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Literary notes about delineate (AI summary)

In literature, the word "delineate" is used to evoke the act of portraying or outlining a subject with clarity and depth. It can serve to sketch both tangible realities—such as instructing how to draw precise shapes or structures [1, 2]—and intangible qualities, like evoking the nuances of human emotion or moral character [3, 4, 5]. At times, authors employ it to depict divine or exemplary qualities, as when characterizing love or personal traits with a reverent precision [6, 7]. In each instance, the term enriches the narrative by inviting readers to envision detailed, often symbolic, portraits of the subject matter.
  1. We have already instructed the pupil how to delineate a cylinder escape wheel tooth and we will next describe how to draw a cylinder.
    — from Watch and Clock EscapementsA Complete Study in Theory and Practice of the Lever, Cylinder and Chronometer Escapements, Together with a Brief Account of the Origin and Evolution of the Escapement in Horology by Anonymous
  2. [Pg 49] Eight principal stars delineate its outline; two are of the first magnitude, five of the second, and one of the third (Fig. 12).
    — from Astronomy for Amateurs by Camille Flammarion
  3. You embrace 208:30 your body in your thought, and you should delineate upon it thoughts of health, not of sickness.
    — from Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy
  4. His unwelcome approach, the recognition of his person, his hasty departure, produced a complex impression on my mind which no words can delineate.
    — from Wieland; Or, The Transformation: An American Tale by Charles Brockden Brown
  5. Not only does he delineate the idea of growth in man, but he assumes this as the central use and meaning of the world.
    — from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 95, September 1865 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various
  6. These words delineate true Christian love and hold up the sublime example, or pattern, of God's love manifest in Christ.
    — from Epistle Sermons, Vol. 3: Trinity Sunday to Advent by Martin Luther
  7. She has thoroughly demonstrated her power to delineate character as moulded by passion.
    — from A Manual of American Literature

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