ictus

American  

[ik-tuhs] / ˈɪk təs /

noun

• ictuses,
  plural
• ictus
  plural

1. Prosody. rhythmical or metrical stress.

2. Pathology.

   1. an epileptic seizure.

   2. a stroke, especially a cerebrovascular accident.

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ictus British  

/ ˈɪktəs /

noun

1. prosody metrical or rhythmic stress in verse feet, as contrasted with the stress accent on words

2. med a sudden attack or stroke

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• ictal
  adjective
• ictic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• ictus
  plural
• ictuses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of ictus

1700–10; < Latin: stroke, thrust, equivalent to īc ( ere ) to strike with a weapon + -tus suffix of v. action

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ictus

Havena I missed the chance to turn out as clarissimus an ictus, as auld Grunwiggin himself?—Whatfor dinna ye speak, Mr. Butler?

From The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 2 by Sir Walter Scott

Lúcius; by metrical accent the ictus or beat of the verse, which in the Greek rhythms implies a long quantity, but in the Saturnian measure has nothing to do with quantity.

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

The thesis becomes a triseme if the next syllable bears the ictus.

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

Men who have yielded it are like cavalry put on the defensive; a very small force with an ictus will scatter them.

From The Egoist by George Meredith

The syllable which receives the ictus is called the thesis; the rest of the foot is called the arsis.

From New Latin Grammar by Charles E. (Charles Edwin) Bennett