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cornice

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 decorative molding or ledge along the top of a wall or building.

Detailed Definition
A cornice is an architectural term for the upper projecting part of a wall or building. Dickinson uses it to describe the grave as a house-like structure, making the burial image more concrete and architectural.
Example
Example in poetry:
“The Roof was scarcely visible – / The Cornice – in the Ground –” makes the cornice an architectural edge marking a buried house; In ekphrastic poetry, cornices can frame statues, façades, and inherited grandeur; A ruined-building poem may focus on a broken cornice to show survival of ornament after inhabitants vanish; Contemporary urban verse can use the cornice as a perch for pigeons, cameras, or precarious workers
Additional Notes
The quoted line uses "Cornice" as an architectural term, which is more specialized than everyday vocabulary.; Found in the poem, Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Emily Dickinson
Other Meanings of “cornice”
Also Known As
architrave overhang ledge eave
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