limerick Definition

limerick
noun

1. A humorous poem with five lines that always have the same rhyme and metre² patterns, lines one, two and five sharing the same rhyme and lines three and four rhyming with each other. The opening line usually begins something like: There was a young lady from ...

Form: Limerick (sometimes)

Etymology: 19c: said to be from Will you come up to Limerick?, a refrain sung between the verses of extemporized versions of this kind of poem at parties in the Irish town of Limerick.