masterliness

The dominant expression of his face—which he tried to cover with an assumption of masterliness—was worry.

They will rage against him in groups on the playing-fields and as they go home in companies, but ever with an intense appreciation of his masterliness; they will recall with keen enjoyment his detection of sneaks and his severity on prigs; they will invent a name for him to enshrine his achievements, and pass it down to the generation following; they will dog his steps on the street with admiration, all the truer because mingled with awe.

She takes him in hand with easy masterliness in the art of reducing a youthful heart.

The Wardens of Works for the said Pieve, in order to have some memorial of him, commissioned him to paint the Chapel of the High-Altar in that place; and he gave great proof of his worth in that work, which, besides its general excellence and masterliness, contains most admirable draperies and heads.

Comparing reptiles with amphibians, we may recognise an increased masterliness of behaviour and a hint of greater plasticity.