n.
Pronunciation: ' v ə rs
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English vers, fers, from Anglo-French vers & Old English fers, both from Latin versus, literally, turning, from vertere to turn ― more at WORTH
Date: before 12th century
1 : a line of metrical writing
2 a (1) : metrical language (2) : metrical writing distinguished from poetry especially by its lower level of intensity (3) : POETRY 2 b : POEM c : a body of metrical writing (as of a period or country)
3 : STANZA
4 : one of the short divisions into which a chapter of the Bible is traditionally divided