in the widest sense, a dividing into short portions by a regular succession of motions, impulses, sounds, accents, etc., producing an agreeable effect, as in music poetry, the dance, or the like.-movement in musical time, with periodical recurrence of accent; the measured beat or pulse which marks the character and expression of the music; symmetry of movement and accent.-a division of lines into short portions by a regular succession of arses and theses, or percussions and remissions of voice on words or syllables.-the harmonious flow of vocal sounds.