Word.ws English Dictionary

double dactyl

double dactyl noun: a short, usually humorous poem with eight lines in dactylic meter; a higgledy-piggledy.

Noun

double dactyl (plural double dactyls)

  1. A short, usually humorous poem with eight lines in dactylic meter; a higgledy-piggledy.
    • Higgledy-piggledies are more sophisticated than clerihews: they comprise double dactyls and rhymes and aren't always biographical.1980, Gyles Brandreth, The Joy of Lex, page 123

Synonyms of double dactyl

Forms of double dactyl

pluraldouble dactyls
alternative formdouble-dactyl

Origin of double dactyl

Coined by poets Anthony Hecht and Paul Pascal; compound of double + dactyl.

Questions about double dactyl

What does double dactyl mean?
Double dactyl means a short, usually humorous poem with eight lines in dactylic meter; a higgledy-piggledy.
What part of speech is double dactyl?
Double dactyl is a noun.
What is the plural of double dactyl?
The plural of double dactyl is double dactyls.

Words near double dactyl in the dictionary

  1. double cuffs
  2. double cylinder
  3. double cylinders
  4. double D
  5. double dabble
  6. double dactyl
  7. double dactyls
  8. double dagger
  9. double daggers
  10. double danda
  11. double dandas

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: double dactyl (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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