Literary notes about collide (AI summary)
The word "collide" takes on a rich variety of meanings in literature, shifting fluidly between literal and metaphorical uses. In Forster’s work [1], the term is employed metaphorically to depict the incompatible melding of characters and ideas, suggesting that some elements in life simply do not mix. By contrast, Galen applies it in a more technical sense [2], describing the physical impact of iron pieces, a notion that is distilled into a single word by Joyce [3]. Bergson further extends the metaphor in his essay by depicting natural forces—the billows—striving for equilibrium as they clash and collide [4]. Freud, meanwhile, uses the word to illustrate the disruption caused by conflicting intentions, highlighting its psychological resonance [5]. Finally, Verne returns to a tangible depiction of impact, using "collide" to convey the resonant crash of a weapon against a hard substance [6].
- He did not want Romance to collide with the Porphyrion, still less with Jacky, and people with fuller, happier lives are slow to understand this.
— from Howards End by E. M. Forster - 122 that these then collide with the second piece of iron and are not able to penetrate it although they penetrated the first piece?
— from Galen: On the Natural Faculties by Galen - Collide.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce - The billows clash and collide with each other, as they strive to find their level.
— from Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic by Henri Bergson - They are differentiated from errors by the absence of another intention with which they collide and by which they are disturbed.
— from A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud - I heard the weapon collide resonantly, as if it had hit some hard substance.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne
