Literary notes about square (AI summary)
The term "square" unfolds a multifaceted role in literature, serving both literal and metaphorical purposes. At times it marks a distinct physical shape or location—a box under a tree [1], a church’s square entrance [2], or urban settings like Trafalgar Square and Russell Square [3], [4]—evoking images of geometry and order. In other contexts, it denotes measurements and configurations, as seen in mathematical puzzles [5], [6] and descriptions of area or proportion [7], [8]. Moreover, "square" enriches character portrayals by suggesting solidity or blunt straightforwardness, whether it describes a robust physical appearance [9] or a candid demeanor in dialogue [10]. This versatility allows the word to straddle the line between concrete spatial references and abstract notions of balance and fairness, underscoring its enduring literary appeal [11].
- But on Christmas night, as you handed me the square box by the tree, I saw, for the third time in my life, the same dazzling flash of light.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - The Church is on the other side of the street, twenty paces farther down, at the entrance of the square.
— from Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert - “Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?”
— from Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - Meanwhile matters went on in Russell Square, Bloomsbury, just as if matters in Europe were not in the least disorganised.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray - The puzzle is to find the smallest possible number of square portions of which the quilt could be composed and show how they might be joined together.
— from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney - 153.—A CUTTING-OUT PUZZLE.— solution The illustration shows how to cut the four pieces and form with them a square.
— from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney - A vast expanse of water whose surface area is 25,000,000 square miles, with a length of 9,000 miles and an average width of 2,700.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - Since four is the square of two, therefore two is the square root of four.
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge - Mrs. Harling was short and square and sturdy-looking, like her house.
— from My Ántonia by Willa Cather - Square had delivered his opinion so openly, that if he was now silent, he must submit to have his judgment censured.
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding - This was his hobby-horse, and he was always quoting it, making the passage square with his momentary feelings.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova