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Crambo

Lyric and Short Poetic Forms

Crambo is a rhyming game recorded as early as the fourteenth century under the name the ABC of Aristotle, and also known as capping the rhyme. The name is also used for a doggerel poem that exhausts the possible rhymes for a particular word.

Facts
Notable Example
Samuel Pepys playing crambo in a wagon, diary entry of 19 May 1660 1
Defining Trait
Teams vie to find and express a rhyme for a word or line presented by the opposing player or team 1
Sources
1. Crambo (Wikipedia)
  • Gameplay description
    In the early versions of the game up to the eighteenth century, teams would vie with each other to find and express a rhyme for a word or line presented by the opposing player or team.
  • Pepys diary entry, 19 May 1660
    From thence to the Hague again playing at crambo in the waggon, Mr. Edward, Mr. Ibbott, W. Howe, Mr. Pinkney, and I.
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