Saying in a soft, indirect or disguised way something harsh, ugly or forbidden to name.
In The Magic Mountain
They've disinfected it, so everything's fine
In front of the bed where an American woman died the day before yesterday, Hans answers "They've disinfected it, so everything's fine." Death disappears behind a technical and reassuring word, as if the problem were only one of hygiene, and the subject is closed quickly.
Chapter I: The Arrival at the Berghof, Hans Castorp
I have arrived at the very firm opinion that you are, secretly, one of ours and would end up realizing this, as so many others did who came here to amuse themselves, studied the atmosphere, turning up their noses, and one fine day found out that it would be convenient for them [...] to abandon their attitude of careless curiosity and spend an extended stay here
Chapter IV: The Sense of Time, Hippe and the Thermometer, Dr. Behrens
the patient mentioned, with some haste, that he must immediately draft and send a petition requesting an extension of his leave. In the midst of these words the "imperceptible passing" took place
Chapter VI: Naphta, the Snow and the Death of Joachim, the narrator
Subscription
The explanation of each passage, in every device and in every work, comes with a subscription.