VERSE
What does "VERSE" mean?
Writing arranged with a metrical rhythm, typically with a rhyme; a single line or stanza of poetry.
Meanings
- Poetry as a form, especially metrical writing as distinct from prose. He wrote the dedication in verse.
- A group of lines forming a unit in a poem or song; a stanza. The second verse repeats the opening melody.
- A numbered subdivision of a chapter in a religious text such as the Bible. She quoted a verse from the Psalms.
Did you know?
- A 'verse' was originally a furrow, not a poem: Latin 'versus' named the turn a ploughman makes at a field's end, and a line of poetry borrowed the image - the eye turning back like the plough.
Word origin
From Latin 'versus' meaning 'a turning of the plough, a furrow, a line of writing', from 'vertere' ('to turn') - because writing a line of verse was likened to the turn a ploughman makes at the end of a furrow.
Remember it
VERSE shares 'vers-' (to turn) with 'reVERSE' and 'VERSus' - each line of verse turns the eye back to start the next.
A little poem
The ploughman turns his blade at the field's end;
the poet turns the line, and starts again.
couplet
Wordplay
- The farmer became a poet naturally - he'd been turning verses in his field for years.
What it teaches
Every good line, like every furrow, is made by knowing exactly where to turn back.
Quick facts
What does VERSE mean?
Writing arranged with a metrical rhythm, typically with a rhyme; a single line or stanza of poetry.
Is VERSE a valid word?
Yes — VERSE is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is VERSE?
VERSE has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does VERSE come from?
From Latin 'versus' meaning 'a turning of the plough, a furrow, a line of writing', from 'vertere' ('to turn') - because writing a line of verse was likened to the turn a ploughman makes at the end of a furrow.
What can VERSE teach us?
Every good line, like every furrow, is made by knowing exactly where to turn back.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.