Dactyl Definition

An element of meter in poetry. In quantitative verse, such as Greek or Latin, a dactyl is a long syllable followed by two short syllables. In accentual verse, such as English, it is a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.

Dactyl Poem Example

An example of dactylic meter is the first line of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem Evangeline, which is in dactylic hexameter:

[n] a finger or toe in human beings or corresponding part in other vertebrates
[n] a metrical unit with stressed-unstressed-unstressed syllables

Synonyms

digit

See Also...

appendage, craniate, extremity, finger, foot, member, metrical foot, metrical unit, nail, phalanx, toe, vertebrate

Related Terms

accent, accentuation, Alexandrine, amphibrach, amphimacer, anacrusis, anapest, antispast, arsis, bacchius, beat, cadence, caesura, catalexis, chloriamb, chloriambus, colon, counterpoint, cretic, dactylic hexameter, diaeresis, dimeter, dipody, dochmiac, el

Misc. Definitions

\Dac"tyl\, n. [L. dactylus, Gr. da`ktylos a finger, a dactyl. Cf. {Digit}.]
1. (Pros.) A poetical foot of three sylables (--- [crescent] [crescent]), one long followed by two short, or one accented followed by two unaccented; as, L. t["e]gm[i^]n[e^], E. mer\b6ciful; -- so called from the similarity of its arrangement to that of the joints of a finger. [Written also {dactyle}.]
2. (Zo["o]l.) (a) A finger or toe; a digit. (b) The claw or terminal joint of a leg of an insect or crustacean.