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tumid

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

An adjective meaning swollen, distended, or turgid; metonymically used in poetry to describe pompous language or imagery of rising waters.

Detailed Definition
In older or literary English, tumid means swollen, puffed up, or enlarged. Eliot uses it in a bleak, physical image of the river, giving the landscape a heavy, unhealthy feel.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Gathered on this beach of the tumid river” gives the river a swollen, bulging force; “Tumid” can describe floodwater enlarged by rain; In rhetoric, tumid language means pompously overblown expression; The adjective therefore may imply physical fullness or excessive verbal grandeur
Additional Notes
The adjective "tumid" in the line quoted is a rare literary word, and many modern readers would need to look it up.; Found in the poem, The Hollow Men by T. S. Eliot
Also Known As
swollen tumorous distended inflated
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