common metre

British  

noun

1. a stanza form, used esp for hymns, consisting of four lines, two of eight syllables alternating with two of six

---

Example Sentences

It is all written in "common metre," nearly all in lines of eight and six syllables alternately.

From Sabbath in Puritan New England by Earle, Alice Morse

Another very common metre in the Dramas consists of stanzas of eight lines of seven syllables, rhyming alternately. 

From A Handbook of the Cornish Language chiefly in its latest stages with some account of its history and literature by Jenner, Henry

The "common metre" of English hymnology is thus seen to be a rough mould into which almost any kind of religious emotion may be poured.

From A Study of Poetry by Perry, Bliss

The syllables are as in the common metre, but it has thrice the rhymes.

From Thomas Davis, Selections from his Prose and Poetry by Rolleston, T. W. (Thomas William)

C.M., chirurgi� magister, master in surgery; common metre.

From The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 1 A to Amide by Various