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sonnet

 - 4 dictionary results

son⋅net

  [son-it]
Use sonnet in a Sentence
–noun
1. Prosody. a poem, properly expressive of a single, complete thought, idea, or sentiment, of 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter, with rhymes arranged according to one of certain definite schemes, being in the strict or Italian form divided into a major group of 8 lines (the octave) followed by a minor group of 6 lines (the sestet), and in a common English form into 3 quatrains followed by a couplet.
–verb (used without object)
2. Archaic. to compose sonnets.
–verb (used with object)
3. Older Use. to celebrate in a sonnet or sonnets.
Origin:
1550–60; < It sonnetto < OPr sonet, equiv. to son poem (< L sonus sound 1 ) + -et -et

Related forms:
son⋅net⋅like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To sonnet
son·net   (sŏn'ĭt)   
n.  

  1. A 14-line verse form usually having one of several conventional rhyme schemes.

  2. A poem in this form.


[French or Italian sonetto (French, from Italian), from Old Provençal sonet, diminutive of son, song, from Latin sonus, a sound; see swen- 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

sonnet

A lyric poem of fourteen lines, often about love, that follows one of several strict conventional patterns of rhyme. Elizabeth Barrett Browning, John Keats, and William Shakespeare are poets known for their sonnets.

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

sonnet 
1557 (in title of Surrey's poems), from Fr. sonnet (1543) or directly from It. sonetto, lit. "little song," from O.Prov. sonet "song," dim. of son "song, sound," from L. sonus "sound" (see sound (n.1)). Originally in Eng. also "any short lyric poem;" precise meaning is from It., where Petrarch (14c.) developed a scheme of an eight-line stanza (rhymed abba abba) followed by a six-line stanza (cdecde, the Italian sestet, or cdcdcd, the Sicilian sestet). Shakespeare developed the English Sonnet for his rhyme-poor native tongue: three Sicilian quatrains followed by a heroic couplet (ababcdcdefefgg).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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