Klryz
Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iːseeɪsite / ɛbedæcat
ɑːfatherɒhot (UK)ɔːlawʊput
uːtooʌcupɜːbirdəabout
eɪdayaɪmyɔɪboyaʊnow
əʊ / oʊgo (UK / US)ɪəneareəhairʊətour

Consonants that look unusual

θthinðthisʃsheʒmeasure
tʃchurchdʒjudgeŋsingjyes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

Marks

  • ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
  • ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

Common word endings

  • -s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
  • -ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
  • -ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
  • Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
  • Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

English Dictionary · 107,383 entries · Sources & licences

bulwark

UK /ˈbʊl.wək/ · US /ˈbʊl.wɚk/ noun, verb

Forms bulwarks bulwarking bulwarked

  1. noun A defensive wall or rampart.
  2. noun A defense or safeguard.
  3. noun A breakwater.
  4. noun (nautical) The planking or plating along the sides of a nautical vessel above her gunwale that reduces the likelihood of seas washing over the gunwales and people being washed overboard.
  5. noun (figurative) Any means of defence or security. “The party stalwarts constitute the bulwark that ensures the president's term of office.”
  6. verb (transitive) To fortify something with a wall or rampart.
  7. verb (transitive) To provide protection of defense for something.

Synonyms

rampart wall breakwater groin groyne mole seawall jetty

Etymology

From Middle English bulwerk, from Middle Dutch bolwerk, bolwerc and Middle Low German bolwerk, equivalent to bole (“tree trunk”) + work. Cognate with German Bollwerk, Danish bolværk, Swedish bålverk, Dutch bolwerk. Doublet of boulevard (from French boulevard, from Dutch); cognate with Portuguese and Spanish baluarte and Italian baluardo.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A rampart; a fortification; a bastion or outwork.
  2. noun That which secures against an enemy, or defends from attack; any means of defense or protection.
  3. verb To fortify with, or as with, a rampart or wall; to secure by fortification; to protect.

Etymology [Akin to D. bolwerk, G. bollwerk, Sw. bolwerk, Dan. bolvärk, bulvärk, rampart; akin to G. bohle plank, and werk work, defense. See Bole stem, and Work, n., and cf. Boulevard.]

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “bulwark”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details

Sanskrit

Sanskrit dictionary entries whose meaning includes “bulwark” (best matches first).