The one gives an impression of life precariously held together by tacks, the other of opulence and security.

His argument is as follows: a man's masculinity is indeed insecure; it is an endless trial, a 'precariously held, endlessly tested, unstable condition'(p. 91).

No paved or graveled road leads along the horn, only a wide rock track flanked by low dunes precariously held in place by tall, sparse shore grass.

Macer paused and pointed to the massive heap of excavated takings poised above the entrance to the shaft, precariously held in place by a giant crib of logs.

The jeans were precariously held together, bulging under the plaid shirt, by a huge blanket pin.

With narrowing bases precariously held by corbeling (aesthetic buttresses that projected from inside), they studied the original designs, then applied mortars much stronger than the originals, along with other reinforcements.

This was the nerve center of the Estcarpian invasion force and beyond was the city they had taken in an audacious leap and so precariously held.

Wattie was clearly following an elaborate plan, for he zigzagged preposterously, and would wait long for no apparent reason in places where Lamancha was held precariously by half a foothold and the pressure of his nails.

To be picked up, Thompson must don a neoprene survival suit and wait in his life raft while his boat wallows in the waves with its keel precariously held in place.