ottava rima

[ oh-tah-vuh ree-muh ]
/ oʊˈtɑ və ˈri mə /

noun, plural ot·ta·va ri·mas.

an Italian stanza of eight lines, each of eleven syllables (or, in the English adaptation, of ten or eleven syllables), the first six lines rhyming alternately and the last two forming a couplet with a different rhyme: used in Keats' Isabella and Byron's Don Juan.

Origin of ottava rima

1810–20; < Italian: octave rhyme

Words nearby ottava rima

British Dictionary definitions for ottava rima

ottava rima
/ (ˈriːmə) /

noun

prosody a stanza form consisting of eight iambic pentameter lines, rhyming a b a b a b c c

Word Origin for ottava rima

Italian: eighth rhyme