Poe's Favorite Words, collected by Charles Harrington Elster

“The can will never disappear,” it continued, warning that the United States was falling “into an abyss you can never come out of.”
New York Times (Jan 3, 2013)

Though these allergies can be quite unpleasant for the afflicted, but are usually not life threatening.
Scientific American (May 30, 2013)

Aghast economists fear that such exorbitant spending could saddle an already impoverished nation with an insurmountable deficit.
Time (Apr 16, 2013)

People might still suffer annoying bites but they would be spared the painful agony that has earned Dengue the nickname “breakbone fever.”
Scientific American (Jun 11, 2013)

There is also still appalling behaviour from this dreadful regime using chemical weapons.
BBC (Jul 21, 2013)

His sleep is troubled; he sees his victims as monstrous apparitions haunting him.
Time (Jul 18, 2013)

We passed through a range of low arches, descended, passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame.
--"The Cask of Amontillado"

It goes beyond documentary, drawing on a visionary stage vocabulary and creating individual stories that are both desolating and stirring.
The Guardian (Jan 26, 2013)

But then the quartet stripped down to black shirts, picked up bass tubas and horns and started playing what sounded like a funeral dirge.
The Guardian (Jan 23, 2013)

Mr Hankin told jurors that a gastroenterology expert found Daniel was "extremely emaciated" and had a low body mass index.
BBC (Jun 3, 2013)

But they have received only fitful attention from researchers over the decades, thanks to constantly shifting agendas and funding levels.
Nature (Dec 5, 2012)

There are enthralling episodes when Ms. Mearns dances with graceful movements tinged with frenzied compulsion.
New York Times (Jun 28, 2013)

An entire generation were robbed of their education by Sierra Leone's ghastly, decade-long civil war.
BBC (Apr 22, 2013)

Even some of the grotesque murder scenes are imaginatively rendered.
Seattle Times (Jun 13, 2013)

I bought and wore hideous neon green pants and tank tops.
Forbes (Jun 24, 2013)

And, if it were for sale, it could not be purchased by an act of immolation in which heaven could find no pleasure at all.
Frank Boreham

Tchaikovsky was even worse; when composing a new work, David Brown writes, "he found any company intolerable not only during the morning but all day."
Slate (May 1, 2013)

British drug company is betting that medicine made from cannabis can also treat maladies as diverse as diabetes, colitis, and epilepsy.
BusinessWeek (Jul 19, 2013)

I could see the muted terror in their eyes when they'd come to visit, appraising my pallid, sweating face and withered body.
New York Times (Jan 18, 2013)

Grown men prostrated themselves in front of him and asked for his blessing.
BBC (Sep 27, 2012)

He jiggled his amputated leg to make it look like it was quivering
Seattle Times (Mar 24, 2013)

Lester often seemed sullen, showing displeasure with umpires and defeatist body language when things went wrong.
New York Times (Jun 1, 2013)

“It’s only me, Philip, lad,” whispered a hoarse, tremulous voice.
E. Phillips Oppenheim, (Edward Phillips)

For the next excruciating year, my friend went through episodes where he could do nothing but lie writhing in bed in pain.
New York Times (Jul 6, 2013)

He looked absolutely wretched, like a beaten dog.
The Guardian (Jan 18, 2013)

Barricades of rubble blocked other streets leading to the square and the acrid smell of tear gas hung in the air.
Reuters (Jun 4, 2013)

My endeavor did require a certain amount of intrepid travel, though not the kind that involves eating ants or crossing rivers on makeshift rafts.
New York Times (Jun 21, 2013)

He was energetic but the game did not meet his lofty expectations.
New York Times (Jun 19, 2013)

Both have a headlong exuberance, are filled with caustic satire and ultimately show impetuous romance giving way to hard-headed realism.
The Guardian (Nov 22, 2012)

But as Kathmandu developed, a gradual repugnance rose against such intimate handling of human waste, and new flush toilets secured the sensation.
Scientific American (Dec 17, 2012)

Without some faith in ministers' veracity, public trust in democracy withers still further.
The Guardian (May 31, 2013)

Bran listened with sagacious eye and ears erect, and understood Oscar's words quite well.
Unknown

For many fruit trees, 75 years is late middle age; 100 is decrepitude
New York Times (Nov 21, 2012)

He’s a prodigious fundraiser, tapping into Texas wealth like no other.
Time (Jul 9, 2013)

In all I saw there was a mystery that needed elucidation.
Mayne Reid

The actors have crisp timing and effective voices, particularly Mr. Adams’s sonorous bass.
New York Times (Jun 10, 2012)

Texture Crisp and turgid, reflecting the high water pressure within the cells.
New York Times (Jul 9, 2013)

His prolixity was increased by his unwillingness, when writing without prescribed limits, to leave out any detail, however unimportant.
Various

Wyndham, shivering with ague, had sat down and rested his head in his hands, as if he did not know what was going on.
Harold Bindloss

"Necessity," says the old apothegm, "is the mother of invention."
Homer B. Sprague (Homer Baxter)

The French exhibits filled one-half the entire space, the remaining moiety being occupied by the other nations of the world.
Various

Nonetheless, it does eventually pay dividends, particularly in Simon Stephens's paean to blue skies and independent coffee shops
The Guardian (Jun 27, 2012)

Only cultivate that dogged pertinacity of Gad, which has no thought of ultimate defeat, but rallies cheerfully and resolutely after every discomfiture.
Marcus Dods

In the most Stygian of these, I plumbed abysses that no brother of Jesus should ever have had to endure.
The Guardian (Aug 21, 2010)

Argument is at an end when supposititious miracle is introduced.
Hugh Miller

Noreen was on her feet in an instant, hurrying into her hat and coat, and quaffing greedily at the reeking coffee.
Eleanor Hallowell Abbott