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Literary notes about indicator (AI summary)

In literature, "indicator" is employed in a range of contexts that blend the technical with the metaphorical. It is frequently used to denote measuring instruments or devices that display quantitative data—such as a speedometer reading increasing steadily ([1], [2]), a pressure gauge on a lamp ([3]), or even the precise adjustments of mechanical instruments ([4], [5]). At the same time, the term extends to abstract representations, signaling shifts or conditions in broader scenarios like population dynamics ([6]) or societal markers of health and discrimination ([7]). Moreover, "indicator" can serve as a narrative device that subtly guides the reader to infer underlying states, whether by marking time with a clock hand ([8]) or symbolizing emotional or contextual shifts ([9]).
  1. The indicator on the speedometer climbed steadily—forty, forty-five and fifty miles an hour.
    — from The Sky Trail by Graham M. Dean
  2. Yet the speed indicator showed that they had attained a velocity of fifty miles an hour and their maximum speed had not by any means been reached.
    — from The Boy Inventors' Electric Hydroaeroplane by Richard Bonner
  3. The lamp was fitted with an indicator to show the pressure obtained by pumping.
    — from The Worst Journey in the World Antarctic 1910-1913 by Apsley Cherry-Garrard
  4. Q. How do you test the adjustment of the azimuth indicator?
    — from The Gunner's Examiner by Harold E. (Harold Edward) Cloke
  5. Indicator springs are varied in strength to suit the pressure of steam they are to be used for.
    — from Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Joshua Rose
  6. This indicator shows the potential for population change in the country.
    — from The 2008 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency
  7. Sex ratio at birth has recently emerged as an indicator of certain kinds of sex discrimination in some countries.
    — from The 2007 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency
  8. montrilo , indicator, (clock) hand (from montri , to point out, show ).
    — from A Complete Grammar of Esperanto by Ivy Kellerman Reed
  9. This striving for effect that is so common is always an indicator of a lack of something.
    — from In Tune with the Infinite; or, Fullness of Peace, Power, and Plenty by Ralph Waldo Trine

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