Literary notes about traction (AI summary)
The term "traction" is employed across literary texts in a variety of ways, ranging from its technical and mechanical meanings to metaphorical and physiological applications. In technical descriptions, it refers to the physical pull or grip required for machinery and vehicles—a usage highlighted in depictions of traction engines that power movement, as well as in evaluations of engine types and mechanisms [1, 2, 3, 4]. In medical and anatomical contexts, authors use "traction" to describe the force exerted by muscles or ligaments and even to explain peristaltic motions in the intestines [5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]. Additionally, in business or industrial narratives, "traction" becomes emblematic of progress, deals, or even the character of companies striving for market success, as seen in references to traction companies and associated negotiations [11, 12, 13, 14]. Thus, by traversing genres—from engineering and medicine to economics and broader cultural commentary—the word "traction" richly broadens its semantic field in literature.
- A "traction deal" in a Western city is the pivot about which the action of this clever story revolves.
— from Princess Zara by Ross Beeckman - Makes a noise like a traction engine and stinks like the dickens.
— from Flower o' the Peach by Perceval Gibbon - He knew his way; the packed sand gave him as good traction as the road.
— from Dust of the Desert by Robert Welles Ritchie - On the Grand Jonas, three pieces of heavy artillery began thundering, three Rimailho guns, which had been hoisted into position by traction engines.
— from The Woman of Mystery by Maurice Leblanc - This is why the fibres throughout the intestines are circular in both coats—they only contract peristaltically, they do not exercise traction.
— from Galen: On the Natural Faculties by Galen - Again, when the liver is full and distended and the stomach empty and in need, then the force of the traction shifts to the latter.
— from Galen: On the Natural Faculties by Galen - “Now, the stomach does not appear to exercise any traction.”
— from Galen: On the Natural Faculties by Galen - “The stomach does not appear to exercise any traction.”
— from Galen: On the Natural Faculties by Galen - The stomach, again, has some of its fibres longitudinal for the purpose of traction and the others transverse for the purpose of peristalsis.
— from Galen: On the Natural Faculties by Galen - p. 36, note 2 . 394 The coats exercise the vital traction, the cavities the merely mechanical .
— from Galen: On the Natural Faculties by Galen - "I want you to get—that Consolidated Traction Company story for me," he then declared.
— from Amazing Grace, Who Proves That Virtue Has Its Silver Lining by Kate Trimble Sharber - He was the employment-manager and publicity-counsel of the Zenith Street Traction Company.
— from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis - He was briefly informed of the troubles of Mulberry Traction.
— from The Boss, and How He Came to Rule New York by Alfred Henry Lewis - But the Traction gang can't get away with grand larceny like it used to.
— from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis