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Webster 1913 Edition


Doggerel

Dog′ger-el

,
Adj.
[OE.
dogerel
.]
Low in style, and irregular in measure;
as,
doggerel
rhymes
.
This may well be rhyme
doggerel
, quod he.
Chaucer.

Dog′ger-el

,
Noun.
A sort of loose or irregular verse; mean or undignified poetry.
Doggerel
like that of Hudibras.
Addison.
The ill-spelt lines of
doggerel
in which he expressed his reverence for the brave sufferers.
Macaulay.

Webster 1828 Edition


Doggerel

DOGGEREL

,
Adj.
An epithet given to a kind of loose, irregular measure in burlesque poetry, like that of Hudibras; as doggerel verse or rhyme.

DOGGEREL

,
Noun.
A loose, irregular kind of poetry; used in burlesque.

Definition 2024


doggerel

doggerel

English

Alternative forms

Adjective

doggerel (not comparable)

  1. (poetry) Of a crude or irregular construction. (Originally applied to humorous verse, but now to verse lacking artistry or meaning.)
    • 1678, John Dryden, "Prologue to Limberham," lines 1-4,
      True wit has seen its best days long ago;
      It ne'er look'd up, since we were dipp'd in show:
      When sense in doggerel rhymes and clouds was lost,
      And dulness flourish'd at the actors' cost.
  2. (poetry) a comic or humorous verse, usually irregular in measure

Translations

Noun

doggerel (plural doggerels)

  1. A doggerel poem or verse.
    • 1895, Stephen Crane,The Red Badge of Courage, ch. 8,
      As he marched he sang a bit of doggerel in a high and quavering voice:
      "Sing a song 'a vic'try,
      A pocketful 'a bullets,
      Five an' twenty dead men
      Baked in a—pie."

Translations

References

  • doggerel” in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
  • doggerel in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • doggerel” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
  • doggerel” in Microsoft's Encarta World English Dictionary, North American Edition (2007)
  • "doggerel" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
  • doggerel” in the Compact Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 2007)
  • Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)
  • Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary (1987-1996)