heptameter

American  

[hep-tam-i-ter] / hɛpˈtæm ɪ tər /

noun

Prosody.

1. a verse of seven metrical feet.

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heptameter British  

/ ˌhɛptəˈmɛtrɪkəl, hɛpˈtæmɪtə /

noun

1. prosody a verse line of seven metrical feet

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Other Word Forms

• heptametrical
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of heptameter

1895–1900; < Medieval Latin heptametrum < Greek heptámetron a verse of seven feet. See hepta-, meter ²

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

heptameter

Librettist Jeremy Gury preserved the 13 stanzas of iambic heptameter intact, but also worked up a good deal of added story business besides two more stanzas.

From Time Magazine Archive

Let the three words 'red plum blossom,'" she then suggested, "be used for rhymes; and let each person compose an heptameter stanza.

From Hung Lou Meng, Book II Or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel in Two Books by Joly, H. Bencraft

While the casual reader may find in the long heptameter lines a want of sing-song facility; the true lover of the Nine pauses in admiration at the deep flowing nobility of the rhyme.

From Writings in the United Amateur, 1915-1922 by Lovecraft, H. P. (Howard Phillips)

With these words, she walked up to the book-case, and, extracting a volume, she opened it, at random, at some verses which turned out to be a heptameter stanza.

From Hung Lou Meng, Book II Or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel in Two Books by Joly, H. Bencraft

Lumsden does not vary his measure, but preserves the iambic heptameter throughout.

From The Translations of Beowulf A Critical Bibliography by Tinker, Chauncey Brewster