Dactyl

Dactyl
/dak"til/, n., pl. Dactyls, Dactyli /-ti luy'/. Class. Myth.
any of a number of beings dwelling on Mount Ida and working as metalworkers and magicians.
Also, Daktyl.
[ < Gk Dáktyloi (Idaîoi) (Idaean) craftsmen or wizards (pl. of DÁKTYLOS; see DACTYL)]

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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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  • dactyl — dac tyl (d[a^]k t[i^]l), n. [L. dactylus, Gr. da ktylos a finger, a dactyl. Cf. {Digit}.] 1. (Pros.) A poetical foot of three sylables ( [crescent] [crescent]), one long followed by two short, or one accented followed by two unaccented; as, L. t[ …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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  • dactyl — (n.) metrical foot, late 14c., from Gk. dactylos, lit. finger (also toe ), of unknown origin; the metrical use (a long syllable followed by two short ones) is by analogy with the three joints of a finger …   Etymology dictionary

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  • 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… …   Universalium

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