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

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Etymology

Origin of hemistich

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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hemistich

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 Charles Alfred Downer

The necessary mental pause after every hemistich or imperfect line is always equal to the time that would have been taken in reading the complete verse.

From Specimens of the Table Talk of Samuel Taylor Coleridge by Henry Nelson Coleridge

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 Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg

To meet these difficulties Dryden resorted to three mechanical devices—the hemistich, the alexandrine, and the triplet, all three of which could be used indifferently to eke out the space or to give variety of sound....

From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Raymond MacDonald Alden

Defective metre and sense, owing to the loss of a hemistich, but the sense is complete.

From Genesis A Translated from the Old English by Lawrence Mason

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