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iambus
Part of speech: NounA metrical foot consisting of two syllables, of which the first is short and the second is long; a word of two syllables, accented on the second syllable, as ig- nore.
Usage examples "iambus":- In Browning's " Prospice," the iambus predominates, and expresses heroic endurance and courage in meeting death; but the first foot-" Fear death"- is a spondee, and indicates the deliberative realization of the situation. - "Browning and the Dramatic Monologue", S. S. Curry.
- It is almost wholly destitute of quantity, and the intonation which supplies that want is of such a kind that hardly any foot but the iambus is possible in it. - "A Short History of French Literature", George Saintsbury.
- Thus the three words marked above make a 'choriambus'- u u -, or perhaps a 'paeon primus'- u u u; a dactyl, by virtue of comic rapidity, being only equal to an iambus when distinctly pronounced. - "Literary Remains, Vol. 2", Coleridge.