» Quatrain - A Dictionary of the English Language - Samuel Johnson

Quatrain

View Scan · View Transcription · from page 1619

View Scan · View Transcription · from page 1619

Qua'train. n.s. [quatrain, Fr.] A stanza of four lines rhyming alternately: as,

Say, Stella, what is love, whose fatal pow'r
Robs virtue of content, and youth of joy?
What nymph or goddess in a luckless hour
Disclos'd to light the mischief-making boy. Mrs. Mulso.

I have writ my poem in quatrains or stanza's of four in alternate rhyme, because I have ever judged them of greater dignity for the sound and number, than any other verse in use. Dryden.

Sources: Chapone, Hester (1) · Dryden, John (788)

Attributes: French (385) · Noun Substantive (1269)

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Cite this page: Johnson, Samuel. "Quatrain." A Dictionary of the English Language: A Digital Edition of the 1755 Classic by Samuel Johnson. Edited by Brandi Besalke. Last modified: January 30, 2014. https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/quatrain/.

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