Home › Glossary › Letter L

linkboy

Historical Office
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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 boy who carried a flaming torch to light the way for pedestrians at night

Detailed Definition
The linkboy appears in poetry as a fleeting guide through urban darkness and moral ambiguity. Historically employed in pre-streetlight cities, linkboys were both useful and distrusted, sometimes associated with thieves. In verse—especially in 17th- and 18th-century London poetry—they evoke transience, danger, and the fragile illumination of truth. Their torches become metaphors for guidance, revelation, or the precariousness of safety in the night.
Example
Example in poetry:
In 18th-century London verse, the linkboy carries torches for night walkers through fog; William Hogarth-inspired poetry depicts linkboys as guides through vice districts; The linkboy in Thomas Hood’s sketches sells light to the wealthy; Linkboys appear in Gothic verse leading lovers or fugitives; Their flames symbolize fleeting safety in urban darkness; In nostalgic odes, they vanish before gaslight.
Additional Notes
Linkboys carried flaming torches to light paths for night travelers in pre-streetlamp cities; often poor boys, they risked burns or crime—poetic linkboys symbolize guidance through darkness, transience, or urban danger; their flickering light appears in nocturnal cityscapes as a metaphor for fragile safety.
Also Known As
link boy torchbearer
Skip to main content