a. and sb. [f. L. antepænultim-us + -ATE, after ultimate.]
A. adj. The last but two. Orig. of syllables; but extended to order in place or time.
1730. Nicholls, Lobster, in Phil. Trans., XXXVI. 293. The antepenultimate Leg.
1775. Walker, Rhym. Dict., Pref. 19. I find every vowel in this antepenultimate syllable … pronounced long.
1865. Pall Mall G., 20 Oct., 11/2. We have the antepenultimate Duke of Newcastle’s authority for the dictum that ‘a man has a right to do what he likes with his own.’
1870. Rolleston, Anim. Life, 12. Each succeeding vertebra up to the antepenultimate lumbar.
B. sb. [The adj. used absol., sc. syllable, etc.]
1727. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., The Antepenultimate of a dactyle is long.
1871. Athenæum, 10 June, 725/1. In words of four syllables, it [the accent] may be on the antepenultimate, as in témérité, or on the first and third, as in mathématique, or on the first and last, as in sobriété.
