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sulph'rous

Adjective
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

Full of sulfur; here, smoky, harsh, and choking. The spelling is an older poetic form of sulphurous.

Detailed Definition
Sulph'rous is an archaic or poetic spelling of sulphurous, meaning containing sulfur or resembling sulfurous smoke and fumes. Campbell uses it to make the battle scene feel fiery, toxic, and oppressive. The apostrophe and the old spelling make it especially likely to puzzle modern readers.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Shout in their sulph’rous canopy” — Thomas Hardy, “The Dynasts”; “Sulphurous” evokes brimstone, smoke, and hellish heat; The sulph’rous fog stains the industrial sky; The archaic apostrophe in sulph’rous compresses the word for meter
Additional Notes
The spelling in "sulph'rous canopy" is old and specialized, so readers may not immediately recognize the word.; Found in the poem, Hohenlinden by Thomas Campbell
Also Known As
sulfurous noxious acrid toxic
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