iambus

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: i=am=bus

CIDE DICTIONARY

iambus, n. [L. iambus, Gr. ; prob. akin to to throw, assail (the iambus being first used in satiric poetry), and to L. jacere to throw. Cf. Jet a shooting forth.].

 A foot consisting of a short syllable followed by a long one, as in , or of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one, as invent; an iambic. See the Couplet under Iambic, n.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

iambus, n. (pl. iambuses or -bi) Prosody a foot consisting of one short (or unstressed) followed by one long (or stressed) syllable.

Etymology

L f. Gk iambos iambus, lampoon, f. iapto assail in words, from its use by Gk satirists