dactyl

Definition

A metrical foot of three syllables (— ⏑ ⏑), one long followed by two short, or one accented followed by two unaccented.

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin dactylus, from Ancient Greek δάκτυλος (dáktulos, “finger”), three bones of the finger corresponding to three syllables. Doublet of dactylus and date.

Example Sentences

• "Now the Bard, glad to get an audience, […] / stuck fast with his first hexameter, / Not one of all whose gouty feet would stir. // But ere the spavin'd dactyls could be spurr'd / Into recitative, in great dismay / Both cherubim and seraphim were heard / To murmur loudly through their long array; […]"
• "—My name is absurd too: Malachi Mulligan, two dactyls. But it has a Hellenic ring, hasn't it?"

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