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cull

Verb
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

To choose or remove by selection; in older usage, to pick out or reject.

Detailed Definition
Cull is a somewhat specialized verb with older senses beyond the everyday idea of gathering. In this poem, “can't cull” suggests poverty cannot take away or prune the speaker’s dreams, using a less common literary verb.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Of dreams that poverty can’t cull” uses cull as select, gather, or remove; “She culled bright berries from the thorn” gives the verb its harvesting sense; “The editor culled weak lines from the draft” shows its figurative meaning of choosing or eliminating; In poetry, cull can imply careful selection, loss, or a harsh winnowing of lives and hopes
Additional Notes
The verb “cull” in the quoted line is less familiar in this sense than common everyday verbs.; Found in the poem, The Wealth of Nothing by Elizabeth Devereux
Also Known As
select harvest glean sift
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