Rhymers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A group of individuals who compose verses characterized by matching sounds, typically at the ends of respective lines in poetry
2. Those who create poetry or songs that incorporate harmonious sounds, often using repetition and rhythm in their writing
3. Poets or songwriters engaged in crafting works that feature end rhymes, enhancing the aesthetic and auditory quality of their verse

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "rhymers" is that its ancestor meant a counter, not a versifier. Old English "rīmere" meant "a computer, reckoner, calculator," a person who counted or calculated. The link to verse runs through "rhyme," which in its earlier English life was tied to number and reckoning, so a person who handled those numbers became the "rhymer." The sense of making verse only took hold later, once the sound-matching sense of rhyme came to dominate. The word then passed through Middle English as "rymare," and its relatives across Germanic languages, such as Dutch "rijmer," German "Reimer," and Swedish "rimmare," show the same family structure. The modern sense of a poet, or someone whose songs lean on repeated sound, is the narrower and more recent development.

Synonyms: rhymer, poet, lyricist