paeon

American  

[pee-uhn, -on] / ˈpi ən, -ɒn /

noun

1. Classical Prosody. a foot of one long and three short syllables in any order.

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paeon British  

/ ˈpiːən /

noun

1. prosody a metrical foot of four syllables, with one long one and three short ones in any order

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Other Word Forms

• paeonic
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of paeon

1595–1605; < Latin paeōn < Greek paiōn, Attic variant of paiā́n; see paean

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

paeon

And then the movie – like all the great John Hughes movies, a paeon to the ambiguities of youth; the pleasures, the agonisies, the clothes, oh sweet Jesus the clothes.

From The Guardian ● May 29, 2014

Instead it is a heart-wringing paeon to homesickness.

From The Guardian ● May 30, 2010

But both parties seem to be equally mistaken: for those who exclude the paeon, are not aware that they reject the sweetest and fullest number we have.

From Cicero's Brutus or History of Famous Orators; also His Orator, or Accomplished Speaker. by E. Jones

For the iambic is most frequent in those orations which are composed in a humble and lowly style; but the paeon is suited to a more dignified style; and the dactyl to both.

From The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 4 by Marcus Tullius Cicero

Accordingly, the dactyl is of the first class, the paeon of the last, the iambic of the second.

From The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 4 by Marcus Tullius Cicero

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