sestet

[se-stet, ses-tet]

noun

Prosody. the last six lines of a sonnet in the Italian form, considered as a unit.Compare octave(def 4a).

sextet(def 2).

Origin of sestet

1795–1805; < Italian sestetto sextet, equivalent to sest(o) (< Latin sextus sixth) + -etto -et

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for sestet

Historical Examples of sestet

The octet was finished and the first two lines of the sestet.
Orpheus in Mayfair and Other Stories and Sketches
Maurice Baring
One of these must be in the octave and the other in the sestet.
The Circus, and Other Essays and Fugitive Pieces
Joyce Kilmer
The more important chamber compositions include a sestet for piano and strings, a trio, and a sonata for violincello and piano.
A Short History of English Music
Ernest Ford
It is divided into two parts: the first consisting of an octave or double quatrain, and the other of a sestet.
Elementary Guide to Literary Criticism
F. V. N. Painter
The rhymes of the first two quatrains are usually the same; those of the sestet are variously arranged.
Elementary Guide to Literary Criticism
F. V. N. Painter

British Dictionary definitions for sestet

sestet

noun

prosody the last six lines of a Petrarchan sonnet

prosody any six-line stanza

another word for sextet (def. 1)

Word Origin for sestet

C19: from Italian sestetto, from sesto sixth, from Latin sextus, from sex six

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for sestet

1801, from Italian sestetto, diminutive of sesto "sixth," from Latin sextus (see Sextus).