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Footstool

Household Objects
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 low stool used to support the feet while sitting. It often suggests comfort, submission, intimacy, or a quiet domestic interior.

Detailed Definition
A footstool is a small upholstered, wooden, or woven stool placed before a chair for resting the feet. In poetry, it can create a close, domestic scale, implying a fireside conversation, an elderly sitter, or a child at the edge of adult space. Because feet rest upon it, the object may also carry associations of hierarchy, service, or reverence. Its modest presence can deepen a scene by showing how comfort is built from small acts and familiar furnishings.
Example
Example in poetry:
“The footstool waited beside his chair, worn smooth by years of use” suggests comfort and age; A poet can use a footstool to show hierarchy in “The queen rested her slipper on a velvet footstool”; “She sat on the footstool to listen at the door” places a child physically low and emotionally attentive; A small footstool in an empty room can symbolize the absent person who once used it
Additional Notes
A footstool suggests physical ease, but may also imply service or submission when someone places their feet upon it.
Other Meanings of “Footstool”
Also Known As
Footrest Ottoman
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