Literary notes about Solvent (AI summary)
The term "solvent" has been used in literature with a remarkable range of meanings, stretching from literal chemical applications to rich metaphorical expressions. In its traditional sense, writers refer to a substance that dissolves other materials—whether it’s the universal solvent of alchemy mentioned in early works [1], [2], [3] or the chemical processes involved in coffee brewing and extraction [4], [5], [6], [7], [8]. In contrast, metaphorical uses abound: it can describe a force that dissolves the rigidity of art [9], a dissolver of the soul through fear or passion [10], [11], [12], or even serve as an idiom for financial robustness, as in keeping an organization or a bank solvent [13], [14]. Even in more abstract or humorous settings, such as the “solvent tenants” disturbed by ghostly furniture [15] or sharp critiques in literary narratives [16], the term fluidly moves between tangible and figurative realms, embodying both the power to dissolve matter and the capacity to dissolve established societal or emotional structures.
- Al′kahest, the so-called universal solvent or menstruum of the alchemists.
— from The New Gresham Encyclopedia. A to Amide by Various - MENSTRUE, solvent.
— from The Alchemist by Ben Jonson - MENSTRUE, solvent.
— from Every Man in His Humor by Ben Jonson - Because of the difficulty of causing the solvent to penetrate the bean, recourse to grinding resulted.
— from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers - After extraction, the beans may be steam distilled to remove and to recover any residual traces of solvent, and then dried and roasted.
— from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers - [136] is given in Table I. Table I—The Solubility of Caffein Solvent Sp.
— from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers - Any residual traces of the solvent left in the bean are volatilized upon roasting.
— from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers - The absorbing medium is then treated with a solvent of the caffeol, and the solution is separated from the petrolatum.
— from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers - And as for Life, she is the solvent that breaks up Art, the enemy that lays waste her house.’
— from Intentions by Oscar Wilde - Fates, the, 10. 617 , 620 E . Fear, a solvent of the soul, 4.
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato - Smoke is almost as great a solvent as divorce: both tend to obscure the moral issue.
— from The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton - 9. 581 , 586 , and Laws 2. 667); —sensual pleasure, 7. 519 ; 9. 586 ; a solvent of the soul, 4. 430 A [ cp.
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato - 9. Keep our Organization Solvent and Functioning.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - “Is it possible that Thomson & French are not looked upon as safe and solvent bankers?
— from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - Solvent tenants were disturbed at unhallowed hours by the noise of ghostly furniture vans creeping stealthily away in the moonless night.
— from Lady Audley's Secret by M. E. Braddon - With a keenly critical, relentlessly solvent intelligence, she combines a morbid shrinking from all the gross and prosaic detail of the sensual life.
— from Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen