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Blank verse   /blæŋk vərs/   Listen
noun
Verse  n.  
1.
A line consisting of a certain number of metrical feet (see Foot, n., 9) disposed according to metrical rules. Note: 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." "Virtue was taught in verse." "Verse embalms virtue."
3.
A short division of any composition. Specifically:
(a)
A stanza; a stave; as, a hymn of four verses. Note: 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. Note: 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."
Blank verse, poetry in which the lines do not end in rhymes.
Heroic verse. See under Heroic.


adjective
Blank  adj.  
1.
Of a white or pale color; without color. "To the blank moon Her office they prescribed."
2.
Free from writing, printing, or marks; having an empty space to be filled in with some special writing; said of checks, official documents, etc.; as, blank paper; a blank check; a blank ballot.
3.
Utterly confounded or discomfited. "Adam... astonied stood, and blank."
4.
Empty; void; without result; fruitless; as, a blank space; a blank day.
5.
Lacking characteristics which give variety; as, a blank desert; a blank wall; destitute of interests, affections, hopes, etc.; as, to live a blank existence; destitute of sensations; as, blank unconsciousness.
6.
Lacking animation and intelligence, or their associated characteristics, as expression of face, look, etc.; expressionless; vacant. "Blank and horror-stricken faces." "The blank... glance of a half returned consciousness."
7.
Absolute; downright; unmixed; as, blank terror.
Blank bar (Law), a plea put in to oblige the plaintiff in an action of trespass to assign the certain place where the trespass was committed; called also common bar.
Blank cartridge, a cartridge containing no ball.
Blank deed. See Deed.
Blank door, or Blank window (Arch.), a depression in a wall of the size of a door or window, either for symmetrical effect, or for the more convenient insertion of a door or window at a future time, should it be needed.
Blank indorsement (Law), an indorsement which omits the name of the person in whose favor it is made; it is usually made by simply writing the name of the indorser on the back of the bill.
Blank line (Print.), a vacant space of the breadth of a line, on a printed page; a line of quadrats.
Blank tire (Mech.), a tire without a flange.
Blank tooling. See Blind tooling, under Blind.
Blank verse. See under Verse.
Blank wall, a wall in which there is no opening; a dead wall.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Blank verse" Quotes from Famous Books



... show that it belongs to a poem in that manner. It has never been popular in England, although to my mind it is the finest form of continuous rhyme in any language. Again, we owe his friend Surrey far more for being the first to write English blank verse, whether invented by himself or not, than for any matter he has left ...
— England's Antiphon • George MacDonald
... himself, and twelve he distributed between Broome and Fenton: the books allotted to Fenton were the first, the fourth, the nineteenth, and the twentieth. It is observable, that he did not take the eleventh, which he had before translated into blank verse; neither did Pope claim it, but committed it to Broome. How the two associates performed their parts is well known to the readers of poetry, who have never been able to distinguish their books from those ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. in Nine Volumes - Volume the Eighth: The Lives of the Poets, Volume II • Samuel Johnson
... one sceptical misgiving of their authenticity, and doubt which was the properest to expound Homer to their countrymen. Reverend Chapman! you have read his hymn to Pan (the Homeric)—why, it is Milton's blank verse clothed with rhyme. Paradise Lost could scarce lose, ...
— The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb (Vol. 6) - Letters 1821-1842 • Charles and Mary Lamb
... poets, I suppose we should before now have as good as drank some of that Long Island champagne. Speaking of poets reminds me that I did n't tell you how charmed I was with those translations from the Odyssey; the blank verse is so simple, clear, ...
— Autobiography and Letters of Orville Dewey, D.D. - Edited by his Daughter • Orville Dewey
... Blair is never the result of imitation: its verbal happinesses are at least as great as those of the Night Thoughts themselves, and its power and earnestness considerably greater. 'The eighteenth century,' says Thomas Campbell, 'has produced few specimens of blank verse of so powerful and simple a character as that of the Grave. It is a popular poem, not merely because it is religious, but because its language and imagery are free, natural, and picturesque. The latest editor of the poets has, with singularly ...
— Leading Articles on Various Subjects • Hugh Miller


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