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cordial

Noun
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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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 strengthening drink or medicine, especially one thought to revive the body or spirit.

Detailed Definition
In older English, a cordial was a restorative drink, medicine, or tonic meant to comfort and strengthen. Rossetti uses it in a spiritual sense, suggesting something that could warm or revive the soul in the coldness of suffering.
Example
Example in poetry:
“One drop of water for my soul / Or cordial in the searching cold” uses cordial as a restorative drink or medicine; In older poetry, a cordial may be a sweetened tonic offered to revive the weak; Keats’s “a beaker full of the warm South” similarly imagines drink as emotional transport; A contemporary poem may call a friend’s soup “a cordial,” extending the word into metaphorical comfort
Additional Notes
In the line quoted, "cordial" is used in an older medicinal sense that many modern readers may not know.; Found in the poem, A Better Resurrection by Christina Rossetti
Also Known As
friendly warm welcoming hospitable
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