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Literary notes about blistering (AI summary)

The term “blistering” functions in literature as an intensifier that conveys extreme heat, rapid movement, or a harsh, stinging quality. It is often used to evoke the oppressive, scorching conditions of an environment, such as a desert or a sun-baked cityscape, where the heat is palpable and almost tangible ([1], [2], [3]). Beyond literal temperature, it also qualifies violent forces and actions—a blistering curve in a sporting context illustrates the speed and virulence of a ball's trajectory ([4]), while a “blistering tongue” or “blistering words” underscores a sharp, hurtful tone in character dialogue ([5], [6]). Additionally, its use in medical or chemical descriptions, as in treating wounds or poisoning agents, lends the word a dual sense of physical damage and potent effectiveness ([7], [8]). Thus, “blistering” enriches descriptive language by blending sensory extremity with metaphorical impact.
  1. To get from there to Jerusalem she had to cross a country infested with bandits, and go across blistering deserts.
    — from New Tabernacle Sermons by T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt) Talmage
  2. The reservation was blistering hot in summer and wind-blasted in winter.
    — from The Story of Geronimo by Jim Kjelgaard
  3. Presently Mr. Hennage paused and glanced across the blistering half-mile of desert, to where the sun glinted on the dun walls of the Hat Ranch.
    — from The Long Chance by Peter B. (Peter Bernard) Kyne
  4. Conrad shot the ball back at his opponent in a blistering curve impossible to intercept.
    — from Beyond Bedlam by Wyman Guin
  5. What Caesar possibly had to endure from Mam' Lyddy, only those could imagine who knew her blistering tongue.
    — from Mam' Lyddy's Recognition1908 by Thomas Nelson Page
  6. Freddy Farmer glared and pursed his lips as though he were striving to hold back the blistering words that rose in his throat.
    — from Dave Dawson at Casablanca by Robert Sidney Bowen
  7. In China, a bug, Heuchis sanguinea , belonging to the family Cicadidæ, is used like the Meloidæ, to produce blistering, and often causes poisoning.
    — from Handbook of Medical Entomology by O. A. (Oskar Augustus) Johannsen
  8. The patient is kept quiet and in the course of two weeks an active blistering agent is employed over the region affected.
    — from Lameness of the HorseVeterinary Practitioners' Series, No. 1 by John Victor Lacroix

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