trimeter [trim-i-ter]Prosody EXAMPLES|WORD ORIGIN noun a verse of three measures or feet. adjective consisting of three measures or feet. Classical Prosody. composed of six feet or three dipodies. Liberaldictionary.com
Origin of trimeter 1560–70; Latin trimetrus having three measures Greek trímetros. See tri-, meter2 Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019 Examples from the Web for trimeter Historical Examples of trimeter
The trimeter iambic is a foot longer than our heroic measure.
Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 366, April, 1846
Various
A trimeter is a division of verse consisting of three measures of two feet each.
Edward Berdoe
The common-meter stanza contains four iambic lines, the first and third being tetrameter, and the second and fourth trimeter.
Elementary Guide to Literary Criticism
F. V. N. Painter
A stanza made up of tetrameter alternating with trimeter is very common.
English: Composition and Literature
W. F. (William Franklin) Webster
The heptameter is usually divided into a tetrameter and a trimeter; the octameter, into two tetrameters.
English: Composition and Literature
W. F. (William Franklin) Webster
British Dictionary definitions for trimeter trimeter noun a verse line consisting of three metrical feet adjective designating such a line Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for trimeter n.
“a verse of three metrical feet,” 1560s, from Latin trimetrus, from Greek trimetros “having three measures,” from tri- “three” + metron “a measure” (see meter (n.2)).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper