Main Entry: ¹verse

Pronunciation: \ˈvərs\

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English vers, fers, from Anglo-French vers & Old English fers, both from Latin versus, literally, turning, from vertere to turn — more at worth

Date: before 12th century

1 : a line of metrical writing
2 a (1) : metrical language (2) : metrical writing distinguished from poetry especially by its lower level of intensity (3) : poetry 2 b : poem c : a body of metrical writing (as of a period or country)
3 : stanza
4 : one of the short divisions into which a chapter of the Bible is traditionally divided