And here is how the novel describes the neurotic dependence Arthur's son Chip has developed on his sister, because of all the money he owes her: "He'd lived with the affliction of this debt until it had assumed the character of a neuroblastoma so intricately implicated in his cerebral architecture that he doubted he could survive its removal".
We are left with the conclusion that, because of acts of commission or omission, Alan Greenspan was not prepared to contain or manage in any way one of the most deluded and dangerous market manias in four centuries of financial capitalism until it had assumed such vast proportions that recession was inevitable.
Until recently it had assumed that so long as Yulia Tymoshenko, a former Ukrainian prime minister, was in jail, the EU would not sign an agreement with her jailer, Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine's president.
Jackson W. Moore, the president of Union Planters, has assumed Mr. Rawlins' duties until a permanent replacement is named.
Until recently, glaciologists had assumed it would take decades for coastal changes to make their way deep inland.
Although Scipio, a veteran officer, advocated delaying engagement until winter had passed, Hannibal knew that he needed only wait until Sempronius had assumed command to provoke a confrontation.
The proliferation of supremely confident girls filming or photographing themselves like this has altered the Met's child abuse 'victimology' profiles which, until recently, had assumed girls with webcam access being left alone for hours in their bedroom were the norm.
As the temperature increased, the flies extended their legs until they had assumed a splayed out posture.
Even after all that has happened at Lucent, its retirees have assumed until now that their pensions were inviolate.
Until recently, lenders had assumed Dubai's many state-linked companies had implicit government backing.
