Literary notes about Barbed (AI summary)
The term "barbed" in literature often conveys a sense of sharpness and cruelty, whether describing tangible objects or figurative emotions. In many works, it is applied to physical items like weaponry—sharp arrows, spears, and darts that inflict grievous wounds [1, 2, 3, 4]—or defensive constructs such as barbed wire fences that evoke confinement and danger [5, 6, 7, 8]. At other times, its use extends metaphorically to portray biting remarks or the lingering sting of memory, as in passages where emotional pain is compared to a barbed missile or the sorrow that pricks the soul [9, 10, 11]. This versatile adjective not only paints vivid images of physical harm but also underscores the penetrating impact of words and feelings, creating a layered effect that enriches the text [12, 13].
- They also use hand spears with a half dozen barbed points branching out and get many fish in that manner.
— from Up the Mazaruni for Diamonds by William La Varre - The thunderbolt of Jove, the spear of Wodan, are in the barbed point of his tail.
— from Demonology and Devil-lore by Moncure Daniel Conway - The thrilling steel transpierced the brawny part, And through his arm stood forth the barbed dart.
— from The Iliad by Homer - Yet how cease to repine, since there was no hand near to extract the barbed spear that had entered my heart of hearts?
— from The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - Well, anyway, they decided to put a barbed-wire trocha around all the mines and the factories.
— from In the Heart of a Fool by William Allen White - Surround him in the silence of some black night, and build a barbed-wire fence around him.
— from The Autobiography of Methuselah by John Kendrick Bangs - Every road leading from the city was barricaded with logs and earthworks, and barriers of barbed wire were strung in various directions.
— from When Santiago Fell; or, The War Adventures of Two Chums by Edward Stratemeyer - It was the 2nd Cavalry Brigade, that had charged the enemy's guns, to find them protected by barbed wire.
— from Adventures of a Despatch Rider by William Henry Lowe Watson - It was a barbed arrow-head in my breast; it tore me when I tried to extract it; it sickened me when remembrance thrust it farther in.
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë - She sought, like the stricken deer, to weep in silence and loneliness and brood over the barbed sorrow that rankled in her soul.
— from The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving - He had a conviction that he would soon feel in his sore heart the barbed missiles of ridicule.
— from The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War by Stephen Crane - All her barbed civilities came forth wrong end first.
— from A Room with a View by E. M. Forster - The barbed shaft of love had penetrated his dull hide.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
