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Behave   /bɪhˈeɪv/   Listen
Behave

verb
(past & past part. behaved; pres. part. behaving)
1.
Behave in a certain manner; show a certain behavior; conduct or comport oneself.  Synonyms: act, do.  "Don't behave like a fool" , "What makes her do this way?" , "The dog acts ferocious, but he is really afraid of people"
2.
Behave in a certain manner.  Synonyms: acquit, bear, carry, comport, conduct, deport.  "He bore himself with dignity" , "They conducted themselves well during these difficult times"
3.
Behave well or properly.  Synonym: comport.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Behave" Quotes from Famous Books



... ground, and it was another to be astride him. Target—that was his name—had a spirited temper, an iron mouth, and he had been used to a sterner hand than mine. He danced all over the glade before he decided to behave himself. Riding him, however, was such a great pleasure that a more timid boy than I would have taken the risk. He would not let any horse stay near him; he pulled on the bridle, and leaped whenever a branch brushed him. I had been on some good horses, but never ...
— The Young Forester • Zane Grey

... other like encouragements, exhorting them to behave themselves manfully, they fell all on their knees, making their prayers briefly unto God; who, being all risen up again, perceived their enemies, by their signs and defiances, bent to the spoil, whose mercy was nothing ...
— Voyager's Tales • Richard Hakluyt

... the whole time from the day when I start from Yakutsk, up to the close of my time of service in Nordenskioeld's expedition we, I, Winokuroff, and my interpreter, must be always sober (never intoxicated), behave faithfully and courteously, and punctually comply with the ...
— The Voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe, Volume I and Volume II • A.E. Nordenskieold

... said, "because such was their spontaneous desire. Let us behave in such a way that the same may become true, over again. But a breach of the peace is not the way ...
— The Home and the World • Rabindranath Tagore

... temptations that beset ordinary mortals, is superior both to her blandishments and her pecuniary attractions. I give you the hint for your own guidance,' he continued, 'and I expect this to go no farther. You mustn't be annoyed with Reuben. The best of young men will often behave like prigs and donkeys, and I have no doubt the fellows have grossly exaggerated what he said; but I thought it right to put you on ...
— The Red Thumb Mark • R. Austin Freeman

... going to play traitress to my system, even for the Duke of St. James; therefore, anything that occurs between us shall be merely an incident pour passer le temps seulement, and to preserve our young friend from the little Dacre. I have no doubt he will behave very well, and that I shall send him safe to Cleve Park in a fortnight with a good character. I would recommend you, however, not to encourage any ...
— The Young Duke • Benjamin Disraeli

... men in England, generally speaking, are the kindest and most indulgent of husbands and of parents. It has often been observed by me, that they are generally so to a fault. If a boy or girl belonging to them behave ill towards their employers, their father and mother are very hard to be convinced of the fact.—I have often to remonstrate with them upon this subject, and to remind them of how much more indulgent they are to their ...
— Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq. Volume 3 • Henry Hunt

... the rein to be put over his head again, but kept dodging and backing until he drove Elsie almost to despair. At last he backed into some soft ground where he could not move very quickly, and Dick threw the rein over his head; after which Stonecrop decided to behave himself, and actually stood still for a moment to let Dick mount him. The saddle very nearly turned round as he did so, but Elsie held on stoutly to the stirrup on the other side, and, once mounted, Dick soon set the saddle ...
— The Drummer's Coat • J. W. Fortescue

... plantation, he wuz gittin' a little ole an stiff in de j'ints. But dat summer he got des ez spry en libely ez any young nigger on de plantation; fac' he got so biggity dat Mars Jackson, de oberseah, ha' ter th'eaten ter whip 'im, ef he didn' stop cuttin' up his didos en behave hisse'f. But de mos' cur'ouses' thing happen' in de fall, when de sap begin ter go down in de grapevimes. Fus', when de grapes 'uz gethered, de knots begun ter straighten out'n Henry's h'ar; en w'en de leaves begin ter fall, Henry's ha'r begin ter drap out; en ...
— The Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 1995, Memorial Issue • Various

... to have you 'first rate,' too, if Pepita is willing. You get on her back and show me which way to go, and I'll try to make her behave well. I have some sugar left. That turning? All right. See, Pepita, pretty Pepita! Smell what's in my fingers, amiable. Then follow me, and we'll see ...
— Reels and Spindles - A Story of Mill Life • Evelyn Raymond

... to ignore his plea. "Earth's population is slowly being diluted by the removal of top people. The androids behave in every way like the individuals they replace, but they are preconditioned against the ...
— The Memory of Mars • Raymond F. Jones

... us, we behave like a herd of deer. When they flee from the huntsman's feathers in affright, which way do they turn? What haven of safety do they make for? Why, they rush upon the nets! And thus they perish by ...
— The Golden Sayings of Epictetus • Epictetus

... will be better by himself just at present. Had you much trouble in getting him in? How did he behave?' ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 449 - Volume 18, New Series, August 7, 1852 • Various

... taste to live as he does, as I know he does, and you know he does, and yet to come here, and sit with Edie, and behave as if he'd never done anything to be ashamed of? It would be infinitely better taste if he ...
— The Helpmate • May Sinclair

... my lecture," grumbled Rupert bitterly, as he stooped to set his table right, "and this is the way you behave!" ...
— A Great Emergency and Other Tales - A Great Emergency; A Very Ill-Tempered Family; Our Field; Madam Liberality • Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing

... yet baptized heathenism is often heathenism still, under another name. Again, we are sometimes so short-sighted that we deny to former periods the paternity of their own more fortunate offspring, and behave like prosperous children who ungratefully ignore their poorer parents, to whom they owe their breath and being. Such treatment of history is to be emphatically deprecated, whether it arises from ignorance or ingratitude. We ought to know, if we do not, and we ought ...
— Moon Lore • Timothy Harley

