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Literary notes about fling (AI summary)

The word "fling" in literature carries a range of dynamic nuances, from the literal act of hurling objects or oneself to a more figurative sense of discarding or indulging impulsively. In some passages, characters physically fling items—a handful of mud in the heat of a conflict ([1]) or even gauntlets in a challenge ([2])—providing vivid imagery of sudden, forceful action. In other contexts, the verb captures the spontaneity or abandon of behavior, as when protagonists resolve to fling away their burdens or seize fleeting moments of passion ([3], [4]). This multiplicity of meanings enriches narrative texture, allowing authors to evoke both tangible physicality and intangible, emotional gestures through a single, versatile term ([5], [6]).
  1. They were already making ready their handfuls of mud to fling at her when the right moment arrived.
    — from Anna Karenina by graf Leo Tolstoy
  2. Make them drop the mask and fling down the gauntlet to you!” “Bravo, bravo!” cried several enthusiastically.
    — from The Reign of Greed by José Rizal
  3. Christianity does not teach its disciples to fling away their lives wantonly, out of mere joy in being tortured and killed.
    — from The Moors in Spain by Stanley Lane-Poole
  4. I’m going to have my fling first and see a bit of life and the world before I put my head in the sack—if I ever do.”
    — from Dubliners by James Joyce
  5. "I am inclined to go and have a fling with them.
    — from Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy
  6. He would undress quickly, and without waiting to cool, still bathed in sweat, would fling himself into the clear, cold, sweet-smelling sea.
    — from Best Russian Short Stories

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