See Also: verse(medicine)
verse(dictionary)
verse(dictionary)
verse(2)(dictionary)
verse(1)(dictionary)
blank verse(encyclopedia)
nonsense verse(encyclopedia)
verse (as used in expressions)(encyclopedia)
blank verse(dictionary)
free verse(dictionary)

verse(1) (iou)



verse noun.
[Old English fers corresp. to Old Frisian fers, Middle Low German, Old High German (Dutch, German), Old Norse vers, from Latin versus turn of the plough, furrow, line, row, line of writing, from vers- pa. ppl stem of vertere turn; in Middle English reinforced by or re-formed from Old & mod. French vers, from same Latin source.]
I.
A sequence of words arranged according to (particular) natural or recognized rules of prosody and forming a complete metrical line; each of the lines of a poem or piece of versification. (In pl. freq. merging into sense 2.) OE.
half verse, heroic verse, long verse, Sotadic verse, etc. cap verses: see CAP verb1 4a. copy of verses: see COPY noun1.
E. Elstob The Saxon Verses consist of three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or more syllables. J. Warton Like Ovid's Fasti, in hexameter and pentameter verses.
A small number of metrical lines constituting a distinct group; spec. (a) a stanza; (b) Music a passage of an anthem etc. for solo voice; (c) in a modern popular song, a sequence of lines leading into the chorus or separating one chorus from another. ME.
tripos verses: see TRIPOS 2b.
Dickens A ballad in four verses. Melody Maker Wonder charges through the verse and builds up into the..chorus.
Metrical composition, form, or structure; metrical language or speech, poetry. ME.
Alexandrine verse, elegiac verse, free verse, heroic verse, hexameter verse, Leonine verse, long verse, Saturnian verse, etc. blank verse: see BLANK adjective. concrete verse: see CONCRETE adjective. PROJECTIVE verse.
R. S. Thomas Declaiming verse To the sharp prompting of the harp. V. Nabokov The several translations into English..have been attempts to render 'Eugene Onegin' in verse. G. S. Fraser Shakespeare..uses great verse in his plays when he needs it.
A body of metrical work or poetry considered as a whole; spec. the poetry of a particular author. L16.
II.
Christian Church. = VERSICLE 1. OE.
A clause, a sentence; spec. an article of the Creed. OE-M16.
a. Any of the sections of a biblical psalm or canticle corresponding to the compound unit (usu. a couplet) of Hebrew poetry. obsolete exc. as passing into sense b below. ME.
b. gen. Any of the short numbered divisions into which a chapter of the Bible (or other scripture) is divided. M16.
chapter and verse: see CHAPTER noun.
W. Law Religion..is to be found in almost every verse of Scripture. E. Abbott The New Testament divided into our present verses.
Attrib. & comb.: In the sense 'composed or written in, consisting of, verse', as verse drama, verse epistle, verse epitaph, verse letter, verse play, verse translation, etc. Special combs., as verse anthem an anthem with alternating sections for choir and soloists; versecraft the craft of, or skill in, writing verse; versemaker a poet, a versifier; verseman a person who writes verse; esp. a minor poet, a versifier; versemonger a versifier, esp. a poetaster.
verseless adjective lacking verse or poetry; (rare) unable to versify: M18.
verselet noun a short verse or poem M19.