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siding

Nautical
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

A side track on a railway line used for passing or storing trains. It is not the main line.

Detailed Definition
In railway terminology, a siding is a branch track beside the main line. Owen’s poem uses it to create a hidden, liminal departure point rather than a public station platform.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Down the close, darkening lanes they sang their way / To the siding-shed” uses siding for a railway track branching from the main line; Auden’s train imagery often makes railways signs of travel and industrial life; “A freight car waited on the rusted siding” gives the term’s practical sense; Though sometimes mislabeled nautical, a siding is chiefly railway vocabulary
Additional Notes
The railway sense of siding is specialized vocabulary, and the poem’s evidence uses it in that technical meaning.; Found in the poem, The Send-Off by Wilfred Owen
Also Known As
sheltering siding material protective covering cladding
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