... the dynamics of the situation do not permit him to be a Rasputin, whispering in Nixon's ear. David Nevin, "Autocrat in the Action Arena," Life, September 5, 1969
Others have described Isaacs as "a Rasputin or Svengali-like character in Kerner's life who exploited his undue influence over the governor and led him astray." Cynthia Grant Bowman, Dawn Clark Netsch: A Political Life, 2010
Parallel universes are another trope borrowed from the repertory of science fiction. They are a marvelous convenience for authors who want to fantasticate at a high rpm without having to offer a rational explanation for the wonders they evoke. Thomas M. Disch, The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of, 1998
She also fantasticates about food, and her Catholicism surfaces in her lingering on the cannibalism at the heart of the eucharist. Marina Warner, "From high society to surrealism: in praise of Leonora Carrington -- 100 years on," The Guardian, April 6, 2017
... the dialogue is sanded and sharpened to an epigrammatic elegance ... Richard Brody, "'Phantom Thread': Paul Thomas Anderson's Furious Fusion of Art and Love," The New Yorker, December 27, 2017
His is the sort of epigrammatic utterance to which there can be no rejoinder, the clean hit and quick-killing witticism: once over lightly and leave. Nicholas Delbanco, The Lost Suitcase, 2000
For indeed they were but thewless creatures, pallid with the damp caves of the moors, and so starved that they seemed to have eaten grass like Nebuchadnezzar. S. R. Crockett, The Cherry Ribband, 1905
Here I stand amid my clan / Spoiled of my fame a thewless man. J. Stuart Blackie, "Is the Gaelic Ossian a Translation from the English?" The Celtic Magazine, July 1876
Señor So-and-so is the most powerful boss in the province of Tarragona, and even at that there are those who dispute his bossdom. Pío Baroja, Caesar or Nothing, translated by Louis How, 1919
This was Lepke's first bid for bossdom. He was ready to try his theories. Meyer Berger, "Lepke," Life, February 28, 1944
A rapid scramble down the shattered ridge to the col, and a careful kicking of steps along the first two or three hundred feet of the glacier which led northwards to our picnic place, then a glissade ... gradually easing off into a run down. T. Howard Somervell, After Everest: The Experiences of a Mountaineer and Medical Missionary, 1950
“Don’t worry,” she cheerily assured us over her shoulder. “In some places glissade is just about the only thing you can do. Plus, it’s fun.” Paul Schneider, "On Snowshoes in New Hampshire, Shuffling Off to Lonesome Lake," New York Times, March 5, 2009
Let his fellows grumble and objurgate, said he; they would cringe to him when he became a dragoman, with his pockets stuffed with piastres. Sabine Baring-Gould, The Book of Ghosts, 1904
It would be my advice to persons situated in this way, to not roll or thrash around, because this excites the interest of all the different sorts of animals and makes every last one of them want to turn out and see what is going on, and this makes things worse than they were before, and of course makes you objurgate harder, too, if you can. Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, 1889