octosyllable

[ok-tuh-sil-uh-buhl]

noun

1. a word or line of verse of eight syllables.

octosyllable

/ ˈɒktəˌsɪləbəl, ˌɒktəsɪˈlæbɪk /

noun

1. a line of verse composed of eight syllables

2. a word of eight syllables

Other Word Forms

• octosyllabic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of octosyllable¹

1765–75; part translation of Late Latin octōsyllabus; octosyllabic, syllable

Example Sentences

Written before the vogue of the versified Arthurian Romances had consecrated the octosyllable, these poems are in couplets of six syllables.

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Lastly, in its songs, in the octosyllables of the magician, and in the adjuration and the thanking of Sabrina, it is lyric.

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The batches of monorhymed octosyllables sometimes extend to even four in number, with remarkably good effect, as, for instance, in the infernal proclamation from the Cross.

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There are eighteen lines of it altogether in Dr. Sommer's reprint, but as these are long quarto lines, let us multiply them by some three to get the equivalent of the "skipping octosyllables."

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Sometimes there is a double rhyme instead of a single, making seven syllables, though not altering the rhythm; and sometimes this is extended to a full octosyllable.

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