caesura

  • 1caesura — cae*su ra, n.; pl. E. {caesuras}, L. {C[ae]sur[ae]} [L. caesura a cutting off, a division, stop, fr. caedere, caesum, to cut off. See {Concise}.] A metrical break in a verse, occurring in the middle of a foot and commonly near the middle of the… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 2caesura — 1550s, from L. caesura, metrical pause, lit. a cutting, from pp. stem of cædere to cut down (see CEMENT (Cf. cement)) …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 3caesura — [si zyoor′ə, sizhoor′ə] n. pl. caesuras or caesurae [si zyoor′ē, si zhoor′ē] [L, a cutting < pp. of caedere, to cut down: see CIDE] 1. a break or pause in a line of verse: in Greek and Latin verse, the caesura falls within the metrical foot;… …

    English World dictionary

  • 4caesura — meaning ‘a cut or division’, is a term in prosody, both Classical and Old English, and refers to the division of a metrical foot between two words. In Old English (e.g. Beowulf) it is marked in print by an extra space between the words. In later… …

    Modern English usage

  • 5caesura — ► NOUN 1) (in Greek and Latin verse) a break between words within a metrical foot. 2) (in modern verse) a pause near the middle of a line. ORIGIN Latin, from caedere cut …

    English terms dictionary

  • 6Caesura — For Helios album, see Caesura (album). An example of a caesura in modern western music notation. In meter, a caesura (alternative spellings are cæsura and cesura) is a complete pause in a line of poetry or in a musical composition. The plural… …

    Wikipedia

  • 7caesura — caesural, caesuric, adj. /si zhoor euh, zoor euh, siz yoor euh/, n., pl. caesuras, caesurae /si zhoor ee, zoor ee, siz yoor ee/. 1. Pros. a break, esp. a sense pause, usually near the middle of a verse, and marked in scansion by a double vertical …

    Universalium

  • 8caesura — Synonyms and related words: Alexandrine, abeyance, accent, accentuation, amphibrach, amphimacer, anacrusis, anapest, antispast, arsis, bacchius, beat, boundary, breach, break, cadence, catalexis, cease fire, cessation, chloriamb, chloriambus,… …

    Moby Thesaurus

  • 9caesura —   n. natural pause in verse line.    ♦ masculine caesura, one following stressed syllable of foot.    ♦ feminine caesura, one occurring in unstressed part of line.    ♦ caesural, a …

    Dictionary of difficult words

  • 10caesura — noun (plural suras or caesurae) Etymology: Late Latin, from Latin, act of cutting, from caedere to cut Date: 1556 1. in modern prosody a usually rhetorical break in the flow of sound in the middle of a line of verse 2 …

    New Collegiate Dictionary