▪ I. acrostic, n. and a.1
(əˈkrɒstɪk)
Also 6–8 acrostick(e, 7 achrostiche, acrostique, 7–8 acrostich.
[ad. L. acrostichis, a. Gr. ἀκροστιχίς, f. ἄκρο- (see acro-) + στίχος a row, order, line of verse. Occurs in the L. form as late as 1642. The etymological spelling is acrostich, as in distich. Cf. Fr. acrostiche.]
A. n.
1. A short poem (or other composition) in which the initial letters of the lines, taken in order, spell a word, phrase, or sentence. Sometimes the last or middle letters of the lines, or all of them, are similarly arranged to spell words, etc., whence a distinction of single, double, or triple acrostics. See also telestich.
| 1587 Golding De Mornay xxxii. 508 Cicero..maketh mention of Sybil's Acrosticke, that is to say, of certeine verses of hirs whose first letters made the name of that king. 1605 Camden Rem. (1637) 340 Our Poets have their knacks as young Schollers call them, as Ecchos, Achrostiches, Serpentine verses. 1642 Montagu Acts & Mon. 220 The whole Poeme, or Passage of that Acrostichis, is a Description of the generale Judgement. 1656 Cowley Of Wit vi. Wks. 1686, 2 In which who finds out Wit, the same may see In An'grams and Acrostiques, Poetry. 1711 Addison Spectator No. 60 ¶4 Besides these there are compound Acrosticks, where the principal Letters stand two or three deep. 1767 A. Campbell Lexiphanes (1774) 98 Rhyme is fit for nothing but madrigals, epigrams and acrosticks. 1841 Spalding Italy II. 25 Publius Optatianus Porphyrius composed, in 326, a poem, still extant, in praise of Constantine, the lines of which are acrostics. 1844 Lingard Hist. A.-S. Ch. ii. (1858) II. 145 Acrostics were also admired, both single and double. |
2. A Hebrew poem in which the consecutive lines or verses begin with the successive letters of the alphabet; an abecedarian poem.
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Some pretend to find Acrostics in the psalms, particularly in those called Abcdarian psalms. 1868 Chambers Encycl. I. 33 It was customary at one time to compose verses on sacred subjects after the fashion of these Hebrew acrostics, the successive verses or lines beginning with the letters of the alphabet in their order. |
† 3. The beginning or end of a verse. Obs.
| 1614 Selden Titles of Honor (1614) 12 That Acrostich..κρῆτες ἀεὶ ψεῦσται. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Tho' an Acrostic properly signifies the beginning of a verse, yet it is sometimes also used for the end or close of it; as by the author of the constitutions, when he orders one to sing the hymns of David, and the people to sing after him the Acrostics or ends of the verses..This was called singing Acrostics, Acrostichia, which is a species of psalmody usual in the antient church. |
B. adj. Pertaining to or characterized by acrostics (in senses A. 1, 2).
| 1682 Dryden Macflecknoe 206 Leave writing plays, and choose for thy command, Some peaceful province in Acrostic land. 1669 Gale Crt. of Gentiles i. i. xii. 78 That the Phenician order [of Letters]..was most ancient, appeares by the Acrostic verses of David. 1868 Chambers Encycl. I. 33 The Acrostic poetry of the Hebrews. |
▪ II. acrostic, a.2
(əˈkrɒstɪk)
[A factitious formation from across, or acrossed (= acrost).]
Crossed, folded across; moving crosswise, erratic, zig-zag.
| 1602 Middleton Fam. of Love iv. iv. Wks. II. 179 What melancholy sir, with acrostic arms, now comes? 1797 W. Taylor in Monthly Rev. XXIII. 566 The capricious skips of an acrostic itinerary. |