Vir″e‐lay (?), n. [F. virelai; virer to turn + lai a song, a lay.] 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.