versed

[ vurst ]
/ vɜrst /

adjective

experienced; practiced; skilled; learned (usually followed by in): She was well versed in Greek and Latin.

Origin of versed

1600–10; < Latin versātus busied, engaged (see versatile), with -ed2 for Latin -ātus

OTHER WORDS FROM versed

un·versed, adjective

Definition for versed (2 of 2)

Origin of verse

before 900; Middle English vers(e), fers line of poetry, section of a psalm, Old English fers < Latin versus a row, line (of poetry), literally, a turning, equivalent to vert(ere) to turn (past participle versus) + -tus suffix of v. action, with dt > s; akin to -ward, worth2

SYNONYMS FOR verse

1 Verse, stanza, strophe, stave are terms for a metrical grouping in poetic composition. Verse is often mistakenly used for stanza, but is properly only a single metrical line. A stanza is a succession of lines (verses) commonly bound together by a rhyme scheme, and usually forming one of a series of similar groups that constitute a poem: The four-line stanza is the one most frequently used in English. Strophe (originally the section of a Greek choral ode sung while the chorus was moving from right to left) is in English poetry practically equivalent to “section”; a strophe may be unrhymed or without strict form, but may be a stanza: Strophes are divisions of odes. Stave is a word (now seldom used) that means a stanza set to music or intended to be sung: a stave of a hymn; a stave of a drinking song.
4–6 See poetry.

OTHER WORDS FROM verse

un·der·verse, noun

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH verse

verses versus

Example sentences from the Web for versed

British Dictionary definitions for versed (1 of 2)

versed
/ (vɜːst) /

adjective

(postpositive foll by in) thoroughly knowledgeable (about), acquainted (with), or skilled (in)

British Dictionary definitions for versed (2 of 2)

verse
/ (vɜːs) /

noun

verb

a rare word for versify

Word Origin for verse

Old English vers, from Latin versus a furrow, literally: a turning (of the plough), from vertere to turn

Cultural definitions for versed

verse

A kind of language made intentionally different from ordinary speech or prose. It usually employs devices such as meter and rhyme, though not always. Free verse, for example, has neither meter nor rhyme. Verse is usually considered a broader category than poetry, with the latter being reserved to mean verse that is serious and genuinely artistic.

Idioms and Phrases with versed

verse

see chapter and verse.