Wiktionary

verse

See also: Appendix:Variations of "verse"

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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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

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verse (countable and uncountable, plural verses)

  1. A poetic form with regular meter and a fixed rhyme scheme.
    Synonym: poetry
    Restoration literature is well known for its carefully constructed verse.
  2. Poetic form in general.
    The restrictions of verse have been steadily relaxed over time.
  3. One of several similar units of a song, consisting of several lines, generally rhymed.
    Synonym: stanza
    Note the shift in tone between the first verse and the second.
  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
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Translations
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Verb

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

  1. (obsolete) To compose verses.
    • a. 1587 (date written), Phillip Sidney [i.e., Philip Sidney], An Apologie for Poetrie. […], London: […] [James Roberts] for Henry Olney, […], published 1595, →OCLC; republished as Edward Arber, editor, An Apologie for Poetrie (English Reprints), London: [Alexander Murray & Son], 1 April 1868, →OCLC:
      It is not rhyming and versing that maketh a poet.
  2. (transitive) To tell in verse, or poetry.
  3. (transitive, figurative) to educate about, to teach about.
    He versed us in the finer points of category theory.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 361:
      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; she was versed in the law, and perhaps had spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary.

Etymology 2

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

Verb

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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.
    • 2007 March 26, Nick Green, “Being illiterate and innumerate shouldn’t shame anyone”, in Sydney Morning Herald‎[1]:
      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 many.
    • 2009 August 11, CrazyGunner [username], “Verse me on Onslaught”, in Nintendo Life‎[2]:
      If you've got Onslaught let me know and I'll verse you.
    • 2020 April 9, AgentPigeon122 [username], “The Graphic Organizer Information”, in Course Hero‎[3]:
      Ariel is worried for the race, because she is versing her best competitor, and she really wants to win.
    • 2023, “There had to be blood” (4:13 from the start), in Taskmaster NZ‎[4], season 4, episode 6, spoken by Mel Bracewell:
      There was an ODI last year where the Blackcaps versed Ireland, and we almost lost, but we didn't.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Afrikaans

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Noun

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verse

  1. plural of vers

Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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verse

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

Anagrams

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Etruscan

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Romanization

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verse

  1. Romanization of 𐌅𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌄

French

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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verse (plural verses)

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

Noun

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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

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Verb

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verse

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

References

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Anagrams

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Hungarian

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Etymology

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vers +‎ -e (possessive suffix)

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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verse

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

Declension

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Inflection (stem in long/high vowel, front unrounded harmony)
singular plural
nominative verse —
accusative versét —
dative versének —
instrumental versével —
causal-final verséért —
translative versévé —
terminative verséig —
essive-formal verseként —
essive-modal verséül —
inessive versében —
superessive versén —
adessive versénél —
illative versébe —
sublative versére —
allative verséhez —
elative verséből —
delative verséről —
ablative versétől —
non-attributive
possessive – singular 		verséé —
non-attributive
possessive – plural 		versééi —

Latin

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Participle

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verse

  1. vocative masculine singular of versus

Middle English

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Noun

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verse

  1. Alternative form of vers

Portuguese

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Verb

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verse

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

Romanian

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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verse

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

Spanish

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Pronunciation

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

Verb

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verse

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