Literary notes about spread (AI summary)
The term “spread” in literature functions both literally and metaphorically to convey expansion and dissemination. It can describe physical layouts, such as a table neatly arranged for a meal [1, 2] or wings extended in flight [3, 4, 5]. Simultaneously, it captures the diffuse nature of abstract ideas and consequences, being employed to illustrate how news, virtue, or reputation can travel widely [6, 7, 8]. At times it depicts natural or societal phenomena—like the creeping onset of famine or chaos over land [9, 10, 11]—while in other contexts it emphasizes the broad reach of influence or emotion [12, 13, 14]. Through these varied uses, “spread” enriches narratives by bridging the tangible and the intangible.
- A table was spread in the centre of the room.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - ‘Why, I see a table spread with all kinds of good things, and robbers sitting round it making merry.’
— from Grimms' Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm - The duck struggled hard and finally spread its wings and flew up from the water with the Rabbit hanging on to the noose.
— from Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney - The Crane spread his broad wings and flew up toward the sun.
— from The Aesop for Children by Aesop - But just that moment the robin, who had ended his song, gave a little shake of his wings, spread them and flew away.
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - Things spread so, from mouth to mouth—" Nabendu replied with vehemence: "My name wouldn't suffer by appearing in the newspapers."
— from The Hungry Stones, and Other Stories by Rabindranath Tagore - The fame of this martyr spread to the West.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - His reputation as a drunkard became so well known and spread so far that even at Evreux they talked of Mme.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant - Widely was spread God's vengeance then throughout the land, and famine scour'd the hills.
— from The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - An awful panic spread through the whole building.
— from The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale by Joseph Conrad - The conflagration spread and was followed by famine, so that the whole land was involved in ruin.
— from Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore - By Me the whole vast Universe of things Is spread abroad;--by
— from The Song Celestial; Or, Bhagavad-Gîtâ (from the Mahâbhârata) - We spread ourselves, so to speak, over the whole world, and all this vast expanse becomes sensitive.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Spread of Mohammedanism to Africa and Europe.
— from A History of the Philippines by David P. Barrows
