virelay

American  

[vir-uh-ley] / ˈvɪr əˌleɪ /

Or virelai

noun

Prosody.

1. an old French form of short poem, composed of short lines running on two rhymes and having two opening lines recurring at intervals.

2. any of various similar or other forms of poem, as one consisting of stanzas made up of longer and shorter lines, the lines of each kind rhyming together in each stanza, and having the rhyme of the shorter lines of one stanza forming the rhyme of the longer lines of the next stanza.

3. a medieval song form providing a musical setting for a virelay but having a formal structure different from that of the poem.

---

virelay British  

/ ˈvɪrɪˌleɪ /

noun

1. an old French verse form, rarely used in English, consisting of short lines arranged in stanzas having only two rhymes, and two opening lines recurring at intervals

2. any of various similar forms

---

Etymology

Origin of virelay

1350–1400; Middle English < Old French virelai, alteration ( see lay ⁴) of vireli, virli jingle used as the refrain of a song

Example Sentences

"Teach me another, then," said the young girl, returning the instrument to him; and Chaudoreille intoned a virelay on the great feats of Pepin the Short.

From The Barber of Paris by Kock, Charles Paul de

The chevalier was singing a virelay which he accompanied by striking Rolande against the branches, then barren of foliage.

From The Barber of Paris by Kock, Charles Paul de

Then last of all haue ye a proportion to be vsed in the number of your staues, as to a caroll and a ballade, to a song, & a round, or virelay.

From The Arte of English Poesie by Puttenham, George

And then the band of flutes began to play, To which a lady sung a virelay: And still at every close she would repeat The burden of the song—"the daisy is so sweet."

From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 427 Volume 17, New Series, March 6, 1852 by Chambers, Robert

Fitz: Let the conqueror, flushed with glory, Bid his noisy clarions bray; Lovers tell their artless story In a whispered virelay.

From The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan by Gilbert, W. S. (William Schwenck), Sir