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scourge

Verb
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

To whip or punish severely. In older writing, it can also mean to afflict or chastise strongly.

Detailed Definition
Here the word appears in a moralizing sequence about disciplining thoughts. It is an older, harsher verb than most modern readers use regularly, and its force helps the poem sound stern and exhortative.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Purge them, scourge them, burnish brightly” makes scourge a verb meaning to punish harshly; Blake calls “the hapless Soldier’s sigh” a social wound, a context for scourging power; “Winter scourged the orchard with sleet” personifies weather as a punisher; “History scourges the ruler who forgets the poor” gives the term moral force
Additional Notes
In “Purge them, scourge them, burnish brightly,” the word is an older, severe verb that may not be familiar to readers outside literary contexts.; Found in the poem, Thoughts by Myra Viola Wilds
Also Known As
bane affliction blight
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