bed of Procrustes
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ben Jonson complained that it compels all ideas, irrespective of their worth, to fill a space of exactly fourteen lines, and that it therefore operates on the same principle as the bed of Procrustes.
From Halleck's New English Literature by Halleck, Reuben Post
Theology was ever the bed of Procrustes, to be adapted to which, the limbs of travellers, if too long were cut off, and if too short were lengthened.
From Good Sense by Holbach, Paul Henri Thiry, baron d'
The stanza becomes a bed of Procrustes; and the thoughts of the unfortunate author are alternately racked and curtailed to fit their new receptacle.
From Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches — Volume 1 by Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron
Like the bed of Procrustes, fashions are compelled to suit every one.
From Dress as a Fine Art With Suggestions on Children's Dress by Merrifield, Mary Philadelphia
The seat of ideals, then, in one's mind, should be, as it were, a lounge, over which these hangings may drape and flap harmlessly; but it may easily become as the bed of Procrustes.
From Select Conversations with an Uncle (Now Extinct) And Two Other Reminiscences by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
