Home › Glossary › Letter P

Palsied

Medical Terms
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

Affected by palsy; shaky, weak, or paralyzed. Here it describes a failing or unsteady action.

Detailed Definition
"Palsied" comes from "palsy," an older medical term for paralysis or tremor. Blake uses it figuratively to suggest weakness or loss of power, but the word is archaic enough that many readers may not know it immediately.
Example
Example in poetry:
William Blake’s “The Soldier armed with Sword & Gun / Palsied strikes the Summers Sun”; Palsied means affected by palsy, trembling, paralyzed, or weakened; Blake’s image makes military power seem physically and morally enfeebled; “Her palsied hand could not lift the cup” uses the adjective in its older medical sense, now often replaced by more specific language
Additional Notes
"Palsied" is an old medical adjective in the quoted line and is not common modern vocabulary.; Found in the poem, Auguries of Innocence by William Blake
Other Meanings of “Palsied”
Also Known As
paralyzed incapacitated weakened Palsy Tremor Weakness Paralytic
Skip to main content