| rhyme royal | |
| —n | |
| prosody a stanzaic form introduced into English verse by Chaucer, consisting of seven lines of iambic pentameter rhyming a b a b b c c | |
| a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal. |
| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |
rhyme royal
seven-line iambic pentameter stanza rhyming ababbcc. The rhyme royal was first used in English verse in the 14th century by Geoffrey Chaucer in Troilus and Criseyde and The Parlement of Foules. Traditionally, the name rhyme royal is said to derive from The Kingis Quair ("The King's Book), attributed to James I of Scotland (1394-1437), but some critics trace the name to the French chant royal. Chaucer probably borrowed it from the French poet and musician Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300-77), who may have invented it or derived it from earlier French and Provencal poets
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