galliambic

British  

/ ˌɡælɪˈæmbɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to a metre consisting of four lesser Ionics, used by Callimachus and Catullus and imitated by Tennyson in Boadicea

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noun

1. a verse in this metre

Etymology

Origin of galliambic

C19: from Latin galliambus song of the Galli (priests of Cybele)

Example Sentences

The metre is galliambic, a rhythm proper to the hymns of Cybele, but of which no primitive Greek example remains.

From The History of Roman Literature From the earliest period to the death of Marcus Aurelius by Cruttwell, Charles Thomas

This is employed only in the poem of Atys, which indeed is the sole specimen of the galliambic measure, in the Latin language.

From History of Roman Literature from its Earliest Period to the Augustan Age. Volume I by Dunlop, John

The middle of the volume is occupied by the longer poems—numbered lxi to lxviiib—of a more purely artistic and mostly an impersonal character, written in the glyconic, galliambic, hexameter, and elegiac metres.

From The Roman Poets of the Republic by Sellar, W. Y.