... looked most wistful and promised very earnestly to behave as though they were nice children, and not be silly, the author said they might have a share ...
— The Spanish Chest • Edna A. Brown

... forward and gave the order; and Jemmy, who expected a breeze, told his wife to behave herself quietly. His advice did not, however, appear to be listened to, as will be shown ...
— Snarleyyow • Captain Frederick Marryat

... returning home, by illness and by winter and by wars, you have neither liberated Euboea nor recovered any of your own possessions? Is it true that you have remained at home, unoccupied and healthy—if such a word can be used of men who behave thus—and have seen him set up two tyrants in Euboea, one to serve as a fortress directly menacing Attica, the other to watch Sciathus; {37} and that you have not even rid yourselves of these dangers—granted ...
— The Public Orations of Demosthenes, volume 2 • Demosthenes

... Further, it seems to be a greater sin to behave disrespectfully to one's parents, than to pay others the respect we owe to our parents. Now God should be honored by us as the Father of all (Malach. 1:6). Therefore, temptation of God whereby we behave irreverently to God, seems to be a greater sin than idolatry, whereby we give to a creature ...
— Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) • Thomas Aquinas

... put into one place those cocoons that are of the same kind. The way the cocoons behave in the water is the business of the reeler. We have tanks or basins of a graduated temperature, and the operators soon learn into which one to put a cocoon of ...
— The Story of Silk • Sara Ware Bassett

... eventide And stayed till dawn next day; For I will not attempt to hide That worms behave ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, October 27, 1920 • Various

... and customs of newly-married people on their honeymoon trip. He had been a second father (with excellent pecuniary results) to innumerable brides and bridegrooms. He knew young married couples in all their varieties:—The couples who try to behave as if they had been married for many years; the couples who attempt no concealment, and take advice from competent authorities about them. The couples who are bashfully talkative before third persons; the couples who are bashfully silent ...
— Man and Wife • Wilkie Collins

... step-father has behaved very well, when he could easily have made himself disagreeable. Another thing is that he can be very bad tempered when he likes, and if I let people talk about us—which they will do if they get a chance—he will behave so coldly to me, that I shall have a disagreeable time. As we can't marry for ever so long, I ...
— The Green Mummy • Fergus Hume

... Lispeth's heart. He laughed a good deal, and said it was very pretty and romantic, a perfect idyl of the Himalayas; but, as he was engaged to a girl at Home, he fancied that nothing would happen. Certainly he would behave with discretion. He did that. Still he found it very pleasant to talk to Lispeth, and walk with Lispeth, and say nice things to her, and call her pet names while he was getting strong enough to go away. It meant ...
— The Works of Rudyard Kipling One Volume Edition • Rudyard Kipling

... in Mr. Fitzpatrick, in some temper, "can't you be serious for once! He would behave this way, Mr. Carvel, if he were being shriven by the Newgate ordinary before a last carting to Tyburn. Charles, Charles, it was Aaron again, and the dog is like to snap at last. He is talking of bailiffs. Take my advice and settle ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill

... the Parsees shudder I cannot say, but they give no sign of it. They build their palaces in full view of these terrible Towers, pass, on their way to dinner parties, luxuriously in Rolls-Royces beside the trees where the vultures roost, and generally behave themselves as if this were the best possible of worlds and the only one. And I think ...
— Roving East and Roving West • E.V. Lucas

... are! Why, I was just that moment thinking of you!" He drew her to the back of the shop, towards a bunch of sturdy, square-shouldered fellows drinking there, to whom he introduced her. "Now then, mates, try to behave yourselves; I'm bringing a charming young lady to see you, my sister Berthe, little Bob—Bobinette, as we called her when we lived with the old folks." The girl blushed, a little uneasy at finding herself in such a mixed company, but Hogshead Geoffroy put every one at ease; he put his ...
— Fantomas • Pierre Souvestre

... what, mother? If a gentleman speaks to me, I suppose I'm to answer him? I know how to behave myself, I believe." And then she gave her head a toss. Whereupon her mother was silent; for her mother was afraid ...
— The Small House at Allington • Anthony Trollope

... Beale's question, "I should like the remaining three of you to behave exactly as you did when your last hand was finished. Did you keep individual score, as is customary in contract?—or ...
— Murder at Bridge • Anne Austin

... Illinois," said the poor Indians to Father Marquette,—meaning, in their language, "We are men." And the Jesuits treated them as men; but by traders they soon began to be treated like beasts; and of course—poor things!—they did their best to behave accordingly. All the forts are ruins now; there is no longer occasion for them. The Indians are nothing. There can scarcely be found the slightest trace of their occupancy of these rich acres. Nations that build nothing but uninscribed burial-places foreshadow ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 2, Issue 11, September, 1858 • Various

... other foolish youths are, and that he would have been capable of looking at folly in the face and passing on his way. Rowland for a while felt a sore sense of wrath. What right had a man who was engaged to that fine girl in Northampton to behave as if his consciousness were a common blank, to be overlaid with coarse sensations? Yes, distinctly, he was disappointed. He had accompanied his missive with an urgent recommendation to leave Baden-Baden immediately, and an offer to meet Roderick at any point he would name. ...
— Roderick Hudson • Henry James

... winked at Mr. Thompson, and received an understanding pinch in return; Mrs. Thompson in a hot whisper told them to behave themselves. ...
— Odd Craft, Complete • W.W. Jacobs

... supply anything that might be needed for its completion, but thoroughly indifferent to the feelings of the subject; an anatomist of life, looking curiously to see how long it would continue, and how it would behave, after the heart had ...
— The Lost Word - A Christmas Legend of Long Ago • Henry Van Dyke

... a melancholy arising from reflection, "never tyrannize over a wife—never behave too haughtily or imperiously towards your own. A ...
— Ten Years Later - Chapters 1-104 • Alexandre Dumas, Pere

