▪ I. verse, n.
(vɜːs)
Forms: 1, 4 fers (1 færs, fyrs), 3 Orm. ferrs; 1–4 uers, 1, 3–4, 5–6 Sc., vers, 4–5 wers; 4– verse, 5, 6 Sc., werse; 5 veerse, veerce, 6 vearse, 5–6 Sc. veirs, 6 Sc. veirse.
[OE. fers, corresponding to OFris. fers (WFris. fêrs, NFris. fês, etc.), MDu. (Du.) and MLG. vers, OHG., MHG. vers, fers (G. vers), ON. (Da., Sw.) vers, ad. L. versus a line or row, spec. a line of writing (so named from turning to begin another line), verse, f. vertĕre to turn; in ME. reinforced by or newly a. AF. and OF. (also mod.F.) vers (= Pr. vers, It., Sp, Pg. verso) from the same source.
In OE. (the word being neuter), and to a certain extent in ME., the pl. was the same as the sing.]
1. a. A succession of words arranged according to natural or recognized rules of prosody and forming a complete metrical line; one of the lines of a poem or piece of versification.
| c 900 tr. Baeda's Hist. iv. xxiv. (1890) 344 Þa ongon he sona singan in herenesse Godes Scyppendes þa fers [v.r. uers] & þa word þe he næfre ᵹehyrde. c 1000 ælfric Gram. xxxvii. (Z.) 218 Uersificor, ic fersiᵹe oððe ic wyrce fers. c 1050 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia (1885) VIII. 313 Þæt pentimemeris byð þe todælð þæt vers on þam oðrum fet. c 1200 Ormin Ded. 59 And icc ne mihhte nohht min ferrs Aȝȝ wiþþ Goddspelless wordess Wel fillenn all. 13.. Cato 633 in Minor P. Vernon MS. 609 Þe [= thee] merueyles of þise nakede vers [that] Beoþ maked bi two and two. c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche i. 463 He made of ryme ten verses [v.r. vers] or twelue Of a complaynt. c 1380 Wyclif Last Age Ch. (1840) 33 Sibille acordiþ herto þat suche tribulacioun is nyȝe in þes verse. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) ii. 5 As it es contende in þis werse, whilk es here writen. 1479 Paston Lett. III. 242 Thes too verse afore seyde be of myn own makyng. 1483 Caxton Cato 9, I haue made this lytel book in double verses the whiche conteynen two shorte and utyle sentences for the symple folke. a 1513 Fabyan Chron. (1516) 200 And for this Scisme thus graciously was endyd, a Vercifier made this verse folowynge: Lux fulsit mundo cessit Felix Nicholao. 1567 in Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) [p. cxxxiv], Sing thir four veirs efter euerie Psalme as followis. 1597–8 Bacon Ess., Ceremonies (Arb.) 26 Some mens behauiour is like a verse wherein euery sillable is measured. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iv. xv. 316 When..the Spanish Embassadour..had summed up the effect thereof in a Tetrastich, she instantly in one verse rejoined her answer. 1664 Butler Hud. ii. i. 28 But those that write in Rhime, still make The one Verse for the others sake. 1709 Hearne in Chron. R. Gloucester (1724) App. 601 There are eight Verses in the Tale it self, which are not in the common Editions. a 1771 Gray Observ. Eng. Metre Wks. 1843 V. 260 The verse of fourteen [syllables]..and verse of six. 1822 S. Tillbrook in Southey's Poet. Wks. (1853) p. xx/2, Eight verses of hexametrical dimensions. 1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 370/1 An hexameter verse which has a spondee in the fifth place, is called a spondaic verse. 1895 A. W. Ward Pope's Wks. p. li, The ordinary rule as to the position of the cæsura in the verse. |
(
b)
spec. with historical reference to Old English poetry.
