hemistich

American  

[hem-i-stik] / ˈhɛm ɪˌstɪk /

noun

Prosody.

1. the exact or approximate half of a stich, or poetic verse or line, especially as divided by a caesura or the like.

2. an incomplete line, or a line of less than the usual length.

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hemistich British  

/ ˈhɛmɪˌstɪk /

noun

1. prosody a half line of verse

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Other Word Forms

• hemistichal
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of hemistich

1565–75; < Late Latin hēmistichium < Greek hēmistíchion a half-verse. See hemi-, stich ¹

Example Sentences

The airs of songs are commonly very short and simple, adapted to a single verse, or even to a single hemistich; but in the instrumental music there is more variety.

From The Thousand and One Nights, Vol. I. Commonly Called the Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Anonymous

Even from ancient times, the first hemistich of the verse has created great embarrassment to interpreters, from which very few of them, not excepting even Calvin, manage to extricate themselves skilfully.

From Christology of the Old Testament: And a Commentary on the Messianic Predictions. Vol. 2 by Hengstenberg, Ernst Wilhelm

The unstressed vowel at the hemistich, theoretically elided, is pronounced because of the natural pause intervening between the two parts of the verse.

From Frédéric Mistral Poet and Leader in Provence by Downer, Charles Alfred

The first hemistich still belongs to the threatening.

From Christology of the Old Testament: And a Commentary on the Messianic Predictions. Vol. 2 by Hengstenberg, Ernst Wilhelm

One of its peculiarities is a hemistich replacing the expected fourth line of the stanza, which is of eight verses, with singularly musical effect.

From A Short History of French Literature by Saintsbury, George