Example sentences of "[vb past] himself by [verb] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | The young man 's brother wrote to Lord Panmure to see if David could make the best of the situation in which he found himself by obtaining a midshipman 's place . |
| 2 | Anyway , Jacob said that he could do the job better and more quickly if he paced himself by singing a lively hymn called ‘ Keep in Step with the Master ’ . |
| 3 | He goaded himself by picturing the ageing President , grey-haired and frail . |
| 4 | Ravana captured Hanuman and set fire to his tail , but the monkey avenged himself by growing to the size of a giant and setting fire to the city . |
| 5 | He redeemed himself by sending over a good cross for P Reid to put the Olympic in front . |
| 6 | Where or with whom James received his training is not known , but by 1783 he was established in London ; and in that year he announced himself by publishing a pamphlet on A Method of Constructing Vapour Baths , and began to exhibit at the Royal Academy . |
| 7 | He sang aloud , in what he amused himself by imagining was a passable accent , ‘ Oh you tak the high road and I 'll tak the low . |
| 8 | In the meantime he amused himself by feeding Dwarf captives to Gobbla , the enormous , malodorous and psychopathically vicious Cave Squig which he kept firmly chained to his left leg . |
| 9 | John assured me that it did n't matter in the least , and amused himself by taxying the machine up and down the runways , testing and running-in the VW engine at the same time . |
| 10 | Thucydides distinguished himself by transferring the real cause of the Peloponnesian War to the more impersonal fears inspired in the Peloponnesians by Athens . |
| 11 | During his time at Bristol he held one of the University 's Organ Scholarships based at St Paul 's Church , Clifton , and distinguished himself by winning most of the important prizes offered by the Royal College of Organists . |
| 12 | His friend Dr Burney , not a Cambridge man , expressed similar concern at Smart 's lack of discretion : ‘ While he was the pride of Cambridge and the chief poetical ornament of that University , he ruined himself by returning the tavern treats of strangers who had invited him as a wit and an extraordinary personage , in order to boast of his acquaintance ’ . |
| 13 | Rob consoled himself by dating several women before embarking on a six-week fling with Princess Stephanie . |
| 14 | On one level it is yet another accident , and on a second level it is inevitable , it must be so because it belongs here and nowhere else , as the foreign restaurant bill belongs to a novel about human birds of passage , and as the whistle belongs to a novel , in fact the only late Dostoevsky novel , with no children in it but haunted by the toys of absent innocence and peace : the governor of ‘ our province ’ where these crazy terrible events take place was disappointed in love as a young man and consoled himself by making a paper theatre with curtains , actors , audience , orchestra , conductor — the lot . |
| 15 | Napoleon 's Number One Fan , who during Abel Gance 's film was accused by the man in the next seat of masturbating underneath his hat and splashing his wife , but who stoutly defended himself by saying that the unfortunate staining would never have happened if she had n't nudged him and thus dislodged the titfer from his lap . |
| 16 | Then the minister deigned to appear and defended himself by saying he had once come out to a stranger who called , but the man proved to be ‘ a little worth person ’ . |
| 17 | He resented the implied criticism , and defended himself by saying he merely gave her a book which he happened to have with him , rather than one he felt suitable for such a person . |
| 18 | He usually sneaked off to the lavatory and relieved himself by peeing and thinking of funerals . |
| 19 | The last remark is odd : her half-brother Charles certainly killed himself by jumping off a bridge , and it is unlikely that the deaths of her sisters ‘ Topsy ’ and ‘ Baby ’ were due to an accidental overdose of veronal . |
| 20 | He escaped the fire but later killed himself by jumping in front of a truck . |
| 21 | A computer manager sought by police for the murder of his wife and children apparently killed himself by walking into the sea . |
| 22 | On May 16th Dr Kevorkian was present when Ronald Mansur , who had terminal bone and lung cancer , killed himself by breathing carbon monoxide from a portable tank . |
| 23 | A FORMER prisoner who suffered a form of epilepsy killed himself by lying in front of an oncoming train , an inquest jury heard . |
| 24 | He surprised himself by talking aloud : ‘ A nice cup of tea , that 's what I need . ’ |
| 25 | But as we have seen , he referred to the Duddon valley as ‘ the darling of my heart ’ — he says in the Guide that Mr. West ‘ contented himself by speaking of the scenery of easy access from the public roads , for he has entirely omitted the vast and romantic wilds which lie between the sea and the chain of lofty mountains , beginning at Coniston and ending at Lows Water — who shall traverse Seathwaite , Eskdale Wastdale , Ennerdale and Ennersaledale , and not be ready to acknowledge that the Western side of his tour , though probably less beautiful , is infinitely more magnificent than the Eastern side ? ’ |
| 26 | Cranston lost his sour look and satisfied himself by glancing sardonically at Athelstan as he sipped daintily from the wine cup . |
| 27 | He needed no Bible to remind him of the life of Christ , and if ever he felt the need for a symbol upon which to concentrate his devotions , he satisfied himself by making the sign of the cross with his fingers . |
| 28 | Jenkins admitted to ignorance , but covered himself by saying that the selectors did not know the team either . |
| 29 | Gen Noriega ingratiated himself by offering his services to a White House bent on making the Sandinistas ‘ cry uncle ’ , although his help for the contra cause was limited . |
| 30 | If size of following were proof of quality , then Glazunov would be a candidate for the title of greatest living artist : in Brezhnev 's time ( he was the premier 's favourite artist ) he ingratiated himself by playing on the sentimental Slavic strand in Soviet life with ‘ symphonic canvases [ which ] overflow with the dreams and feeling of the Russian people ’ . |