In literature, the term "jet" is most often employed to evoke a deep, intense black that adds a dramatic and mysterious quality to both characters and settings. Authors frequently describe hair, eyes, and even entire landscapes as "jet black"—a hue that suggests elegance and sometimes foreboding. For instance, characters are frequently depicted with striking jet-black hair and features, as seen in descriptions of a radiant figure with hair “jet black” and eyes to match [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. Similarly, the color is used to transform ordinary scenes into something charged with emotion or symbolism, as when a creek's water is rendered “jet black” to heighten its atmosphere [7] or when objects like ornate jewelry or carved stone are noted for bearing the lustrous, inky quality of jet [8, 9]. Overall, the use of "jet" as a color enriches the narrative by imbuing imagery with a sense of depth, mystery, and refined intensity.
- Her face was as white as milk; her eyes, her clothes, her hair jet black.
— from Adieu by Honoré de Balzac
- His jet-black hair, as it clustered round his ears, had in it something of a curl.
— from Nina Balatka by Anthony Trollope
- I could then see their big bodies, long tails, and long, jet-black, shining hair.
— from Lost in the Jungle; Narrated for Young People by Paul B. (Paul Belloni) Du Chaillu
- They had to cut away a lot of Mr. Bunter's jet-black hair to make a good dressing.
— from Tales Of Hearsay by Joseph Conrad
- His hair, full beard, and bushy eyebrows were jet black; so far as one might judge he looked about thirty-five years of age.
— from The Devil-Tree of El Dorado: A Novel by Frank Aubrey
- His eyes, which flashed fiercely, and seemed to read one through and through, were overhung by heavy, jet-black eyebrows.
— from A Diplomatic Woman by Huan Mee
- The water of the creek was jet black now.
— from The Trail of the Lonesome Pine by Fox, John, Jr.
- Diamond-stones and amber and jet We'll string for a necklace fair and fine To please this pretty bird of mine!"
— from Rhymes for the Young Folk by William Allingham
- The second "St. Declan's Stone" was a small, cross-inscribed jet-black piece of slate or marble, approximately—2" or 3" x 1½".
— from Life of St. Declan of Ardmore and Life of St. Mochuda of Lismore