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

shotgun

UK /ˈʃɒtɡʌn/ · US /ˈʃɑtɡʌn/ noun, verb

Forms shotguns shotgunning shotgunned shot-gun

  1. noun (firearms) A gun which fires loads typically consisting of small metal balls, called shot, from a cartridge. “The farmer's son brought home a Thanksgiving turkey from the wild that he killed with his shotgun.”
  2. noun (slang) The front passenger seat in a vehicle, next to the driver; so called because the position of the shotgun-armed guard on a horse-drawn stage-coach, wagon train, or gold transport was next to the driver on a forward-mounted bench seat. Can also be used in situations of claiming other resources such as bedrooms. “I call shotgun!”
  3. noun (US, especially Southern US) A one-story dwelling with no hallways or corridors, with the rooms arranged in a straight line. “Elvis Presley was born in a two-bedroom shotgun in Tupelo, Mississippi.”
  4. noun (American football) An offensive formation in which the quarterback receives the snap at a distance behind the center, often with a running back set to one or both sides of him.
  5. noun Relating to shotguns, either in a present or past sense. “shotgun cartridges”
  6. noun Relating to the threat of force or dubious means. “shotgun wedding”
  7. noun Relating to the use of numerous, diverse or indiscriminate means to achieve a particular result. “shotgun marketing”
  8. verb (slang, smoking) To inhale from a pipe or other smoking device, followed shortly by an exhalation into someone else’s mouth.
  9. verb (transitive, informal) To verbally lay claim to (something) “I got a day off because I shotgunned it.”
  10. verb (transitive, baseball) To hit the ball directly back at the pitcher.
  11. verb (US, slang) To rapidly drink a beverage from a can by making a hole in the bottom of the can, placing the hole above one's mouth, and opening the top.
  12. verb (US, slang) To send out many (requests, answers to a question, etc), especially in the hope that one obtains a positive result (i.e. reveals useful information, is correct, etc), in the manner of a shotgun firing many balls of shot such that one may hit a target.
  13. verb (computing, slang) To employ the technique of shotgun debugging.

Synonyms

scattergun death seat shotgun house shotgun shack

Etymology

From shot + gun. Front passenger seat sense comes from ride shotgun.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A light, smooth-bored gun, often double-barreled, especially designed for firing small shot at short range, and killing small game.

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