caesura(noun)

a pause or interruption (as in a conversation)

"after an ominous caesura the preacher continued"

caesura(noun)

a break or pause (usually for sense) in the middle of a verse line

caesura(Noun)

A pause or interruption in a poem, music, building or other work of art.

caesura(Noun)

In Classical prosody, using two words to divide a metrical foot.

Caesura(noun)

a metrical break in a verse, occurring in the middle of a foot and commonly near the middle of the verse; a sense pause in the middle of a foot. Also, a long syllable on which the caesural accent rests, or which is used as a foot

Caesura

In meter, a caesura is a complete pause in a line of poetry or in a musical composition. The plural form of caesura is caesurae. Caesurae feature prominently in Greek and Latin verse, especially in the heroic verse form, dactylic hexameter. In poetry, a masculine caesura follows a stressed syllable while a feminine caesura follows an unstressed syllable. A caesura is also described by its position in a line of poetry. A caesura close to the beginning of a line is called an initial caesura, one in the middle of a line is medial, and one near the end of a line is terminal. Initial and terminal caesurae were rare in formal, Romance, and Neoclassical verse, which preferred medial caesurae. In scansion, poetry written with signs to indicate the length and stress of syllables, the "double pipe" sign is used to denote the position of a caesura. In musical notation, caesura denotes a brief, silent pause, during which metrical time is not counted. Similar to a silent fermata, caesurae are located between notes or measures, rather than on notes or rests. A fermata may be placed over a caesura to indicate a longer pause.