quadrille

1
[ kwo-dril, kwuh-, kuh- ]
See synonyms for quadrille on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a square dance for four couples, consisting of five parts or movements, each complete in itself.

  2. the music for such a dance.

Origin of quadrille

1
First recorded in 1770–80; from French: “group of riders in a tournament; one of the four groups of dancers in a quadrille,” from Spanish cuadrilla “company, troop,” diminutive of cuadra “square, battle square,” from Latin quadra “side of a square; quadrant”

Words Nearby quadrille

Other definitions for quadrille (2 of 3)

quadrille2
[ kwo-dril, kwuh-, kuh- ]

noun
  1. a card game played by four persons.

Origin of quadrille

2
First recorded in 1720–30; an extended sense of quadrille1

Other definitions for quadrille (3 of 3)

quadrille3
[ kwo-dril, kwuh-, kuh- ]

adjective
  1. ruled in squares, as graph paper.

Origin of quadrille

3
First recorded in 1855–60; from French quadrillé, from quadrille, a kind of diamond-shaped stitch in needlework, from Spanish cuadrillo “a small square”; see quadrille1

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use quadrille in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for quadrille (1 of 2)

quadrille1

/ (kwɒˈdrɪl, kwə-) /


noun
  1. a square dance of five or more figures for four or more couples

  2. a piece of music for such a dance, alternating between simple duple and compound duple time

Origin of quadrille

1
C18: via French from Spanish cuadrilla, diminutive of cuadro square, from Latin quadra

British Dictionary definitions for quadrille (2 of 2)

quadrille2

/ (kwɒˈdrɪl, kwə-) /


noun
  1. an old card game for four players

Origin of quadrille

2
C18: from French, from Spanish cuartillo, from cuarto fourth, from Latin quartus, influenced by quadrille 1

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