Word: cavil
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1870-1879
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...defence of the institution will rest naturally on the spirit it assumes to embody. To the grovelling cavil that facts are the best test of theories, and that the practical effects of an institution are the best indication of its character, it is possible to oppose that most fruitful principle of the philosophy dominant here, that when the reality fails to correspond to the ideal, so much the worse for the reality...
...testimony, it may be mentioned that of one of these societies the members number over sixty, and yet it has been often found difficult to assemble the fifteen who constitute a quorum. The statements which have been made in regard to the catholicity which prevails here are beyond all cavil. Not only is it true that the College authorities studidiously avoid anything which might influence the religious opinions of a student, but the students themselves are not sharply divided by doctrinal lines, nor do they make their religion, when they have any, a barrier to separate them from others less...
...calling attention once more to the subject of gas in the entries, we hope not to appear to cavil or to display a childish fretfulness. But it is a matter that greatly incommodes the students. The fact that the gas is allowed to burn till eleven o'clock is a tacit acknowledgment that the convenience of those who pass through the halls ought to be provided for. There is no reason that the gas should be put out at eleven, rather than at nine or ten; for few go to bed so early, and most find it natural...