Dāe'tyl, n.

n. [Lat. dactylus, Gr. δάκτυλος, properly a finger.] (Pros.) A poetical foot of three syllables, one long, followed by two short, or one accented followed by two unaccented;—so called from the similarity of its arrangement to that of the joints of a finger; as, tēgmĕnē, mer'ciful. [Written also dactyle.]