All 4 Uses of
flexible
in
Moby Dick
- The strongest and most reliable hold which the ship has upon the whale when moored alongside, is by the flukes or tail; and as from its greater density that part is relatively heavier than any other (excepting the side-fins), its flexibility even in death, causes it to sink low beneath the surface; so that with the hand you cannot get at it from the boat, in order to put the chain round it.†
Chpt 64-66
- They viciously snapped, not only at each other's disembowelments, but like flexible bows, bent round, and bit their own; till those entrails seemed swallowed over and over again by the same mouth, to be oppositely voided by the gaping wound.†
Chpt 64-66 *
- True, from the unmarred dead body of the whale, you may scrape off with your hand an infinitely thin, transparent substance, somewhat resembling the thinnest shreds of isinglass, only it is almost as flexible and soft as satin; that is, previous to being dried, when it not only contracts and thickens, but becomes rather hard and brittle.†
Chpt 67-69
- So that tormented to madness, he was now churning through the water, violently flailing with his flexible tail, and tossing the keen spade about him, wounding and murdering his own comrades.†
Chpt 85-87
Definition:
-
(flexible) bendable or adaptablein various senses, including:
- easily bent without physical damage or injury -- as of a hose or gymnast
- able to adjust readily to different conditions -- as of a plan
- willing to make concessions -- as of a negotiator or a boss