quadrille

¹ American  

[kwo-dril, kwuh-, kuh-] / kwɒˈdrɪl, kwə-, kə- /

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.

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quadrille ² American  

[kwo-dril, kwuh-, kuh-] / kwɒˈdrɪl, kwə-, kə- /

noun

1. a card game played by four persons.

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quadrille ³ American  

[kwo-dril, kwuh-, kuh-] / kwɒˈdrɪl, kwə-, kə- /

adjective

1. ruled in squares, as graph paper.

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quadrille ¹ British  

/ kwə-, kwɒˈdrɪl /

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

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quadrille ² British  

/ kwə-, kwɒˈdrɪl /

noun

1. an old card game for four players

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Etymology

Origin of quadrille¹

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”

Origin of quadrille²

First recorded in 1720–30; an extended sense of quadrille ¹ ( def. )

Origin of quadrille³

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 quadrille ¹

Explanation

You may not have danced a quadrille, a complicated dance that includes at least four pairs of dancers — because it reached its height of popularity in the mid-1800s. Your language instincts probably push you towards the idea of squareness or fourdom when you see quad, and there are good reasons for both tendencies: the Latin quattuor lies behind many English words incorporating notions of "four" and "four corners." A quadrille, originally a card game for four people, morphed eventually to also mean a square dance for four couples.

Example Sentences

In the dizzying quadrille of leaders known here as “Canberra’s churn,” Australia has a brand new prime minister.

From New York Times • Sep. 1, 2018

He likes the sound the keys make, he has said, but turns to the Olympia only once a paragraph he has worked on in his quadrille notebooks seems finished.

From The Guardian • Jan. 20, 2017

At midnight, one dances the fin de siècle quadrille, which peaked in popularity in the late 1800s.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 8, 2016

Dressed in white tie and a flowing black cloak, he directs the assembled crowd in a huge quadrille, a square dance rather like a Scottish reel.

From BBC • Jan. 6, 2014

Director-General Davis was to lead a quadrille, Burnham a “Berlin,” Mayor Harrison a polka.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson