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livelong

Adjective
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

Lasting all day long; entire. It is an old poetic word for something continuous through the whole day.

Detailed Definition
Livelong is a poetic compound meaning “the whole of” a period, especially a day. Dickinson uses it in the phrase “the livelong day” to emphasize endless public self-display, giving the line a folk-like, old-fashioned sound.
Example
Example in poetry:
“To tell your name the livelong day” means the whole long day, often with a folk-ballad cadence; “The livelong night the wind kept watch” extends the phrase into nocturnal duration; “We waited the livelong afternoon for rain” gives it patient, colloquial emphasis; The slightly archaic adjective can lend a poem songlike repetition and endurance
Additional Notes
This is a relatively rare poetic word today, and the quoted line uses it in an older idiomatic sense that many readers may not know.; Found in the poem, I'm Nobody! by Emily Dickinson
Also Known As
everlasting eternal ceaseless unending
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