| 1715 E. Elstob Rudiments Gram. Eng.-Saxon Tongue 68 The Saxon Verses consist of three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or more syllables. 1883 H. M. Kennedy tr. Ten Brink's Hist. Eng. Lit. I. 22 The sentence rarely closes with the ending of the verse. 1938 A. Campbell Battle of Brunanburh 16 Sievers showed once and for all the combinations of accentual elements, which might be used to build a verse. 1958 A. J. Bliss Metre of Beowulf 1 The term ‘verse’ is here used instead of the more cumbrous ‘half-line’ or ‘hemistich’. |
b. In the
pl. occas. merging into sense 5.
| 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 14 He hadde many verses techyng folkis to eschewe their propre willes. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lix. 16 He hes indorsit myn indytting With versis off his awin hand vrytting. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal., June 42 Tho couth I sing of loue, and tune my pype Vnto my plaintiue pleas in verses made. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. iii. iii. 34 Cinna. I am Cinna the Poet{ddd}4[th Cit.] Teare him for his bad verses. a 1643 W. Cartwright Love's Convert iv. v, They do swarm hither with their Verses, Like Town-poets on some Lord's Son's Wedding-day. 1714 (title), Rymer's Translations from Greek, Latin and Italian Poets; with other Verses and Songs. 1779 Johnson L.P., Lyttelton ¶1 The verses cant of shepherds and flocks, and crooks dressed with flowers. 1805 H. K. White Let. to B. Maddock 18 Oct., I have this week written some very elaborate verses for a college prize. |
c. With distinguishing terms. (
Cf. 6 c.)
| 1546 Langley tr. Pol. Verg. De Invent. i. viii. 16 A songe of Exameter Verses. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 377 To write in heroicall Verses. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1246 A chronicler penning the historie of these affaires in elegiack verses. 1605, 1656 [see serpentine a. 1 b]. 1658 [see leonine a. 2]. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Hexameter, Epic Poems, as the Iliad, Odyssee, æneid, &c. consist of Hexameter Verses alone. Ibid., Serpentine Verses, are such as begin and end with the same Word. 1756 J. Warton Ess. Pope x. (1782) II. 211 Like Ovid's Fasti, in hexameter and pentameter verses. 1774 Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry (1870) 30 The verses which we call Alexandrine. 1815 [see Fescennine a.]. 1818 J. C. Hobhouse Hist. Illust. (ed. 2) 442 [Italian] heroic verses have not the advantage of the hexametral length. |
2. Liturg. = versicle 1. Now
rare.
| c 960 Rule St. Benet ix. (1885) 33 Cweþe ærest þis fers: Deus in adiutorium meum intende. Ibid. xi. 35 Singe man ærest six sealmas and þonne on ende fers. c 1030 Ibid. (Logeman) 41 æfter þisum rædingum fylian..syx sealmas mid antiphonam, swa swa þa æreran & mid ferse. a 1400 Prymer (1891) 88 R'. Delyuere me lord. With these thre ueers. V'. Now cryst. V'. Brennynge soules wepiþ [etc.]. V'. Schappere of alle þynges. c 1450 Myrr. Our Ladye 114 What is vnderstonded by the thre lessons wyth the Responces & verses folowynge. a 1500 Chaucer's Dreme 1806 Many orisones and verses, Withoute note full softely Said were and that full heartily. 1548–9 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer Pref., Respondes, Verses, vaine repeticions. 1627 Cosin's Corr. (Surtees) I. 111 Doth he begin with the Lord's Prayer; orderly proceeding with the Verses and Responds. 1657 Sparrow Rationale 29 Then follow the Verses, ‘O Lord open Thou our Lips, And our mouth shall shew forth thy praise’. 1762 Evening-Office of Church (ed. 2) Direct. 3 Then is sung the Hymn with its Verse and Responsory. 1763 Burn Eccl. Law I. 38 The invitatories, responsories, verses, collects, and whatever is said or sung in the quire. 1877 J. D. Chambers Div. Worship 91 The Gradual, Alleluya, and Responsory and Verses. |
† 3. A clause, sentence, or the like; an article of the Creed.
