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.
The distich, which amongst Arabs is looked upon as one line, he named "Bayt," nighting- place, tent or house; and the hemistich Misrá'ah, the one leaf of a folding door.
From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 10 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
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
To meet these difficulties Dryden resorted to three mechanical devices—the hemistich, the alexandrine, and the triplet, all three of which could be used indifferently to eke out the space or to give variety of sound....
From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Alden, Raymond MacDonald
Conde has given a translation of certain Spanish-Arabian poems, in the measure of the original, from which it is evident, that the hemistich of an Arabian verse corresponds perfectly with the redondilla.
From The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic — Volume 2 by Prescott, William Hickling
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.
