Literary notes about excoriate (AI summary)
The term "excoriate" in literature spans a range of uses, from describing a literal physical process to conveying harsh verbal criticism. In several texts, it depicts the raw action of burning, chafing, or flaying the skin—as when corrosive substances burn the lips or when wounds are reopened by irritation ([1], [2], [3]). At the same time, writers often harness the word metaphorically to illustrate severe denunciation or invective, as in critiques that harshly condemn behaviors or actions ([4], [5], [6]). This duality allows "excoriate" to vividly capture both tangible physical pain and the cutting edge of scathing rhetoric ([7], [8]).
- After eating the marrow, which was so acrid as to excoriate the lips, we rendered the bones friable by burning and ate them also.
— from The Journey to the Polar Sea by John Franklin - Alkalies are like the acids, irritating; if strong they excoriate the fauces and esophagus.
— from Mother, Nurse and Infant A Manual Especially Adapted for the Guidance of Mothers and Monthly Nurses, Comprising Full Instruction in Regard To Pregnancy, Preparation for Child-birth, and the Care of Mother and Child, and Designed to Impart so Much Knowledge of Anatomy, Physiology, Midwifery, and the Proper Use of Medicines as Will Serve Intelligently to Direct the Wife, Mother and Nurse in All Emergencies. by S. P. Sackett - You must be careful not to have too much of the Liquid on the rag, for fear it should excoriate the gums or inside of the mouth.
— from The Toilet of Flora or, A collection of the most simple and approved methods of preparing baths, essences, pomatums, powders, perfumes, and sweet-scented waters. With receipts for cosmetics of every kind, that can smooth and brighten the skin, give force to beauty, and take off the appearance of old age and decay by Pierre-Joseph Buc'hoz - Its pamphlets went so far as to excoriate allied methods of warfare and to level accusations of inhumanity against the Belgians.
— from Woodrow Wilson and the World WarA Chronicle of Our Own Times. by Charles Seymour - [341] could excoriate an antagonist with invective, or roast him alive before a slow fire of sarcasm.
— from Sketches of Reforms and Reformers, of Great Britain and Ireland by Henry B. (Henry Brewster) Stanton - Neither have you a right to excoriate those who are conscientiously operating through the channels spoken of.
— from The Abominations of Modern Society by T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt) Talmage - Ghastly faces were staring at her, their lips moving in death to excoriate her.
— from The Last Shot by Frederick Palmer - Crouching back, he eyed his adversary in silence, with eyes whose hatred seemed to excoriate.
— from Kings in Exile by Roberts, Charles G. D., Sir
