Definitions

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

  • intransitive verb To change from prose into metrical form.
  • intransitive verb To treat or tell in verse.
  • intransitive verb To write verses.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To turn into verse; make a metrical paraphrase of: as, to versify the Psalms.
  • To relate or describe in verse; treat as the subject of verse.
  • To make verses.

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

  • transitive verb To relate or describe in verse; to compose in verse.
  • transitive verb To turn into verse; to render into metrical form.
  • intransitive verb To make verses.

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

  • verb transitive to make or compose verses
  • verb intransitive to tell in verse; deal with in verse form
  • verb intransitive to turn (prose) into poetry; rewrite in verse form

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

  • verb compose verses or put into verse

Etymologies

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

[Middle English versifien, from Old French versifier, from Latin versificāre : versus, verse; see verse + -ficāre, -fy.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old French versifier, learned borrowing from Latin versificāre, present active infinitive of versificō ("versify"), from versus (see verse) + faciō ("make").

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