Literary notes about blink (AI summary)
Writers employ the word "blink" with remarkable versatility, using it both in its literal sense and as a metaphor to encapsulate the fleeting nature of moments. In some works, a blink marks an instantaneous physical reaction—whether it’s the emotional suppression of tears or a nervous twitch in response to shock ([1], [2], [3])—while in others it serves as a vivid marker for transitory time, as when light or opportunity appears only "in the blink of an eye" ([4], [5], [6]). Moreover, authors sometimes extend the term to convey malfunction or intermittent function in mechanical or natural phenomena ([7], [8], [9]), illustrating its power to capture both the rapid and ephemeral rhythms of life as well as unexpected interruptions.
- Major Jones had to blink back tears of pride and grief as he walked his lines that dawn.
— from Across the Reef: The Marine Assault of Tarawa by Joseph H. Alexander - Her ever-sensitive lip began to quiver, and her eye to blink, at something this reproof was deciding her to say.
— from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy - “Why, no,” she answered, beginning to blink back the tears, “what makes you talk like that?”
— from Wunpost by Dane Coolidge - In the faint blink of the fire they spoke more freely.
— from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy - Then he turned his wonderful countenance to the sun without a blink of the eyelids, and began to talk.
— from Up from Slavery: An Autobiography by Booker T. Washington - Afterwards, it seemed to be over in the blink of an eye.
— from Little Brother by Cory Doctorow - The engine was on the blink, etc., and he said it was a safe proposition for us, because we’d never be able to do more than run it over the ground.
— from The Khaki Boys at Camp Sterling; Or, Training for the Big Fight in France by Gordon Bates - English whalers have given this the name "ice blink.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - English whalers have given it the name of "ice blink."
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne
