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shuttlecock

Games
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

Shuttlecock is the feathered missile of the traditional game and its modern descendant badminton.

Detailed Definition
Shuttlecock enters poetry as a final emblem of the light object of play and the sustained volley of the racket. In verse it symbolizes the delicate center of the contest. Poets draw on shuttlecock to explore themes of the flight between, the sudden fall, and the cultural object that has framed the poetry of the exchange and the graceful combat of the air from the earliest battledore to the present court.
Example
Example in poetry:
Shuttlecock as the traditional name appears in poems that wish to keep the older music of the game; Historical and lyric verse prefer the full word for its soft consonants and long vowels; “The shuttlecock drifted like a thought that had not yet chosen its landing” demonstrates lingering possibility; Educational examples present the term as the ancestor of the modern plastic version; Poets keep the older form when the sound of the line must itself feel feathered.
Additional Notes
Shuttlecock, as the feathered missile of the traditional game and its modern descendant, remains a flexible figure for any exchange that must be sustained by skill and attention. Poets may emphasize the feathers’ fragility or the cork’s resilience according to the needs of the line. Instructors can invite students to notice the difference between the object in flight and the object at rest. Related games include every form of the net contest. The image is especially powerful when the conversation of the air must not be allowed to fall.
Other Meanings of “shuttlecock”
Also Known As
birdie bird shuttle
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