Orwell, George — Nineteen eighty-four [721]

Winston was gelatinous with fatigue. Gelatinous was the right word. It had come into his head spontaneously. His body seemed to have not only the weakness of a jelly, but its translucency. He felt that if he held up his hand he would be able to see the light through it. All the blood and lymph had been drained out of him by an enormous debauch of work, leaving only a frail structure of nerves, bones and skin. All sensations seemed to be magnified. His overalls fretted his shoulders, the pavement tickled his feet, even the opening and closing of a hand was an effort that made his joints creak. — Orwell, George, Nineteen eighty-four, 721

Note

Orwell builds a metaphor word by word: the single invented adjective ‘gelatinous’ is tested, then extended through translucency and drained lymph until fatigue becomes a physical, almost ghostly condition. Clever use of the technical adjective to fuse body and state of mind.