Literary notes about check (AI summary)
The word "check" in literature is remarkably versatile, functioning across a spectrum of meanings. In several works, it embodies the idea of restraint or control, as when passion is held in check or ambitions are curbed for the sake of order [1, 2]. It also serves as a tangible object—a monetary instrument used in transactions—which underscores its role in everyday social interactions [3, 4, 5]. Even more, "check" appears in descriptions of physical patterns in clothing, evoking both style and identity [6, 7, 8]. In strategic contexts, its use extends to the realm of games, notably in chess where a "check" heralds imminent threat [9, 10]. Thus, through its varied applications from the figurative to the literal, the term enriches the narrative texture of literary works.
- This I would trace to the balance in the mind effected by that spontaneous effort which strives to hold in check the workings of passion.
— from Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Day after day were the Federal advanced guards held in check, their columns delayed, and
— from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll - But wait until I get that forty-dollar check.
— from Martin Eden by Jack London - “In that case,” replied Dupin, opening a drawer, and producing a check-book, “you may as well fill me up a check for the amount mentioned.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2 by Edgar Allan Poe - He cashed the check into five-dollar gold pieces and telephoned Gertrude that he wanted to see her.
— from Martin Eden by Jack London - Bazarov raised his head, and saw Paul Petrovitch, in a light check jacket and a pair of snow-white trousers, walking briskly along the road.
— from Fathers and Sons by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev - "I had a pair of riding breeches by me, sir, deuce take them, fine, first-rate riding breeches they were too, blue with a check on it.
— from Short Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - There she sat, staid and taciturn-looking, as usual, in her brown stuff gown, her check apron, white handkerchief, and cap.
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë - 4. K - B 1 R - K B 3 5. R - Kt 7 K - B 6 and White will finally have to sacrifice the Rook for the Pawn, or draw by perpetual check.
— from Chess Fundamentals by José Raúl Capablanca - The Rook can only go to a White square, otherwise the first check with the Queen will win it.
— from Chess Fundamentals by José Raúl Capablanca