Obs.| c 1000 ælfric Gram. l. (Z.) 291 Se þridda hatte distinctio oððe periodos, se belycð þaet fers [v.rr. færs, fyrs]. c 1000 ― Pref. Genesis (Grein) 23 Eft stynt on þære bec on þam forman ferse: Et spiritus dei ferebatur super aquas. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 75 Þet rihte ileue setten þe twelue apostles on write,..& ec of heom wrat ther of his uers, & sancte peter wrat þet ereste. Ibid. 77 We habbeð bigunnen ou to seggen on englisch hwat biqueþ þe crede, & habbeð ou iseið twa uers. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. v. xi. 3495 Sancte Ierome wrat til hym..Gloria Patri in til twa werse. 1535 Coverdale Deut. iv. 13 He declared vnto you his couenaunt, which he commaunded you to do, namely, the ten verses. 1560 Proude Wyves Pater Noster 116 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 157, I pray you, gossyp dere, vnderstand well this verse. |
4. a. One of the sections of a psalm or canticle corresponding to the compound unit (usually a couplet) of Hebrew poetry. (Now merged in next.)
| c 1200 Ormin 11943 Forr þær iss sett an oþerr ferrs Þatt spekeþþ off þe deofell. a 1225 Ancr. R. 36 Þe vorme psalm is ‘Iubilate’.., þe vifte, ‘Laudate Dominum in sanctis ejus’; and in euerichon beoð vif vers. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 34 [He] seide þeos two vers of þe sauter. Ibid. 225 Þe foweles sunge ek here matyns,..& of þe sauter seide þe uers. c 1325 Spec. Gy Warw. 460 Sein Daui seiþ, if þu wolt loke In a vers of þe sauter boke [etc.]. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xii. 290 Þe glose graunteth vpon þat vers [Ps. xxiii. 4] a gret mede to treuthe. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. v. xi. 3508 Of þe psalmys distyntly Þe ta syde sulde þe fyrst werse say, Þe toþir þe next werse ay Sulde begyn. c 1450 Rewle Sustris Menouresses (1915) 103 Þan þe quere on þat one syde schal take his verse, & þe Quere on þat oþer syde schal take anoþer verse [of Ps. li]. 1508 Fisher 7 Penit. Ps. cxxx. Wks. (1876) 208 It is also profytable for good & ryghtwyse people ofte to reherse this verse [Ps. cxxx. 1] wherby they may auoyde the grete perylles of this wretched worlde. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 163 b, Yf..for ony necessite, a psalme scape ony persone, or a lesson, or else y{supt} they omyt one verse or twayne. |
b. One of the sections into which a chapter of the Bible is divided. Freq. abbreviated as
v. chapter and verse: see
chapter n. 10 b.
The practice of dividing the chapters of the Bible into verses, introduced by Stephanus in 1551, was adopted by Whittingham in his New Testament (1557) and followed in the Geneva Bible (1560).
| 1560 Bible (Geneva) To Rdr., The argumentes bothe for the booke and for the chapters with the nombre of the verse are added. 1643 Caryl Expos. Job 178 Verse 2 [of ch. iii]... This verse is only a transition into the matter of the next. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. ii. 1170 One single Red-Coat Sentinel..could disperse Whole Troops, with Chapter rais'd, and Verse. 1685 Baxter Paraphr. N.T. John viii. 3 The last Verse of the foregoing Chapter and the eleven first Verses of this Chapter. 1729 Law Serious C. i. 8 That Religion..is to be found in almost every verse of Scripture. 1818 Horne Introd. Script. (1834) II. 75 The verses into which the New Testament is now divided. 1847 Kitto's Cycl. Bibl. Lit. II. 909 note, The twentieth verse of the tenth chapter of Matthew. 1888 E. Abbot Crit. Ess. xx. 465 The first edition of the New Testament divided into our present verses was printed by Robert Stephens at Geneva in 1551. |
| Comb. 1855 I. Taylor Restor. Belief (1856) 186 A verse-by-verse commentary. |
5. a. A small number of metrical lines so connected by form or meaning as to constitute either a whole in themselves or a unit in longer composition; a stanza.
