Hex*am"e*ter (?), n. [L., fr. Gr. of six meters; (sc. ) hexameter verse; six + measure: cf. F. hexametre. See Six, and Meter.] Gr. & Lat. Pros.
A verse of six feet, the first four of which may be either dactyls or spondees, the fifth must regularly be a dactyl, and the sixth always a spondee. In this species of verse are composed the Iliad of Homer and the Aeneid of Virgil. In English hexameters accent takes the place of quantity.
Leaped like the | roe when he | hears in the | woodland the | voice of the | huntsman.
Longfellow.
Strongly it | bears us a- | long on | swelling and | limitless | billows,
Nothing be- | fore and | nothing be- | hind but the | sky and the | ocean.
Coleridge.
© Webster 1913.
Hex*am"e*ter, a.
Having six metrical feet, especially dactyls and spondees.
Holland.
© Webster 1913.