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verse

Pronunciation: /vəːs/

Translate verse | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of verse

noun

[mass noun]
  • writing arranged with a metrical rhythm, typically having a rhyme:a lament in verse [as modifier]:verse drama
  • [count noun] a group of lines that form a unit in a poem or song; a stanza:the second verse
  • [count noun] each of the short numbered divisions of a chapter in the Bible or other scripture: we were each required to recite a Bible verse from memory on the walls were framed verses from the Koran
  • [count noun] a versicle.
  • [count noun] archaic a line of poetry.
  • [count noun] a passage in an anthem for a soloist or a small group of voices.

verb

[no object] archaic
  • speak in or compose verse; versify: he began to verse extemporaneously in her ear [with object]: thou sat all day, playing on pipes and versing love

Derivatives

verselet

noun

Origin:

Old English fers, from Latin versus 'a turn of the plough, a furrow, a line of writing', from vertere 'to turn'; reinforced in Middle English by Old French vers, from Latin versus

verse in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of verse in the US English dictionary

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