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Rhymes

 - 4 dictionary results

rhyme

[rahym] noun, verb, rhymed, rhym⋅ing.
–noun
1. identity in sound of some part, esp. the end, of words or lines of verse.
2. a word agreeing with another in terminal sound: Find is a rhyme for mind and womankind.
3. verse or poetry having correspondence in the terminal sounds of the lines.
4. a poem or piece of verse having such correspondence.
5. verse (def. 4).
–verb (used with object)
6. to treat in rhyme, as a subject; turn into rhyme, as something in prose.
7. to compose (verse or the like) in metrical form with rhymes.
8. to use (a word) as a rhyme to another word; use (words) as rhymes.
–verb (used without object)
9. to make rhyme or verse; versify.
10. to use rhyme in writing verse.
11. to form a rhyme, as one word or line with another: a word that rhymes with orange.
12. to be composed in metrical form with rhymes, as verse: poetry that rhymes.
13. rhyme or reason, logic, sense, or plan: There was no rhyme or reason for what they did.
Also, rime.


Origin:
1250–1300; ME rime < OF, deriv. of rimer to rhyme < Gallo-Romance *rimāre to put in a row ≪ OHG rīm series, row; prob. not connected with L rhythmus rhythm, although current sp. (from c1600) appar. by assoc. with this word


rhymer, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Rhymes
rhyme also rime   (rīm)   
n.  
  1. Correspondence of terminal sounds of words or of lines of verse.

    1. A poem or verse having a regular correspondence of sounds, especially at the ends of lines.

    2. Poetry or verse of this kind.

  2. A word that corresponds with another in terminal sound, as behold and cold.

v.   rhymed also rimed, rhym·ing also rim·ing, rhymes also rimes

v.   intr.
  1. To form a rhyme.

  2. To compose rhymes or verse.

  3. To make use of rhymes in composing verse.

v.   tr.
  1. To put into rhyme or compose with rhymes.

  2. To use (a word or words) as a rhyme.


[Alteration (influenced by rhythm) of Middle English rime, from Old French, of Germanic origin; see ar- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Cultural Dictionary

rhyme

A similarity of sound between words, such as moon, spoon, croon, tune, and June. Rhyme is often employed in verse.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

rhyme  (n.)
"agreement in terminal sounds," 1565, partially restored spelling, from M.E. ryme, rime (c.1200) "measure, meter, rhythm," later "rhymed verse," from O.Fr. rime (fem.), related to O.Prov. rim (masc.), earlier *ritme, from L. rithmus, from Gk. rhythmos "measured motion, time, proportion" (see rhythm).
"In MedL. rithmus was used of accentual, as opposed to quantitative, verse, and, as accentual verse was usually rhymed, the word acquired the meaning which it has in all the Rom[anic]. and Teut[onic] langs." [Weekley]
Persistence of older form is due to popular association with O.E. rim "number," from PIE base *re(i)- "to reason, count." The verb is first attested 1672 (of words), "to have the same end sound;" 1697 (of poets), "to make rhymes." Phrase rhyme or reason "good sense" (chiefly used in the negative) is from 1664. Rhyme royal (1841) is a stanza of seven 10-syllable lines rhymed a-b-a-b-b-c-c.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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