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American Dictionary of the English Language

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Pean


PE'AN , noun Among the ancients, a song of rejoicing in honor of Apollo; hence, a song of triumph.

1. In ancient poetry, a foot of four syllables; written also paeon. Of this there are four kinds; the first consisting of one long and three short syllables, or a trochee and a pyrrhic, as temporibus; the second of a short syllable, a long and two short, or an iambus and a pyrrhic, as potentia; the third of two short syllables, a long and a short one, or a phrrhic and a trochee, as animatus; the fourth of three short syllables and along one, or a pyrrhic and iambus, as celeritus.