stress markn.
/ˈstrɛs mɑːk/, U.S. /ˈstrɛs ˌmɑrk/ 1. Phonetics. A symbol used to indicate where the stress is placed on a word or other unit; esp. a mark placed before, after, or over each of the stressed syllables of a word.Stress marks are used in conjunction with standard spelling, systems of phonetic respelling, or IPA (see I.P.A. n. at Initialisms). For English words a superscript mark (ˈ) placed before the syllable bearing the primary stress and a subscript one (ˌ) placed before a syllable bearing secondary stress are now typical.
ΚΠ
1881 H. Sweet in Trans. Philol. Soc. 1880–1 18 208 Symbols of quantity and stress come after the more special ones of rounding, closeness, elevation.., stress-marks following those of quantity.
1888 H. Sweet Hist. Eng. Sounds (new ed.) 8 The stress marks are put before the element on which the stress begins.
1946 PMLA 61 10 In the I. P. A. transcriptions between brackets, stress marks are used only with diphthongs when it is relevant to indicate on which part of them the stress falls.
2014 Slavic & East European Jrnl. 58 366 All of the Russian words in the text..have stress marks.
2. Photography. A mark or imperfection, esp. linear or semicircular, on a print or film surface, caused by bending or the application of pressure.
ΚΠ
1890 Photogr. News 17 Jan. 54/1 The branch-like markings differ in appearance from what might be expected in stress-marks.
1968 L. A. Mannheim tr. K. Fritsche Faults in Photogr. iii. 331 Most enlarging papers are largely protected against stress marks by an emulsion supercoating.
2013 S. Pénichon 20th-cent. Color Photographs iii. 114 A gelatin supercoat (i.e., a hardened gelatin layer added over the print emulsion as a protection against stress marks and handling).
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2022).
<
n.1881