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Literary notes about mislaid (AI summary)

In literature, "mislaid" is commonly used to denote the accidental and often inconsequential loss of an object, lending a subtle tone of negligence or unintended disorder to the narrative. Writers employ the term in various contexts—from a casually mislaid letter or manuscript that disrupts correspondence [1, 2] to more significant plot points such as lost treasures and crucial objects that provoke further investigation [3, 4]. This usage not only underscores the fragility of order in everyday life but also injects moments of dry humor or irony when characters are unfazed by their temporary inconveniences [5, 6]. Whether referring to a forgotten key [7], a misplaced piece of luggage [8], or even abstract notions like lost ideas [9, 10], "mislaid" encapsulates the notion that while something may be lost at a particular moment, its misplacement often serves as a pivot for subtle shifts in mood or circumstance within the story [11, 12].
  1. You can easily devise some official excuse, a mislaid letter, or an error in a telegram."
    — from The Postmaster's Daughter by Louis Tracy
  2. I would write to him myself, but have mislaid his direction; and, as I hinted above, am afraid he took something in my conduct amiss.
    — from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
  3. It appeared only by chance that our son should happen to go on that day to inquire after his uncle, who had then mislaid his treasure.
    — from The Juvenile Lavater; or, A Familiar Explanation of the Passions of Le Brun Calculated for the Instruction & Entertainment of Young Persons; Interspersed with Moral and Amusing Tales by George Brewer
  4. At the time when “Notre-Dame-de-Paris” was printed the first time, the manuscript of these three chapters had been mislaid.
    — from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo
  5. She mislaid him Saturday afternoon—and for a long time suffered no inconvenience.
    — from Howards End by E. M. Forster
  6. PEARCE [unmoved] No, sir: you're not at all particular when you've mislaid anything or when you get a little impatient.
    — from Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw
  7. "It is that I must also have mislaid my key," she frowned.
    — from The Stingy Receiver by Eleanor Hallowell Abbott
  8. (3) See that the luggage of enemy personnel is mislaid or unloaded at the wrong stations.
    — from Simple Sabotage Field Manual by United States. Office of Strategic Services
  9. Many languages and things get mislaid in a person’s head, and stay mislaid for lack of this remedy.
    — from Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World by Mark Twain
  10. That mislaid ’y’ is rather striking when a person gets enough of it into a short sentence to enable it to show up.
    — from Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World by Mark Twain
  11. It would be awkward if the key were lost or mislaid.
    — from Miss Arnott's Marriage by Richard Marsh
  12. She was puzzled and irritated beyond measure, and kept looking in the same place again and again, just as we do when we have mislaid something.
    — from The Humour of Homer and Other Essays by Samuel Butler

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