verst

American  

[vurst, verst] / vɜrst, vɛrst /

Or verste,

noun

1. a Russian measure of distance equivalent to 3,500 feet, or 0.6629 mile (1.067 kilometers).

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verst British  

/ vɛəst, vɜːst /

noun

1. a unit of length, used in Russia, equal to 1.067 kilometres (0.6629 miles)

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Etymology

Origin of verst

First recorded in 1545–55; from French verste or German Werst, from Russian verstá; Old Russian vĭrsta “age, agemate, pair, measure of length,” cognate with Czech vrstva “layer, stratum, bed,” Polish warstwa “layer, coating, sheet,” Serbo-Croatian vŕsta “sort, kind, species,” Old Church Slavonic vrĭsta “age, time of life,” from unrecorded Slavic vĭrsta “turn, bend,” from the Proto-Indo-European extended root wert- “to turn, wind,” source of Latin vertere “to turn,” and English suffix -ward ( def. ); see convert ¹, verse

Example Sentences

Drapes of eggshell rayon silk, fully a verst of it, hung from the ceiling to the floor.

From Time Magazine Archive

From thence we had a gentle descent of about a verst to the outskirts of Piatigorsk.

From Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, the Crimea, the Caucasus, &c. by Hell, Xavier Hommaire de

From Moscow to Warsaw one travels a long and rather dreary seven hundred miles, the first half of which is characterized by such sameness, verst after verst, as to render the journey extremely monotonous.

From Due North or Glimpses of Scandinavia and Russia by Ballou, Maturin Murray

She stopped under the cross, and, looking around, saw that the man was half a verst distant, staggering along toward the town.

From Hania by Sienkiewicz, Henryk

It was perfectly apparent, as we listened one evening, that the old ones had placed the young ones about a verst away and were making them answer independently.

From Hunting in Many Lands The Book of the Boone and Crockett Club by Various