What does "alexandrine" mean?
A line of poetic meter having twelve syllables, usually divided into two or three equal parts.
Alexandrine
/ˌælɪkˈsændriːn/ adj, name, noun
adj, name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A line of poetic meter having twelve syllables, usually divided into two or three equal parts.
- Grammar: alexandrine is listed as adj, name, noun.
- Nearest alternatives: accent, anapest, beat, cadence.
- Usage evidence: Alexandrine verse is twelve-syllable.
How to use "alexandrine"
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Source and review context
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Definitions
Noun
- 1 A line of poetic meter having twelve syllables, usually divided into two or three equal parts.
"The dominant metre in Les Fleurs du Mal is the twelve-syllable alexandrine, the defining metre of French versification, with the eight-syllable line a distant runner-up and the ten-syllable line barely visible."
- 2 A native or inhabitant of Alexandria.
"The Alexandrines considered themselves Greeks and Macedonians. And, as a matter of fact, it does not seem likely that there was any considerable infusion of native Egyptian blood in the Alexandrines."
- 3 Ellipsis of Alexandrine parakeet. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
"He is hardly distinguishable from an ordinary cock Alexandrine except for his slightly smaller size and rather less massive head and beak—the latter a distinct improvement."
- 4 Alternative letter-case form of alexandrine. alt-of
"Some of these Alexandrines are well marked, in others the last word has such a strong accent on the last syllable but two that both final syllables fall on the ear rather as an addition to the last measure, a mere superfluous syllable, than a distinct measure by themselves."
- 5 (prosody) a line of verse that has six iambic feet wordnet
Adjective
- 1 Of or relating to Alexandria.
"The division of Scholz himself, in the work last named, is into the Alexandrine and Constantinopolitan recension. […] But in amalgamating the Alexandrine and Western Mss. together, he has done not a little violence to both. Moreover, taking the fact as true, which Eusebius has related in respect to his making out fifty copies of the New Testament for the churches at Constantinople, in the time of Constantine; and the fact also that Eusebius is known, by the quotations in his works, to have given a preference to the Alexandrine copies; how can the superiority or even the discrepancy of the Constantinopolitan class of Mss. in respect to the Alexandrine, be so definitely made out?"
- 2 Of or relating to Alexander the Great.
"When we picture to ourselves his [Napoleon’s] dawning military genius at Toulon—his daring and decided politics in the storms of the Revolution—his Cæsarian ambition in assuming the purple—his rivalry of Hannibal in urging an army, with heavy artillery, over the frozen and apparently impassable summits of the very Alps crossed by the Carthaginian General—[…]—his Alexandrine bravery on many a bloody field, as well as his Alexandrine temerity, in warring against the elements themselves—[…]—when (we say) we picture to our imagination these, and many other scenes of Napoleon’s “strange eventful history,” we are apt to be dazzled with the splendour of his arms and the lustre of his fame!"
Proper Noun
- 1 A female given name from French.
"Whoever will drink of an unadulterated stream must go to the fountain-head. This, Miss Laura Alexandrine Smith has done, and that she has drunk deeply, is easy to be seen from the spirit and enthusiasm with which she writes."
Example
"Alexandrine verse is twelve-syllable."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "alexandrine"?
Common synonyms include: accent, anapest, beat, cadence, caesura, colon.
How do you use "alexandrine" in a sentence?
Alexandrine verse is twelve-syllable.
How do you pronounce "alexandrine"?
Pronounced /ˌælɪkˈsændriːn/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle French alexandrin. So called from its use in old French poems on Alexander the Great (Roman d'Alexandre, c. 1177).
Etymology 2
Partly from Middle French alexandrin and partly from Latin Alexandrīnus.
Etymology 3
From Alexander + -ine.
Etymology 4
From Middle French alexandrin.
Etymology 5
From French Alexandrine.