minuet

American  

[min-yoo-et] / ˌmɪn yuˈɛt /

noun

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

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

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minuet British  

/ ˌmɪnjʊˈɛt /

noun

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

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

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Etymology

Origin of minuet

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

Example Sentences

This was no primly patterned minuet, where dancers stood side by side, attention directed to precisely mapping elaborate steps.

From Los Angeles Times

He “had a fine clear voice” and sang minuets and such and “fiddled in the parlor.”

From Literature

One such sequence passed through the breakneck minuet of the 19th, the controlled delirium of the 20th and the clean, shiny descents of the 23rd to culminate in the famous 25th, the so-called black pearl.

From New York Times

From there, variations surface with nods to Classical and Baroque forms: a dancerly minuet or rondo, a concerto grosso of angular strings, a wandering ricercare.

From New York Times

He has discontinued the elbowing, apparently, while sustaining that courtside calm, still looking out there with fascination at the same minuet after 52 years of coaching.

From Washington Post