Adjective

1. Referring to a metrical pattern of poetry where each foot is composed of 3 syllables, the first and third of which are stressed and the second is unstressed. This pattern is very rare in English poetry.

   Example: In Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream the fairy speaks in cretic dimeter beginning: "Over hill, Over Dale." (Thus the line has six syllables and naturally is spoken as "OV-er HILL/OV-er DALE.")