Ides

Astrology
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

The 15th (full moon) in Roman lunar calendars, often ominous as in Caesar's fate. Poetry marks ides for mid-month crises or fateful reckonings.

Detailed Definition
Ides, from Greek "to divide," align lunations in Julian reforms. In verse, they doom in Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar." Literary midpoints symbolize turning. The term's lunar peak poeticizes climax, where ides bisect months like fate's blade, inspiring explorations of betrayal, culmination, and the dramatic pulse of calendric omens.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Caesar's fall by Shakespeare, ides warn: "Beware the ides of March, the soothsayer cries."; Ovid's calendars mark ides: "Ides bring the full moon's feast to Rome's old gods."; Modern poet Li-Young Lee ides inner: "The ides of self divide the heart's quiet month."; In Dante's journey, ides turn: "Mid-month ides pivot the pilgrim's dark ascent."; Seamus Heaney ides harvest: "Ides of August reap the potato's famine field."
Additional Notes
Ides, mid-lunar, tied to payments/omens; March Ides fateful. Poetry ides crises like Caesar—context: kalends/nones; marks pivotal moments.
Other Meanings of “Ides”
Also Known As
Ides of the Month
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