Literary notes about Throttle (AI summary)
The term throttle is employed in literature with dual resonance—both as a concrete reference to mechanical controls and as a metaphor for suppression or violent force. In some works, it is used in the technical sense to indicate the regulation of machinery or power, such as the precise manipulation of engine levers or fuel feeds ([1], [2], [3], [4]). At the same time, authors invoke the word in a figurative context to evoke the act of overpowering or stifling, whether that be the choking of an individual or the curbing of an emotion or idea ([5], [6], [7], [8]). This versatility underscores its capacity to embody both the literal management of a device and the symbolic exertion of control or aggression, enriching the narrative texture and deepening the reader’s engagement with themes of power and constraint.
- It has no latch and the throttle lever is held in any desired setting by the wingnut and quadrant shown in figure 18.
— from The 'Pioneer': Light Passenger Locomotive of 1851 United States Bulletin 240, Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology, paper 42, 1964 by John H. White - With throttle wide‐open, test compression with starter.
— from Motorcycle, Solo (Harley-Davidson Model WLA) by United States. War Department - At your left hand are two little levers, one the mixture, the other the throttle.
— from The Fledgling by Charles Nordhoff - The engineer was on his feet now, hand on the throttle lever, although it was open as wide as it could be pulled.
— from The Duke Of Chimney Butte by George W. (George Washington) Ogden - Prof. Halleck says "By restraining of an emotion, we can frequently throttle it; by inducing an expression, we can often cause its allied emotions."
— from The Victorious Attitude by Orison Swett Marden - I. 285, 286):— "The Wanika, Wakikuyu, and Wazegua kill deformed children; throttle them in the woods and bury them.
— from The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought Studies of the Activities and Influences of the Child Among Primitive Peoples, Their Analogues and Survivals in the Civilization of To-Day by Alexander Francis Chamberlain - “If Margaret was alive,” muttered he, “I'd take thee by the throat and throttle thee, thou cowardly stabber.
— from The Cloister and the Hearth by Charles Reade - those I love, I love so that I would give my life for them, and the others I’d throttle if they stood in my way.
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy
