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sestet

[se-stet, ses-tet]
noun
  1. Prosody. the last six lines of a sonnet in the Italian form, considered as a unit.Compare octave(def 4a).
  2. sextet(def 2).
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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. 2018

Examples from the Web for sestet

Historical Examples

  • 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 more important chamber compositions include a sestet for piano and strings, a trio, and a sonata for violincello and piano.

  • The rhymes of the first two quatrains are usually the same; those of the sestet are variously arranged.

  • It is divided into two parts: the first consisting of an octave or double quatrain, and the other of a sestet.

British Dictionary definitions for sestet

sestet

noun
  1. prosody the last six lines of a Petrarchan sonnet
  2. prosody any six-line stanza
  3. another word for sextet (def. 1)
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Word Origin

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

n.

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

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper