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tine

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

A pointed prong or spike, especially on a fork, antler, or harrow; one of several projecting points on a branching implement; also to lose or be shut out.

Detailed Definition
As noun, “tine” describes natural or crafted points; as verb (rare), exclusion. In poetry, tines appear in hunting or tool imagery. The term’s sharpness mirrors function. Poets use it to explore how points penetrate or divide, where tines mark precision or danger, reinforcing themes of contact, separation, and the instrument’s role in descriptive and symbolic contexts.
Example
Example in poetry:
“The stag’s tine caught the moonlight,” in a hunting lyric; In natural verse: “The antler’s tine marked his age”; “His sword’s tine pierced the shield”; “The frost’s tine etched the window”; “The harpoon’s tine held the whale”; The tine of truth pierces illusion.
Additional Notes
“Tine” as prong appears in hunting or weapon descriptions (e.g., antler tines); its homonymic verb sense (“to tine out,” meaning to shut out) is rare but appears in dialect poetry, requiring careful contextual parsing.
Also Known As
prong fork spike
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