Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun Prosody.
- a foot of three syllables, two short followed by one long in quantitative meter, and two unstressed followed by one stressed in accentual meter, as in for the nonce.
noun
- prosody a metrical foot of three syllables, the first two short, the last long (◡ ◡ –)
also anapaest, “two short syllables followed by a long one,” 1670s, from Latin anapestus, from Greek anapaistos “struck back, rebounding,” verbal adjective from anapaiein “to strike back,” from ana- “back” (see ana-) + paiein “to strike,” from PIE *pau- “to cut, strike, stamp” (see pave). So called because it reverses the dactyl.