rhyme definition | Dictionary.com

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.

—Idiom

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

Related forms:

rhymer, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To rhyme

rhyme also rime (rīm)

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.
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.

To form a rhyme.
To compose rhymes or verse.
To make use of rhymes in composing verse.

v. tr.

To put into rhyme or compose with rhymes.
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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Rhyme

Rhyme\, n. [OE. ryme, rime, AS. r[=i]m number; akin to OHG. r[=i]m number, succession, series, G. reim rhyme. The modern sense is due to the influence of F. rime, which is of German origin, and originally the same word.] [The Old English spelling rime is becoming again common. See Note under Prime.]

1. An expression of thought in numbers, measure, or verse; a composition in verse; a rhymed tale; poetry; harmony of language. "Railing rhymes." --Daniel.

A ryme I learned long ago. --Chaucer.

He knew Himself to sing, and build the lofty rime. --Milton.

2. (Pros.) Correspondence of sound in the terminating words or syllables of two or more verses, one succeeding another immediately or at no great distance. The words or syllables so used must not begin with the same consonant, or if one begins with a vowel the other must begin with a consonant. The vowel sounds and accents must be the same, as also the sounds of the final consonants if there be any.

For rhyme with reason may dispense, And sound has right to govern sense. --Prior.

3. Verses, usually two, having this correspondence with each other; a couplet; a poem containing rhymes.

4. A word answering in sound to another word.

Female rhyme. See under Female.

Male rhyme. See under Male.

Rhyme or reason, sound or sense.

Rhyme royal (Pros.), a stanza of seven decasyllabic verses, of which the first and third, the second, fourth, and fifth, and the sixth and seventh rhyme.

Rhyme

Rhyme\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Rhymed;p. pr. & vb. n. Rhyming.] [OE. rimen, rymen, AS. r[=i]man to count: cf. F. rimer to rhyme. See Rhyme, n.]

1. To make rhymes, or verses. "Thou shalt no longer ryme." --Chaucer.

There marched the bard and blockhead, side by side, Who rhymed for hire, and patronized for pride. --Pope.

2. To accord in rhyme or sound.

And, if they rhymed and rattled, all was well. --Dryden.

Rhyme

Rhyme\, v. t. 1. To put into rhyme. --Sir T. Wilson.

2. To influence by rhyme.

Hearken to a verser, who may chance Rhyme thee to good. --Herbert.

Language Translation for : rhyme

Spanish: poema,

German: der Reim,

Japanese: 短い詩

More Translations »

rhyme

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

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.

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