Home › Glossary › Letter L

log

Nautical
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 device for measuring a ship's speed, originally a wooden board thrown overboard on a line.

Detailed Definition
Beyond its practical use, the log in poetry becomes the chronicle of the voyage—the written record of distance, time, and events. It embodies memory, documentation, and the human impulse to inscribe experience against oblivion. The daily entry, the careful note of latitude and longitude, transforms the journey into narrative. Poets often play on the dual meaning of "log" as both instrument and diary, using it to ponder how we measure our lives, how we preserve fleeting moments, and how the ship's track through water parallels the writer's track through language, leaving a wake of words behind.
Example
Example in poetry:
The log in poetry becomes the chronicle of the voyage—the written record of distance, time, and events.; It embodies memory, documentation, and the human impulse to inscribe experience against oblivion.; The daily entry in the log transforms the journey into narrative.; Poets play on the dual meaning of “log” as both instrument and diary.; The log measures a ship’s speed, but it also records the crew’s lives.; The ship’s track through water parallels the writer’s track through language, leaving a wake of words.
Additional Notes
The log is a device for measuring a ship's speed (originally a wooden board thrown overboard) and also the name for the ship's journal. In poetry, this dual meaning is powerful: the log is both the instrument of measurement and the chronicle of the voyage itself. It embodies memory, documentation, and the human impulse to inscribe experience against oblivion. The daily entry transforms the journey into a narrative, and poets play on the idea that the ship's track through the water parallels the writer's track through language, leaving a wake of words behind. The log is a symbol of reflection, record-keeping, and the attempt to make sense of time and distance.
Also Known As
Chip log patent log log line taffrail log blockhead
Skip to main content