Henry the Eighth, Volume 1 (of 3) • James Anthony Froude

... and want of good faith are rightly assigned to the Phoenicians as characteristic traits, is, at the least, open to doubt. The Latin writers, with whom the reproach contained in the expression "Punica fides" originated, are scarcely to be accepted as unprejudiced witnesses, since it is in most instances a necessity that they should either impute "bad ...
— History of Phoenicia • George Rawlinson

... by and with the consent of the ordinary and the patron, to subdivide any parish into as many portions as they might think fit, provided that, after such division, the church of the old parish should continue worth, at the least, L300 per annum." This bill, which passed the House of Lords two days after the Bill of Residence, Swift opposed in a spirited and somewhat bitter manner. His opposition largely influenced the Lower House in rejecting ...
— The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, Vol. III.: Swift's Writings on Religion and the Church, Vol. I. • Jonathan Swift

... and she did not drive him out of her house. She would pretend to make objections; then she would say that although he was an ugly little donkey, and very stupid, she would agree to keep him—and perhaps even to love him—although he was good for nothing, if at the least he would be just good. Then they would both laugh, and he would go swimming ...
— Jean-Christophe, Vol. I • Romain Rolland

... had taken their places in the lists and another stentorian dissonance greeted these officers of the field from the good-humored gathering, which, basking in the anticipation of the feast they knew would follow the pageantry, clapped their hands and flung up their caps at the least provocation for rejoicing. Upon the two jesters this scene of jubilation was lost, Caillette merely bending ...
— Under the Rose • Frederic Stewart Isham

... it in all its anatomical relations, alterations which may even affect its texture. This fact is of great importance, for those changes which an organ undergoes during its individual development lead through states which the organ in other cases permanently shows, or at the least the first appearance of the organ is the equivalent of a permanent state in another organism. If then the fully developed organ is in any special case so greatly modified that its proper relation to some organ-series is obscured, this relation may be cleared up by a knowledge ...
— Form and Function - A Contribution to the History of Animal Morphology • E. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell

... and gripings, and to whet and sharpen her natural wisdom, she was not a little disappointed that the single gentleman had obtained the lodgings at such an easy rate, arguing that when he was seen to have set his mind upon them, he should have been at the least charged double or treble the usual terms, and that, in exact proportion as he pressed forward, Mr Swiveller should have hung back. But neither the good opinion of Mr Brass, nor the dissatisfaction of Miss Sally, wrought any impression upon that young gentleman, who, throwing ...
— The Old Curiosity Shop • Charles Dickens

... paper. But, for the most part, people do not know that there is so much as an art of spelling possible; the tyranny of orthography lies so heavily on the land. Your common editors and their printers are a mere orthodox spelling police, and at the least they rigorously blot out all the delightful frolics of your artist in spelling before his writings reach the public eye. But commonly, as I have proved again and again, the slightest lapse into rococo spelling is sufficient to secure ...
— Certain Personal Matters • H. G. Wells

... I write that you may write me an answer, Or at the least to put us again en rapport with each other. Rome disappoints me much,—St Peter's, perhaps, in especial; Only the Arch of Titus and view from the Lateran please me: This, however, perhaps is the weather, which truly is horrid. Greece must be better, ...
— Amours de Voyage • Arthur Hugh Clough

... one must think profoundly to the very basis and resist all sentimental weakness: life itself is ESSENTIALLY appropriation, injury, conquest of the strange and weak, suppression, severity, obtrusion of peculiar forms, incorporation, and at the least, putting it mildest, exploitation;—but why should one for ever use precisely these words on which for ages a disparaging purpose has been stamped? Even the organization within which, as was previously supposed, the individuals treat each other as equal—it takes place in every healthy aristocracy—must ...
— Beyond Good and Evil • Friedrich Nietzsche

... Cloths of Damask and Diaper. Twenty dozen of Napkins suitable, at the least. Three dozen of fair large Towells; whereof the Gentlemen Servers and Butlers of the House to have, every of them, one at meal times, during their attendance. Likewise to provide Carving Knives: Twenty dozen of white Cups and ...
— A Righte Merrie Christmasse - The Story of Christ-Tide • John Ashton

... gaieties recommenced, but more Olympian in tone, as befitted the ruler of rulers, terrible now being the lifting of Hogarth's brows at the least lapse in ritual; and only the chastest- nurtured of the earth ever now stalked through gavotte or pavane in those halls ...
— The Lord of the Sea • M. P. Shiel

