POULTER'S MEASURE Definition & Meaning

poulter's measure

[ pohl-terz ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

Prosody.

a metrical pattern using couplets having the first line in iambic hexameter, or 12 syllables, and the second in iambic heptameter, or 14 syllables.

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1570–80; so called because poulters ( poulterer ) used to give extra eggs when counting by the dozen

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Examples have not been reviewed.

Guest, on Poulter's Measure, 265; on significance of sounds, 136.

From

Poulter's Measure, 255, 265 f.

From

Poulter's Measure, an old-fashioned couplet, composed of an alexandrine and a septenary, a6a7, 88 f.

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