iambus

American  

[ahy-am-buhs] / aɪˈæm bəs /

noun

• iambi,
  plural
• iambuses
  plural

1. iamb.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• iambi
  plural
• iambuses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of iambus

1580–90; < Latin < Greek íambos

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

iambus iambi iambuses

The choriambus is a verse-foot consisting of a trochee united with and preceding an iambus, -∪∪-.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 3 "Chitral" to "Cincinnati" by Various

By the elision of e in the, as is customary, the whole of the intended effect is lost; for th'unbend is nothing more than the usual iambus.

From Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII No. 1 January 1848 by Robert Taylor Conrad

Archilochus made use of the iambus and the trochee, and organized them into the two forms of metre known as the iambic trimeter and the trochaic tetrameter.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 4 "Aram, Eugene" to "Arcueil" by Various

It has also been proposed to make the third foot a spondee or an iambus, and the remaining feet anapaests, thus: 'Full-sailed | wide-winged | poised soft- | ly forev- | er asway.'

From A Study of Poetry by Bliss Perry

By rapid utterance two syllables are often equal to one, and in this way an anapest is frequently used with the time value of an iambus.

From Elementary Guide to Literary Criticism by F. V. N. (Franklin Verzelius Newton) Painter

Certainly those sun-burnt "doughboys" were not bothering themselves about trochees and iambi and such toys of cultivated "literary" persons; they were amusing themselves on the march by inventing words to fit the "goose-step."

From A Study of Poetry by Bliss Perry

These specimens, as is usual in anapestic verse, show considerable freedom in the treatment of the part of the foot containing the light syllables, substituted iambi being very common.

From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Raymond MacDonald Alden

Note the iambi in the Shelley stanza, line 1, second foot, and line 5, first foot.

From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Raymond MacDonald Alden

Here frequent iambi are substituted for anapests; as in line 1, second and fourth feet; lines 2 and 3, fifth foot; line 5, third foot.

From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Raymond MacDonald Alden

Here the tendency is to use iambi and anapests in alternate feet; see especially lines 2, 3, and 5.

From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Raymond MacDonald Alden

It does not have to consist of five iambuses only, but other feet may be substituted almost at the caprice of the poet.

From The Literature of Ecstasy by Albert Mordell

It was not by chance that the line of five iambuses became the dominant metre of our language.

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

Thus we have learned to scan lines by iambuses, or rather by their accentual imitations, and a perfect line would consist of ten syllables, of which the alternate ones bore a rhythmical stress.

From The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] Introduction and Publisher's Advertising by William George Clark

Trimeter iambus, consisting of six feet, which are generally all iambuses.

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

But the tendency of the Alexandrine consisting merely of the usual iambuses, is to convey slowness—although it conveys this idea feebly, on account of conveying it indirectly.

From Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII No. 1 January 1848 by Robert Taylor Conrad