Definitions

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

  • noun A stanza or poem of four lines.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A stanza of four lines riming alternately.

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

  • noun (Pros.) A stanza of four lines rhyming alternately.

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

  • noun a poem in four lines
  • noun a stanza of four lines

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

  • noun a stanza of four lines

Etymologies

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

[French, from Old French, from quatre, four, from Latin quattuor; see kwetwer- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

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  • The Rubaiyat of Omar Khwatrain

    A stanza or poem of four lines,

    A stanza of four lines riming alternately.

    A poem in four lines,

    A stanza of four lines.

    June 23, 2012