Literary notes about Cavity (AI summary)
The word "cavity" takes on a remarkably diverse range of meanings across literary texts. In scientific and anatomical contexts, it identifies specific hollow spaces within organisms—for instance, detailing the mantle-cavity in marine biology [1] or the visceral and peritoneal chambers critical to life [2], [3]. At the same time, it serves a more evocative role in narrative fiction, conjuring images of dark recesses and hidden voids that amplify mystery or tension, as when a tomb’s interior encloses a sinister presence [4] or a secluded fort offers a secret passage [5]. Even in technical writings, "cavity" signifies precisely measured compartments vital to constructed mechanisms or natural structures, enhancing both literal description and metaphorical effect within the text [6].
- The ripe ova (Fig. 221 o ′) fall directly from the ovary ( o ) into the mantle-cavity.
— from Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie - The cœlomaria (with body-cavity) have generally an anus, and blood and blood-vessels.
— from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - An iron bar has been driven from the back of the head through the body, and terminates in the abdominal cavity.
— from Omens and Superstitions of Southern India by Edgar Thurston - And as the Demon made an end of his story, he fell back within the cavity of the tomb and laughed.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe - When they were in the low cavity that surrounded the earthen fort on three sides, they found that passage nearly choked by the ruins.
— from The Last of the Mohicans; A narrative of 1757 by James Fenimore Cooper - The resonance of the mouth cavity is also of great importance.
— from How it Works by Archibald Williams