... one dread is to have the appearance of being in want of linen. Locked in his office, he is occupied from morning till evening in the manufacture of shirt-fronts, collars, and cuffs of paper. In this, he has attained very great skill, and his ever-dazzling linen would deceive, if it were not that at the least movement, when he walks, when he sits down, the stuff crackles upon him as though he had a cardboard box under his waistcoat. Unfortunately all this paper does not feed him; and he is so thin, has such a mien, that you ask yourself on what ...
— The Nabob • Alphonse Daudet

... "Over to-morrow night, at the least. If many of the neighbours should bring their business to him, it may be longer. My little Frolich will be vexed that he should come while she is absent. Indeed, I should not much wonder if she sets out homeward when ...
— Feats on the Fiord - The third book in "The Playfellow" • Harriet Martineau

... side. We should not have to reckon on the loss of a man who did not fall in battle. We should have an ally in the heart of the country, who to our hundred thousand would at one time have added eighty thousand men at the least, and all animated by principle, by enthusiasm, and by vengeance: motives which secured them to the cause in a very different manner from some of those allies whom we subsidized with millions. This ally, (or rather, this principal ...
— The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. V. (of 12) • Edmund Burke

... be assayed being taken out, are inclosed in paper parcels, each under the seals of the Wardens, Master, and Comptrollers. From every 15 lbs. of silver, which are technically called 'journies,' two pieces at the least are taken at hazard for this trial; and each parcel being opened, and the contents being found correct with the indorsement, the coins are mixed together in wooden bowls, and afterwards weighed. From the whole of these moneys so mingled, the jury take a certain number of each ...
— Old and New London - Volume I • Walter Thornbury

... two days, not till a long telegram was put into my hand. Doris! It had come from her. It had come more than a thousand miles, "regardless of expense." I said, "This telegram must have cost her ten or twelve shillings at the least." She was delighted to hear from me; she had been ill, but was better now, and the telegram concluded with the usual "Am writing." The letter that arrived, two days afterwards, was like herself, full of impulse and affection; but it contained one phrase which put black ...
— Memoirs of My Dead Life • George Moore

... conditions, a less practised observer, using a telescope of less aperture, found that the dark ring could not be overlooked for an instant. It is manifest that all these considerations point to the conclusion that the dark ring is a new formation, or, at the least, that it has changed notably in condition during ...
— Myths and Marvels of Astronomy • Richard A. Proctor

... frock, which Mummy Tyl kept neatly patched for her. She was as fair as her brother was dark; and her large timid eyes were blue as the forget-me-nots in the fields. Anything was enough to frighten her and she would cry at the least thing; but her little child soul already held the highest womanly qualities: she was loving and gentle and so fondly devoted to her brother that, rather than abandon him, she did not hesitate to undertake a long and dangerous journey in ...
— The Blue Bird for Children - The Wonderful Adventures of Tyltyl and Mytyl in Search of Happiness • Georgette Leblanc

... with the martyr's temper and purpose. Nature obviously was deeply intent in the making of him. He is of imposing appearance personally,—tall, with square shoulders and standing; eyes of deep gray, and couchant, as if ready to spring at the least rustling, dauntless yet kindly; his hair shooting backward from low down on his forehead; nose trenchant and Romanesque; set lips, his voice suppressed yet metallic, suggesting deep reserves; decided mouth; the countenance and frame ...
— The Negro and the Nation - A History of American Slavery and Enfranchisement • George S. Merriam

... came on, and an innumerable company they were; how many we could not tell, but ten thousand, we thought, at the least. A party of them came on first, and viewed our posture, traversing the ground in the front of our line; and, as we found them within gunshot, our leader ordered the two wings to advance swiftly, and give them a salvo on each wing ...
— The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe • Daniel Defoe

... they ever fired a shot at one of us. The only trouble we had was with that portion of the guard drawn from the infantry of the garrison. They had the same rattlesnake venom of the Home Guard crowd wherever we met it, and shot us down at the least provocation. Fortunately they only formed a small part of ...
— Andersonville, complete • John McElroy

... woman," exclaimed the little doctor admiringly, "would have whimpered right out, and carried on dreadfully at the least sign of ...
— Five Little Peppers at School • Margaret Sidney

... Edward," stormed Mr. Montague. "I am a rich man,—all the world knows it,—and you are my only son. I am worth a million of dollars, at the least,—not in book accounts and bad debts, but in real estate, stocks, bonds, and mortgages. You are a prize in ...
— Little Bobtail - or The Wreck of the Penobscot. • Oliver Optic

... been walking in Madam Bird's old-fashioned garden that morning, and had heard these wise words coming from the other side of the rose thicket, he would certainly have supposed that some old dame with a school was hidden away there, or at the least an anxious Mamma with a family of unruly children. But if this somebody had gone into the thicket, bobbing his head to avoid the prickly, wreath-like branches, he would have found on the other side only one ...
— Nine Little Goslings • Susan Coolidge

