Their Ideas are perpetually converſant in Lines and Figures. If they would, for example, praiſe the Beauty of a Woman, or any other Animal, they deſcribe it by Rhombs, Circles, Parallelograms, Ellipſes, and other Geometrical Terms, or by Words of Art drawn from Muſick, needleſs here to repeat.
1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Humours and Dispositions of the Laputians Described. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan), page 26