rhyme

• rime
• rhime (obsolete)

• The noun derives from Middle English ryme, rime (“number, rhyme, verse”), from a merger of Old English rīm (“number”) and Old French rime, ryme (“rhyme”). Old French rime is of uncertain origin: it may represent Latin rhythmus (“rhythm”), from Ancient Greek ῥυθμός (rhuthmós, “measure, rhythm”); or Frankish *rīm (“number, series, count”), from Proto-Germanic *rīmą (“calculation, number”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂rey- (“to regulate, count”), cognate with Old English rīm above; or a conflation of the two.
• The verb derives from Middle English rymen, rimen, from Old English rīman (“to count, enumerate, number”), from Proto-Germanic *rīmaną.
• The spelling has been influenced by an assumed relationship with rhythm. Whether this relationship exists is uncertain (as stated above).

• (UK, US) enPR: rīm, IPA^(key): /ɹaɪm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪm
• Homophone: rime

rhyme (countable and uncountable, plural rhymes)

1. (countable, uncountable) Rhyming verse (poetic form)

   Many editors say they don't want stories written in rhyme these days.

2. A thought expressed in verse; a verse; a poem; a tale told in verse.

   Tennyson’s rhymes

3. (countable) A word that rhymes with another.

   Norse poetry is littered with rhymes like "sól ... sunnan".

   Rap makes use of rhymes such as "money ... honey" and "nope ... dope".

   1. (countable, in particular) A word that rhymes with another, in that it is pronounced identically with the other word from the vowel in its stressed syllable to the end.

      "Awake" is a rhyme for "lake".

4. (uncountable) Rhyming: sameness of sound of part of some words.

   The poem exhibits a peculiar form of rhyme.

5. (linguistics) rime
6. (obsolete) Number.

• stave-rhyme, end rhyme
• internal rhyme, cross rhyme
• half rhyme, near rhyme:
  • pararhyme, slant rhyme
• full rhyme, perfect rhyme, exact rhyme, true rhyme

rhyme (third-person singular simple present rhymes, present participle rhyming, simple past and past participle rhymed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To compose or treat in verse; versify.
   • 1742, [Alexander Pope], “Book the Fourth”, in The New Dunciad: As is^[sic] It was Found in the Year 1741. […], Dublin: […] George Faulkner, OCLC 696000712, lines 101-102:

     There marched the bard and blockhead, side by side,
     Who rhymed for hire, and patronized for pride.

2. (intransitive, followed by with) Of a word, to be pronounced identically with another from the vowel in its stressed syllable to the end.

   "Creation" rhymes with "integration" and "station".

3. (reciprocal) Of two or more words, to be pronounced identically from the vowel in the stressed syllable of each to the end of each.

   "Mug" and "rug" rhyme.

   '"India" and "windier" rhyme with each other in non-rhotic accents.

   I rewrote the story to make it rhyme.

4. (intransitive, figurative) To somewhat resemble or correspond with.
   • 2010, Tony Pipolo, Robert Bresson: A Passion for Film:

     In addition, the look rhymes with but inverts the meaning of the first silent look he gets instead of words when he asks Lucien in the photo shop if he remembers him, and Lucien shrugs his shoulders in denial.

5. (transitive, obsolete) To number; count; reckon.

• rhyme off
• rhymes-with-rich
• rhyming slang

• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “rhyme”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

• Hymer, Myhre

rhyme

1. Alternative form of reem

• Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 64