feminine ending
Americannoun
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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.
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Grammar. a termination or final syllable marking a feminine word: In Latin -ā is a feminine ending for the ablative case in the singular.
noun
Etymology
Origin of feminine ending
First recorded in 1890–95
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
On this account some speak of three accents in the first half line, with a feminine ending.
From The Nibelungenlied by Shumway, Daniel Bussier
Fay, Amy, account of Liszt, 217. feminine ending, 57.
From Music: An Art and a Language by Spalding, Walter Raymond
On the other hand, if the last stressed syllable of the line is followed by an unstressed one, the two together are called a feminine ending.
From An Introduction to Shakespeare by MacCracken, H. N.
In the third place, the line may have a feminine ending.
From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Alden, Raymond MacDonald
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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
