verse

verse
verse (n.) c.1050, "line or section of a psalm or canticle," later "line of poetry" (late 14c.), from Anglo-French and O.Fr. vers, from L. versus "verse, line of writing," from PIE root *wer- "to turn, bend" (see VERSUS (Cf. versus)). The metaphor is of plowing, of "turning" from one line to another (vertere = "to turn") as a plowman does.
Verse was invented as an aid to memory. Later it was preserved to increase pleasure by the spectacle of difficulty overcome. That it should still survive in dramatic art is a vestige of barbarism. [Stendhal "de l'Amour," 1822]
Old English had fers, an early West Germanic borrowing directly from Latin. Meaning "metrical composition" is recorded from c.1300; sense of "part of a modern pop song" (as distinguished from the chorus) is attested from 1927. The English New Testament first was divided fully into verses in the Geneva version (1550s).

Etymology dictionary. 2014.

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Synonyms:
(metrically arranged), , / , , , , / , , / (of Scripture), , /


Look at other dictionaries:

  • Verse — Verse …   Deutsch Wörterbuch

  • verse — [ vɛrs ] n. f. • 1680; à la verse 1640; de verser 1 ♦ Loc. adv. À VERSE, se dit de la pluie qui tombe en abondance. Il pleuvait à verse. ⇒ averse. « La pluie tombait à verse [...] mais, bravant le mauvais temps, un peuple immense s acheminait »… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • versé — verse [ vɛrs ] n. f. • 1680; à la verse 1640; de verser 1 ♦ Loc. adv. À VERSE, se dit de la pluie qui tombe en abondance. Il pleuvait à verse. ⇒ averse. « La pluie tombait à verse [...] mais, bravant le mauvais temps, un peuple immense s… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Verse — Verse, n. [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},… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • verse — 1. (vèr s ) s. f. 1°   Terme d agriculture. État des céréales couchées à terre par la pluie ou toute autre cause. La verse des blés. 2°   Terme d eaux et forêts. Grande corbeille de charbon, qui en contient 35 livres. 3°   À verse, loc. adv. Se… …   Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré

  • Verse — Die Verse am Bremecker Hammer in LüdenscheidVorlage:Infobox Fluss/KARTE fehlt …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • versé — versé, ée (vèr sé, sée) part. passé de verser. 1°   Qui a coulé hors de ce qui le contenait. Vin versé. Sang versé.    Fig. •   Les grâces, les honneurs par moi seule versés, RAC. Brit. III, 4. 2°   Renversé. Voiture versée. Blés versés. Foin… …   Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré

  • verse — [və:s US və:rs] n [Date: 900 1000; : Old French; Origin: vers, from Latin versus turning, verse , from vertere to turn ] 1.) a set of lines that forms one part of a song, poem, or a book such as the Bible or the Koran ▪ Let s sing the last verse… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • verse — 1 Verse, stanza both mean a unit of metrical writing. Verse is both wider and more varied in its popular usage since it can denote a single line of such writing, such writing as a class, or, along with stanza, a group of lines forming a division… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • versé — Versé, [vers]ée. part. Il signifie aussi, Exercé, experimenté. C est un homme bien versé dans les finances, dans les negociations. il est versé dans la lecture des poëtes. versé dans la philosophie …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • verse — [vʉrs] n. [ME vers < OE fers & OFr vers, both < L versus, a turning, verse, line, row, pp. of vertere, to turn < IE * wert , to turn < base * wer > WARP, WORM, WARDS] 1. a sequence of words arranged metrically in accordance with… …   English World dictionary

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