Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Hexameter
Hex-am′e-ter
,Noun.
[L., fr. Gr. [GREEK] of six meters; (sc. [GREEK]) hexameter verse;
ἕξ
six + [GREEK] 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.
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.
Nothing be- | fore and | nothing be- | hind but the | sky and the | ocean.
Coleridge.
Webster 1828 Edition
Hexameter
HEXAM'ETER
,Noun.
HEXAM'ETER
,Adj.
Definition 2024
Hexameter
hexameter
hexameter
See also: Hexameter
English
Alternative forms
Noun
hexameter (countable and uncountable, plural hexameters)
- (countable) a line in a poem having six metrical feet
- (uncountable) a poetic metre in which each line has six feet
Translations
line in a poem
poetic metre
See also
- (poetic meter) monometer, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter, hexameter, heptameter, octameter, enneameter, decameter, hendecameter, dodecameter (Category: en:Prosody)
Latin
Etymology
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /hekˈsa.me.ter/, [hɛkˈsa.mɛ.tɛr]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ekˈsa.me.ter/, [ekˈsaː.me.ter]
Noun
hexameter m (genitive hexametri); second declension
Inflection
Second declension, nominative singular in -er.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | hexameter | hexametrī |
| genitive | hexametrī | hexametrōrum |
| dative | hexametrō | hexametrīs |
| accusative | hexametrum | hexametrōs |
| ablative | hexametrō | hexametrīs |
| vocative | hexameter1 | hexametrī |
1May also be hexametre.
References
- hexameter in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- hexameter in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- Félix Gaffiot (1934), “hexameter”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.