Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The absence of one or more syllables in a line of verse, especially in the last foot.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In prosody, incompleteness of the last foot or measure of a verse; in a wider sense, incompleteness of any foot in a verse. Catalexis is not the suppression of any rhythmical element, but the want of a corresponding syllable or syllables in the words to fill out a time (mora) or times necessary to the metrical completeness of the line. This space is filled out by a pause—in the quantitative poetry of the Greeks and Romans, either by a pause or by prolonging the preceding syllable.
Wiktionary
- n. A shortened or incomplete last foot at the end of a verse.
- n. Truncation at the close of a line of poetry by omission of one or two final syllables.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the absence of a syllable in the last foot of a line or verse
Etymologies
- Greek katalēxis, from katalēgein, to leave off; see catalectic. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Nearly all English metres owe their existence as metres to "catalexis," or pause, for the time of one or more feet, and, as”
“Getting the vapors over a critic screaming his outrage in full-throated disgust at the abandonment of humane ideals is to play the courtly stooge in a manner most unbecoming an honest mind. — catalexis”
Easing Off Online Obscenities - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com
“What does that say about the prospects for assimilation of newcomers from Mexico? catalexis Says:”
“* With apologies to catalexis, I took the liberty of substituting a Baby Sinclair picture that I think more closely captures the batshit craziness of Huggy Bear.”
“Report this comment to the moderators catalexis Writes:”
“For information on the generally overlooked but primarily important function of catalexis in English verse I refer such readers as may be curious about the subject to the Essay printed as an appendix to the later editions of my collected poems.”
“_̷ ◡ ◡ _̷ ◡ _̷ ◡ _̷ ◡ _̷ that is, 5-stress trochaic, with dactylic substitution in the first foot and truncation or catalexis of the last foot in the second and fourth lines; or perhaps iambic, with anapestic substitution in the second foot and a feminine ending in the first and third lines.”
“a rule, the position and amount of catalexis are fixed.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘catalexis’.
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Prosody
Your terms and additions are welcome.
headless iamb, tailless trochee, dibrach, disyllable, trisyllable, tetrasyllable, pyrrhus, iamb, trochee, choree, choreus, tribrach and 203 more...
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-lexia, -lexis, -lexy
speech
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demiscient
words which are homophonous/homonymous with or very similar to science jargon, but which are not.
I'm not sure how many of these there are, but I found two shocking examples today.meiosis, paradiastole, colon, synesthesia, zoomorphism, chiasmus, idempotency, catalexis, prolepsis
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Language Arts Time!
Reading, writing, text, etc.
hermeneutics, hyperbole, bildungsroman, portmanteau, malapropism, kenning, lexicography, chiasmus, catalexis, caesura, catachresis, synecdoche and 16 more...
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ananda's list
selcouth, arenicolous, eximious, sciophilous, cynosure, manumit, eclode, diapason, anacrustic, stramash, unguiculation, clishmaclaver and 38 more...
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lingo:Lit
Words of the literary profession
spondee, allusion, contranym, autoantonym, trochee, iamb, anapest, dactyl, prosody, scansion, pyrrhic, caesura and 10 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for catalexis.
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