Literary notes about oscillating (AI summary)
Writers employ "oscillating" both literally and metaphorically to evoke a sense of rhythmic fluctuation or back‐and‐forth movement. It appears in descriptions of natural or mechanical motion—ranging from the slow, deliberate sway of a reptile’s head [1] and the movement of engine parts [2, 3] to the gently rocking of ships or the pulsating energy of landscapes [4, 5]. At the same time, the term works as a metaphor for vacillation in thought, emotion, or policy, conveying an indecisiveness or a dynamic tension that colors human behavior and societal shifts [6, 7, 8]. This dual usage enriches the narrative, imbuing physical descriptions and internal states alike with a lively, oscillatory character.
- With its jaws agape and forked tongue darting, the reptile began slowly oscillating as if trying its range.
— from The Boy Inventors' Flying Ship by Richard Bonner - Herewith are drawings of an engine with an oscillating cylinder.
— from The Boy's Own Book of Indoor Games and RecreationsA Popular Encyclopædia for Boys by Gordon Stables - This oscillating bar gives motion to a wheel which turns the minute and hour hands.
— from Curiosities of Science, Past and PresentA Book for Old and Young by John Timbs - Then oscillating sleepily from side to side, it dropped a myriad petals of flame and sank lazily to earth.
— from The Brown Brethren by Patrick MacGill - The sand on the bottom of the lake is finely and sharply rippled by the oscillating movement of the waves, and the water is crystal clear.
— from Trans-Himalaya: Discoveries and Adventurers in Tibet. Vol. 1 (of 2) by Sven Anders Hedin - In the face of these new developments, Henry III. followed for some time an oscillating policy.
— from Europe in the Sixteenth Century, 1494-1598, Fifth Edition Period 4 (of 8), Periods of European History by A. H. (Arthur Henry) Johnson - Bill's wildly oscillating tensions froze at the point where he could only move helplessly with events and suffer a constant, unchangeable longing.
— from Beyond Bedlam by Wyman Guin - My impression is, that I was in a state of confusion about it, and, oscillating between the two points, touched neither.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
