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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].
  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. “Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?”
    — from Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
  4. 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
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. 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
  9. Mrs. Harling was short and square and sturdy-looking, like her house.
    — from My Ántonia by Willa Cather
  10. 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
  11. 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

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