minuet

[ min-yoo-et ]

/ ˌmɪn yuˈɛt /

noun

a slow, stately dance in triple meter, popular in the 17th and 18th centuries.

a piece of music for such a dance or in its rhythm.

Nearby words

minto, minton, minty, minucius felix, minuend, minuet, minuit, minus, minus cyclophoria, minus sight, minus sign

Origin of minuet

1665–75; < French menuet, equivalent to menu small (see menu) + -et -et; so called from the shortness of the dancers' steps

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for minuet

The first was the private, then public, minuet of reassurances to the two visitors.
Obama's New Buddies|Leslie H. Gelb|May 8, 2009|DAILY BEAST
As your host for the evening, I invite you to go to the drawing-room and dance something a little more modern than the minuet.
Peter Cotterell's Treasure|Rupert Sargent Holland
Moreover, his earlier chamber compositions were in three movements, the minuet having been added for the first time in the Octet.
The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, Volume I (of 3)|Alexander Wheelock Thayer
In Fischer all the movements are in one key; only the Trio of the Minuet is in the tonic minor.
The Pianoforte Sonata|J.S. Shedlock

Then she found an old music-book, and played Hamlet's overture to Otho, and the minuet.
Put Yourself in His Place|Charles Reade
The minuet, she explained, was part of some physical culture she was working into the course, and he heartily approved.
God's Green Country|Ethel M. Chapman

British Dictionary definitions for minuet

minuet

/ (ˌmɪnjʊˈɛt) /

noun

a stately court dance of the 17th and 18th centuries in triple time

a piece of music composed for or in the rhythm of this dance, sometimes as a movement in a suite, sonata, or symphonySee also scherzo

Word Origin for minuet

C17: from French menuet dainty (referring to the dance steps), from menu small

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012