take by surprise
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.
I expect to take by surprise a newly-married pair in their honeymoon, and I find a state of things here which I should never have supposed possible.
From Success and How He Won It by Werner, E. T. C. (Edward Theodore Chalmers)
Finally the rebels retreated, and Michelson discovered that his opponents meant to take by surprise the Fort of Ufa.
From Stories by Foreign Authors: Polish, Greek, Belgian, Hungarian by Sienkiewicz, Henryk
Mr. Elster walked slowly through the village on his way to Hartledon, whose inmates he would presently take by surprise.
From Elster's Folly by Wood, Henry, Mrs.
He would have opened the door suddenly in that case, hoping to take by surprise whosoever of the clan were guarding Linda.
From The Strength of the Pines by Marshall, Edison
He then prepared for a bold and sudden movement, which should take by surprise one flank of our army.
From Three Years in the Sixth Corps A Concise Narrative of Events in the Army of the Potomac, from 1861 to the Close of the Rebellion, April, 1865 by Stevens, George T.
