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enjambment

 - 4 dictionary results

en⋅jamb⋅ment

  [en-jam-muhnt, -jamb-]
Use enjambment in a Sentence
–noun, plural -ments  [-muhnts] . Prosody.
the running on of the thought from one line, couplet, or stanza to the next without a syntactical break.
Origin:
1830–40; < F enjambement, equiv. to enjamb(er) to stride over, project, encroach (en- en- 1 + -jamber, deriv. of jambe leg; see jamb 1 ) + -ment -ment

Related forms:
en⋅jambed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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en·jamb·ment or en·jambe·ment   (ěn-jām'mənt, -jāmb')   
n.  The continuation of a syntactic unit from one line or couplet of a poem to the next with no pause.

[French enjambement, from Old French enjamber, to straddle : en-, causative pref.; see en-1 + jambe, leg; see jamb.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

enjambment 
1837, from enjamb (1600), from Fr. enjamber "to stride over," from jambe "leg."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Encyclopedia

enjambment

in prosody, the continuation of the sense of a phrase beyond the end of a line of verse. T.S. Eliot used enjambment in the opening lines of his poem The Waste Land:April is the cruelest month, breedingLilacs out of the dead land, mixingMemory and desire, stirringDull roots with spring rain.Winter kept us warm, coveringEarth in forgetful snow, feeding A little life with dried tubers

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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