a. [f. ALLITERATE v. + -IVE, as if ad. L. *allitterātīv-us.] Pertaining to or characterized by alliteration.
1764. Goldsm., Trav., Introd. (Jod.). Criticisms in favour of alliterative care and happy negligence.
1774. T. Warton, Eng. Poetry (1840), II. x. 108. Alliterative measure, unaccompanied with rhyme.
1855. Milman, Lat. Chr. (1864), IX. XIV. vii. 232. The alliterative verse of the Old Anglo-Saxon.
1865. Sat. Rev., 15 July, 76/2. The old alliterative cry [‘Measures not Men’] is reversed.
