ottava rima

[ oh-tah-vuh-ree-muh ]

noun,plural ot·ta·va ri·mas.
  1. an Italian stanza of eight lines, each of eleven syllables (or, in the English adaptation, of ten or eleven syllables), the first six lines rhyming alternately and the last two forming a couplet with a different rhyme: used in Keats' Isabella and Byron's Don Juan.

Origin of ottava rima

1
1810–20; <Italian: octave rhyme

Words Nearby ottava rima

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British Dictionary definitions for ottava rima

ottava rima

/ (ˈriːmə) /


noun
  1. prosody a stanza form consisting of eight iambic pentameter lines, rhyming a b a b a b c c

Origin of ottava rima

1
Italian: eighth rhyme

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