\Al*lit`er*a"tion\, n. [L. ad + litera letter. See
{Letter}.]
The repetition of the same letter at the beginning of two or
more words immediately succeeding each other, or at short
intervals; as in the following lines:
      Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheaved His vastness.
                                               --Milton.
      Fly o'er waste fens and windy fields.    --Tennyson.
Note: The recurrence of the same letter in accented parts of
      words is also called alliteration. Anglo-Saxon poetry
      is characterized by alliterative meter of this sort.
      Later poets also employed it.
            In a somer seson whan soft was the sonne, I shope
            me in shroudes as I a shepe were.  --P. Plowman.