galliambic

/ ˌɡælɪˈæmbɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to a metre consisting of four lesser Ionics, used by Callimachus and Catullus and imitated by Tennyson in Boadicea

noun

1. a verse in this metre

Word History and Origins

Origin of galliambic¹

C19: from Latin galliambus song of the Galli (priests of Cybele)

Example Sentences

The middle of the volume is occupied by the longer poems—numbered lxi to lxviiib—of a more purely artistic and mostly an impersonal character, written in the glyconic, galliambic, hexameter, and elegiac metres.

From Project Gutenberg

It is likewise the only specimen we have in Latin of the Galliambic measure; so called, because sung by Galli, the effeminate votaries of Cybele.

From Project Gutenberg

Muretus attempted a Latin Galliambic Address to Bacchus in imitation of the measure employed in the Atis of Catullus, and he has strenuously tried to make his poem resemble its model by an affected use of uncouth compound epithets.

From Project Gutenberg

This is employed only in the poem of Atys, which indeed is the sole specimen of the galliambic measure, in the Latin language.

From Project Gutenberg

The public school-boy is taught that the Atys was unique in subject and metre, that it was the greatest and most remarkable poem in Latin literature, famous for the fiery vehemence of the Greek dithyramb, that it was the only specimen in Latin of the Galliambic measure, so called, because sung by the Gall�—and I suspect that the school-boy now learns that there are half a dozen others, which you can doubtless name.

From Project Gutenberg