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Literary notes about battery (AI summary)

The term “battery” exhibits a remarkable flexibility in literature, shifting its meaning according to context and authorial intent. In many military narratives, it denotes an organized array of artillery—cannons, howitzers, or mortars—deployed for tactical effect, as vividly illustrated in descriptions of battle formations and maneuvers ([1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]). At the same time, authors have appropriated the word in metaphorical and experimental ways: Edgar Allan Poe, for instance, uses “battery” to evoke both physical and electrical sensations, whether in the manipulation of muscles or in describing galvanic phenomena ([7], [8], [9], [10]). Beyond these, “battery” extends into legal and societal realms, featuring in discussions of “assault and battery” to denote unwarranted physical aggression ([11], [12], [13]); and even in modern technical contexts, it represents a power source essential to devices, as seen in manuals concerning sabotage and portable energy ([14], [15], [16]). This wide-ranging usage not only enriches the text but also reflects how a single term can carry diverse connotations—from the concrete infrastructure of warfare to the abstract constructs of law and technology.
  1. Position of the directing lines of an enfilading battery, relative positions of the cannon, the howitzers, or the mortars.
    — from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson
  2. I had a battery of four twenty-pound Parrott guns, commanded by Captain Silversparre.
    — from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. Sherman
  3. My party attracted the fire of a battery; a shell passed through the group of staff-officers and burst just beyond, which scattered us promptly.
    — from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. Sherman
  4. After putting in motion the irregular square in person, I pushed forward to find Captain Ayres's battery at the crossing of Bull Run.
    — from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. Sherman
  5. The enemy pressed on, gaining this battery, and we were again forced to choose a new line of defense.
    — from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. Sherman
  6. From that point the railroad was straight, leading into Savannah, and about eight hundred yards off were a rebel parapet and battery.
    — from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. Sherman
  7. A student, however, was especially desirous of testing a theory of his own, and insisted upon applying the battery to one of the pectoral muscles.
    — from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2 by Edgar Allan Poe
  8. The galvanic battery was applied, and he suddenly expired in one of those ecstatic paroxysms which, occasionally, it superinduces.
    — from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2 by Edgar Allan Poe
  9. The galvanic battery was applied, and he suddenly expired in one of those ecstatic paroxysms which, occasionally, it superinduces.
    — from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe
  10. A student, however, was especially desirous of testing a theory of his own, and insisted upon applying the battery to one of the pectoral muscles.
    — from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe
  11. If the husband seek to take away his wife by force, it is an assault and battery upon her.
    — from History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I
  12. And at law the fact may be of importance in cases of assault and battery.
    — from Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and Students by Hans Gross
  13. The best example of this sort of thing would be the perception of assault and battery.
    — from Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and Students by Hans Gross
  14. A whole telephone system can be disrupted if you can put 10 percent of the cells in half the batteries of the central battery room out of order.
    — from Simple Sabotage Field Manual by United States. Office of Strategic Services
  15. (2) Turn on the lights in parked cars so that the battery will run down.
    — from Simple Sabotage Field Manual by United States. Office of Strategic Services
  16. It consists of a Bunsen battery that I activate not with potassium dichromate but with sodium.
    — from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne

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