virelay: Meaning and Definition of

vir•e•lay

1. an old French form of short poem, composed of short lines running on two rhymes and having two opening lines recurring at intervals.
2. any of various similar or other forms of poem, as one consisting of stanzas made up of longer and shorter lines, the lines of each kind rhyming together in each stanza, and having the rhyme of the shorter lines of one stanza forming the rhyme of the longer lines of the next stanza.
3. a medieval song form providing a musical setting for a virelay but having a formal structure different from that of the poem.