This is the richest, the most powerful country which ever occupied this globe. Themight of past empires is little compared to ours. But I do not want to be the president who built empires or sought grandeur or extended dominion. I want to be the president who educated young children to the wonders of their world.
1969,[unattributed],Journal of the United Service Institution of India[2], volume99, page115:
Since every nation considers itself right, peace lies in balancing the militarymights of the possible rivals.
2018 December 1, Drachinifel, 7:26 from the start, inAnti-Slavery Patrols - The West Africa Squadron[3], archived fromthe original on29 November 2024:
The 1833 Slavery Abolition Act had abolished slaverycompletely in the British Empire, and this, along with the fact that the Empire's military and economicmight was beginning to pull evenfurther ahead of other nations', thanks in part to the Industrial Revolution, saw the squadron expand to around twenty-five ships (regularly having to be swapped out because of the high incidence of tropical disease)[…]
I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated,might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos shemight have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.
Used to indicate a desired past action that was not done.
“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron;[…]. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that hemight catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.
It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions thatmight explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next;[…].
(auxiliary)Used concessively to admit something before making a more accurate or important statement; although
For many speakers, the use as the past tense of the auxiliarymay, indicating permission, is obsolete:I told him hemight not see her will only be interpreted as "I told him he would possibly not see her," and not as "I told him he was not allowed to see her." For the latter case, "could not" or "was/were not allowed to," "was/were forbidden to," etc., will be used instead.
