Definition of "ottava" [ottava]

• Music At an octave higher or lower than the notes written. Used chiefly as a direction, positioned above or below a staff. (adverb)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Christopher Serra The poem -- modest in length, if not in scope -- comprises eight stanzas of eight lines each and employs a rhyme scheme, abababcc, known as ottava rima."
• "Slavitt calls the ottava rima stanza of Ariosto “inherently humorous,” but he seldom uses it in its pure form, opting instead for a loosey-goosey meter that sometimes succeeds in conveying Ariosto’s conversational moments but utterly fails to capture his lyrical side."
• "Yesterday evening I wrote and fairly copied out six ottava rima stanzas (48 lines) viz: — "The Cormorant and the Fishes, imitated from La Fontaine, and dedicated to the Conservatives.""