Dislodge its hold

Federico Escobar federicoescobarcordoba at GMAIL.COM
Thu Dec 9 19:38:25 UTC 2010


Somebody brought this sentence to my attention:
"When you find the tip of the root, take in the good that will
gradually *dislodge
its hold* upon you."
(It's from a book called "Buddha's Brain", available on Google Books.)

I found the use of "dislodge" here very odd. There are 1,000 raw Google hits
for it, but none on the COCA. In fact, most of the COCA hits for
dislodge+(determinant or possessive)+noun refer to tangible things (with the
possible exception of "dislodge his grip"). None of the OED citations works
in the same way as "dislodge its hold." I know some may want to dispel this
as a merely figurative use, but I did have trouble coming to terms with it.
Perhaps I'm not the only one?

I'll say not one word on the somewhat perplexing "its" toward the end.

F.

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