Limerick

Limerick Lim"er*ick (l[i^]m"[~e]r*[i^]k), n. [Said to be from a song with the same verse construction, current in Ireland, the refrain of which contains the place name Limerick.] A humorous, often nonsensical, and sometimes risq['e] poem of five anapestic lines, of which lines 1, 2, and 5 are of three feet, and rhyme, and lines 3 and 4 are of two feet, and rhyme.

Note: It often begins with "There once was a . . ." or "There was a . . ."; as

There was a young lady, Amanda, Whose Ballades Lyriques were quite fin de Si[`e]cle, I deem But her Journal Intime Was what sent her papa to Uganda. [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]