arsis
Americannoun
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Music. the upward stroke in conducting; upbeat.
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Prosody.
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the part of a metrical foot that bears the ictus or stress.
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(less commonly) a part of a metrical foot that does not bear the ictus.
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noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of arsis
1350–1400; Middle English: raising the voice < Latin < Greek, equivalent to ar- (stem of aírein to raise, lift) + -sis -sis
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The most important feature of both sequences is the swing from a glacial to an inter-glacial epoch or from the arsis or accentuated part of an historical pulsation to the thesis or unaccented part.
From Climatic Changes Their Nature and Causes by Huntington, Ellsworth
"If the arsis is monosyllabic, a short vowel in the thesis followed by a single consonant is not lengthened by the ictus; the arsis is instead prolonged."
From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Alden, Raymond MacDonald
They exhibited a more or less regular alternation of arsis and thesis.
From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Alden, Raymond MacDonald
In a glacial epoch or in the arsis of an historic pulsation, storms are usually abundant and severe, the mean temperature is lower than usual, snow accumulates in high latitudes or upon lofty mountains.
From Climatic Changes Their Nature and Causes by Huntington, Ellsworth
“And yēt,” is a complete iambus; but anyet is, like spirit, a dibrach u u, trocheized, however, by the arsis or first accent damping, though not extinguishing, the second.
From Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher by Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
"There is no shortage of the corporate manoeuverings, jockeyings for position, eyes on chances and arses being covered that we have come to expect of America's most monstrous family company," she went on.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2021
No, without wishing to pre-empt the conclusions of questers from Lord Justice Leveson to the Treasury committee to the people sighing "why are our overlords such arses?" into their pints, I can't see it happening.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 6, 2012
Before, I've just gone in like the cavalry, saving famous people's arses.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 5, 2010
More of us would rather watch a bunch of saggy old arses and a parrot called Max not eating mashed potato from a fork; that's either quite charming or very depressing, I'm not sure which.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 19, 2010
He says that’s because there’s only one privy and it’s in the backyard and children don’t get down the stairs in time to put their little arses on the bowl, God help us.
From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
