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hammock

Nautical
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 sling or bed used on a ship. In older nautical writing, it can mean the sailor’s hanging berth.

Detailed Definition
Here, the word refers to the shipboard bed or sling where Drake is imagined resting. In maritime contexts, a hammock was a practical sleeping arrangement for sailors, not the garden furniture modern readers may first think of.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Drake he’s in his hammock an’ a thousand mile away” uses hammock in its nautical sense, a sailor’s suspended berth; “Below deck, each hammock swung with the ship’s long breathing” evokes life at sea; Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” offers another classic setting for shipboard imagery; “Her hammock rocked above the engine’s drone” gives a contemporary maritime scene
Additional Notes
In the line quoted, "hammock" is used in its older shipboard sense, which many modern readers may not know.; Found in the poem, Drake's Drum by Henry Newbolt
Also Known As
swinging repose tranquil nest leisure cradle
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