verse

English Online Dictionary. What means verse‎? What does verse mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvɝs/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈvɜːs/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)s

Etymology 1

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”).

Noun

verse (countable and uncountable, plural verses)

1. A poetic form with regular meter and a fixed rhyme scheme.

   Synonym: poetry

2. Poetic form in general.

3. One of several similar units of a song, consisting of several lines, generally rhymed.

   Synonym: stanza

4. A small section of a holy book (Bible, Quran etc.)

   Holonym: chapter

5. (music) A portion of an anthem to be performed by a single voice to each part.

Derived terms

Related terms

• versification
• versify

Translations

Verb

verse (third-person singular simple present verses, present participle versing, simple past and past participle versed)

1. (obsolete) To compose verses.
2. (transitive) To tell in verse, or poetry.
3. (transitive, figurative) to educate about, to teach about.

Etymology 2

Back-formation from versus, misconstrued as a third-person singular verb verses.

Verb

verse (third-person singular simple present verses, present participle versing, simple past and past participle versed)

1. (colloquial, sometimes proscribed) To oppose, to compete against, especially in a video game.

Further reading

• “verse”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “verse”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “verse”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• reves, serve, sever, veers

Afrikaans

Noun

verse

1. plural of vers

Dutch

Pronunciation

Adjective

verse

1. inflection of vers:
   1. masculine/feminine singular attributive
   2. definite neuter singular attributive
   3. plural attributive

Anagrams

• vrees

Etruscan

Romanization

verse

1. Romanization of 𐌅𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌄

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɛʁs/

Adjective

verse (plural verses)

1. Only used in sinus verse (“versed sine, versine”)

Noun

verse f (countable and uncountable, plural verses)

1. (dated except in pleuvoir à verse) pouring
2. (agriculture) lodging (bending of the stems of crops which reduces yield)
3. (obsolete) basket used to transport around 35 pounds of charcoal
4. (especially BDSM) One who is willing to take either a submissive or a dominant role in a sexual relationship; a switch.

Derived terms

• pleuvoir à verse

Verb

verse

1. inflection of verser:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

References

• “verse”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• resve, rêves, rêvés, serve

Hungarian

Etymology

vers +‎ -e (possessive suffix)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈvɛrʃɛ]
• Hyphenation: ver‧se

Noun

verse

1. third-person singular single-possession possessive of vers

Declension

Latin

Participle

verse

1. vocative masculine singular of versus

Middle English

Noun

verse

1. Alternative form of vers

Portuguese

Verb

verse

1. inflection of versar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈverse]

Verb

verse

1. third-person singular/plural present subjunctive of vărsa

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbeɾse/ [ˈbeɾ.se]
• Rhymes: -eɾse
• Syllabification: ver‧se

Verb

verse

1. infinitive of ver combined with se
2. inflection of versar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative