Both Uses of
abyss
in
The Fountainhead
- Roark's words were like the steps of a man walking a tightwire, slow, strained, groping for the only right spot, quivering over an abyss, but precise.†
Chpt 1.8 *
- Wynand thought that what he felt was curiosity—if curiosity could be blown into the dimensions of a thing from the abyss—like those drawings of beetles the size of a house advancing upon human figures in the pages of the Banner's Sunday supplement—curiosity, because Ellsworth Toohey was still in the building, because Toohey had gained admittance past the orders given, and because Toohey was laughing.†
Chpt 4.15
Definition:
-
(abyss) a hole or dropoff so deep the bottom cannot be seen -- often used figuratively to imply a frightening bottomless pit