Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iː	see	ɪ	sit	e / ɛ	bed	æ	cat
ɑː	father	ɒ	hot (UK)	ɔː	law	ʊ	put
uː	too	ʌ	cup	ɜː	bird	ə	about
eɪ	day	aɪ	my	ɔɪ	boy	aʊ	now
əʊ / oʊ	go (UK / US)	ɪə	near	eə	hair	ʊə	tour

Consonants that look unusual

θ	thin	ð	this	ʃ	she	ʒ	measure
tʃ	church	dʒ	judge	ŋ	sing	j	yes

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

pony up

verb

Forms ponies up ponying up ponied up

verb (intransitive, transitive, slang) To pay (usually a bill, debt or due).

Synonyms

cough up pay up ante up defray do the needful expend foot the bill fork out fork over imburse lay out pay pay the freight pay the piper pay the price quit shell out spend stump up spit up

Etymology

Originally often poney. US early 19th century. According to Michael Quinion, probably not from the monetary sense of pony and instead from Latin "Legem pone mihi Domine viam iustificationum tuarum" (“Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes”), a line from Psalm 119, verses of which are traditionally used in prayer in Anglican churches on the 25th of the month, becoming associated particularly with March 25th, a traditional day of debt settlement. This etymology has been accepted by the American Heritage Dictionary.

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “pony up”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details