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daimen-icker

Dialect
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 dialect term for a single ear of grain taken casually from a field, especially one gathered little by little rather than harvested.

Detailed Definition
This Scots farming term refers to an occasional ear of corn or grain. Burns uses it to say the mouse’s share is tiny and modest, so taking it would not matter much.
Example
Example in poetry:
“A daimen-icker in a thrave” (Robert Burns) means an occasional ear of grain in a bundle or sheaf; Daimen-icker is Scots farming dialect for a stray or rare grain-ear; “Not a daimen-icker remained after the gleaners passed” emphasizes scarcity; The phrase’s agricultural specificity grounds Burns’s poem in rural labor and local speech
Additional Notes
“daimen-icker” is a rare Scots compound in the poem and is unlikely to be known by ordinary readers.; Found in the poem, To a Mouse by Robert Burns
Also Known As
rare find precious item unique treasure
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