1. (n.) A poetical foot of three syllables (-- ~ ~), one long followed by two short, or one accented followed by two unaccented; as, L. tegm/n/, E. merciful; -- so called from the similarity of its arrangement to that of the joints of a finger.

2. (n.) A finger or toe; a digit.

3. (n.) The claw or terminal joint of a leg of an insect or crustacean.

Alexandrine accent accentuation amphibrach amphimacer anacrusis anapest antispast arsis bacchius beat cadence caesura catalexis chloriamb chloriambus colon counterpoint cretic dactylic hexameter diaeresis dimeter dipody dochmiac elegiac elegiac couplet elegiac pentameter emphasis epitrite feminine caesura foot heptameter heptapody heroic couplet hexameter hexapody iamb iambic iambic pentameter ictus ionic jingle lilt masculine caesura measure meter metrical accent metrical foot metrical group metrical unit metron molossus mora movement numbers paeon pentameter pentapody period proceleusmatic pyrrhic quantity rhythm spondee sprung rhythm stress swing syzygy tetrameter tetrapody tetraseme thesis tribrach trimeter tripody triseme trochee