virelay

Any of several medieval French verse and song forms, especially one in which each stanza has two rhymes, the end rhyme recurring as the first rhyme of the following stanza.

An old French form of poem, in short lines, running on two rimes; also, a succession of stanzas on two rimes, and of indeterminate length, the rime of the last line of each becoming the rime of the first couplet in the next, thus: a, a, b, a, a, b, a, a, b; b, b, c, b, b, c, b, b, c; c, c, d, c, c, d, c, c, d; etc.

An ancient French song, or short poem, wholly in two rhymes, and composed in short lines, with a refrain.

Alternative spelling of virelai.