hexameter

hexameter
    n 1: a verse line having six metrical feet
    

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

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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