In
quots. c 1340 and 1387 applied to elegiac and hexameter couplets. In later use the
pl. is sometimes not clearly distinct from 1 b.
| c 1308 Sat. Kildare i. in E.E.P. (1862) 153 Þis uers is ful well iwroȝt, hit is of wel furre y-broȝt. Ibid. iii, Þis uers is imakid wel of consonans and wowel. c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 246 Of þis Saynt Bernard witnes bers And er þa four wryten in þis vers. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 83 So hit semeþ þat þis vers wolde mene þat þese feyned goddes regneþ..in Chestre. 1502 Douglas Pal. Hon. iii. xcii, In laude of honour I wrait thir versis thre. 1573–80 Baret Alvearie s.v., A verse: a charme: a prophesie, carmen. 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus, Ann. iii. xiii. (1622) 83 The Smyrnæans alleaged an oracle of Apollo,..the Tenians a verse [L. carmen] of the same Apollo, commanding them to offer an image and Temple to Neptune. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. iv. 7 Now good Cesario, but that peece of song, That old and Anticke song we heard last night;..Come, but one verse. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 74 ¶5 The Country of the Scotch Warriors, described in these two last Verses [of ‘Chevy Chase’]. 1793 Burns Let. to G. Thomson 7 April, I remember the two last lines of a verse in some of the old songs of ‘Logan Water’,..which I think pretty. 1801 Busby Dict. Mus. s.v., In secular music, as a song or ballad, each stanza of the words is a verse. 1838 Dickens O. Twist xxvi, A young lady proceeded to entertain the company with a ballad in four verses. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xxiii. 167 It was at once proposed to sing a verse from Schiller's play. |
b. Mus. (See
quot.)
| 1801 Busby Dict. Mus., Verse, the appellation given to those portions of an anthem meant to be performed by a single voice to each part. |
c. That part of a modern popular song which leads into the chorus, or separates one chorus from another.
Cf. chorus n. 6 c.
| 1927 Melody Maker Aug. 782/2 The verse is then taken ‘hot’ by the trumpet, who gives a fine example of what modern ‘hot’ playing..should be. 1929, 1935 [see chorus n. 6 c]. 1966 Melody Maker 7 May 13/1 Wonder charges through the verse and builds up into the repetitious chorus. |
6. a. Without article: Metrical composition, form, or structure; language or literary work written or spoken in metre; poetry,
esp. with reference to metrical form. Opposed to
prose.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 22227 We wat bath thoru stori and wers, Þat þe kingrikes o grece and pers War hefd kingrikes in form tide. 14.. Chaucer's Sompn. T. 297 (Harl. MS.), Schortly may no man, by rym and vers, Tellen her thoughtes, thay ben so dyvers. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. v. xi. 3492 This Damasyus..Couth mak rycht weill in metyre vers. a 1586 Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 50 That Verse farre exceedeth Prose in the knitting vp of the memory, the reason is manifest. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxvi. 141 In antient time, before letters were in common use, the Lawes were many times put into verse. 1696 Prior Secretary 16 Athens.., Where people knew love, and were partial to verse. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Stanza, For though we speak Verse on the Stage, 'tis still presumed we are speaking Prose. 1779 Johnson L.P., Dryden (1868) 186 To write verse, is to dispose syllables and sounds harmonically by some known and settled rule. 1827 Pollok Course T. iii, He searched again..For theme deserving of immortal verse. 1883 R. Noel in Contemp. Rev. Nov. 709 note, We find..much nakedly argumentative ratiocinative verse, but that is not, strictly speaking, poetry at all. |
| personif. 1580 Spenser Let. to Harvey Wks. (1912) 636 Unhappy Verse,..Make thy selfe fluttring wings of thy fast flying Thought. c 1645 Milton Sonn. to Lawes 9 Thou honour'st Verse, and Verse must lend her wing To honour thee. |
b. Freq.
in verse, in metrical form. Also
fig. (
quot. 1390).
