Literary notes about Rate (AI summary)
In literature, the word "rate" emerges with a surprising range of meanings that infuse both practical and stylistic nuances into the narrative. It occasionally quantifies value or speed—as when silence is sold at a dearer rate [1] or when describing the natural progression of prices and mortality [2, 3, 4]—while at other times it evaluates quality, with descriptors like "first-rate" marking excellence in artistry or character [5, 6, 7, 8]. Moreover, the phrase "at any rate" recurs to signal a transition in argument or to underscore a resigned shift in tone, effectively steering the reader through the flow of ideas [9, 10, 11, 12, 13]. This versatility shows how "rate" not only measures numerical or economic factors but also operates as a subtle rhetorical tool, enriching the texture and pace of literary works.
- I would sooner sell you silence, though at a dearer rate; as Demosthenes formerly sold it by the means of his argentangina, or silver squinsy.
— from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais - All the different parts of its price will soon sink to their natural rate, and the whole price to its natural price.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith - The increase in wealth and in the consumption of goods, and the diminution of the mortality rate.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - Before the discovery of the Spanish West Indies, ten per cent. seems to have been the common rate of interest through the greater part of Europe.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith - Though he was a first-rate and vigorous fighter, he had been chosen by our chiefs for my first passage of arms because he was fairly short.
— from My Life — Volume 1 by Richard Wagner - There’s a first-rate fire there, and supper and everything.’
— from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame - (I supplied her with a bottle of first-rate brandy from the Christian commission rooms.)
— from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman - Mr. Covey enjoyed the most unbounded reputation for being a first-rate overseer and negro-breaker.
— from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass - I had had enough of mysteries for one Summer's night, or at any rate I had enough by the time I got my short legs, full tilt, into the shore street.
— from The Best Short Stories of 1917, and the Yearbook of the American Short Story - At any rate, she cannot grow many degrees worse, without authorizing us to lock her up for the rest of her life."
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - "At any rate I'll never go there again!" said Alice as she picked her way through the wood.
— from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - I cannot think of it all without becoming dizzy—at any rate not now.
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James - At any rate, make us proud of you to-night.
— from This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
