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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

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]