catalectic

American  

[kat-l-ek-tik] / ˌkæt lˈɛk tɪk /

adjective

1. (of a line of verse) lacking part of the last foot; metrically incomplete, as the second line of One more unfortunate,/Weary of breath.

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noun

1. a catalectic line of verse.

catalectic British  

/ ˌkætəˈlɛktɪk /

adjective

1. prosody (of a line of verse) having an incomplete final foot

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Etymology

Origin of catalectic

1580–90; < Late Latin catalēcticus < Greek katalēktikós incomplete, equivalent to katalēk-, variant stem of katalḗgein to leave off ( kata- cata- + lḗgein to end) + -tikos -tic

Example Sentences

Knowing this, we can detect the hypercatalectic and catalectic lines.

From Composition-Rhetoric by Brooks, Stratton D.

The normal line of which these quatrains are composed is a thirteen-syllabled one divided by a central pause, so that the first half is an iambic dimeter catalectic, and the second an iambic dimeter hypercatalectic.

From The Flourishing of Romance and the Rise of Allegory (Periods of European Literature, vol. II) by Saintsbury, George

Here the alternate lines are catalectic, both light syllables being wanting.

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

Dicatalectic, dī-kat-a-lek′tik, adj. doubly catalectic, both at the middle and end of the verse.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

The former is trochaic—the latter is octametre acatalectic, alternating with heptametre catalectic repeated in the refrain of the fifth verse, and terminating with tetrametre catalectic.

From Edgar Allan Poe's Complete Poetical Works by Poe, Edgar Allan