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gyre

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 whirl or spin around. In older or literary usage, it can mean to move in a circular way.

Detailed Definition
This is a real English word, but it is uncommon in everyday speech and is more often found in literary or elevated contexts. In the poem it helps create a sense of twisting, whirling motion.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Did gyre and gimble in the wabe” uses Carroll’s coined gyre, meaning to whirl or turn; “The hawk gyred above the field” is a traditional poetic use for circling flight; Yeats’s “Turning and turning in the widening gyre” makes the noun a symbol of historical cycles; “Leaves gyred along the subway stairs” adapts the verb to an urban scene
Additional Notes
The verb is uncommon in modern conversation, and the quoted line uses it in a literary, unusual sense.; Found in the poem, Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
Also Known As
whirl spin rotate
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