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].
- You can easily devise some official excuse, a mislaid letter, or an error in a telegram."
— from The Postmaster's Daughter by Louis Tracy - 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 - 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 - 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 - She mislaid him Saturday afternoon—and for a long time suffered no inconvenience.
— from Howards End by E. M. Forster - 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 - "It is that I must also have mislaid my key," she frowned.
— from The Stingy Receiver by Eleanor Hallowell Abbott - (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 - 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 - 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 - It would be awkward if the key were lost or mislaid.
— from Miss Arnott's Marriage by Richard Marsh - 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