hemistich
Americannoun
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the exact or approximate half of a stich, or poetic verse or line, especially as divided by a caesura or the like.
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an incomplete line, or a line of less than the usual length.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of hemistich
1565–75; < Late Latin hēmistichium < Greek hēmistíchion a half-verse. See hemi-, stich 1
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.
A hemistich seems to be missing here, metrically; and surely the sense requires the interpolation of several lines, to record the birth of Methuselah in Enoch's 65th year.
From Genesis A Translated from the Old English by Mason, Lawrence
A hemistich seems to be missing here, metrically.
From Genesis A Translated from the Old English by Mason, Lawrence
The Luccan and Umbrian stornello is much shorter, consisting indeed of a hemistich having some natural object which suggests the motive of the little poem.
From The Browning Cyclop?dia A Guide to the Study of the Works of Robert Browning by Berdoe, Edward
The concluding hemistich, whereby the hokku becomes the tanka, is existent in the writer's mind, but never uttered.
From Japanese Prints by Lathrop, Dorothy Pulis
In poetry proper the hemistich is anything but pleasing, and Dryden, becoming convinced of the fact, almost discarded it.
From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Alden, Raymond MacDonald
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
