Hexameter

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Hexameter \Hex*am"e*ter\, n. [L., fr. Gr. ? of six meters; (sc.
     ?) hexameter verse; "e`x six + ? measure: cf. F.
     hexam[`e]tre. See {Six}, and {Meter}.] (Gr. & Lat. Pros.)
     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.
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           Leaped like the | roe when he | hears in the | woodland
           the | voice of the | huntsman.           --Longfellow.
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           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.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Hexameter \Hex*am"e*ter\, a.
     Having six metrical feet, especially dactyls and spondees.
     --Holland. Hexametric

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Verse \Verse\ (v[~e]rs), n. [OE. vers, AS. fers, L. versus a
     line in writing, and, in poetry, a verse, from vertere,
     versum, to turn, to turn round; akin to E. worth to become:
     cf. F. vers. See {Worth} to become, and cf. {Advertise},
     {Averse}, {Controversy}, {Convert}, {Divers}, {Invert},
     {Obverse}, {Prose}, {Suzerain}, {Vortex}.]
     1. A line consisting of a certain number of metrical feet
        (see {Foot}, n., 9) disposed according to metrical rules.
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     Note: Verses are of various kinds, as {hexameter},
           {pentameter}, {tetrameter}, etc., according to the
           number of feet in each. A verse of twelve syllables is
           called an {Alexandrine}. Two or more verses form a
           stanza or strophe.
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     2. Metrical arrangement and language; that which is composed
        in metrical form; versification; poetry.
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              Such prompt eloquence
              Flowed from their lips in prose or numerous verse.
                                                    --Milton.
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              Virtue was taught in verse.           --Prior.
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              Verse embalms virtue.                 --Donne.
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     3. A short division of any composition. Specifically: 
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        (a) A stanza; a stave; as, a hymn of four verses.
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     Note: Although this use of verse is common, it is
           objectionable, because not always distinguishable from
           the stricter use in the sense of a line.
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        (b) (Script.) One of the short divisions of the chapters
            in the Old and New Testaments.
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     Note: The author of the division of the Old Testament into
           verses is not ascertained. The New Testament was
           divided into verses by Robert Stephens [or Estienne], a
           French printer. This arrangement appeared for the first
           time in an edition printed at Geneva, in 1551.
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        (c) (Mus.) A portion of an anthem to be performed by a
            single voice to each part.
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     4. A piece of poetry. "This verse be thine." --Pope.
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     {Blank verse}, poetry in which the lines do not end in
        rhymes.
  
     {Heroic verse}. See under {Heroic}.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  hexameter
       n : a verse line having six metrical feet