feminine ending

American  

noun

1. Prosody. an unaccented syllable at the close of a line of poetry, often one that is added to the metrical pattern as an extra syllable.

2. Grammar. a termination or final syllable marking a feminine word: In Latin -ā is a feminine ending for the ablative case in the singular.

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feminine ending British  

noun

1. prosody an unstressed syllable at the end of a line of verse

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Etymology

Origin of feminine ending

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

In the third place, the line may have a feminine ending.

From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Alden, Raymond MacDonald

Poet, Poetess The tendency to increase the number of nouns with the feminine ending ess should be checked.

From Slips of Speech : a Helpful Book for Everyone Who Aspires to Correct the Everyday Errors of Speaking by Bechtel, John Hendricks

This last stress, however, is not, as a rule as strong as the others, the effect being somewhat like that of a feminine ending.

From The Nibelungenlied by Shumway, Daniel Bussier

Another feminine ending among the Anglo-Saxons was gith, which, as elsewhere noted, I have supposed to mean woman or goddess.

From Surnames as a Science by Ferguson, Robert

On this account some speak of three accents in the first half line, with a feminine ending.

From The Nibelungenlied by Shumway, Daniel Bussier