There is the gradual invisible detrition of rings upon the finger, of stones hollowed out by dripping water, of the ploughshare in the field, and the flags upon the streets, and the brazen statues of the gods whose fingers men kiss as they pass the gates, and the rocks that the salt sea-brine eats into along the shore.
"A Short History of Greek Philosophy"
John Marshall
The site or lie of the city is principally in two hollow basins, in which the detrition of houses forms now a soil for grain, for fruit gardens and good tobacco.
"Byeways in Palestine"
James Finn
And when, a hundred years hence, some antiquary reads this story in a number of the Omaha Intelligencer, which has escaped the detrition of the thirty-six thousand days and nights, he will say,- Why, this was the beginning of what we do now!
"The-Brick-Moon-and-Other-Stories"
Hale, Edward Everett