The word livid is employed in literature to evoke both a striking visual quality and intense emotional states. It often describes a dark, unnatural hue—as when pearls are noted for their “dark and livid color” [1] or when the night sky throws “a livid cloud” in a dramatic landscape [2]—while simultaneously conveying extreme agitation or shock, as seen when a character’s face turns livid with fear [3] or anger [4]. In some narratives, livid bridges the gap between physical description and emotional turmoil, marking bruised, deathly skin [5, 6] and even the very atmosphere, which becomes charged with an almost apocalyptic intensity [7]. This dual usage enriches the imagery in works ranging from classical epics to Gothic novels, underscoring both the literal and metaphorical impact of the color and state of being livid [8, 9, 10].
- The British pearls proved, however, of little value, on account of their dark and livid color.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
- The sun went down almost blood-red that night, and a livid cloud received its rays in the east.
— from Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
- He staggered back with a livid face, and I saw the perspiration break out upon his brow, while his teeth chattered in his head.
— from A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
- The youth turned, with sudden, livid rage, toward the battlefield.
— from The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War by Stephen Crane
- Pale was her cheek, and livid look'd the wound.
— from The Iliad by Homer
- —The skin usually is pale, livid, and dotted with numerous petechiæ.
— from Scurvy, Past and Present by Alfred F. Hess
- Time’s livid final flame leaps and, in the following darkness, ruin of all space, shattered glass and toppling masonry.)
— from Ulysses by James Joyce
- Vulcan this plague begot; and, like his sire, Black clouds he belch’d, and flakes of livid fire.
— from The Aeneid by Virgil
- The Russian remained mute, still livid with terror.
— from The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie
- M. de Villefort a second time raised his head, looked at Benedetto as if he had been gazing at the head of Medusa, and became livid.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet
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