Both Uses of
salient
in
The Call of the Wild
- Hal was a youngster of nineteen or twenty, with a big Colt's revolver and a hunting-knife strapped about him on a belt that fairly bristled with cartridges. This belt was the most salient thing about him. It advertised his callowness--
p. 97.8salient = noticeableeditor's notes: Callowness is a synonym for immaturity.
- The salient thing of this other world seemed fear.
p. 157.7 *salient = most noteworthy
Definitions:
-
(1)
(salient) the most noteworthy or important points about a thing
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
There are numerous less-commonly used senses of salient. All of them can be thought of a derivation of prominent:
military: the part of the line of battle that projects closest to the enemy
geometry: (of angles) pointing outward at an angle of less than 180 degrees
heraldry: a leaping horse on a coat-of-arms