| c 1315 Shoreham vii. 191 O god hyt hys, and stent in uers Ine þulke song [= Athanasian Creed]. 1340 Ayenb. 128 He wenþ libbe yet uourti yer, ase zayþ elyuans ine uers of þe dyaþe. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 3 For Dronkeschipe is so divers, It may no whyle stonde in vers. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. vi. x. 859 His epitaphi þan in werse Wryttyn þus men may rahers. 1483 Caxton Cato 3 Two partyes—the fyrst is in prose and the second in verse. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxxii. 43, I will no lesingis put in vers. 1557 Tottel's Misc. To Rdr., That to haue wel written in verse..deserueth great praise [etc.]. 1586 W. Webbe Eng. Poet. (Arb.) 30 Thinking nothing to be learnedly written in verse, which fell not out in ryme. 1643 Caryl Expos. Job 178 Job breaths out his passion in verse, and in verse receives his answer. 1689 Prior Ep. to Fleetwood Shephard 97 In Verse or Prose, We write or chat. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) I. 132 The Introduction to knowledge, partly in verse and partly in prose. 1838 Thirlwall Greece II. 124 In Crete and at Sparta..the maxims of the constitution were delivered in verse. 1841 W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. III. 272 The Romans choose this form..for conveying their feelings in verse. |
c. With distinguishing terms. (
Cf. 1 c.)
Adonic,
Alexandrine,
blank,
elegiac,
heroic(al,
hexameter,
Leonine,
Saturnian verse, etc.: see those words.
| 1552 Huloet s.v., Verse heroicall, or of sixe feete, versus heroicus. 1585 Jas. VI Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 68 For flyting, or Inuectiues, vse..Rouncefallis, or Tumbling verse. 1685 Dryden (title), The twenty-ninth Ode of the third Book of Horace; paraphrased in Pindarick Verse. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 39 ¶5 Aristotle observes, that the Iambick Verse in the Greek Tongue was the most proper for Tragedy. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. xiv. iv. VI. 488 An interminable length of harsh hexameter, or of elegiac verse. |
7. a. The metrical or poetical compositions of a particular author, etc.; a certain amount of metrical work or poetry considered as a whole.
| 1586 W. Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 32 Lydgate.., surely for good proportion of his verse..comparable with Chawcer. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. v. i. 101 Thus your Verse Flow'd with her Beautie once. c 1715 Pope Ep. Jervas 1 This Verse be thine, my friend, nor thou refuse This, from no venal or ungrateful Muse. 1810 Scott Lady of L. i. xxxii, Till to her lips in measured frame The minstrel verse spontaneous came. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 401 The verse of Waller still breathed the sentiments which had animated a more chivalrous generation. 1906 Lit. World 15 Nov. 487/2 Some of the poems are spoiled by..hate of England... Had it been omitted the verse would have been improved. |
† b. A particular style of metre or versification.
| 1586 W. Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 30 A singuler gyft in a sweete Heroicall verse. Ibid. 34 Master D. Phaer..had the best peece of Poetry whereon to sette a most gallant verse. |
8. attrib., as
verse-beat,
verse-book,
verse-craft,
verse-cup,
verse-end,
verse-form,
verse-line,
verse-pair,
verse-rhythm,
verse-shot,
verse-unit,
verse-wit, etc.;
verse anthem (see
quots.);
† verse-fellow, a fellow or companion verse-maker;
verse-service (see
quots.).
