a. and sb. [ad. Fr. adonique, ad. med.L. adōnicus, after L. Sapphicus, Ionicus, etc.]
A. adj. Of, or relating to Adonis; in L. and Gr. Prosody, epithet of a meter, consisting of a dactyl and spondee.
1678. Phillips, Adonick Verse … so called from Adonis, for the bewailing of whose death it was first compos’d.
B. sb. An Adonic verse or line.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v. We meet with Adonics by themselves without sapphics, as also sapphics without Adonics.
1805. Edin. Rev., VI. 374. The sapphics … were broken at a longer interval by the adonic.
