Home › Glossary › Letter C

Clothesline

Household Objects
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A line on which washed clothing is hung to dry. It often symbolizes exposure, renewal, weather, and domestic continuity.

Detailed Definition
A clothesline is a rope or wire stretched between supports for drying laundry in open air. In verse, shirts, sheets, and small garments moving in the wind can resemble flags, ghosts, sails, or a family’s private history made visible. The line may suggest humble routine, the cleansing power of rain and sun, or the vulnerability of intimate things displayed before neighbors and sky.
Example
Example in poetry:
Sheets on the clothesline snap in the wind like white sails above the yard; A poet may use a clothesline to show private life made briefly visible to neighbors; The speaker pins a dead father’s shirts to the clothesline, letting wind animate the clothing with memory; Rain arriving before the laundry dries can create an image of interrupted labor and disappointment
Additional Notes
A clothesline creates a visual sequence of garments, weather, and movement. It can connect private lives to public visibility, since intimate clothing is displayed outdoors for wind and neighbors.
Also Known As
Washing Line Laundry Line Washline
Skip to main content