once-lively

Updated: May 13, 2025

In the long dull evenings, the once-lively lady sometimes openly regretted that she had not been born a man with the three masculine resources of smoking, drinking, and swearing placed at her disposal. It was a dreary existence, and happier influences seemed but little likely to change it.

Wilkie Collins - The Black Robe

An entire month a month of bitter sadness and unexpressed suffering on both sides passed in this way; and Lenora observed with increased anxiety the rapid emaciation and pallor of her father, and the suddenness with which his once-lively eye lost every spark of its wonted vivacity.

Hendrik Conscience - The Poor Gentleman