the absence of a syllable at the beginning or end of a line of metrical verse resulting in an incomplete foot, most often occurring in the last foot at the end of a verse; a catalectic line.
Origin: 1820–30; < Gk katálēxis ending, final syllable; see catalectic, -sis
in prosody, an omission or incompleteness in the last foot of a line or other unit in metrical verse and, conversely, the metrical completeness of such a unit
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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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