ithyphallic

American  

[ith-uh-fal-ik] / ˌɪθ əˈfæl ɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to the phallus carried in ancient festivals of Bacchus.

2. grossly indecent; obscene.

3. Classical Prosody. noting or pertaining to any of several meters employed in hymns sung in Bacchic processions.

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noun

1. a poem in ithyphallic meter.

2. an indecent poem.

ithyphallic British  

/ ˌɪθɪˈfælɪk /

adjective

1. prosody (in classical verse) of or relating to the usual metre in hymns to Bacchus

2. of or relating to the phallus carried in the ancient festivals of Bacchus

3. (of sculpture and graphic art) having or showing an erect penis

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noun

1. prosody a poem in ithyphallic metre

Etymology

Origin of ithyphallic

1605–15; < Late Latin īthyphallicus < Greek īthyphallikós, equivalent to īthý ( s ) straight, erect + phall ( ós ) phallus + -ikos -ic

Example Sentences

Few traces of the comic are discoverable in Egyptian art—such papyri of a satirical tendency as are known to exist appearing to belong rather to the class of ithyphallic drolleries than to that of the ironical grotesque.

From Project Gutenberg

How would the old Bard have been astonished to have found that he had very skilfully given the trochaic dimeter brachycatalectic, commonly called the ithyphallic measure, to the Witches in Macbeth! and that now and then a halting Verse afforded a most beautiful instance of the Pes proceleusmaticus!

From Project Gutenberg

We may remember the Ithyphallic hymn with which the Athenians welcomed Demetrius Poliorkêtes, the marriage of Anthony as Dionysus to Athenè, and the deification of Mithridates as Bacchus.

From Project Gutenberg

When Demetrius returned from Leucadia and Corcyra to Athens, the Athenians received him not only with incense and garlands and libations, but they even sent out processional choruses, and greeted him with Ithyphallic hymns and dances.

From Project Gutenberg