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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



... specimen conversations are here suggested as suitable for the conditions which we have lately experienced. The idea is to discourage the Hun by ignoring those conditions or explaining them away. For similar conversations in actual life blank verse would not of ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 153, Oct. 10, 1917 • Various
... battle of Nature against Artificiality. However naturally he might write, the affected or monotonous delivery of his verse by the actors would neutralize all his efforts. The old rhyming ten-syllable lines could not but lead to a monotonous style of elocution, nor was the early blank verse much improvement in this respect; but Shakespeare fitted his blank verse to the natural expression of his ideas, and not his ideas to the trammels ...
— The Drama • Henry Irving
... desire and large-moulded lays of passionate freedom. His music is, to quote Thoreau, "a proud sweet satire on the meanness of our life." He had no feeling for the epic, his genius was too concentrated, and though he could be furiously dramatic the sustained majesty of blank verse was denied him. With musical ideas he was ever gravid but their intensity is parent to their brevity. And it must not be forgotten that with Chopin the form was conditioned by the idea. He took up the dancing patterns of Poland because they suited his vivid inner life; he transformed ...
— Chopin: The Man and His Music • James Huneker
... does he? Well, I should say so! Serves him right for being an old bachelor, and having nothing but furniture and Ram Juna to illuminate existence. I should expect that combination to drive a man either to drink or to blank verse." ...
— Jewel Weed • Alice Ames Winter
... eleven of which are easily recognisable amongst the Visions of Bellay, published along with the Visions of Petrarch. There is indeed as little difference between the two sets of poems as is compatible with the fact that the old series is written in blank verse, the latter in rhyme. The sonnets which appear for the first time in the Visions are those describing the Wolf, the River, the Vessel, the City. There are four pieces of the older series which are not reproduced ...
— A Biography of Edmund Spenser • John W. Hales


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