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soak

Archaic Terms
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 drench thoroughly; also, a habitual drunkard—dual usage allows for both literal saturation and satirical social commentary.

Detailed Definition
As verb, “soak” implies saturation—soaked in rain, soaked in grief. As noun, it labels dissipation. In poetry, both appear: fields soaked, soaks in taverns. The duality enriches metaphor—emotional drenching versus moral decay. Poets use it to explore how immersion transforms, where soaking brings growth or ruin, reinforcing themes of excess, absorption, and consequence.
Example
Example in poetry:
“He soaked his sorrows in ale,” in a tavern lyric; In Burns: “Soak the memory in drink, if thou must”; “Her tears soaked the letter through”; “The rain soaked the battlefield clean”; “Soak thy soul in music, not malice”; The sponge soaked the wound with healing.
Additional Notes
“Soak” as drunkard appears in moralizing or comic verse; as verb, it implies total saturation—“soaked in sorrow”—making it useful for conveying overwhelming emotional or meteorological immersion.
Also Known As
drench saturate steep souse drabble infusion
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