GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 2 definitions

1.       
   Hexameter , n. [L., fr. Gr.  of six meters; (sc. ) hexameter verse; ἕξ six +  measure: cf. F. hexamètre. 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.
   1913 Webster
   Leaped like the | roe when he | hears in the | woodland the | voice of the | huntsman.
   Longfellow.
   
   1913 Webster
   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.
   
   1913 Webster
   
         
       

2.       
   Hexameter, a. Having six metrical feet, especially dactyls and spondees.
   Holland.