dactyl

views updated May 29 2018

dac·tyl / ˈdaktl/ • n. Prosody a metrical foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables or (in Greek and Latin) one long syllable followed by two short syllables.

dactyl

views updated May 21 2018

dactyl a metrical foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables or (in Greek and Latin) one long syllable followed by two short syllables. Recorded from late Middle English, the word comes via Latin from Greek daktulos, literally ‘finger’, the three bones of the finger corresponding to the three syllables.

dactyl

views updated Jun 11 2018

dactyl †date (fruit); (pros.) the foot — ‿‿. XIV. — L. dactylus — Gr. dáktulos finger, date, dactyl.
So dactylic XVI.

Dactyl

views updated May 08 2018

Dactyl See IDA.

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