octosyllableadj.n.
/ˈɒktəʊˌsɪləbl/, /ˌɒktəʊˈsɪləbl/, U.S. /ˈˌɑktəˈˌsɪləb(ə)l/ A. adj.
= octosyllabic adj. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > versification > metre > [adjective] > having eight syllables
octosyllabica1771
octosyllable1775
1775–8 T. Tyrwhitt Ess. Lang. Chaucer in Canterbury Tales of Chaucer Note 60 I call this the octosyllable metre, from what I apprehended to have been its original form.
1827 J. C. Hare & A. W. Hare Guesses at Truth (1873) 2nd Ser. 364 The octosyllable metre, of which modern writers are so fond.
1996 M. L. Gasparov Hist. European Versification 18 This is especially noticeable in laments, where the octosyllable line began to sound like a correct syllabotonic trochaic tetrameter.
B. n.
= octosyllabic n.; (also) a word of eight syllables.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > [noun] > syllabic sound > syllable > word having specific number
bissyllable1589
disyllable1589
tetrasyllable1589
trisyllable1589
quadrisyllable1706
pentasyllable1709
quadrisyllabic1776
septisyllable1834
octosyllable1846
sexisyllable1855
disyllabic1934
paralog1951
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > versification > metre > [noun] > variety of > eight syllables
octosyllabic1842
octosyllable1882
1846 J. E. Worcester Universal Dict. Eng. Lang. Octosyllable, n., a word of eight syllables. Clarke.
1882 G. Saintsbury in Spenser's Wks. (Grosart) III. p. lxvi A poem in octosyllables.
1908 G. Saintsbury in Cambr. Hist. Eng. Lit. II. 212 Irregular octosyllables, sometimes approaching ‘Skeltonics’.
1936 Mod. Lang. Notes 51 529 The twelve-syllable..is found in compositions of a type for which the octosyllable is the more frequent medium.
1985 Renaissance Q. 38 483 (note) The 14 distichs of the Latin are printed in the margins alongside the 64 octosyllables, in huitains and dizains, of the French.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1775