1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Anapaest

ANAPAEST (from Gr. ἀνάπαιστος, reversed), a metrical foot consisting of three syllables, the first two short and the third long and accented; so called as the reverse of a dactyl, which has the first a long syllable, followed by two short ones. An anapaestic verse is one which only contains, or is mostly made up of, anapaestic feet.