verse

¹

[ vurs ]

noun

1. (not in technical use) a stanza.
2. a succession of metrical feet written, printed, or orally composed as one line; one of the lines of a poem.
3. a particular type of metrical line:

   a hexameter verse.

4. a poem, or piece of poetry.
5. metrical composition; poetry, especially as involving metrical form.
6. metrical writing distinguished from poetry because of its inferior quality:

   a writer of verse, not poetry.

7. a particular type of metrical composition:

   elegiac verse.

8. the collective poetry of an author, period, nation, etc.:

   Miltonian verse;

   American verse.

9. one of the short conventional divisions of a chapter of the Bible.
10. Music.
    1. that part of a song following the introduction and preceding the chorus.
    2. a part of a song designed to be sung by a solo voice.
11. Rare. a line of prose, especially a sentence, or part of a sentence, written as one line.
12. Rare. a subdivision in any literary work.

adjective

1. of, relating to, or written in verse:

   a verse play.

verb (used without object)

, versed, vers·ing.

1. versify ( def 3 ).

verb (used with object)

, versed, vers·ing.

1. to express in verse.

verse

²

[ vurs ]

verb (used with object)

1. Slang. to play against; be the opponent of, as in a game or match:

   Want to verse me in this new RPG?

   We lost against the Wildcats when we versed them a couple of days ago.

-verse

³

1. a combining form extracted from universe, occurring as the final element in compounds with the sense “in the sphere or realm of”: Chaos is erupting in the Twitterverse right now. We try to stick with using the Linuxverse on our computers. A new publisher is big news in the writerverse.
2. a combining form extracted from universe, used in forming names for a fictional world associated with a particular media franchise: the BTTF-verse of Back to the Future;

   the Whoniverse of Doctor Who;

   the BTTF-verse of Back to the Future;

   the Vorkosiverse of the Vorkosigan Saga.

verse

/ vɜːs /

noun

1. (not in technical usage) a stanza or other short subdivision of a poem
2. poetry as distinct from prose
3. 1. a series of metrical feet forming a rhythmic unit of one line
   2. ( as modifier )

      verse line

4. a specified type of metre or metrical structure

   iambic verse

5. one of the series of short subsections into which most of the writings in the Bible are divided
6. a metrical composition; poem

verb

1. a rare word for versify

verse

1. A kind of language made intentionally different from ordinary speech or prose. It usually employs devices such as meter and rhyme , though not always. Free verse , for example, has neither meter nor rhyme. Verse is usually considered a broader category than poetry, with the latter being reserved to mean verse that is serious and genuinely artistic.

Other Words From

• un·der·verse noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of verse¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English vers(e), fers “line of poetry, section of a psalm,” from Old French vers, Anglo-French verse, veers, and Old English fers, færs, fyrs, from Latin versus “a row, line (of poetry),” literally, “a turning,” equivalent to vert(ere), “to turn” (past participle versus; akin to -ward, worth ²

Origin of verse²

An Americanism dating back to 1980–85; shortening of versus ( def )

Origin of verse³

First recorded in 1980–85

Word History and Origins

Origin of verse¹

Old English vers, from Latin versus a furrow, literally: a turning (of the plough), from vertere to turn

Idioms and Phrases

see chapter and verse .

Synonym Study

Verse, stanza, strophe, stave are terms for a metrical grouping in poetic composition. Verse is often mistakenly used for stanza, but is properly only a single metrical line. A stanza is a succession of lines (verses) commonly bound together by a rhyme scheme, and usually forming one of a series of similar groups that constitute a poem: The four-line stanza is the one most frequently used in English. Strophe (originally the section of a Greek choral ode sung while the chorus was moving from right to left) is in English poetry practically equivalent to “section”; a strophe may be unrhymed or without strict form, but may be a stanza: Strophes are divisions of odes. Stave is a word (now seldom used) that means a stanza set to music or intended to be sung: a stave of a hymn; a stave of a drinking song. See poetry.

Example Sentences

It is often called ritual theatre for its electrifying drama, featuring daring acts like fire-walking, diving into burning embers, chanting occult verses, and prophesying.

From BBC

With renewed confidence, Frankie continues to sing as Phoenix duets on the remaining verses.

From Salon

Peysoh got the first verse, and the two swapped lines in the chorus.

From Los Angeles Times

A man who stabbed a student, leaving him fighting for his life, and went on to brag about it in a rap verse has been sentenced.

From BBC

When Samuel hears that verse, even now, he gets emotional.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• ballad
• epic
• jingle
• lyrics
• poem
• poetry
• rhyme
• sonnet
• stanza