“Verses” is a form of
verse
UK /vɜːs/ · US /ˈvɝs/ noun, verb
Also a form of worse
Forms verses versing versed
- noun A poetic form with regular meter and a fixed rhyme scheme. “Restoration literature is well known for its carefully constructed verse.”
- noun Poetic form in general. “The restrictions of verse have steadily been relaxed over time.”
- noun One of several similar units of a song, consisting of several lines, generally rhymed. “Note the shift in tone between the first verse and the second.”
- noun A small section of a holy book (Bible, Quran etc.)
- noun (music) A portion of an anthem to be performed by a single voice to each part.
- verb (obsolete) To compose verses.
- verb (transitive) To tell in verse, or poetry.
- verb (transitive, figurative) to educate about, to teach about. “He versed us in the finer points of category theory.”
- verb (colloquial, sometimes proscribed) To oppose, to compete against.
Synonyms
poetry stanza poesy rhyme verse line versify poetize poetise
Etymology
From Middle English vers, from a mixture of Old English fers and Old French vers; both from Latin versus (“a line in writing, and in poetry a verse; (originally) row, furrow”), from vertō (“to turn around”).
Back-formation from versus, misconstrued as a third-person singular verb verses.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A line consisting of a certain number of metrical feet (see Foot, n., 9) disposed according to metrical rules.
- noun Metrical arrangement and language; that which is composed in metrical form; versification; poetry.
- verb To tell in verse, or poetry. [Obs.]
- verb To make verses; to versify. [Obs.]
Etymology [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.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “verse”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details