cheville

[ shuh-vee ]

noun

, Prosody.

1. a word or expression whose only function is to fill a metrical gap in a verse or to balance a sentence.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cheville¹

First recorded in 1880–85; from French: literally, “ankle, dowel, peg, plug,” the last sense giving rise to the English meaning of a filler word or phrase in a sentence or line of verse, from Latin clāvicula “key, tendril, pivot”; clavicle

Example Sentences

He employed no poetical cheville for the metre of a verse which his own feelings inspired.

From Project Gutenberg