dactyl

/dak"til/, n.

1. Pros. a foot of three syllables, one long followed by two short in quantitative meter, or one stressed followed by two unstressed in accentual meter, as in gently and humanly.

2. a finger or toe.

[1350-1400; ME < L dactylus < Gk dáktylos finger, a dactyl, referring to the three joints of the finger]

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▪ poetry

      metrical foot consisting of one long (classical verse) or stressed (English verse) syllable followed by two short, or unstressed, syllables. Probably the oldest and most common metre in classical verse is the dactylic hexameter, the metre of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and of other ancient epics. Dactylic metres are fairly rare in English verse, one difficulty being that the prolonged use of the dactyl tends to distort normal word accent, giving the lines a jerky movement. They appeared with regularity only after poets like Robert Browning and Algernon Charles Swinburne successfully used the form in the 19th century. Dactylic rhythm produces a lilting movement as in the following example from Byron's Bride of Abydos:

      This line contains the common variation of omitting an unstressed syllable at the end of a line.

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