n.

1. One or more unstressed syllables at the beginning of a line of verse, before the reckoning of the normal meter begins.
2. Music. See upbeat (sense 1).

[New Latin anacrūsis, from Greek anakrousis, beginning of a tune, from anakrouein, to strike up a song : ana-, ana- + krouein, to push.]

Upbeat; term (borrowed from literary usage) for unstressed notes at the beginning of a phrase of music.

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anacrusis (plural ‐uses), the appearance of an additional unstressed syllable or syllables at the beginning of a verse line, before the regular metrical pattern begins.

anacrūsis, ‘upbeat’ in metric, an alternative term for arsis.

an upbeat, specif: one or more notes preceding the first downbeat of a musical measure

when one or more unstressed syllables are added at the beginning of a line.

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