Literary notes about percolate (AI summary)
The word "percolate" is used in literature to evoke both a tangible process of liquid filtering through a medium and a more abstract, gradual diffusion of ideas or emotions. In its literal sense, it describes the slow passage of substances such as water, oil, or coffee through porous materials—for instance, oil seeping through cement [1] or water moving smoothly over stone [2, 3]. Metaphorically, it captures the subtle process by which thoughts, cultural practices, or secrets steadily seep into collective consciousness or individual minds, as when knowledge slowly penetrates the public mind [4] or transformative ideas permeate personal awareness [5]. This dual usage enriches literary narratives by drawing a parallel between physical filtration and the gradual unfolding of intellectual or emotional change.
- Oil should not in any way come into contact with the mortar; it may percolate through the cement and alter its resistant qualities.
— from Gas-Engines and Producer-Gas Plants A Practice Treatise Setting Forth the Principles of Gas-Engines and Producer Design, the Selection and Installation of an Engine, Conditions of Perfect Operation, Producer-Gas Engines and Their Possibilities, the Care of Gas-Engines and Producer-Gas Plants, with a Chapter on Volatile Hydrocarbon and Oil Engines by Rodolphe Edgard Mathot - The water will thus percolate through the stone without splashing and evenly wet the sand and cement.
— from Concrete Construction: Methods and Costs by Halbert Powers Gillette - Fresh boiling water is then poured through the coffee and allowed to percolate into the lower part of the pot.
— from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers - [Pg 139] accessible to all men of any intelligence: henceforth it must be left to slowly percolate and sink into the minds of the people.
— from Pioneers of Science by Lodge, Oliver, Sir - Even so, a great light was beginning to percolate to my innermost consciousness.
— from One Third Off by Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury) Cobb
