| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| arsis |
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| SYLLABICATION: | ar·sis |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  är s s |
| NOUN: | Inflected forms: pl. ar·ses (-s z )
1a. The short or unaccented part of a metrical foot, especially in quantitative verse. b. The accented or long part of a metrical foot, especially in accentual verse. 2. Music The upbeat or unaccented part of a measure. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, raising of the voice, from Late Latin, raising of the voice, accented part of a metrical foot, from Greek, raising of the foot (marking the upbeat), the unaccented part of a metrical foot, from aeirein, to lift. See wer-1 in Appendix I.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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