Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Verse written in lines of two metrical feet.
  • noun A single line of such verse.
  • noun Classical quantitative verse consisting of two measures of two feet each, especially in iambic, trochaic, or anapestic meter.
  • noun A single line of such verse.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In prosody, consisting of two measures; divisible into two feet or dipodies.
  • noun In prosody, a verse or period consisting of two feet or dipodies: as, an Ionic dimeter; iambic dimeters.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Having two poetical measures or meters.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun poetry A line in a poem having two metrical feet.
  • noun poetry A poetic metre in which each line has two feet.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin dimeter, dimetrus, having two verses, from Greek dimetros : di-, two; see di– + metron, meter; see meter.]

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Examples

  • Written by Coelius Sedulius d c 450 in iambic dimeter.

    Archive 2009-01-01 bls 2009

  • Written by Coelius Sedulius d c 450 in iambic dimeter.

    The Epiphany Office bls 2009

  • Written by Coelius Sedulius d c 450 in iambic dimeter.

    An Office Hymn Tune Compendium, Part V bls 2008

  • This twelfth poem or hymn contains 52 iambic dimeter strophes, and an irregular selection from its 208 lines has furnished four hymns to the Roman Breviary, all of which conclude with the usual Marian doxology "Jesu tibi sit gloria" etc., not composed by Prudentius, slightly varied to make the doxology appropriate for the several feasts employing the hymns.

    Archive 2008-08-01 bls 2008

  • Written by Coelius Sedulius d c 450 in iambic dimeter.

    An Office Hymn Tune Compendium, Part VI bls 2008

  • Written by Coelius Sedulius d c 450 in iambic dimeter.

    Archive 2008-01-01 bls 2008

  • This twelfth poem or hymn contains 52 iambic dimeter strophes, and an irregular selection from its 208 lines has furnished four hymns to the Roman Breviary, all of which conclude with the usual Marian doxology "Jesu tibi sit gloria" etc., not composed by Prudentius, slightly varied to make the doxology appropriate for the several feasts employing the hymns.

    August 6: The Feast of the Transfiguration bls 2008

  • Written by Coelius Sedulius d c 450 in iambic dimeter.

    Archive 2008-01-01 bls 2008

  • Because the fact is, when we read "The Cat in the Hat," we are not thinking anapestic dimeter, we are not marveling at the ease with which Seuss manipulates this first-grade vocabulary list.

    The Cat (And Hat) That Came To Stay 2007

  • Because the fact is, when we read "The Cat in the Hat," we are not thinking anapestic dimeter, we are not marveling at the ease with which Seuss manipulates this first-grade vocabulary list.

    The Cat (and Hat) That Came to Stay 2007

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