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season'd

Diction
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

Seasoned; hardened or prepared by time and use. In older English, it can suggest something made tougher or more durable.

Detailed Definition
Here the soul is compared to timber that has been 'season'd,' meaning dried and strengthened so it will not warp or rot easily. Herbert uses the term to image spiritual endurance: a soul tested by experience can remain alive even when the world decays.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Like season’d timber, never gives” uses the apostrophe to mark omitted -e in seasoned; Shakespeare often uses contracted forms such as “bless’d” and “learn’d” for meter; “Season’d sailor” can mean experienced as well as weathered; Modern imitation: “Her season’d voice held winter’s patience”
Additional Notes
The apostrophe spelling and the older sense of timber being prepared or hardened may be unfamiliar to modern readers.; Found in the poem, Virtue by George Herbert
Also Known As
seasoned matured aged ripened agèd
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