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peels

Archaic Terms
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

An archaic term for a sustained ringing or chime of church bells; used in elegies and pastoral verse to signal death or news.

Detailed Definition
Peels is an older spelling related to peals, especially the ringing of bells in a set or sequence. Here it belongs to the poem’s list of sounds that fail to interest the sick speaker, alongside tolls and knells.
Example
Example in poetry:
Poe’s “The Bells” asks, “How little the Bells, / Ring they peals, toll they knells,” contrasting celebratory peals with funeral knells; Peels is an archaic or variant spelling sometimes encountered for peals, but peal is the standard word for a ringing sequence; “The church’s peals broke bright across the market square” emphasizes festive sound; “Knells” darken the same bell imagery into mourning, showing how diction changes emotional register
Additional Notes
The word peels in "Ring they Peels" is an unusual older form tied to bell-ringing, not the common modern word.; Found in the poem, When Stretch'd On One's Bed by Jane Austen
Also Known As
strips layers skins shavings
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