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Literary notes about Convertible (AI summary)

The term "convertible" in literature often signals a quality of interchangeability or the capacity for change, whether in the realm of abstract ideas or tangible objects. For instance, Whitman employs it metaphorically to suggest that concepts like America and democracy can be treated as equivalent, interchangeable ideas [1], a notion similarly explored by Bacon when equating "great spirit" with "virtue" [2]. Philosophers like Henry Sidgwick and John Dewey use "convertible" to underscore the adaptability of definitions and conceptual parameters in ethical or educational discourse [3][4]. Even Mark Twain hints at a flexible, almost transformative quality in ideas capable of being reshaped by earnest inquiry [5]. Beyond the abstract, authors like William H. Ukers illustrate a more literal application, describing items such as a coffee kit designed for conversion between different functions [6]. Meanwhile, Coleridge and Milton extend the concept to include processes of identity and creativity, suggesting that various elements can be converted or reimagined into alternative forms [7][8]. These varied uses underline the term's evolution from denoting physical transformability to representing a broader metaphor for adaptive thought and equivalence in language.
  1. I shall use the words America and democracy as convertible terms.
    — from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman
  2. By the context, he would seem to consider “great spirit” and “virtue” as convertible terms.
    — from Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients by Francis Bacon
  3. I here assume that they may be used as convertible, for most purposes.
    — from The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick
  4. Mind, individual method, originality (these are convertible terms) signify the quality of purposive or directed action.
    — from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey
  5. Very well? O.M. The humble, earnest, and sincere Truth-Seeker is always convertible by such means.
    — from What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain
  6. They might be called collapsible, convertible coffee kits, as they are made to serve as a combination coffee pot, mill, can, and cup.
    — from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers
  7. Things identical must be convertible.
    — from Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
  8. Ideas convertible in cons., puns, and epigrams, always on hand.
    — from Paradise Lost by John Milton

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