hovering accent
noun
variants
or hovering stress
: a distribution of energy, pitch, or duration in two adjacent syllables in some utterance of verse when a heavy syllable occurs next to a syllable bearing the metrical ictus so that for perception the stress seems to be divided or diffused nearly equally over both (as cornfield in the line "that o'er´/the green´/cornfield/did pass´")
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“Hovering accent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hovering%20accent. Accessed 29 Nov. 2024.
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