anapest


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an·a·pest

also an·a·paest  (ăn′ə-pĕst′)
n.
1. A metrical foot composed of two unaccented syllables followed by one accented one, as in the word seventeen.
2. A metrical foot in quantitative verse composed of two short syllables followed by one long one.
[Latin anapaestus, from Greek anapaistos : ana-, ana- + paiein, pais-, to strike (so called because an anapest is a reversed dactyl); see pau- in Indo-European roots.]
an′a·pes′tic adj.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

an•a•pest

or an•a•paest

(ˈæn əˌpɛst)

n.
a trisyllabic metrical foot whose syllables are short, short, long in quantitative meter and unstressed, unstressed, stressed in accentual meter.
[1580–90; < Latin anapaestus < Greek anápaistos struck back, reversed (as compared with a dactyl)]
an`a•pes′tic, adj.
an`a•pes′ti•cal•ly, adv.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

anapest

a foot of three syllables, the first two short or unstressed, the third long or stressed. — anapestic, adj.
See also: Verse
-Ologies & -Isms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

anapest

A metrical foot with three syllables, two unstressed and one stressed.
Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.anapest - a metrical unit with unstressed-unstressed-stressed syllables
anapaest
metrical foot, metrical unit, foot - (prosody) a group of 2 or 3 syllables forming the basic unit of poetic rhythm
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
anapest
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References in periodicals archive ?
While Longley's verse structure is loose, lines 1 and 3, both in the first stanza, consist of an anapest followed by an iamb, while line 4 reverses this at the beginning of the second stanza with a'trochee followed by an anapest.
The Poet's Spring Tide
He loosened his iambic pentameter by allowing himself an anapest or two, sometimes even three, in each line, but rarely a trochee (one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed) or dactyl (one stressed, two unstressed) except for the occasional traditional trochaic substitution at the start of a line.
POWER AND RHYTHM
The anapest, the "march rhythm" (Laban 181) was considered appropriate for more settled dances.
Paradigms of Communication in Performance and Dance Studies
About a particular rhythm in the same piece, Morris writes, "Imagine an anapest in which the weak beats also feel something like spondees (thus, short/short/long)" (p.
The Persistence of Sentiment: Display and Feeling in Popular Music of the 1970s
Because of the unstressed syllable at the end of the line, the concluding foot is neither anapest (unstressed-unstressed-stressed) nor dactylic (stressed-unstressed-unstressed).
The Uses of Anger: Wanda Coleman and the Poetry of Black Rage
The attraction of it is Byron's display of mastery of versifying that it displays: the perfect handling of the anapest (the "running" meter).
Lord Byron's midrashic lyrics: part II the fall of Jerusalem
Although it seems to accelerate the measure, the anapest, a variation on this patterning but in triple--or tripe, fitting Addison's mold--time, still requires a systematic oscillation between stresses.
Reading Hebrew Melodies
Each of the three eleven-syllable lines has the following meter: unstressed syllable, stressed syllable, unstressed, stressed, unstressed, stressed, unstressed, unstressed, stressed, unstressed, stressed (or three iambs, one anapest, one iamb).
"Present, infinitesimal, infinite": the political vision and "femin" poetics of Marilyn Hacker

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