... centuries of tracking animals and hiding from enemies. There he was, slipping from trunk to trunk, and gazing round him as though he expected each instant to discover the assegai of an ambushed foe or to hear the footfall of some savage beast of prey. Absolutely there was no reason why he should behave in this fashion; he was simply indulging his natural instincts where he thought nobody would observe him. Life at Mooifontein was altogether too tame and civilised for Jantje's taste, and he needed periodical recreations of this sort. Like a civilised child he longed for wild beasts and enemies, ...
— Jess • H. Rider Haggard

... all the wonders of living, is bursting to know the why and wherefore of everything it sees, and for answer to its excited enquiries it only gets such rebuffs as "Don't worry!" "Hold your tongue!" "If you don't behave yourself I'll send you out of the room." Which of us who have brains cannot remember the heart-sickening feeling of having in some unconscious manner done wrong by asking questions which our elders were probably too ignorant to answer? And then followed the intense longing to be "grown-up," ...
— The Idler Magazine, Volume III, March 1893 - An Illustrated Monthly • Various

... fool. The Missis says she'll take you back. I begged her to. But you must behave. And you can go up to the house to-night; and your old room over the ...
— Strictly Business • O. Henry

... run on errands, to sweep the rooms, the courtyard, the street, to wash the dishes, to even carry burdens. The Thenardiers considered themselves all the more authorized to behave in this manner, since the mother, who was still at M. sur M., had become irregular in her payments. Some months she was ...
— Les Miserables - Complete in Five Volumes • Victor Hugo

... you ask by what right I do so, I reply that I am in fact your elder brother, that I have saved our father from ruin, that I am henceforth the predominant partner in his business, and that, if you do not behave yourself, I shall see that your allowance is withdrawn, and that you have no longer the means to lead an idle and dissolute life." This would have been an ungracious but not unnatural way of going ...
— Play-Making - A Manual of Craftsmanship • William Archer

... of her again!" cried the squire, fiercely. "And as to that ungrateful boy—but I don't mean to behave harshly to him,—he shall have money enough to keep her if he likes, keep her from coming to me, keep him, too, from counting on my death, and borrowing post-obits on the Casino—for he'll be doing that next—no, ...
— My Novel, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... a great lady, chanced to behave as such on the occasion referred to—but she was also a woman, and not a particularly clever one. Thus Paul was soon irritated by opposition into thinking himself seriously in love with this daughter of the middle classes, so ...
— Three Weeks • Elinor Glyn

... under the law of irony, for after having mentally stripped himself of all prejudice—having, that is to say, wholly laid aside his own personality, he finds himself slipping back perforce into the rags he had taken off, obliged to eat and drink, to be hungry, cold, thirsty, and to behave like all other mortals, after having for a moment behaved like no other. This is the point where the comic poets are lying in wait for him; the animal needs revenge themselves for his flight into the Empyrean, and mock him by their cry: Thou art ...
— Amiel's Journal • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... will. Sit down again, and let me explain why. Oh, come, don't behave so. It is very unpleasant. Now be good, and you shall have, the missing page of your great speech. Here it is!"—and she displayed ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... his sleek head close to Myra Ingleby's on the further side of the duchess's crowd. He opened the door and Jane passed out. She felt equally desirous of saying two things to him,—either: "How dared you behave in so unconventional a way?" or: "Tell me just what you want me to do, and ...
— The Rosary • Florence L. Barclay

... course, the point which mattered most; and, after all, the stain on Sam's character was not indelible. Lots of young fellows behave riotously and turn out excellent men afterwards. I was an undergraduate myself once, and there is a story about Sam's father, now a dean, which is still told occasionally. When he was an undergraduate a cow was found tied up in the big ...
— Our Casualty And Other Stories - 1918 • James Owen Hannay, AKA George A. Birmingham

... "I desire you to provide Master Bridgenorth's bedding and food in the way I have signified to you; and to behave yourself towards him ...
— Peveril of the Peak • Sir Walter Scott

... pleaded, "why need you be so down upon him? Our worthy brother is this day going to school, and may in two or three years be able to display his abilities and establish his reputation. He will, beyond doubt, not behave like a child, as he did in years gone past. But as the time for breakfast is also drawing nigh, you should, worthy brother, go ...
— Hung Lou Meng, Book I • Cao Xueqin

... where it is set before them. Coinciding with their natural bias, precept and counsel are commonly lost upon them, if taught by parental example to do evil. It is therefore of the greatest importance, especially to the members of a family, that the head should "behave himself wisely in a perfect way, and walk within his house with ...
— Sermons on Various Important Subjects • Andrew Lee

... family; that he is bound to that family henceforth, for good and for evil. And this the godfathers and godmothers do: they represent and stand in the place of the whole Church. In one sense, every Christian who meets that child through life, or hears of it, ought to behave, as far as he can, as its godfather; ought to help and improve it if he can. But what is everybody's business, says the proverb, is nobody's business; and therefore these godfathers and godmothers are called out from the rest, as ...
— Sermons for the Times • Charles Kingsley

... she's got to leave 'em. And tell Cyril, of course, what to expect. And, look a-here, you two behave, now. None of your nonsense! Now mind. I'm not going to have this ...
— Miss Billy • Eleanor H. Porter

... I scarcely know whether she will behave rightly,' muttered Miss Gwynne, tapping her hand with ...
— Gladys, the Reaper • Anne Beale

... no doubt difficult in these times, but it would be much less so if they would behave honourably and straightforwardly, giving the people gradually those privileges which would satisfy all the reasonable and well-intentioned, and would weaken the power of the Red Republicans; instead of that, reaction and a return to all the tyranny and oppression is the cry and ...
— The Letters of Queen Victoria, Vol 2 (of 3), 1844-1853 • Queen Victoria

... said, "you weren't quite frank with me after all, were you? Which will you do now—stay in that hole up there with a double guard, or come into Petra with us and behave yourself?" ...
— The Lion of Petra • Talbot Mundy

