virelay Meaning, Definition & Usage

Vir"e*lay noun
Etymology
F. virelai; virer to turn + lai a song, a lay.
Definitions
  1. An ancient French song, or short poem, wholly in two rhymes, and composed in short lines, with a refrain.
    Of such matter made he many lays, Songs, complains, roundels, virelayes. Chaucer.
    To which a lady sung a virelay. Dryden.
    ✍ "The virelay admitted only two rhymes, and, after employing one for some time, the poet was virer, or to turn, to the other." Nares.

Webster 1913