... then, to keep sacred, with all his heart and will, an unhurried time alone with the Lord, night and morning at the least. I do not intrusively prescribe a length of time. But I do most earnestly say that the time, shorter or longer, must be deliberately spent; and even ten minutes can be spent deliberately, while mismanagement may give a feeling of haste to a much longer season. Do not, I beseech ...
— To My Younger Brethren - Chapters on Pastoral Life and Work • Handley C. G. Moule

... 'kyrkoherde' aware of the position of things; when the latter, suspending his labours for a moment, uttered a sound no doubt understood between horses and farriers, and immediately a tall and ugly hag appeared from the hut. She must have been six feet at the least. I was in great alarm lest she should treat me to the Icelandic kiss; but there was no occasion to fear, nor did she do the honours ...
— A Journey to the Interior of the Earth • Jules Verne

... shadows fantastically leaping up the precipitous bluffs and among the weird petrifactions of a devil's nightmare that rimmed the circle of flaring light. A man with a gun in his hand climbed aboard the train and made his way to the dining-car, yelling for "cow-grease," and demanding, at the least, a ham-bone. It took the burliest of his comrades to transport the obstreperous one back to solid earth just as ...
— Roosevelt in the Bad Lands • Hermann Hagedorn

... was lit with fires, and there was a flare of torches in the centre. I saw an immense multitude of lean, dark faces—how many I cannot tell, but ten thousand at the least. It took all my faith to withstand the awe of the sight. For these men were not the common Indian breed, but a race nurtured and armed for great wars, disciplined to follow one man, and sharpened to a needle-point in ...
— Salute to Adventurers • John Buchan

... and gone during this tantalizing occupation. At the least, the tales had the ability to make her forget where she was; which was ...
— The Ragged Edge • Harold MacGrath

... form in the outward Administration two parties at the least; which, whilst they are tearing one another to pieces, are both competitors for the favour and protection of the Cabal; and, by their emulation, contribute to throw everything more and more into the hands ...
— Thoughts on the Present Discontents - and Speeches • Edmund Burke

... large for the care of one man, and more is expected of the Patrolman than he is capable of performing. He is required to exercise the utmost vigilance to prevent the occurrence of any crime within his beat, and to render the commission of it difficult, at the least. The occurrence of a crime on the streets is always regarded as presumptive evidence of negligence on his part, and he is obliged to show that he was strictly attending to his duties at the time. He is required to watch vigilantly every person passing him while on duty, to examine ...
— Lights and Shadows of New York Life - or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City • James D. McCabe

... Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in these last dayes and perillous tymes, hath styrred up in all countreys, witnesses unto his Sonne, to testifye the truth unto the unfaythfull, to save at the least some from the snares of Antichrist, which leade to perdition, as ye may here perceave by that excellent and well learned young man PATRIKE HAMELTON, borne in Scotland of a noble progeny; who to testifie the truth, sought all meanes, and tooke upon him Priesthode, (even ...
— The Works of John Knox, Vol. 1 (of 6) • John Knox

... medullary, or even of the cineritious, matter of the encephialon. Therefore—dissection of your talented son would doubtless reveal at this moment either steatonatous or atheromatous deposits in the cerebral blood-vessels, or an encysted abscess, probably of no very recent origin, or, at the least, considerable inspissation, and opacity, of the membranes of the encephalon, or more or less pulpy disorganisation of one or other of the hemispheres ...
— Hard Cash • Charles Reade

... in the minds of some provident parents of many daughters. The captains and lieutenants employed on this service were mostly agreeable bachelors, brought up to a genteel profession, at the least they were very pleasant visitors, when they had a day to spare; who knew what might ...
— Sylvia's Lovers, Vol. I • Elizabeth Gaskell

... at the least, something in the way of construction. Many people, I think, fail to appreciate the difference between the problems now before us and those that existed previous to the civil war. Slavery presented a problem of destruction; freedom presents ...
— The Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 1995, Memorial Issue • Various

... take the initiative; not perhaps from indifference but from that peculiar timidity before women which often enough is found in conjunction with chivalrous instincts, with a great need for affection and great stability of feelings. Such men are easily moved. At the least encouragement they go forward with the eagerness, with the recklessness of starvation. This accounted for the suddenness of the affair. No! With all her inexperience this girl could not have found any great difficulty in her conquering enterprise. She must have ...
— Chance • Joseph Conrad

... of a great cavern in the western cliffs, in the midst of a mass of wreckage, there sat one morning a man whose general appearance might have suggested to a beholder "the wild man of the cave"—or, at the least, an unhappy maniac—for his grey locks were long and unkempt, his eyes bloodshot and wild, his garments torn, so that his wasted limbs were exposed in numerous places, and his beard and ...
— The Coxswain's Bride - also, Jack Frost and Sons; and, A Double Rescue • R.M. Ballantyne

