minuet

[min-yoo-et]

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.

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

Contemporary Examples of 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

Historical Examples of minuet

I must then forgive his ignorance of the minuet and quadrilles.
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 2, August, 1863
Various
After the minuet I danced twelve forlanas with the greatest vigour.
The Memoires of Casanova, Complete
Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
It's just a minuet—reconnoissance of Frémont and Dick Taylor!
The Long Roll
Mary Johnston
One, who recognized Judith, swept his aside with a gesture appropriate to a minuet.
The Long Roll
Mary Johnston
I had never seen the minuet danced with more grace and spirit.
The Rose of Old St. Louis
Mary Dillon

British Dictionary definitions for minuet

minuet

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

Word Origin and History for minuet

"slow dance in triple measure," 1670s, from French menuet, from Old French menuet (adj.) "small, fine, delicate, narrow," from menu "small," from Latin minutus "small, minute" (see minute (adj.)). So called from the short steps taken in the dance. Spelling influenced in English by Italian minuetto.