sough

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LukeJavan8
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sough

Postby LukeJavan8 » Sun Mar 07, 2010 12:19 pm

Another one of those "ough" words, of which there is
a minimum of eight pronunciations, depending on the word:

SOUGH=
sough \SAU; SUHF\, intransitive verb:

1. To make a soft, low sighing or rustling sound, as the wind.
2. A soft, low rustling or sighing sound.

At a recent visit to Marsha's grave in Rathdrum, as the wind soughed through the towering pines nearby, Marsha's brother Pat left a silk bluebird by her headstone to honor her love of the outdoors.
-- David Whitman, "Fields of Fire", U.S. News & World Report, September 3, 2001
In the dark of winter, tin roofs sough with rain.
-- Les A. Murray, "Driving Through Sawmill Towns"
This voice she hears in the fields, in the sough of the wind among the trees, when measured and distant sounds fall upon her ears.
-- Ernest Renan, The Poetry of the Celtic Races
Gunfire, cannonade, and the weeping of bereft wives and mothers might fill the air of the disunited states, but the dominant sound in greater Manhattan would be the cheerful sough of money changing hands.
-- Bill Kauffman, "The Blue, The Gray, and Gotham", American Enterprise, July 2000
Sough comes from Middle English swoughen, from Old English swogan.

(Dictionary.com)
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

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Slava
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Postby Slava » Wed Sep 22, 2010 10:25 pm

An interesting word. I wonder if there is any difference in meaning between the two pronunciations. Slough has two, also, and they aren't the same. I never knew this one also had two, and in delving deeper I see that the British reverse the order of the pronunciations, and have an additional meaning us Americans don't have.

I wonder why plough isn't "pluff" in British English? Or is it?
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

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Postby Perry » Thu Sep 23, 2010 7:18 pm

"We're just a bunch of old sough-ties", he wispered.
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
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Slava
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Postby Slava » Thu Sep 23, 2010 9:09 pm

"We're just a bunch of old sough-ties", he wispered.
I'll bet "he" isn't a relative of Will-O-The Whisp.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.


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