iambus Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a metrical unit with unstressed-stressed syllables
    iamb.

WordNet

I*am"bus noun
Etymology
L. iambus, Gr. prob. akin to to throw, assail (the iambus being first used in satiric poetry), and to L. jacere to throw. Cf. Jet a shooting forth.
Wordforms
plural L Iambi E Iambuses
Definitions
  1. (Pros.) A foot consisting of a short syllable followed by a long one, as in &acr;mans, or of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one, as invent; an iambic. See the Couplet under Iambic, n.

Webster 1913