- A metrical foot composed of two short syllables followed by one long one, as in the word seventeen.
- A line of verse using this meter; for example, "'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house" (Clement Clarke Moore).
[Latin anapaestus, from Greek anapaistos : ana-, ana- + paiein, pais-, to strike (so called because an anapest is a reversed dactyl).]
anapestic an'a·pes'tic adj.




