Definition of "trimeter" []

• A line of verse consisting of three metrical feet. (noun)
• A line of verse consisting of three measures of two feet each, especially one in iambic, trochaic, or anapestic meter in classical prosody. (noun)

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.

• "The statement, "A trimeter is a verse of three measures," is a definition because it gives, first, the larger class (verse) to which the trimeters belong, and secondly, the difference (of three measures) which distinguishes the trimeter from all other verses."
• "It's in a beat called iambic trimeter: da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM, which keeps it light-hearted, but generally when Kunitz uses the word "God" he does so in what's called a spondee, with two strong syllables in succession."
• "This brief Nativity poem has just 40 words, divided into 8 lines of iambic trimeter."