Definitions for: Alliteration

[n] use of the same consonant at the beginning of each stressed syllable in a line of verse; "around the rock the ragged rascal ran"

Webster (1913) Definition: Al*lit`er*a"tion, n. [L. ad + litera letter. See
Letter.]
The repetition of the same letter at the beginning of two or
more words immediately succeeding each other, or at short
intervals; as in the following lines:

Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheaved His vastness.
--Milton.

Fly o'er waste fens and windy fields. --Tennyson.

Note: The recurrence of the same letter in accented parts of
words is also called alliteration. Anglo-Saxon poetry
is characterized by alliterative meter of this sort.
Later poets also employed it.

In a somer seson whan soft was the sonne, I shope
me in shroudes as I a shepe were. --P. Plowman.

Synonyms: beginning rhyme, head rhyme, initial rhyme

See Also: rhyme, rime

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