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laith

Dialect
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 Scottish and northern English dialect variant of "loath," meaning unwilling, reluctant, or disinclined to act.

Detailed Definition
This Scots word means unwilling or hesitant. Burns uses it to show the speaker’s gentleness, saying he would be reluctant to chase the mouse.
Example
Example in poetry:
“I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee” uses Scots laith for reluctant or unwilling; “She was laith to leave the fire” makes hesitation intimate and domestic; “Laith were I to praise war’s glitter” gives the dialect word moral force; “Though laith at first, he took the road” shows reluctance yielding to action
Additional Notes
“laith” is a Scots dialect word in the line and would likely need looking up.; Found in the poem, To a Mouse by Robert Burns
Also Known As
barn stable outbuilding
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