Word: aback
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Despite the singer's unquestioned conquest of his hearers, it was not until the last number he showed that he had not as yet reached the crescendo of his ability. "The Airman's Creed" by John Adams Loud completely took everyone aback. M. Marcoux had all the while not been able to bring out his true superbness. Excited applause brought him back at last for an encore, which was sung with a power that convinced everyone he at last had reached his best. Another encoure was demanded; and M. Marcoux sang ::The Open Road" and received a redoubled and prolonged...
...Congress there were debates in both Houses. In the press straw votes were taken. The progress of legislation in Congress was retarded by the first of the debate and the Wets pressed their attack in a way that gained them much publicity and for a time took the Drys aback...
...they got Helen with her strange fascinating beauty, accustomed to what she wants, and baffled by her inability to come at what she most wants-life. At Sparta, the servants are taken aback when Menelaus restores her to her old place in his home, and Menelaus has to remind them that he has changed: "And we've been through the war, you should remember. Nothing can be quite the same again...
...Court which had assumed that he would be glad to testify, was taken aback and notified the War Department of his refusal. The War Department did nothing, since it had directed Col. Mitchell to "appear" and he had done...
Regardless of whether or not Maine is miserly, many persons were a bit taken aback that the emphasis should have been placed just where it was. President Clarence Cook Little of Maine, aged 37, had been told that, if the Maine trustees accepted his resignation, he might succeed no less a person than the late Marion LeRoy Burton, as President of the University of Michigan. A man of less lively principles might have glossed over any criticisms he entertained for his old, smaller position, thoughtless of anything but his great advancement...