Alcaic

American  

[al-key-ik] / ælˈkeɪ ɪk /

adjective

1. pertaining to Alcaeus or to certain meters or a form of strophe or stanza used by, or named after, him.

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noun

1. Alcaics, Alcaic verses or strophes.

Alcaic British  

/ ælˈkeɪɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to a metre used by the 7th-century _bc Greek lyric poet Alcaeus, consisting of a strophe of four lines each with four feet

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noun

1. (usually plural) verse written in the Alcaic form

Etymology

Origin of Alcaic

1620–30; < Late Latin Alcaicus < Greek Alkaïkós, equivalent to Alka ( îos ) Alcaeus + -ikos -ic

Example Sentences

They published whole libraries, controversy, casuistry, history, treatises on optics, Alcaic odes, editions of the fathers, madrigals, catechisms, and lampoons.

From The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 2 by Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron

On the other hand, we can find scarcely an ode in the Sapphic or Alcaic meter, which does not clearly betray its modern origin.

From The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy by Burckhardt, Jacob

For the place of the Alcaic there are various candidates.

From The Odes and Carmen Saeculare of Horace by Conington, John

Carducci, for example, calls the four Alcaic stanzas in question "una cosellina quasi perfetta," though they contain three third lines like these: Furore militis tremendo....

From Renaissance in Italy: Italian Literature Part 1 (of 2) by Symonds, John Addington

Gray's Alcaic Ode.—Can any of your readers say whether Gray's celebrated Latin ode is actually to be found entered at the Grande Chartreuse?

From Notes and Queries, Number 24, April 13, 1850 by Various