double dactyl
See also: double-dactyl
English
Alternative forms
- double-dactyl
Etymology
Coined by poets Anthony Hecht and Paul Pascal; compound of double + dactyl.
Noun
double dactyl (plural double dactyls)
- A short, usually humorous poem with eight lines in dactylic meter; a higgledy-piggledy.
- 1980, Gyles Brandreth, The Joy of Lex, page 123:
- Higgledy-piggledies are more sophisticated than clerihews: they comprise double dactyls and rhymes and aren't always biographical.
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Synonyms
- higgledy-piggledy