2. Liable to be turned in opinion; changeable; variable; unsteady; inconstant; as versatile disposition.
3. Turning with ease from one thing to another; readily applied to a new task, or to various subjects; many-
sided; as, versatile genius; a versatile politician.
Conspicuous among the youths of high promise . . . was the quick and versatile [Charles] Montagu.
Macaulay. 4. (Nat. Hist.) Capable of turning; freely movable; as, a versatile anther, which is fixed at one point to
the filament, and hence is very easily turned around; a versatile toe of a bird.
— Ver"sa*tile*ly, adv. — — Ver"sa*tile*ness, n.
Versatility
(Ver`sa*til"i*ty) n. [Cf. F. versatilité.] The quality or state of being versatile; versatileness.
Vers de société
(||Vers` de so`cié`té") [F.] See Society verses, under Society.
Verse
(Verse) n. [OE. vers, AS. fers, L. versus a line in writing, and, in poetry, a verse, from vertere,
versum, to turn, to turn round; akin to E. worth to become: cf. F. vers. See Worth to become, and cf.
Advertise, Averse, Controversy, Convert, Divers, Invert, Obverse, Prose, Suzerain, Vortex.]
1. A line consisting of a certain number of metrical feet (see Foot, n., 9) disposed according to metrical
rules.
Verses are of various kinds, as hexameter, pentameter, tetrameter, etc., according to the number of
feet in each. A verse of twelve syllables is called an Alexandrine. Two or more verses form a stanza
or strophe.
2. Metrical arrangement and language; that which is composed in metrical form; versification; poetry.
Such prompt eloquence
Flowed from their lips in prose or numerous verse.
Milton.
Virtue was taught in verse.
Prior.
Verse embalms virtue.
Donne. 3. A short division of any composition. Specifically: —
(a) A stanza; a stave; as, a hymn of four verses.
Although this use of verse is common, it is objectionable, because not always distinguishable from the
stricter use in the sense of a line.
(b) (Script.) One of the short divisions of the chapters in the Old and New Testaments.
The author of the division of the Old Testament into verses is not ascertained. The New Testament
was divided into verses by Robert Stephens [or Estienne], a French printer. This arrangement appeared
for the first time in an edition printed at Geneva, in 1551.
(c) (Mus.) A portion of an anthem to be performed by a single voice to each part.
4. A piece of poetry. "This verse be thine." Pope.
Blank verse, poetry in which the lines do not end in rhymes. — Heroic verse. See under Heroic.
