Both Uses of
salient
in
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
- The crowd grew more dense every moment, and, like water, which rises above its normal level, began to mount along the walls, to swell around the pillars, to spread out on the entablatures, on the cornices, on the window-sills, on all the salient points of the architecture, on all the reliefs of the sculpture.†
Chpt 1.1.1
- His salient angles fitted into the retreating angles of the cathedral (if we may be allowed this figure of speech), and he seemed not only its inhabitant but more than that, its natural tenant.†
Chpt 1.4.3 *
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