Literary notes about Repel (AI summary)
In literature, "repel" is employed in multifaceted ways to evoke both physical and metaphorical resistance. It appears as a vivid descriptor of military and physical defense—commanders urging troops to repel enemy forces in battle [1][2][3] and characters warding off attacks of nature or sleep [4][5]—while also capturing more abstract struggles, such as resisting temptation or negative influences [6][7]. The term frequently contrasts with attraction, as seen in scientific or philosophical musings about opposing forces [8][9]. In these varied contexts, "repel" powerfully underlines both the tangible act of pushing away and the inner resolve to deny or counteract undesirable elements.
- Commandant Mandat has corresponded with Mayor Petion; carries a written Order from him these three days, to repel force by force.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle - Repel the Tuscan foes; their city seize; Protect the Latians in luxurious ease.
— from The Aeneid by Virgil - 8 Our strong Lord sendeth in euiles, and who is he that can repel them?
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - He said: his fasten’d hands the rudder keep, And, fix’d on heav’n, his eyes repel invading sleep.
— from The Aeneid by Virgil - And, couching close, repel invading sleep.
— from The Iliad by Homer - Perfect within, no outward aid require; And all temptation to transgress repel.
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton - Oh, the slight tissue of a dream can no more preserve us from the stern reality of misfortune than a robe of cobweb could repel the wintry blast.
— from Twice-told tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne - Atoms attract each other and atoms repel one another.
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy - like charges repel; opposite charges attract; like poles repel, opposite poles attract.
— from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget
