Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Crudely or irregularly fashioned verse, often of a humorous or burlesque nature.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • An epithet originally given to a kind of loose, irregular measure in burlesque poetry, like that of “Hudibras,” but now more generally applied to mean verses defective alike in sense and in rhythm.
  • noun Burlesque poetry, generally in irregular measure.
  • noun Mean, paltry verses, defective in sense and in rhythm.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Low in style, and irregular in measure.
  • noun A sort of loose or irregular verse; mean or undignified poetry.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective poetry Of a crude or irregular construction. (Originally applied to humorous verse, but now to verse lacking artistry or meaning.)
  • adjective poetry a comic or humorous verse, usually irregular in measure
  • noun A doggerel poem or verse.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a comic verse of irregular measure

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Middle English, poor, worthless, from dogge, dog; see dog.]

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