Literary notes about Defend (AI summary)
Literature employs the word "defend" with a rich range of connotations, from urging someone to protect themselves physically to standing up for one’s beliefs or honor. At times, characters are commanded to “defend yourself” in moments of personal peril ([1]) or to take measures that physically safeguard their well-being ([2], [3]). In other contexts, the term takes on a metaphorical weight as individuals strive to uphold their reputation or justify their actions in the face of societal and legal pressures ([4], [5], [6]). It also appears in epic and historical narratives, where defending one’s throne or homeland becomes a moral imperative ([7], [8]), and in philosophical or rhetorical debates, where arguing for the veracity of ideas is paramount ([9], [10], [11]). This versatility makes "defend" a dynamic and powerful verb, underscoring the universal struggle to resist, protect, and justify across genres and eras.
- Defend yourself,” the girl outside cried in an agonising voice.
— from Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad - Though my diver's dress was thick enough to defend me from the bite of this animal, I could not help shuddering with horror.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne - Suddenly he stops, dismounts, recharges his carbine and pistols, and makes up his mind to defend himself.
— from On Love by Stendhal - Common sense will tell us, that the power which hath endeavoured to subdue us, is of all others, the most improper to defend us.
— from Common Sense by Thomas Paine - “You will have the best legal talent to defend you,” replied the German quietly.
— from The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie - Be not amaz'd; call all your senses to you; defend your reputation, or bid farewell to your good life for ever.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - Let me be foremost to defend the throne, And guard my father's glories, and my own.
— from The Iliad by Homer - Take up thy master; If thou shouldst dally half an hour, his life, With thine, and all that offer to defend him, Stand in assured loss.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - This charge involved others, and it was to defend them, as well as to vindicate himself, that Newman wrote the Apologia .
— from English Literature by William J. Long - Upon examination, I find that it is natural most to defend the defects with which we are most tainted.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne - I do not defend any of these advanced views, not even Fagin’s.
— from What's Wrong with the World by G. K. Chesterton
