food for powder

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

As we have just seen, it was when returning from overseas that the British sailor ran the gravest risk of summary conversion into Falstaff's famous commodity, "food for powder."

From The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore by Hutchinson, J. R. (John Robert)

The Elector had food for powder in stock, and hung up his subjects in his shop.

From The Man Who Laughs by Hugo, Victor

Well, I'm not too modest to say that I think we are pretty expensive food for powder," said John C., "but then we're not worth more than the 'Crescents,' the 'Cadets,' or 'Hampton's Legion.'

From Four Years in Rebel Capitals An Inside View of Life in the Southern Confederacy from Birth to Death by DeLeon, T. C.

His mother thought him worth nothing better than "food for powder," and at eighteen he obtained a commission as ensign in the Seventy-sixth Regiment of British Foot.

From Ten Englishmen of the Nineteenth Century by Joy, James Richard

Falling birth-rates, industrial development, or governments' desire to keep at home as much food for powder as might be, had slackened the outward flow.

From The Day of Sir Wilfrid Laurier A Chronicle of Our Own Time by Skelton, Oscar Douglas