acrosticke

A1C3R1O1S1T1I1C3K5E1

A form of acrostic — A poem or other text in which certain letters, often the first in each line, spell out a name or message.

Scrabble 18

Meanings

nounacrosticke (plural acrostickes)

plural acrostickes

  1. obsoleteObsolete spelling of acrostic.

    I have written an acroſticke ſonet to his Maieſtie, a canzonet to the Queene, and another acroſticke unto the Price; whoſe ſervant I am by vow, and ſubordinate ſubject by birth.

    1603, Hugh Holland, “To Sir Robert Cotton, Knight, Lord of Cunnington”, in Pancharis: The First Booke. Containing the Preparation of the Loue betweene Ovven Tudyr, and the Queene, long since Intended to Her Maiden Maiestie: […], printed at London: By V[alentine] S[immes] for Clement Knight, →OCLC; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Pancharis: The First Booke. … (Illustrations of Old English Literature [Green Series]; volume 2, number 1), [London]: [Privately printed], 1866, →OCLC, page 55
    1 more example

    He [Judas Maccabeus] was termed Mackabæus, becauſe he carried in his ſtandard, or vexillum militare, theſe four Hebrew letters, Mem, Chaph, Beth, and Jod, or M. C. B. and J. whereunto their points being added, which are their vowells, (for others they have none) his mott was Mackabai, whereof he took his name. Theſe four letters are the acroſtickes or initiall letters of theſe four wordes in the fifteenth chapter of the book of Exodus, Mi Chamocha Baalim Jehovah, which is in Latin Quis ſicut tu Deorum Jehova? ["Who among the gods is like you, O Adonai?", Exodus 15:11.]

    1600 December 7, Abraham Hartwell, “Nº LXXXV. Of the Same [i.e., Of the Antiquity, Variety, and Reason of Motts, with Arms of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England].”, in Thomas Hearne, editor, A Collection of Curious Discourses Written by Eminent Antiquaries upon Several Heads in Our English Antiquities. […] In Two Volumes, 2nd edition, volume I, London: Printed by and for W. and J. Richardson, published 1771, →OCLC, pages 278–279
Cite this entry
APA

acrosticke. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/acrosticke

MLA

“acrosticke.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/acrosticke. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “acrosticke,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/acrosticke.

Source: acrosticke on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.