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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Verse \Verse\, noun [OE. vers, AS. fers, L. versus a line in writing, and, in poetry, a verse, from vertere, versum, to turn, to turn round; akin to E. worth to become: cf. F. vers. See {Worth} to become, and cf. {Advertise}, {Averse}, {Controversy}, {Convert}, {Divers}, {Invert}, {Obverse}, {Prose}, {Suzerain}, {Vortex}.]
1. A line consisting of a certain number of metrical feet (see {Foot}, noun, 9) disposed according to metrical rules.
Note: Verses are of various kinds, as hexameter, pentameter, tetrameter, etc., according to the number of feet in each. A verse of twelve syllables is called an Alexandrine. Two or more verses form a stanza or strophe.
2. Metrical arrangement and language; that which is composed in metrical form; versification; poetry.
Such prompt eloquence Flowed from their lips in prose or numerous verse. --Milton.
Virtue was taught in verse. --Prior.
Verse embalms virtue. --Donne.
3. A short division of any composition. Specifically: (a) A stanza; a stave; as, a hymn of four verses.
Note: Although this use of verse is common, it is objectionable, because not always distinguishable from the stricter use in the sense of a line. (b) (Script.) One of the short divisions of the chapters in the Old and New Testaments.
Note: The author of the division of the Old Testament into verses is not ascertained. The New Testament was divided into verses by Robert Stephens [or Estienne], a French printer. This arrangement appeared for the first time in an edition printed at Geneva, in 1551. (c) (Mus.) A portion of an anthem to be performed by a single voice to each part.
4. A piece of poetry. ''This verse be thine.'' --Pope.
{Blank verse}, poetry in which the lines do not end in rhymes.
{Heroic verse}. See under {Heroic}.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Verse \Verse\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Versed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Versing}.] To tell in verse, or poetry. [Obs.]
Playing on pipes of corn and versing love. --Shak.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Verse \Verse\, verb (used without an object) To make verses; to versify. [Obs.]
It is not rhyming and versing that maketh a poet. --Sir P. Sidney.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
verse
noun
1: literature in metrical form [syn: {poetry}, {poesy}]
2: a piece of poetry [syn: {rhyme}]
3: a line of metrical text [syn: {verse line}]
verb
1: compose verses or put into verse; "He versified the ancient saga" [syn: {versify}, {poetize}, {poetise}]
2: familiarize through thorough study or experience; "She versed herself in Roman archeology"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
259 Moby Thesaurus words for "verse": English sonnet, Horatian ode, Italian sonnet, Petrarchan sonnet, Pindaric ode, Sapphic ode, Shakespearean sonnet, Spenserian stanza, acquaint, adage, advertise, advertise of, advise, alba, ana, anacreontic, anacrusis, analects, antistrophe, aphorism, apothegm, apprise, article, avant-propos, axiom, back matter, balada, ballad, ballade, bass passage, book, bourdon, breakthrough, bridge, brief, bring word, bucolic, burden, byword, cadence, canso, canto, catchword, chanson, chapter, chorus, clause, clerihew, climb Parnassus, coda, collected sayings, column, communicate, compose poetry, couplet, current saying, development, dictate, dictum, dirge, disclose, distich, dithyramb, division, eclogue, elegize, elegy, enlighten, envoi, epic, epigram, epithalamium, epode, epopee, epopoeia, epos, exordium, exposition, expression, familiarize, fascicle, figure, folderol, folio, foreword, front matter, frontispiece, gathering, georgic, ghazel, give notice, give the facts, give word, gnome, golden saying, haiku, harmonic close, heptastich, hexastich, idyll, inform, innovation, installment, instruct, interlude, intermezzo, introduction, introductory phrase, jingle, lay, leap, leave word, let know, limerick, line, lisp in numbers, livraison, lyric, madrigal, make immortal verse, maxim, measure, mention to, monody, monostich, moral, mot, motto, mount Pegasus, movement, musical phrase, musical sentence, musical thought, narrative poem, notify, number, nursery rhyme, octastich, octave, octet, ode, oracle, ornament, ottava rima, overture, page, palinode, paragraph, part, passage, pastoral, pastoral elegy, pastorela, pastourelle, pentastich, period, phrase, pithy saying, poem, poesy, poetize, poetry, postulate, preamble, precept, preface, prefix, prefixture, preliminary, prelude, premise, prescript, presupposition, proem, prolegomena, prolegomenon, prolepsis, prologue, protasis, prothalamium, proverb, proverbial saying, proverbs, quatrain, refrain, report, resolution, response, rhyme, rhyme royal, ritornello, rondeau, rondel, roundel, roundelay, rune, satire, saw, saying, section, send word, sentence, sententious expression, septet, serial, serve notice, sestet, sestina, sextet, sheet, signature, sing, sing deathless songs, sloka, song, sonnet, sonnet sequence, speak, stanza, statement, stave, stock saying, strain, strophe, sutra, syllable, tailpiece, tanka, teaching, tell, tenso, tenzone, tercet, terza rima, tetrastich, text, the supreme fiction, threnody, triolet, triplet, tristich, troubadour poem, tutti, tutti passage, variation, verselet, versicle, versify, villanelle, virelay, volume, voluntary, wisdom, wisdom literature, wise saying, witticism, word, words of wisdom, write poetry
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