Which preposition to use with retorts

with Occurrences 61%

"I do not for a moment admit your right to interfere," he retorted with an assumption of calm superiority.

of Occurrences 27%

"And I forty," replied Hadifah, "I make it fifty," was the retort of Cais.

in Occurrences 24%

" Buckheath glanced angrily and contemptuously into the stupid, fatuous countenance above him; he appeared to curb with some difficulty the disposition to retort in kind.

to Occurrences 22%

Jack, too, had made much of her, and seemed to delight in her sharp retorts to the inanities of would-be wits.

on Occurrences 19%

If any custom or institution which he had denounced, was justified by his adversaries, on the ground of its expediency, he immediately retorted on them its repugnancy to sincerity, truth, and unsophisticated nature; and if they, at any time, resorted to a similar justification for our natural feelings and propensities, he triumphantly showed that they were inimical to the public good.

by Occurrences 18%

The Bombay shop-keeper commences by asking an exorbitant price for his commodities; our Memon retorts by offering the least they could possibly fetch; and the battle between the maximum and the minimum eventually settles itself somewhere about the golden mean, whereupon the Memon hies him homewards as full of satisfaction as Thackeray's Jew.

from Occurrences 9%

But when that flippant sheet, known as Rees's American Encyclopedia, comes out with a violent attack upon PUNCHINELLO'S past life and present course, the assault is such as would provoke a retort from any honest man.

for Occurrences 6%

Pride forged the retort for him, at a blow.

at Occurrences 4%

" I had an angry retort at the tip of my tongue, but it remained unspoken.

against Occurrences 3%

Those who admit an omnipotent as well as perfectly just and benevolent maker and ruler of such a world as this, can say little against Christianity but what can, with at least equal force, be retorted against themselves.

about Occurrences 2%

I have already quoted the retort about "many men, many women, and many children."

over Occurrences 1%

"Wherefore be thou evil and flourish," Sime retorted over his shoulder.

than Occurrences 1%

Her German was so patriotically rusty that she could think of no better retorts than "Nicht hinauslehnen," or "Bitte nicht zu rauchen," or "Heisses Wasser, bitte," or "Wacht am Rhein," or "Streng verboten."

as Occurrences 1%

Boswell, however, was not to be repelled by such a retort as this, or even by ruder rebuffs.

Which preposition to use with  retorts