cataleptoid (kataleptoid)

[ [ an ending, termination (in prosody as in def.), a verse; in a wider sense, incompletene of any foot in a verse. Catalexis is not the suppre ion of any rhythmical element, but the want of a corresponding syllable or syllables in the words to fill out a time (mora) or times nece ary to the metrical completene of the line. This space is filled out by a pause - in the quantitative poetry of the Greeks and Romans, either by a pause or by prolonging the preceding syllable. Lines therefore will be so divided into feet that the ictus shall always fall on the first syllable of each foot, admit ting anacrusis and catalexis wherever nece ary. Trans. Amer. Philol. As8., XVI. 84.