in antiquity, a discourse in verse sung or rehearsed by a rhapsodist. Others will have rhapsody to signify a collection of verses, especially those of Homer, which having been a long time dispersed in pieces and fragments, were at length by Pifistratus's order digested into books called rhapsodies, from περιστροφή, and ὁ κατάκτημα. Hence, among moderns, rhapsody is also used for an assemblage of passages, thoughts, and authorities, raked together from divers authors, to compose some new piece.