Meanings
plural double dactyls · alternative double-dactyl
- A short, usually humorous poem with eight lines in dactylic meter; a higgledy-piggledy.
Higgledy-piggledies are more sophisticated than clerihews: they comprise double dactyls and rhymes and aren't always biographical.
1980, Gyles Brandreth, The Joy of Lex, page 123Synonyms: higgledy-piggledy
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA short, usually humorous poem with eight lines in dactylic meter; a higgledy-piggledy.
Origin
Coined by poets Anthony Hecht and Paul Pascal; compound of double + dactyl.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
double dactyl. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/double%20dactyl
“double dactyl.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/double%20dactyl. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “double dactyl,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/double%20dactyl.
Source: double dactyl on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.