... perhaps, because we have not enough rooms for a grand crowd. We have twenty-five chambres, counting great with small, and with haste two beds are being installed in some. Each person, if you will believe me, is forced to pay at the least thirty dollars (a hundred and fifty francs) a day. It is crushing! I have thought no one would come. But they do already, though we are not yet in a state of reception. The first day when the announcement showed in the journals of New York and all other grand cities the ...
— The Lightning Conductor Discovers America • C. N. (Charles Norris) Williamson and A. M. (Alice Muriel)

... At the least they came on after us and a few others, women all of them, who had joined our company, being unable to travel further, or trusting to William Bull and myself ...
— The Virgin of the Sun • H. R. Haggard

... [casement]. Two-thirds of the words used in the parlours of the best people (du meilleur ton) cannot be reproduced in the theatre. M. Legouve, in his tragedy 'Henri IV.,' could not make use of the patriot king's finest saying, 'I could wish that the poorest peasant in my kingdom might, at the least, have a chicken in his pot of a Sunday.' English and Italian verse allows the poet to say everything; and this good French word pot would have furnished a touching scene to Shakspere's humblest pupil. But la tragedie racinienne, ...
— A History of English Romanticism in the Nineteenth Century • Henry A. Beers

... you would only be a little patient, and not fly off the handle at the least little thing. Why, she only wants ...
— A Horse's Tale • Mark Twain

... transferred to his successor "A list of 597 seamen, where answers have been returned to me, stating that, having no documents to prove their citizenship, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty could not consent to their discharge." Only seven cases then remained without replies, which shows at the least a decent attention to the formalities of intercourse; and King, in his letter of October 7, 1799, had acknowledged that the Secretary to the Admiralty had "given great attention to the numerous applications, and that ...
— Sea Power in its Relations to the War of 1812 - Volume 1 • Alfred Thayer Mahan

... the imperiall throne, gathered an armie with all possible indeuour, purposing out of hand to go ouer therwith into France, and so did, thinking thereby to win the possession of that countrie out of the hands of Honorius, or at the least to worke so, as he should not haue the souldiers and people there to be against him, if he missed to ioine in league with the Suabeiners, Alanes, and Vandales, which he sought to performe. But in the end, when neither ...
— Chronicles (1 of 6): The Historie of England (4 of 8) - The Fovrth Booke Of The Historie Of England • Raphael Holinshed

... frightful accounts to the hospital authorities of the way this Berselius had treated the natives. He drove that expedition right away from Libreville, in the French Congo, to God knows where. He had it under martial law the whole time, clubbing and thrashing the niggers at the least offence, and shooting with his own hand two of ...
— The Pools of Silence • H. de Vere Stacpoole

... ice-cliffs to the summit of the Corridor. From the Italian side of the range of Mont Blanc! And the day before yesterday Gabriel Strood had crossed with Walter Hine to Italy, bound upon some expedition which would take five days, five days at the least. ...
— Running Water • A. E. W. Mason

... at the least, four of the clock; and although your nature, my fair young lady, is probably too ethereal to think of such homely matters, I do not profess mine to be such, and am ready to acknowledge, that a little ...
— The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, May 1844 - Volume 23, Number 5 • Various

... was hard to live with, quick to take offense at the least breath of the adverse criticism which she felt, unspoken and forbearing but thick in the air about her. She neglected her music, she neglected her studies; she spent long hours of feverish toil over Aunt Victoria's ...
— The Bent Twig • Dorothy Canfield

... preparatory labours, the reader is taught what work in each succeeding month and season should be undertaken—why at that season for what purpose it is to be done-in what way it can best be performed—how at the least cost of money and the smallest waste of time—and how the master may at all times ascertain if his work has ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - April 1843 • Various

... was, as he expressed it, "up against it" there. Now he was "up against it" with Kate. What she decided upon and proposed to do was all he could do. She might shave prices, and cut, and skimp, and haggle to buy material, and put up her building at the least possible expense. She might sit over books and figure herself blind. He would be driving over the country, visiting with the farmers, booming himself for a fat county office maybe, eating big dinners, ...
— A Daughter of the Land • Gene Stratton-Porter

... shall thank him when he comes home—if ever he comes home to Susan again." These last words brought many tears with them, which the old farmer pretended not to notice, for he was getting tired of his daughter's tears. They were always flowing now at the least word, "and she used to be so good-humored ...
— It Is Never Too Late to Mend • Charles Reade



Words linked to "At the least" :   at most, at the most, at least



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