/ˈvɝs/, /ˈvɜːs/
OriginFrom 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”).
- countable, uncountableA poetic form with regular meter and a fixed rhyme scheme.
“Restoration literature is well known for its carefully constructed verse.”
- countable, uncountablePoetic form in general.
“The restrictions of verse have steadily been relaxed over time.”
- countable, uncountableOne 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.”
- countable, uncountableA small section of a holy book (Bible, Quran etc.)
- countable, uncountableA portion of an anthem to be performed by a single voice to each part.
- obsoleteTo compose verses.
“It is not rhyming and versing that maketh a poet.”
- transitiveTo tell in verse, or poetry.
“playing on pipes of corn and versing love”
- figuratively, transitiveto educate about, to teach about.
“He versed us in the finer points of category theory.”
“Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part.[…]Next day she[…]tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head. Then, thwarted, the wretched creature went to the police for help; sh”
- colloquial, proscribed, sometimesTo oppose, to compete against.
“When teams play now they "verse" each other. "Who did you verse?" (Forget "whom". It's long dead.) "We're versing you next." Pity the Latin scholar who might feel the loss of "versus" more keenly than”
“If you've got Onslaught let me know and I'll verse you.”
“Ariel is worried for the race, because she is versing her best competitor, and she really wants to win.”
Formsverses(plural) · verses(present, singular, third-person) · versing(participle, present) · versed(participle, past) · versed(past)