... style: and when she had vented all the oaths she could think of, she at last wished perfidion might seize him. You may imagine how we laughed. The fair intoxicate turned round, and cried "I am laughed at!—Who is it!—What, Mrs. Clive? Kitty Clive?—No: Kitty Clive would never behave so!" I wish you could have seen My neighbour's confusion. She certainly did not grow paler than ordinary. I laugh now while I repeat ...
— The Letters of Horace Walpole Volume 3 • Horace Walpole

... very wrong, my daughter, very wrong, and God will not pardon you so easily. Consider the hell that awaits you if you do not always act right. Now that you have a child you must behave yourself. No doubt madame la baronne will do something for you, and we will find you ...
— Une Vie, A Piece of String and Other Stories • Guy de Maupassant

... the age of eight, was left alone in the forest for half a day with his face blackened. He was compelled to fast throughout the time, and he must behave like a brave man, showing no fear of the loneliness and silence. As he grew older these periods of solitary fasting were increased in length, and now, at eighteen, several boys in the Wyandot village had reached the last blackening and fasting. The ...
— The Riflemen of the Ohio - A Story of the Early Days along "The Beautiful River" • Joseph A. Altsheler

... for it is more that than merely a new Administration, has given me quite a new system for my own conduct. If they have by violence &c. got into places from whence I would have excluded them, if now they should behave rightly in them, and the country becomes better and safer for their conduct, it would be folly not to assist them. But I am, above all things, desirous that both your assistance and my own, such as it is, should be more wished for by ...
— George Selwyn: His Letters and His Life • E. S. Roscoe and Helen Clergue

... We'll see." He saddled quickly, glad that so far the chestnut had proved amiable. But how the stud might behave in troop company he had yet to learn. He mounted and waited for any signs of resentment, remembering the woman's warning. King snorted, pawed the dust a bit, but trotted on when ...
— Ride Proud, Rebel! • Andre Alice Norton

... himself as defrauded. We don't, you know, take your cabs for the joy of sitting in them, or for the pleasure of watching you struggling with a crank, but to be conveyed quickly from place to place. It is wrong to ask us to pay for the time spent by you in persuading your engine to behave, and it is indecent to become abusive when we act on that assumption. If I had not been so busy I should have refused to pay at all and forced you to summon me; but who has time for such costly formalities? And I might have had to lose ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, November 24, 1920 • Various

... annihilated, so to speak, in the object loved, is the method of a woman without discernment. That is not love, it is a liking for a moment, it is to transform a lover into a spoiled child. I would have a woman behave with more reserve and economy. An excess of ardor is not justifiable in my opinion, the heart being always an impetuous charger which must be steadily curbed. If you do not use your strength with economy, your vivacity ...
— Life, Letters, and Epicurean Philosophy of Ninon de L'Enclos, - the Celebrated Beauty of the Seventeenth Century • Robinson [and] Overton, ed. and translation.

... sang, and went to his lodge, where he fell down in a deep sleep, and no one could wake him. He slept so long the warriors gathered about the lodge wondering what could ail him, and they were about to go to the trader and demand to know what kind of medicine he had given the chief to make him behave so strangely when the chief woke up and ordered them all to their lodges, and to ask ...
— The Great Salt Lake Trail • Colonel Henry Inman

... Cham, of his death, of his sonnes etc. 14 Of the authoritie of the Emperour and of his dukes 15 Of the election of Emperour Occoday, and of the Expedition of Duke Bathy 16 Of the Expedition of Duke Cyrpodan 17 How the Tartars behave themselves in warre 18 How they may be resisted 19 Of the journey of Frier John unto the first guard of the Tartars 20 How he and his company were at the first received of the Tartars 21 How they were received at the court of Corrensa 22 How we were received at the court of Bathy 23 ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of The English Nation v. 4 • Richard Hakluyt

... behave?" asked Mrs. Cratchit, when she had rallied Bob on his credulity, and Bob had hugged his daughter ...
— The Children's Book of Christmas Stories • Various

... thought of courtiers and statesmen, of princes and kings. He found that they could not be relied upon for truth or stability. They were encircled by favorites and mercenaries. Enormous responsibilities rested upon their shoulders but they seemed to behave with regard to these responsibilities as if they were gamblers or amateurs. Herzl soon realized that these were frail reeds that would break under the slightest pressure. He came to put his trust in the Jewish people, the only real source of strength for the purpose of redemption. ...
— The Jewish State • Theodor Herzl

... of the head of the House to see how people are working. That is a House master's job," pointed out FitzMorris. "All Clarke has got to do is to see that the kids don't rag in hall, and at other times more or less behave themselves." ...
— The Loom of Youth • Alec Waugh

... who save money are better workmen; if they do not the work better, they behave better and are more respectable; and I would sooner have in my trade a hundred men who save money than two hundred who would spend every shilling they get. In proportion as individuals save a little money their morals are much better; they husband ...
— Many Thoughts of Many Minds - A Treasury of Quotations from the Literature of Every Land and Every Age • Various

... curious, after the secret confided to me by Mary Stapleton, to see how her father would behave; but when we had sat and talked some time, as he appeared to have no difficulty in answering to any observation in a common pitch of the voice, I observed to him that he was not so deaf as ...
— Jacob Faithful • Captain Frederick Marryat

... therefore, I would recommend them to others, in the like Condition, And let me intreat my Friends and Fellow-Sufferers to remember, that it is not a low Degree of Submission to the Divine Will, which is called for in the ensuing Discourse. It is comparatively an easy Thing to behave with external Decency, to refrain from bold Censures and outragious Complaints, or to speak in the outward Language of Resignation. But it is not, so easy to get rid of every repining Thought, and to forbear taking it, in some Degree at least, ...
— Submission to Divine Providence in the Death of Children • Phillip Doddridge

... elaborating his theory, he did a thing which was worth a hundred discoveries. He sat down, convinced himself that my explanation was the right one, and promptly committed himself to further expense in bringing out a new edition with the friendliest acknowledgment. So do men behave who are at once generous of temper and anxious ...
— From a Cornish Window - A New Edition • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... there is not another nation in the world has such a grievance to complain of. Now in other countries were a mechanic to dun, and tease, and behave as this Mahogany has done,—a nobleman might extinguish the reptile in an instant; and that only at the expence of a few sequins, florins, or louis d'ors, according to the country ...
— The Man Of The World (1792) • Charles Macklin

... of this transaction inserted by the order of Henry in the rolls of parliament; an account the accuracy of which is liable to strong suspicion. It is difficult to believe that Richard had so much command over his feelings as to behave with that cheerfulness which is repeatedly noticed in the record; and the assertion that he had promised to resign the crown when he saw Northumberland in the castle of Conway, is not only contradictory to the statement of the ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 07 • Various

... would arouse professional curiosity on the cruiser, which would then waste some precious time attempting to identify it. There wouldn't be suspicion because it didn't act suspiciously. Still, it couldn't be dismissed, because it didn't behave in any recognizable fashion. The cruiser would want to know more about it; it shouldn't move at a steady velocity going outward ...
— Talents, Incorporated • William Fitzgerald Jenkins

... ladies in the boxes. If any of you was there, gentlemen, you must have noticed it; if not, I can't write such filthy words as was spoken the whole evening. My wife begged me to come away on our little girl's account who was with us. It is not the players you ought to criticise, they behave themselves—but it is those vagabonds that think they have a right to disturb the house because they pay their half dollar a piece. I think it your duty to take notice of this, and I ...
— The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor - Volume I, Number 1 • Stephen Cullen Carpenter

... they say, a little sempstress of fifteen—really a miracle of beauty, with whom I fell desperately in love. And in fact, madame, I asked an aunt of my own, my mother's sister, whom I sent for from the country, to live with the sweet creature and keep an eye on her, that she might behave as well as might be in this rather—what ...
— Cousin Betty • Honore de Balzac

... his mother in a slow, warning voice, and when he heard his name spoken in that way, with each syllable pronounced separately, Ted knew it was time to haul down his quarreling colors and behave. ...
— The Curlytops on Star Island - or Camping out with Grandpa • Howard R. Garis

... discrete molecules, on the model of material bodies, such transparency would not be conceivable. We must be content to treat the aether as a plenum, which places it in a class by itself; and we can thus recognize that it may behave very differently from matter, though in some manner consistent with itself—-a remark which is fundamental in the modern ...
— Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia

... was she that I meant in Lucerne—I don't see why I should not tell you. In Paris she said she didn't want me to see her again until I could be—friendly—the old way instead of something considerably different, which I'd grown to be. Well, I've just told her not only that I'd behave like a friend, but that I'd changed and felt like one. Pretty much of a lie that was!" He laighed, without any amusement. "But it was successful, and I suppose I can keep it up. At any rate we're going over to Venice with her and her mother to-morrow. Afterwards, we'll see them ...
— The Beautiful Lady • Booth Tarkington

... him," he snorted indignantly. "I should say not! I'll go over and make him behave—as a man and a citizen. But I ain't going to arrest him as an officer, when there ain't no place to put him." Tom reluctantly threw down his hammer, grumbling because they would not wait till it was too dark to drive nails, but must cut short his working day, ...
— The Uphill Climb • B. M. Bower

... I spoke just now; I was aware of it on that beautiful day, so fresh, so warm and friendly, so accomplished—an exquisite courtesy of the much abused English climate when it makes up its meteorological mind to behave like a perfect gentleman. Of course the English climate is never a rough. It suffers from spleen somewhat frequently—but that is gentlemanly too, and I don't mind going to meet him in that mood. He has his days of grey, ...
— Chance • Joseph Conrad

... it—and you hadn't betther, either. And now, do you choose to hear my professional advice, and behave to me as you ought and shall do? or will you go out of this and look out for another attorney? To tell you the truth, I'd jist as lieve you'd take your ...
— The Kellys and the O'Kellys • Anthony Trollope

... distracted by what the voice says, the hand recalls his attention by its movements. When anyone is speaking to the hand control, it is necessary to speak to the hand, and close to the hand, or there is a risk of not being understood. In short, one must behave as if the hand were ...
— Mrs. Piper & the Society for Psychical Research • Michael Sage

... stand in the way of your being of as much use and comfort to Alice as you possibly can. She is only too good for Henry; and he ought to bless the day on which she married him. Go there to-morrow, Ellen, and behave civilly to ...
— Ellen Middleton—A Tale • Georgiana Fullerton

... to bed. "May Rab and me bide?" said James. "YOU may; and Rab, if he will behave himself." "I'se warrant he's do that, doctor;" and in slunk the faithful beast. I wish you could have seen him. There are no such dogs now. He belonged to a lost tribe. As I have said, he was brindled, and gray like Rubislaw granite; his hair short, hard, and close, like a lion's; his body ...
— Rab and His Friends • John Brown, M. D.

