Home › Glossary › Letter D

dross

Archaic Terms
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

Waste matter or impurities separated from molten metal during smelting; metaphorically, anything worthless, trivial, or of poor quality separated from what is valuable.

Detailed Definition
“Dross” symbolizes moral or spiritual impurity—worldly distractions that obscure truth. In alchemical and religious poetry, refining removes dross to reveal gold (virtue). Poets use it in metaphors of purification, testing, or judgment. Its metallic origin grounds abstract ethics in tangible process, reinforcing themes of transformation, discernment, or divine sifting in didactic and mystical verse.
Example
Example in poetry:
"All that glitters is not gold, but dross," adapts Shakespeare; In alchemical poetry: "Burn away the dross to find the soul"; "Fame is but dross compared to truth," a moral lyric; Milton compares worldly wealth to "dross"; "Her words were pure, not dross of flattery"; Time turns crowns to dross.
Additional Notes
“Dross” symbolizes impurity refined away—alchemically or morally; in metaphysical or didactic poetry, the soul’s “dross” must be burned off for purity, making it a key metaphor for spiritual or artistic refinement.
Also Known As
waste scum refuse
Skip to main content