ciphering

“They make up a balanced account with Heaven, as our old cellarer used to call his ciphering, as fair as Isaac the Jew keeps with his debtors, and, like him, give out a very little, and take large credit for doing so; reckoning, doubtless, on their own behalf the seven-fold usury which the blessed text hath promised to charitable loans.”

Ivanhoe 2004

Men are ever lapsing into a beggarly habit, wherein everything that is not ciphering, that is, which does not serve the tyrannical animal, is hustled out of sight.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 01, No. 03, January, 1858 Various

` ` They make up a balanced account with Heaven, as our old cellarer used to call his ciphering, as fair as Isaac the

Ivanhoe 1892

The course of instruction, as required by the society, embraced only reading, writing, and what was called ciphering, though I think improperly.

Awful Disclosures Containing, Also, Many Incidents Never before Published Maria Monk 1832

"They make up a balanced account with Heaven, as our old cellarer used to call his ciphering, as fair as Isaac the Jew keeps with his debtors, and, like him, give out a very little, and take large credit for doing so; reckoning, doubtless, on their own behalf the seven-fold usury which the blessed text hath promised to charitable loans."

Ivanhoe. A Romance 1819

His school duties consisted not only in hearing the childred read and spell, and in directing them in a few simple operations of "ciphering," but in making ink, shaping goosequills into pens, and ruling paper for copy books.

Last of the Pioneers, Or Old Times in East Tenn.; Being the Life and Reminiscences of Pharaoh Jackson Chesney (Aged 120 Years). John Coram 1902

I like the word "ciphering," because it makes me think of slates -- slates that were always falling on the floor with a rousing clatter, so that almost always at least one corner was cracked.

Back Home Eugene Wood 1891

When Benjamin reached a suitable age he was compelled to assist his aged parents in their labors, but every spare moment found him "ciphering" and storing his mind with useful knowledge.

Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising 1887

The "ciphering" of the lower schools expands into elementary mathematics in the higher; into arithmetic, with a little algebra, a little Euclid.

Science & Education Thomas Henry Huxley 1860

The "ciphering" of the lower schools expands into elementary mathematics in the higher; into arithmetic, with a little algebra, a little Euclid.

Lay Sermons, Addresses and Reviews Thomas Henry Huxley 1860