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prickly

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

Covered with sharp points or thorns, or prickling with tension; used literally for plants or figuratively for irritable temperaments.

Detailed Definition
Prickly is a common word in general English, but in this poem it appears in the fixed phrase "prickly pear," the name of a cactus. The word helps create the poem’s dry, harsh landscape.
Example
Example in poetry:
Eliot’s “Here we go round the prickly pear” turns the cactus into a bleak nursery-game refrain; A prickly pear is a cactus with spines and edible fruit; “Prickly pear bloomed beside the desert road,” gives a literal landscape image; In modern verse, its sweetness beneath thorns can figure guarded tenderness
Additional Notes
Although "prickly" is familiar, the quoted line uses it in a botanical name that some readers may not immediately recognize.; Found in the poem, The Hollow Men by T. S. Eliot
Also Known As
thorny spiny prickled bristly
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