| 1801 Busby Dict. Mus., *Verse,..the epithet applied to an anthem beginning with verse. 1876 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms 446/1 A verse anthem is one which begins with soli portions as opposed to a full anthem, which commences with a chorus. |
| 1943 E. Sitwell Poet's Notebk. xxviii. 134 The *verse-beat is not very strong in this passage. |
| 1849 Lytton Caxtons 22 Rude songs, modelled from such *verse-books as fell into my hands. |
| 1894 Daily News 20 Oct. 6/1 Her own skill in *versecraft gives her unusual felicity of insight. |
| 1885 S. Cox Expositions xxii. 290 We have kept the best wine in this little *Verse-cup until now. |
| 1930 T. Sasaki On Lang. R. Bridges' Poetry i. v. 24 The fully strong stress at the *verse-end. |
| 1592 Nashe Four Lett. Confuted Wks. (Grosart) II. 235 To beare his old *verse-fellow noble M. Valanger company. |
| 1887 G. M. Hopkins Let. 20 Oct. (1956) 381 The style of prose is a positive thing and not the absence of *verse-forms. 1906 G. P. Krapp Andreas p. xlvi, The distinctively epic verse-form. 1966 English Studies XLVII. 97 In a difficult and restrictive verse-form, one might expect the poet to resort to the use of convenient whole-line units more..often. |
| 1927 D. H. Lawrence Mornings in Mexico 66 He had written the thing [sc. a love-poem] straight ahead, without *verse-lines or capitals. |
| 1953 Speculum XXVIII. 449 The recurrence of verses and *verse-pairs in Anglo-Saxon poetry. |
| 1930 T. Sasaki On Lang. R. Bridges' Poetry i. v. 21 Lines in verse..form units of *verse-rhythm intermediate between a ‘foot’ and a ‘stanza’. 1942 J. C. Pope Rhythm of Beowulf 22 In no case is it necessary to pass beyond the limits of accentual adjustment that verse-rhythm everywhere allows. |
| 1851 J. S. Adams 5000 Mus. Terms 105 *Verse service, a service in which verses are introduced. 1889 Grove's Dict. Music (1902) IV. 257 A verse-service or verse-anthem sometimes includes portions set for a voice solo. |
| 1794 Mathias Purs. Lit. (1797) ii. 13 note, Before they were half finished,..as many of the others as were within hearing or *verse-shot..were all found fast asleep!!! |
| 1948 Mod. Philology XLVI. 77 When the character of the dipody, or *verse unit, is examined, the first impression is one of extreme variation. 1966 English Studies XLVII. 96 The verse-unit, the half-line, was quite short. |
| 1668 Dryden Evening's Love iii. i, The prose-wits playing and the *verse-wits rooking. |
b. In the sense ‘composed or written in, consisting of, verse’, as
verse drama,
verse epistle,
verse epitaph,
verse-exercise,
verse letter,
verse miscellany,
verse narrative,
verse-part,
verse play,
verse-tale,
verse-text,
verse translation, etc.
| 1685 Dryden Sylvæ Pref. ¶1 The hot [prose], which succeeded them, in this volume of Verse Miscellanies. 1687 Norris Coll. Misc. Pref. (1699) 4 Thus much for the Verse-part. 1817 Coleridge Biog. Lit. 23 In verse or prose, or in verse-text aided by prose-comment. 1881 Encycl. Brit. XII. 19/1 Verse narrative, even when it deals with true events,..is either more or less than history. 1896 R. Palmer Mem. I. i. viii. 122 He..gained both the University prizes for verse-exercises. 1925 R. Graves Welchman's Hose 31 Then the first draft of a verse-epitaph. 1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 5 Nov. 850/2 It might be inferred certainly from the verse-epistles [of Burns] alone: not quite so certainly from the prose letters alone. 1952 T. S. Eliot Film of ‘Murder in the Cathedral’ 7 Murder in the Cathedral is, I believe, the first contemporary verse play to be adapted to the screen. 1962 Times 14 Aug. 11/1 Jean Cocteau's verse-drama Renaud et Armide. 1963 M. H. Abrams in N. Frye Romanticism Reconsidered 37 In a verse-letter of 1800 Blane identified the crucial influences in his spiritual history as a series beginning with Milton. |
c. Comb. Objective or
obj. genitive, as
verse-gracer,
verse-merchant,
verse-reciter,
verse-smith,
verse-wright,
verse-writer;
verse-making,
verse-painting,
verse-reading,
verse-speaking,
verse-writing;
verse-repeating,
verse-speaking adjs.; instrumental, as
verse-commemorated adj. Also
verseward adv.| 1842 S. C. Hall Ireland II. 339 The long celebrated and *verse-commemorated month of August. |
| 1881 W. Wilkins Songs of Study 127 *Verse-gracer! deign to grace mine With lucky chosen words. |
