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Send packing

Idiomatic Phrase
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 dismiss someone abruptly and decisively; suggests ordering departure with finality, often accompanied by rejection, termination, or refusal to continue association or employment.

Detailed Definition
Send packing means to dismiss, reject, expel, or drive someone away firmly. In poetry, the idiom can occur in comic scenes, courtship refusals, domestic quarrels, political purges, or moral allegories. The packing image suggests departure made practical and unavoidable: the rejected person must gather belongings and go. A poet may use it lightly for an unwanted suitor or seriously for exile, dismissal, or social exclusion. It is useful for themes of rejection, boundary-setting, authority, and banishment.
Example
Example in poetry:
A comic ballad might have the innkeeper send packing every ghost that refuses to pay rent; In a heroic poem, the queen sends the flatterers packing and keeps the honest fool; The phrase means to dismiss or drive someone away; A poet can use it for authority and comic rejection.
Additional Notes
Send packing means dismiss, reject, or drive someone away abruptly. In poetry, it can appear in comic rejection, exile, broken courtship, domestic conflict, or political expulsion. The packing image implies removal from place and relationship. Students should ask whether the dismissal is deserved, cruel, liberating, or defensive. It pairs well with doors, bundles, roads, suitcases, and the social power to decide who may stay.
Also Known As
dismiss
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