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stanza

[stan-zuh]
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noun Prosody.
  1. an arrangement of a certain number of lines, usually four or more, sometimes having a fixed length, meter, or rhyme scheme, forming a division of a poem.
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Origin of stanza

1580–90; < Italian: room, station, stopping-place (plural stanze) < Vulgar Latin *stantia, equivalent to Latin stant- (stem of stāns), present participle of stāre to stand + -ia -y3
Related formsstan·zaed, adjectivestan·za·ic [stan-zey-ik] /stænˈzeɪ ɪk/, stan·za·i·cal, adjectivestan·za·i·cal·ly, adverbnon·stan·za·ic, adjectiveun·stan·za·ic, adjective

Synonyms

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See verse.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for stanza

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • A stanza, the final one of that masterpiece, has been preserved.

  • In this stanza Rhuvawn is celebrated as pious, valiant, and hospitable.

    Y Gododin

    Aneurin

  • “Nodi,” may also have reference to “nod” in the third line of the stanza.

    Y Gododin

    Aneurin

  • The eagle was probably the armorial badge of the hero of this stanza.

    Y Gododin

    Aneurin

  • That stanza, as it stands above, does not occur in any of the extant quasi-originals.

    Sir Walter Scott

    George Saintsbury

British Dictionary definitions for stanza

stanza

noun
  1. prosody a fixed number of verse lines arranged in a definite metrical pattern, forming a unit of a poem
  2. US and Australian a half or a quarter in a football match
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Derived Formsstanzaed, adjectivestanzaic (stænˈzeɪɪk), adjective

Word Origin

C16: from Italian: halting place, from Vulgar Latin stantia (unattested) station, from Latin stāre to stand
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for stanza

n.

"group of rhymed verse lines," 1580s, from Italian stanza "verse of a poem," originally "standing, stopping place," from Vulgar Latin *stantia "a stanza of verse," so called from the stop at the end of it, from Latin stans (genitive stantis), present participle of stare "to stand" (see stet).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
stanza in Culture

stanza

A group of lines of verse, usually set off from other groups by a space. The stanzas of a poem often have the same internal pattern of rhymes.

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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.