| 1811 Andw. Scott Poems p. x, My attachment to *verse-making. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets v. 147 A father taught the trade of flute-playing and chorus-leading and verse-making to his son. |
| 1845 Browning Lett. (1899) I. 18 The Rialto where *verse-merchants most do congregate. |
| 1942 Blunden Romantic Poetry & Fine Arts 19 A single touch of his originality in the ‘Ancient Mariner’ holds the secret of his *verse-painting. |
| 1585 Jas. I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 31 Ye procure By your lasciuious speache, that fathers sage Defends *verse reading, to their yonger age. 1938 L. MacNeice Mod. Poetry ii. 41 This [sc. the Golden Treasury] was my chief verse-reading for two years. |
| 1822 Shelley To Jane, The Invitation 36 You, tiresome *verse-reciter, Care. |
| a 1704 T. Brown Dial. Dead Wks. 1711 IV. 75 The *Verse-repeating Beaux of Will's Coffee-House. |
| 1820 T. Mitchell Aristoph. I. 205 Ye *verse-smiths and bard-mechanicians! 1887 Saintsbury Hist. Elizab. Lit. i. (1890) 8 The supposed editor..is but a journeyman verse-smith. |
| 1933 Amer. Speech VIII. iv. 39/2 Outside of the school there may be a place for *verse-speaking choirs. 1980 Times 5 Sept. 11/7 His verse-speaking consists of a heavy lurch from beat to beat. |
| 1810 Miss Mitford Let. 3 Apr. in L'Estrange Life (1870) I. 99 That feeble *verse-spinner Bloomfield. |
| 1809 Byron Bards & Rev. 230 But if, in spite of all the world can say, Thou still wilt *verseward plod thy weary way. |
| 1729 Savage Wanderer i. 335 These scorn (said I) the *verse⁓wright of their age. 1840 Pierpont Airs Palestine p. v, The pieces that make up this volume will be seen..to be..the wares of a verse-wright, made ‘to order’. |
| 1726 Swift (title), Advice to the Grub-street *Verse-Writers. 1885 Pater Marius I. vii. 121 A familiar playfulness of the Latin verse-writer in dealing with mythology. |
| 1755 M. Barber in Colman & Thornton Poems by Eminent Ladies I. 23 There's nothing I dread, like a *verse-writing wife. 1850 Thackeray Pendennis ii, If he was distinguished for anything it was for verse-writing. 1884 Tennyson Becket ii. ii, So if the city be sick..your lordship would suspend me from verse-writing? |
▪ II. † verse, a. Obs. rare.
[ad. L. vers-us, pa. pple. of vertĕre to turn, change, vary.] verse-sine,
= versed sine: see
versed a.
| 1772 Phil. Trans. LXII. 102 An arch equal to the verse-sine of the deviation. |
▪ III. verse, v.1 (
vɜːs)
Also 1
fyrsian,
fersian,
uersian, 4
uersie.
[f. verse n., prob. formed afresh at different times.] 1. intr. To compose or make verses; to versify. Also with
it.
| c 1000 ælfric Gram. xxxvii. (Z.) 218 Uersificor, ic fersiᵹe [v.rr. uersiᵹe, fyrsiᵹe] oððe ic wyrce fers. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xviii. 109 For þer is nouthe non who so nymeþ hede, That can uersie [v.r. versifie] fayre, oþer formeliche endite. 1606 Chapman Mons. D'Ol. iv. i. F iij b, Prettie little Witt, y' faith; Can he verse?.. I meane, has he a vaine Naturall? 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 87 You verse it simply, what need have we of your thin Poetry. 1688 W. Scot Hist. Scots ii. (1776) 73 Come on as many as you will, And for a wager, I'l verse with them still. 1787 in Currie Burns' Wks. (1800) II. 105 It sets na ony lawland cheel Like you to verse or rhyme. 1812 Combe Syntax, Picturesque i. 129 I'll prose it here, I'll verse it there, And picturesque it everywhere. 1856 Meredith Shav. Shagpat (1909) 66 He began to verse extemporaneously in her ear. |
2. trans. To tell in verse; to turn into verse; to write, recount, or celebrate in verse.
| 1446 Lydg. Two Nightingale Poems i. 108 This brid, of whom y haue to you rehersed, Whych in her song expired thus ande deyede, In latyn fonde y in a boke well versed. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 67 When thou..sate all day, Playing on pipes of Corne, and versing loue To amorous Phillida. c 1712 Prior ‘Full oft doth Mat’ 4 But Topaz his own Werke rehearseth; And Mat. mote praise what Topaz verseth. 1869 F. Halleck Connecticut xxxiv, He..versed the Psalms of David to the air Of Yankee-Doodle, for Thanksgiving Days. 1892 S. A. Brooke Early Eng. Lit. I. 12 The wanderer..sang his stave of thanks, or versed for the chief in the high seat, who he was. |
† 3. To accompany or bring with verses.
