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tress

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 lock or strand of hair, especially a woman’s—frequently idealized in amorous or descriptive Renaissance poetry.

Detailed Definition
“Tress” evokes feminine beauty—golden tresses, disheveled tresses. In poetry, it symbolizes allure or modesty. The term’s softness suits amorous description. Poets use it to explore how hair reveals state—bound tresses for virtue, loose for passion—reinforcing themes of gender, display, and the body’s language in lyrical and narrative traditions.
Example
Example in poetry:
“She braided her tress with ribbon,” in a romantic detail; In Shakespeare’s Lucrece: “Her tresses, like a net, caught every eye”; “The wind played with her tress”; “His tress was cropped for war”; “The tress of memory held a locket”; The tress fell like a golden rope.
Additional Notes
“Tress” romanticizes hair as flowing, individual strands; in blazon poetry, “golden tresses” symbolize beauty and sensuality, often contrasted with “shorn tresses” to mark loss of power, innocence, or freedom.
Also Known As
lock curl strand
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