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

distrain

UK /dɪˈstɹeɪn/ · US /di-ˈstrān/ verb

Forms distrains distraining distrained

  1. verb (obsolete) To squeeze, press, embrace; to constrain, oppress.
  2. verb (law, transitive, obsolete) To force (someone) to do something by seizing their property. “to distrain a person by his goods and chattels”
  3. verb (law, intransitive) To seize somebody's property in place of, or to force, payment of a debt.
  4. verb (obsolete) To pull off, tear apart.

Synonyms

distress

Etymology

From Middle English distreynen, from Old French destraindre, from Latin distringō (“to pull asunder”), from dis- (“apart”) + stringō (“to draw tight, strain”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To press heavily upon; to bear down upon with violence; hence, to constrain or compel; to bind; to distress, torment, or afflict.
  2. verb To rend; to tear. [Obs.]
  3. verb To levy a distress.

Etymology [OE. destreinen to force, OF. destreindre to press, oppress, force, fr. L. distringere, districtum, to draw asunder, hinder, molest, LL., to punish severely; di- = stringere to draw tight, press together. See Strain, and cf. Distress, District, Distraint.]

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