... was a sheep o' sense. An' could behave hersel' wi' mense; I'll say't, she never brak a fence, Thro' thievish greed. Our bardie, lanely, keeps the spence, ...
— The Book of Household Management • Mrs. Isabella Beeton

... not a course that vanity encouraged in an excited schoolboy with romantic instincts and a revolver which he perceived at a glance to be still loaded in most of its chambers. Pocket was not one of nature's heroes, but he had an overwhelming desire to behave like one, and time to feel how he should despise himself all his life if he bolted by the window instead of opening the door. So he did open it, trembling but determined. And there stood Phillida in her dressing-gown, her dark hair ...
— The Camera Fiend • E.W. Hornung

... what it is," said M'Kay, addressing the prostrate soldiers—"if you'll behave yoursels desenly, and no be botherin' me wi' ony more o' your tarn nonsense, I'll aloo you to make me your prisoner; for I'm no intending to run away; I'll kive myself up to save your hides, and take my shance of ta law for what I'll do. Tat's my mind of it, lads. If you like ...
— Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, XXII • various

... long as we please; and if you boys don't behave yourselves, so much the worse for you," answered Emil Bauermann. "We are going to get to the bottom of your ...
— The Rover Boys on a Hunt - or The Mysterious House in the Woods • Arthur M. Winfield (Edward Stratemeyer)

... from that time he rested his interception of the Egyptian vessels near Candia on the necessary exercise of his rights as a belligerent. Lieven, when first spoken to, disavowed Heyden. He now changes his tone, and it is evident that Russia now for the second time breaks her word. The French do not behave much better. They have 6,000 men in the Morea, and mean to keep them there notwithstanding their engagement to withdraw their troops as soon as the Egyptians were embarked. To be sure, they say if we insist upon it they will ...
— A Political Diary 1828-1830, Volume II • Edward Law (Lord Ellenborough)

... for many a day. She invited me to tea one day, and I came in much trepidation. It was my first entrance into a genuine American household; my first meal at a Gentile—yes, a Christian—board. Would I know how to behave properly? I do not know whether I betrayed my anxiety; I am certain only that I was all eyes and ears, that nothing should escape me which might serve to guide me. This, after all, was a normal state for me to be in, so ...
— The Promised Land • Mary Antin

... denunciation of party politics that the reappointment did not go through. He was a clergyman who never curried favor nor withheld opinion when forthrightness was the moral requisite. The people knew where he stood, and no office could silence him. To behave as a citizen is "to conduct oneself as pledged to some law of life." His faithful obedience was recognized on many occasions and in numerous ways. One such recognition was his place in a group of fifteen leading citizens selected by four Cincinnatians chosen ...
— Frank H. Nelson of Cincinnati • Warren C. Herrick

... answer, however; "there is to be no question about it, and you are to behave like a man. Anxiety is much worse to bear than any bodily hurt, and a man should protect a woman from it as he would save her from being ...
— Queensland Cousins • Eleanor Luisa Haverfield

... me. I'm sorry, Abel, sorry for my lass; but he'd best behave well to her or he'll know about it," said ...
— The Rider in Khaki - A Novel • Nat Gould

... by what she said. 2. I wish you would behave. 3. The king was very dissatisfied with his wife. 4. I have too trusted to my own wild wants. 5. If you cannot behave yourself, you had better stay at home. 6. We are very pleased ...
— Practical Exercises in English • Huber Gray Buehler

... crowds up to her out of curiosity, observes all her movements, each glance of her eye, attends to her words and repeats them to others; and when a young person gets to be in fashion, every one must praise her, even if he does not like her. I hope that you know how to behave; you grew up in the capital. Though you have been living two years hereabouts, you have not yet completely forgotten St. Petersburg. Well, Zosia, make your toilet; get the things from my desk, you will find ready everything needed ...
— Pan Tadeusz • Adam Mickiewicz

... with great appearances of uneasiness in his countenance; because doubting, or not believing, are so little known in this country, that the inhabitants cannot tell how to behave themselves under such circumstances. And I remember, in frequent discourses with my master concerning the nature of manhood in other parts of the world, having occasion to talk of lying and false representation, it was with much difficulty that he comprehended what I meant, although ...
— Gulliver's Travels - into several remote nations of the world • Jonathan Swift

... arrangements for the carriage of supplies and the making of roads were insufficient. His troops were carried up Lake Champlain and landed at Crown Point, where he made a speech to his Indian allies, commanding them to observe the customs of civilised warfare and to behave with humanity. He was to find that such orders could not be enforced. On July 6, almost as soon as he arrived at Ticonderoga, the Americans hastily abandoned it, leaving their guns behind them. They were promptly pursued ...
— The Political History of England - Vol. X. • William Hunt

... fame, they are almost starved a great part of them, and ready to devour their fellows, [2028]Et noxia callidilate se corripere, such a multitude of pettifoggers and empirics, such impostors, that an honest man knows not in what sort to compose and behave himself in their society, to carry himself with credit in so vile a rout, scientiae nomen, tot sumptibus partum et vigiliis, profiteri ...
— The Anatomy of Melancholy • Democritus Junior

... behave with greater patience," said the hermit, interrupting him. "Know that under the ruins of that house which Providence hath set on fire the master hath found an immense treasure. Know that this young, man, whose life Providence hath ...
— International Short Stories: French • Various

... was with us so happy, so cheerful, so affectionate? And now, after only ten minutes notice,—gone too without intending to return! Something more than what he owned to us must have happened. He did not speak, he did not behave like himself. You must have seen the difference as well as I. What can it be? Can they have quarrelled? Why else should he have shown such unwillingness ...
— Persuasion • Jane Austen

... bottle; short measure being among the many means used by the keepers of those houses, to gain what they call an honest livelihood: indeed this is one of the least reprehensible; the less they give a man of their infernal beverages for his money, the kinder they behave to him. ...
— 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue • Captain Grose et al.

