pyrrhichiusn.

1540 J. Palsgrave in tr. G. Gnapheus Comedye of Acolastus sig. E iii The fete, which be most mete to make these meters of, be but of. ii. syllables a pece, of which there be. iiii. dyuers sortes, thus named, Pyrrichius, made of. ii. short sillables [etc.].

1586 W. Webbe Disc. Eng. Poetrie sig. G.iiii Two short [syllables] called Pyrrichius as υυ hyther.

1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie ii. xiii. 92 For your foote pirrichius or of two short silables ye haue these words [mănĭe] [mŏnĕy] [pĕnĭe] [sĭliĕ] and others of that constitution.

1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. v. 255/2 Pyrrhichius, a Foot consisting of two short Syllables, in a Verse.

a1719 J. Addison Dialogues Medals in Wks. (1721) I. i. 447 ‘My barber has often combed my head in Dactyls and Spondees... Nay,’ says he, ‘I have known him sometimes run even into Pyrrhichius's and Anapæstus's.’

1745 S. Say Poems Several Occasions 105 The Pyrrichius: A kind of Half or Imperfect Measure, consisting of two Short Sounds.

1794 J. Davidson Short Introd. Lat. Gram. 106 The Asclepiad verse which has four feet, viz., a spondee, two choriambuses, and a pyrrichius.

1818 H. Hallam View Europe Middle Ages II. ix. 425 Hodie is used as a pyrrhichius.

1899 Proc. Amer. Philol. Assoc. 30 p. xviii Longinus speaks of the psychological effects of the petty and ignoble meters such as pyrrichius, trochee, dichoreus.

2003 R. Ferri Octavia 206 Modo retains the original final long o, which is by this date an artificial prosody (this is the only case in the Senecan corpus; elsewhere..the word is measured as a pyrrichius).