catalectic

adjective

1. (of a line of verse) lacking part of the last foot; metrically incomplete, as the second line of One more unfortunate,/Weary of breath.

noun

2. a catalectic line of verse.

adjective

1. prosody (of a line of verse) having an incomplete final foot

adj.

1580s, “wanting a syllable in the last foot,” from Late Latin catalecticus, from Greek katalektikos “leaving off,” from kata- “down” (see cata-) + legein “to leave off, cease from,” from PIE *(s)leg- “to be slack, be languid” (see lax).