... necessarily begins in the independent self, must it continue without the sheltering of the traditional past, the instructed guidance of older wisdom, and man's joint life in common which by association so enlarges and fortifies the individual good? Why should one not behave with respect to religion as he does in other parts of life? It is our habit elsewhere in all quarters to recognize beyond ourselves an ampler knowledge, a maturer judgment, a more efficient will enacting ...
— Heart of Man • George Edward Woodberry

... house-sparrows and hedge-sparrows not only chatter and swear at one another like the full-grown birds at pairing time, but also like the latter the young birds distend their throats, let their wings droop, peck at one another, and in fact behave as exactly as they will next spring when fully grown. Young linnets also begin to sing before losing their youthful plumage, learn to sing well during the moulting season, and often continue to warble right on into the winter; in a mild winter young linnets will sing just as well as ...
— The Sexual Life of the Child • Albert Moll

... her work and is behave if Jules let her alone," Clethera reported to Honore. "But he slip around de garden and talk over de back fence, and he is by de ironing-board de minute my back is turn'! If he belong to me, I could ...
— The Mothers Of Honore - From "Mackinac And Lake Stories", 1899 • Mary Hartwell Catherwood

... they were completely cowed, Davidson knew. He turned to the Indians and addressed them in their own language. He told them how their false leaders had led them into trouble, and caused them to rebel against King George's people. But if they were willing to behave themselves, he would let them go. He wished to take only the ringleaders with him, and hand them over to Major Studholme ...
— The King's Arrow - A Tale of the United Empire Loyalists • H. A. Cody

... say, to show us her inmost soul so vividly that we know why she did anything or everything without even thinking about it; he set her on the stage, where we see her in the flesh behaving precisely as any woman—of her period—would behave. And then these excellent gentlemen come along and tell us that because Wagner at one time or another thought of handling her story, and the story of Wotan and Siegfried, in this or that way, therefore ...
— Old Scores and New Readings • John F. Runciman

... not say any more upon that point! I wish to think well of your women and to make all allowances for them, but no Martian women could possibly behave in the manner you have described; their innate self-respect is too great to allow ...
— To Mars via The Moon - An Astronomical Story • Mark Wicks

... Earl. The two men again shook hands;—again the lord was radiant and good humoured;—and again the tailor was ashamed and almost sullen. He knew that the young nobleman had behaved well to him, and it was a disappointment to him that any nobleman should behave well. ...
— Lady Anna • Anthony Trollope

... two, or the walk home again with Davie when he told her of Mr Maxwell's talk with him in the wood. It was pleasant sitting in the sunshine too, and listening to the old squire, and grannie, and them all, and if there had been nothing else to delight her, it would have been enough to see Davie behave so well. For Davie did not think so much of Miss Elizabeth's friendship as Katie did, and did not as a general thing take so much pains as she thought he ought to do to be polite to her friend. But to-day Davie, in his sister's opinion, was kind ...
— David Fleming's Forgiveness • Margaret Murray Robertson

... aside, Of comely virtues; Nor did he soil the fact with cowardice,— An honour in him which buys out his fault,— But, with a noble fury and fair spirit, Seeing his reputation touch'd to death, He did oppose his foe; And with such sober and unnoted passion He did behave his anger, ere 'twas spent, As if he had ...
— The Life of Timon of Athens • William Shakespeare [Craig edition]

... comfort, at the last, of hearing John say that she had behaved unexceptionably well where he knew it was difficult for her to behave well at all. That was a comfort from him, whose notions of unexceptionable behaviour she knew were remarkably high. But the parting, after all, was a dreadfully hard matter; though softened as much as it could be at the time and rendered very sweet to Ellen's ...
— The Wide, Wide World • Susan Warner

... faults of himself. He is devoid of the charity which covereth a multitude of sins, which is the bond of perfectness, which "suffereth long, and is kind, which envieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, which doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; which beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." This charity ...
— Talkers - With Illustrations • John Bate

... exaggerated, others have been wantonly invented. Most of them have taken place in the course of railway journeys, and without wishing to palliate them, one may reasonably point out that, even in Europe, people, when travelling, will often behave with a rudeness which they would be ashamed to display in other circumstances, and that long railway journeys in the stifling heat of India sometimes subject the temper to a strain unknown in more temperate climates. In some cases, too, it is our ignorance of native customs which causes the ...
— Indian Unrest • Valentine Chirol

... doesn't notice you, he needn't notice me. I will tell you, Effie—I've just thought of a way. The next time he comes we will both receive him. We will sit up very stiffly on the sofa together, and just answer Yes, No, Yes, No, to everything he says, till he begins to take the hint, and learns how to behave ...
— Indian Summer • William D. Howells

... and truer love always made her behave abominably to the youth she had just jilted. She wasted no time on post-mortems. She was so eager to show her absolute loyalty to the new monarch that she grudged every thought she ever had given the one she had cast into exile. She resented him bitterly. She could ...
— The Lost Road • Richard Harding Davis

... good to him; but it was not my poor Christie. Oh, if it were, I should worship you. But I thank you as it is. It was very kind to want to give me this little, little crumb of comfort; for I know I did not behave well to you, sir: but you are generous, and have forgiven a poor heart-broken creature, that ...
— A Simpleton • Charles Reade

... remain for a certain length of time, not too long, however, in the condensed atmosphere, exhibit a most striking exacerbation of mental and physical vigor. They go up and down ladders, lift heavy weights, are more or less exhilarated, and, in short, behave as though under the ...
— Scientific American Supplement No. 822 - Volume XXXII, Number 822. Issue Date October 3, 1891 • Various

... if any of you boys honestly want to learn, and will behave yourselves, I 'll take you; but I shall charge extra," answered Polly, with a wicked sparkle of the eye, though her face was quite sober, and ...
— An Old-fashioned Girl • Louisa May Alcott

... arrayed in shining helmets and breastplates, which we know are perfectly useless in these days when a bullet will go through fifty of them with ease? The first thing a man thinks of when he has to face any ordeal, be it a coronation or an execution, is, how am I going to look? how am I to behave? what manner shall I assume? shall I appear calm and dignified, or happy and pleased? shall I wear a portentous frown or a beaming smile? how shall I walk? shall I take short steps or long ones? shall I stoop as if bowed with ...
— [19th Century Actor] Autobiographies • George Iles

... Reuben, an mak her behave'—the mistress of the house commanded angrily. 'She'll want a stick takken to ...
— The History of David Grieve • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... ask after me, but he asked after the car. Nothing very original there, is there? Any son would behave like that. He must do better than that if he doesn't mean to end as an adventurer. I must go and see him, and offer ...
— Mr. Prohack • E. Arnold Bennett

