quatrain
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of quatrain
1575–85; < French, equivalent to quatre four (< Latin quattuor ) + -ain < Latin -ānus -an
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The five-character quatrain, which rose to prominence during the Tang dynasty, has four lines consisting of five characters each.
From New York Times • Jul. 14, 2023
One visitor from the United States, Rupert Flowers, told the state-run Anadolu Agency that he traveled to Konya, inspired by Rumi’s best-known and welcoming quatrain:
From Seattle Times • Dec. 21, 2021
A fixed form of nineteen lines: five tercets, a concluding quatrain, and a rhyme scheme tight enough to keep any feeling from spilling over the borders.
From The New Yorker • Feb. 26, 2017
He loves to violate the fourth rhyme in a quatrain, then rhyme the next couplet with the offending word.
From Washington Post • Mar. 9, 2016
Which is why the epigraph of this book is the quatrain from the famous Christmas carol.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
