ottava rima

[ oh-tah-vuh ree-muh ]

noun

, plural ot·ta·va ri·mas.

1. an Italian stanza of eight lines, each of eleven syllables (or, in the English adaptation, of ten or eleven syllables), the first six lines rhyming alternately and the last two forming a couplet with a different rhyme: used in Keats' Isabella and Byron's Don Juan.

ottava rima

/ ˈriːmə /

noun

1. prosody a stanza form consisting of eight iambic pentameter lines, rhyming a b a b a b c c

Word History and Origins

Origin of ottava rima¹

1810–20; < Italian: octave rhyme

Word History and Origins

Origin of ottava rima¹

Italian: eighth rhyme

Example Sentences

That the ottava rima on the one hand, and the sonnet on the other, may have suggested the idea of it is quite possible.

From Project Gutenberg

The ottava rima of the Italians, the natural outcome of Keats's turning to Italy for his story.

From Project Gutenberg

Boccaccio's favourite stanza in the Teseide, known as the ottava rima, ends with two lines that form an heroic couplet.

From Project Gutenberg

It is in ottava rima, with the translation prefixed to it of the Latin poem Furor Petroniensis.

From Project Gutenberg

The plays are almost uniformly written in ottava rima, and poorly printed in double columns.

From Project Gutenberg