... hesitation to my original formula. Fighting, when we have the stronger force, is only a matter of arithmetic. It must be. You asked me just now how two hundred men could defeat six hundred. I can tell you. Two hundred men can defeat six hundred when the six hundred behave like fools. When they forget the very conditions they are fighting in; when they fight in a swamp as if it were a mountain; when they fight in a forest as if it were a plain; when they fight in streets without remembering the object ...
— The Napoleon of Notting Hill • Gilbert K. Chesterton

... considered. "Well," she said, after the pause, "if you can guarantee his abstraction, so be it! It is a matter of conscience with me to behave in precisely the same way each year, and, rather than miss my meditations there altogether, I am willing to make ...
— A Chair on The Boulevard • Leonard Merrick

... 'Then you must behave so that the ghost piper can be proud of you. 'Tion!' She stands bravely at attention. 'That's the style. Now listen, I've sent in your name as being my nearest of kin, and your allowance will be coming to you weekly in ...
— Echoes of the War • J. M. Barrie

... run away and behave yourself, and don't bother me any more," said Mrs. Tretherick, remembering the object of her visit. "Stop—where are you going?" she added as the child began to ascend the stairs, dragging the long doll after ...
— Selected Stories • Bret Harte

... it was most stupidly wrong. She knew gentlemen did not like tears. Her father had told her that men never really forgave women who cried at them. And here, when her fate hung in the balance, she was not able to behave ...
— T. Tembarom • Frances Hodgson Burnett

... given much to see Lucy give way openly to her grief; and her arms would have been open to receive her, if her niece had only flung herself simply into them. But Lucy's spirit was broken. With the extreme reserve that was part of her nature, she put all her strength into the effort to behave in the world with decency; and dreading any attempt at commiseration, she forced herself to be no less cheerful than usual. The strain was hardly tolerable. She had set all her hopes of happiness upon Alec, and he had failed her. She thought more ...
— The Explorer • W. Somerset Maugham

... the girl, rejoining Delaven. "Gertrude never does seem to find him interesting; but I do. She has been used to him always, of course, and I haven't, and she thinks it was awful for him to sell Cynthia, just because she got religion and would not behave. Now, I ...
— The Bondwoman • Marah Ellis Ryan

... every one stared at Nat, and then whisked into their seats, trying to be orderly and failing utterly. The Bhaers did their best to have the lads behave well at meal times, and generally succeeded pretty well, for their rules were few and sensible, and the boys, knowing that they tried to make things easy and happy, did their best to obey. But there are times when hungry boys cannot be repressed without ...
— Little Men - Life at Plumfield With Jo's Boys • Louisa May Alcott

... the fire and sing, Pussy can climb a tree, Or play with a silly old cork and string To 'muse herself, not me. But I like Binkie my dog, because He knows how to behave; So, Binkie's the same as the First Friend was, And I am ...
— Songs from Books • Rudyard Kipling

... time," said Henry, to the flint-lock he carried. "You have played me tricks enough. After this I want you to behave yourself." ...
— On the Trail of Pontiac • Edward Stratemeyer

... are in captivity, to obtain a correct idea of the habits of these interesting little, animals,—though, of course, when they are tamed, they must abandon some of those they possessed in a state of nature. Of their dispositions, however, a very fair notion may be formed from the way they behave when in captivity. The above descriptions refer only to a few of the numerous species of monkeys which exist in the South American forests, but as typical forms have been selected, a tolerable idea of the whole may ...
— The Western World - Picturesque Sketches of Nature and Natural History in North - and South America • W.H.G. Kingston

... almost new, and his boots shine like a nigger's face. It's pleasant to have such well-dressed comrades; but didn't those gendarmes behave shameful?—must 'a been ...
— The Count of Monte Cristo • Alexandre Dumas, Pere

... inquiring spirit they have bestowed on me? Ah, and how well they know how to torture us! They hate me for my learning, and so they turn my little errors to account to allow me to be cheated like a fool! They are said to be just, and they behave like a father who disinherits his son because, as a man, he notes his parent's weakness. With tears and anguish have I striven for truth and knowledge. There is not a province of thought whose deepest depths I have not ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... Dance. No nonsense, my lad. We are in difficulties, and we have to behave like British seamen till ...
— The Black Bar • George Manville Fenn

... themselves suddenly conquerors of material wealth, the most successful colonists in the world, the heirs of a great inheritance, the builders of a new empire. There is a true refinement manifested in their questions. Not only do men and women like to behave properly themselves, but all desire to know what is the best school of manners, that they may educate their children therein. Such minds are the best conservators of law and order. It is not a communistic ...
— Manners and Social Usages • Mrs. John M. E. W. Sherwood

... insanity was not the perfect way of educating them. He had controverted the report by growling, "Folks that think a jail ought to be a bloomin' Hotel Thornleigh make me sick. If people don't like a jail, let 'em behave 'emselves and keep out of it. Besides, these reform cranks always exaggerate." That was the beginning and quite completely the end of his investigations into Zenith's charities and corrections; and as to the "vice districts" he brightly expressed it, "Those are things that no decent man monkeys with. ...
— Babbitt • Sinclair Lewis



Words linked to "Behave" :   hugger mugger, swash, comport, acquit, footle, bend over backwards, quack, assert, walk around, optimise, trifle, dally, snap, sentimentalize, toy, pretend, dissemble, make, presume, puff up, wanton, assert oneself, backslap, piffle, carry, dawdle, follow, menace, fluster, lose it, move, deal, play, romanticize, rage, misbehave, conduct, deport, act, act involuntarily, act reflexively, break down, relax, act as, sauce, bungle, ramp, jest, bear, joke, freeze, pose, make as if, fall over backwards, vulgarise, bluster, posture, stooge, walk, sentimentise, vulgarize, storm, do, optimize, put forward, sentimentize, swell, hold, remember oneself, frivol, loosen up, sentimentalise, swagger



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