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amphimacer

 
Dictionary: am·phim·a·cer   (ăm-fĭm'ə-sər) pronunciation
n.
A trisyllabic metrical foot having an unaccented or short syllable between two accented or long syllables, as in Peter Pan. Also called cretic.

[Latin amphimacrus, from Greek amphimakros : amphi-, amphi- + makros, long.]


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Literary Dictionary: amphimacer
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amphimacer [am‐fim‐ăsĕ], a Greek metrical foot, also known as the cretic foot. The opposite of the amphibrach, it has one short syllable between two long ones (thus in English verse, one unstressed syllable between two stressed, as in the phrase ‘bowing down’). Sometimes used in Roman comedy, it occurs rarely in English verse. Blake's ‘Spring’ is an example:

Sound the flute! / Now it's mute; / Birds delight / Day and night.

 
 
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cretic
amphibrach
priapean

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Literary Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Copyright © Chris Baldick 2001, 2004. All rights reserved.  Read more