Literary notes about eligible (AI summary)
The word “eligible” has been used in literature to indicate a state of suitability or qualification, whether referring to people, places, or things. In many classic texts, eligibility connotes not only social or legal acceptability—as when characters are deemed acceptable marriage prospects or candidates for office [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]—but also a broader sense of optimal or fitting attributes. For example, Walt Whitman employs it to celebrate landscapes endowed with picturesque qualities [9, 10], while other authors apply the term to describe a property’s convenience or a site’s appropriateness for encampment and action [11, 12, 13]. This versatility in usage, found in works ranging from Jane Austen’s social commentaries [14, 15] to satirical and humorous exchanges in Oscar Wilde’s plays [16, 17], illustrates how “eligible” has long embodied the idea of meeting specific criteria, be they aesthetic, social, or practical.
- "It would be a most eligible family connection.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray - She had flirted with all the marriageable officers whom the depots of her country afforded, and all the bachelor squires who seemed eligible.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray - All red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age of twenty-one years, are eligible.
— from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - Algernon is an extremely, I may almost say an ostentatiously, eligible young man.
— from The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People by Oscar Wilde - We know now why Stapleton looked with disfavour upon his sister’s suitor—even when that suitor was so eligible a one as Sir Henry.
— from The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle - All classes of members whose dues are paid shall be eligible to vote and hold office.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - Therefore, no one who had justifiably Page 194 been prosecuted for any infamous crime was eligible to membership in the new organization.
— from Lineage, Life and Labors of José Rizal, Philippine Patriot by Austin Craig - Libraries as well as individuals are eligible for membership.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - Little, I say, do folks here appreciate the most ample, eligible, picturesque bay and estuary surroundings in the world!
— from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman - Even yet prodigal in forest woods, and surely eligible for all the fruits, orchards, and flowers.
— from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman - our guide now informed us that it was too late in the evening to reach an eligible place to encamp; that we could not reach any water before night.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark and Meriwether Lewis - on the point of the high plain at the lower extremity of this lake I think would be the most eligible site for an establishment.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark and Meriwether Lewis - But the situation most eligible for performing such an operation depends of course upon circumstances, both anatomical and pathological.
— from Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery - I shall write to Mrs. Partridge in a day or two, and shall give her a strict charge to be on the look-out for any thing eligible.”
— from Emma by Jane Austen - I shall write to Miss Mason immediately, and press her returning with us, which Henry thinks very likely, and particularly eligible.
— from The Letters of Jane Austen by Jane Austen - I am afraid you are not eligible.
— from Intentions by Oscar Wilde - I feel bound to tell you that you are not down on my list of eligible young men, although I have the same list as the dear Duchess of Bolton has.
— from The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People by Oscar Wilde
