metrelessmeterlessadj.
/ˈmiːtələs/, U.S. /ˈmidərləs/ Without metre.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > versification > metre > [adjective] > unmetrical
immetrical1598
unmeasured1604
numberlessa1658
unmetrical1765
innumerous1886
metreless1892
1892 Overland Monthly May 555 Whenever he comes to a streak of this real poetry, he drops his dragging, metreless pace, and steps off to a good chanting measure.
1895 Athenæum 2 Mar. 273/1 If the name ‘metreless poem’ can properly be given to any form of imaginative literature.
1904 Daily Chron. 17 Sept. 3/2 There is the throb of metreless song in that passage.
1979 Daily Tel. 8 Mar. 16/6 The new translation.., in metre-less verse, is serviceable rather than distinguished.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1892