| hexameter | A verse of six feet, the first four of which may be either dactyls or spondees, the fifth must regularly be a dactyl, and the sixth always a spondee. In this species of verse are composed the Iliad of Homer and the aeneid of Virgil. In English hexameters accent takes the place of quantity. "Leaped like the | roe when he | hears in the | woodland the | voice of the | huntsman." (Longfellow) "Strongly it | bears us a- | long on | swelling and | limitless | billows, Nothing be- | fore and | nothing be- | hind but the | sky and the | ocean." (Coleridge) Origin: L, fr. Gr. Of six meters; (sc) hexameter verse; six + measure: cf. F. Hexametre. See Six, and Meter. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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