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Literary notes about tidy (AI summary)

The word tidy is employed in literature as a flexible term that can describe everything from physical cleanliness and orderly arrangement to a broader sense of propriety and even moral alignment. In descriptions of personal care and domestic scenes, tidy conveys the neat and well-kept nature of individuals or households—for example, it is used to highlight well kempt appearances and maintained abodes ([1], [2], [3]). At the same time, tidy appears in contexts that suggest efficiency or order in broader, sometimes ironic senses, such as when an orderly arrangement of events, objects, or even numerical groupings is noted ([4], [5]). Authors also deploy tidy to flag minor cues of character and restraint, as when a character is depicted as “reasonably tidy” or when the act of tidying up is a brief moment before moving on with greater things ([6], [7]). This multiplicity of uses underscores how tidy not only describes a state of physical order but also hints at an underlying discipline or harmony within a narrative.
  1. I should add that all seemed to take a pride in their personal appearance, and that even the poorest (and none seemed rich) were well kempt and tidy.
    — from Erewhon; Or, Over the Range by Samuel Butler
  2. It was beautifully clean inside, and as tidy as possible.
    — from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
  3. Akhsinya had just scrubbed the table and the chairs, and the kitchen had the good smell which kitchens always have when the cook is clean and tidy.
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  4. We may all be killed, but we must kill a tidy number of them.”
    — from The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G. K. Chesterton
  5. How hopeless it is to tidy away the past, even for others!”
    — from Howards End by E. M. Forster
  6. My sister kept house for me and she suited me fine; she was just reasonably tidy and she let me alone and spoiled me . . .
    — from Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery
  7. "Come up and wash your face, and just put yourself tidy, and off we'll go.
    — from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

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