feminine ending
Americannoun
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Prosody. an unaccented syllable at the close of a line of poetry, often one that is added to the metrical pattern as an extra syllable.
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Grammar. a termination or final syllable marking a feminine word: In Latin -ā is a feminine ending for the ablative case in the singular.
noun
Etymology
Origin of feminine ending
First recorded in 1890–95
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.
Another feminine ending among the Anglo-Saxons was gith, which, as elsewhere noted, I have supposed to mean woman or goddess.
From Surnames as a Science by Robert Ferguson
In the latter case, however, the first light syllable of line 5 is really supplied by the syllable added to make the feminine ending of line 4.
From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Raymond MacDonald Alden
The Hebrew form of the word, however, is not quite the same, the Assyrian feminine ending being absent.
From The Old Testament In the Light of The Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia by Theophilus Goldridge Pinches
On the other hand, if the last stressed syllable of the line is followed by an unstressed one, the two together are called a feminine ending.
From An Introduction to Shakespeare by H. N. MacCracken
In the third place, the line may have a feminine ending.
From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Raymond MacDonald Alden
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