Obs.—1| 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. v. If that thou canst not give, goe hang thy selfe: Ile time thee dead, or verse thee to the rope. |
Hence
ˈversing ppl. a.| 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Pennilesse Pilgr. Wks. i. 125/1 My versing Muse craues some repose, And whilst she sleeps Ile spowt a little prose. 1665 J. Spencer Vulg. Proph. 55, I should..throw out the vast rabble of rhyming, clinching, versing Prophets, as persons that tell the worst lies in the best maner. |
▪ IV. verse, v.2 (
vɜːs)
[a. F. verser (12th c.; = Pr. and Pg. versar, vessar, Sp. versar, It. versare), or ad. L. versāre, freq. of vertĕre to turn, etc. In mod. use, in sense 4, app. a back-formation from versed ppl. a.1] † 1. trans. To pour
out (the voice).
Obs.—1| c 1530 Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 453 Than she [sc. a nightingale]..fylled her throte full of wynde, the more shryller to verse out her swete voyce. |
† 2. To overthrow, overturn, or upset.
Obs.—1| 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. xliii. 40 This formost spider and flie, in furius fret,..this prosesse thei perst. And vengeable venumly, ech other verst. |
† 3. To turn over (a book) in study or investigation.
Obs.| 1606 W. Birnie Kirk-Buriall (1833) 6 By versing and searching the Scriptures. a 1656 Hales Gold. Rem. i. (1673) 271 If you be versing the Ancient Histories, then provide you Ptolomy's Maps. |
† b. To revolve or turn over (something)
in the mind.
Obs.| 1614 T. Adams Sinners Passing Bell Wks. (1629) 260 Who versing in his minde this thought, can keepe his cheekes dry? |
4. To instruct, to make (one) conversant or experienced,
in something. Now
refl. Cf. versed ppl. a.
1 1.
| 1673 O. Walker Educ. 132 For reading: verse him well in inventive Authors. 1677 W. Combe Diaboliad (1777) 43 Having vers'd them in each common evil, [you] Lead them to Masques to personate the Devil. 1786 A. M. Bennett Juvenile Indiscr. V. 164 The intrigues of state affairs had thoroughly versed him in chicanery and dissimulation. 1895 G. Alexander in Daily News 4 Oct. 2/2 If students while versing themselves in the classics were [etc.]. 1898 R. F. Horton Commandm. Jesus xx. 362 This is my own feeling—a feeling which grows and intensifies the more I verse myself in His commandments. |
▪ V. † verse, v.3 Cant.
Obs. [Of uncertain origin; perh. a special sense of verse v.2 Cf. verser2.] 1. intr. To practise fraud or imposition. Also with
it.
| 1591 ? Greene Def. Conny-catch. (1859) 4, I had consorts that could verse, nippe, and foyst. 1591 Greene Discov. Cosenage 10 b, If the poore Farmar be bashfull, and passeth by one of these shameles strumpets, then wil she verse it with him, and claime acquaintance of him. c 1592 ― Theeues Falling out (1615) A iv, We goe so neate in apparell..that wee are hardly smoakt; versing vpon all men with kinde courtesies and faire wordes. |
2. trans. To impose upon; to cozen, cheat, defraud. Also
const. to.
| 1591 Greene Discov. Cosenage 10 b, Till shee and her crosse-biters haue verst him to the beggers estate. Ibid. 11 b, Heere is a Simpler, quoth shee, Ile Verse him or hang me. |
Hence
† versing vbl. n. Cant.
Obs.| 1591 Greene Discov. Cosenage 7 Versing Law, coosenage by false gold. |
▪ VI. verse obs. form of
verst.