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unthrift

Diction
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 spendthrift or wasteful person. Here it means someone who uses up their charms carelessly.

Detailed Definition
In older English, an unthrift is a person who is prodigal or wasteful, especially with money or resources. Ayton uses the word figuratively for someone who gives away affection too freely, so the sweetness is squandered rather than treasured.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Such an unthrift of thy sweets” uses unthrift as wastefulness or prodigal expenditure; Shakespearean diction often turns thrift, meaning economy, into a moral quality; “Spring is an unthrift of blossom and scent” makes lavish natural abundance seem spendthrift; The noun is archaic, so it can lend a poem an Elizabethan flavor while personifying excess
Additional Notes
The word 'unthrift' in the quoted line is an old-fashioned term that most modern readers would not use or know well.; Found in the poem, To His Forsaken Mistress by Sir Robert Ayton
Also Known As
spendthrift wastrel prodigal squanderer
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