clerihew

(redirected from Clerihews)
Also found in: Thesaurus, Encyclopedia.

cler·i·hew

(klĕr′ə-hyo͞o′)

A humorous verse consisting of two rhymed couplets in lines of irregular length, usually about a person whose name serves as one of the rhymes.

[After Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875-1956), British writer.]

clerihew

(ˈklɛrɪˌhjuː)

(Poetry) a form of comic or satiric verse, consisting of two couplets of metrically irregular lines, containing the name of a well-known person

[C20: named after Edmund Clerihew Bentley, who invented it]

cler•i•hew

(ˈklɛr əˌhyu)

n.

a verse form in two couplets, usu. lampooning a person named in the first line.

[1925–30; after E. Clerihew Bentley (1875–1956), English writer, its inventor]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun

clerihew - a witty satiric verse containing two rhymed couplets and mentioning a famous person; "`The president is George W. Bush, Who is happy to sit on his tush, While sending his armies to fight, For anything he thinks is right' is a clerihew"

rhyme, verse - a piece of poetry

Translations

bökvers

clerihew

n → Clerihew nt, → witziger Vierzeiler

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

In the following suite of five clerihews (six counts as an epic, I've heard), the members of a well-known Tejas rancho are doing what they enjoy doing best--sitting down.

Kickshaws

RED, WHITE AND BLUE CLERIHEWS (with one atrocious sight rhyme) Eric the Red Discovered America, it's said (Or was it the other one, His son?

Sighted rhymes, sank same

The topics include limericks, clerihews, and alphabet sentences, among other things.

Kickshaws

In addition to these knee-slapping clerihews, the reader will be delighted to see the eye-poppping drawings that accompany each clerihew.

Lost Clerihews--book review

AUTHOR Khadim Hussain will be signing copies of his new book CLERIHEWS at Waterstone's in Captain Cook's Square, Middlesbrough, today from 1-3pm.

Review:

He infused light verse forms such as limericks, clerihews, and acrostics with his own ribald wit, and he invented a form of his own called the Meta-Four.

Jonathan Williams, mountain poet, dies at 79

In addition to articles published in literary and specialist magazines, Nick has written biographies of Bruce Chatwin, Matthew Arnold, Aldous Huxley, Kafka and others, as well as contributions to the humorous compilation, Other People's Clerihews.

That's the spirit; The distinguished writer returned to the great city, seeking again the magic which had guided him from short pants to a mortarboard and gown

CLERIHEWS by Khadim Hussain (Quoin Publishing, pounds 3.

Reviews:

In addition to Bentley, Chesterton, and Auden, many other people have written clerihews over the years, some of them poets, some not.

Clerihews: a personal history

An element of sauciness enters some of the poems as in this complete five line effort: "Sestinas, sonnets, clerihews, / They all take such an effort.