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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



... will call "An Idyll of Spring" in blank verse, without the blanks and without the verse, and will be continued ...
— Letters from France • Isaac Alexander Mack
... find yourself "cast" for a footman, with no more to do than to announce and usher in the principal personages of the piece, when you feel a strong (and perhaps well-grounded) conviction that you would have "made a hit" as the Prince in blank verse and blue velvet. Well! one must fall back on one's principles. Be loyal to the stage-manager. Help the piece through, whether it is or is not a pleasure and a triumph for you yourself. Set an example of willingness and good-humour. If to these first principles you add the amiable ...
— The Peace Egg and Other tales • Juliana Horatia Ewing
... like Keats, how soon he came to that unmistakable style of his own—to the utterance of those pure lyrics, "most musical, most melancholy"—"to the perfection of his matchless songs," and again, to the mastery of blank verse, that noblest measure, in "The Fisher and Charon"—to the grace and limpid narrative verse of "The King's Bell," to the feeling, wisdom—above all, to the imagination—of his loftier odes, among which that on ...
— Modern Eloquence: Vol III, After-Dinner Speeches P-Z • Various
... last night," said Jasmine; "I called it 'The Uses of Adversity.' It was very mournful indeed; it was a sort of story in blank verse of people who were cold and hungry, and I mixed up London fogs, and attic rooms, and curtains that were once white, and had now turned yellow, and sloppy streets covered with snow, with the story. It was really very sad, and I cried a great deal over it. I am looking ...
— The Palace Beautiful - A Story for Girls • L. T. Meade
... mask Comus and his rout dance a measure, after which he again speaks, but in a different strain. The change is marked by a return to blank verse: the previous lines are ...
— Milton's Comus • John Milton


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