n. 1. A short closing stanza in certain verse forms, such as the ballade or sestina, dedicating the poem to a patron or summarizing its main ideas. 2. The concluding portion of a prose work or a play. [Middle English envoie, from Old French, a sending away, conclusion, from envoier, to send; see ENVOY1.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.