Category:Virelay

Vir"e*lay, n. Etym: [f. virelai; virer to turn + lai a song, a lay.]

Defn: an ancient french song, or short poem, wholly in two rhymes, And composed in short lines, with a refrain. Of such matter made he many lays, songs, complains, roundels, Virelayes. Chaucer. To which a lady sung a virelay. Dryden.

Note: "the virelay admitted only two rhymes, and, after employing one For some time, the poet was virer, or to turn, to the other." Nares.