quadrille
1
9.9
A lively piece of music written to accompany a square dance
- noun
- /kwəˈdril/
- Archaic
:
música de cuadrilla
- During the 18th century, many social gatherings featured a quadrille that delighted the guests with its lively tempo.
Examples
-
I'm sorry, but I'm promised to count Vronsky, but you may have the second quadrille.
-
At the grand ballroom, the orchestra began to play the quadrille as couples took their positions on the dance floor.
-
As the final notes of the quadrille echoed, everyone cheered for the dancers who moved gracefully in time with the music.
Synonyms
3.2
Music played to accompany square dancing, often with lively fiddle or banjo rhythms
is specific to lively four-couple historical dance music rather than general group dance tunes
Surface Forms
quadrille singular
quadrilles plural
Etymology
The musical meaning of quadrille comes from the dance quadrille, itself from Italian quadriglia meaning 'square' or 'four'. Musicians wrote short pieces for that four-couple dance, so a quadrille can also mean the lively music written to go with the dance.