quadrille

[ kwo-dril, kwuh-, kuh- ]

/ kwɒˈdrɪl, kwə-, kə- /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR quadrille ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a square dance for four couples, consisting of five parts or movements, each complete in itself.

the music for such a dance.

RELATED WORDS

hoedown

Nearby words

quadrigeminal rhythm, quadrigeminum, quadrilateral, quadrilingual, quadriliteral, quadrille, quadrillion, quadrinomial, quadriparesis, quadripartite, quadripedal extensor reflex

Origin of quadrille

1730–40; < French < Spanish cuadrilla company, troop, diminutive of cuadra square < Latin quadra

Definition for quadrille (2 of 3)

quadrille

[ kwo-dril, kwuh-, kuh- ]

/ kwɒˈdrɪl, kwə-, kə- /

noun

a card game played by four persons.

Origin of quadrille

1720–30; < French < Spanish cuartillo, diminutive of cuarto fourth < Latin quartus

Definition for quadrille (3 of 3)

quadrille

[ kwo-dril, kwuh-, kuh- ]

/ kwɒˈdrɪl, kwə-, kə- /

adjective

ruled in squares, as graph paper.

Origin of quadrille

1880–85; < French quadrillé, past participle of quadriller to rule in squares, derivative of quadrille lozenge < Spanish cuadrilla; see quadrille¹

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

Examples from the Web for quadrille

I engage Madeleine for the first quadrille, and Bertha for the first waltz.
Fairy Fingers|Anna Cora Mowatt Ritchie
I will send you your quadrille tables by the first opportunity, consigned to the care of Mr. Mathias here.
The PG Edition of Chesterfield's Letters to His Son|The Earl of Chesterfield
And in that quadrille Crofts and Bell had been dancing together, and they also had been talking of Lily's marriage.
The Small House at Allington|Anthony Trollope
Manille, ma-nil′, n. in ombre and quadrille, the highest card but one.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M)|Various

On these occasions, a carpet cotillon or quadrille has been sometimes indulged in; but it was the exception and not the rule.
She and I, Volume 1|John Conroy Hutcheson

British Dictionary definitions for quadrille (1 of 2)

quadrille

/ (kwɒˈdrɪl, kwə-) /

noun

a square dance of five or more figures for four or more couples

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

Word Origin for quadrille

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

British Dictionary definitions for quadrille (2 of 2)

quadrille

/ (kwɒˈdrɪl, kwə-) /

noun

an old card game for four players

Word Origin for quadrille

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

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 quadrille

quadrille

1773, "lively square dance for four couples," from French quadrille (17c.), originally one of four groups of horsemen in a tournament (a sense attested in English from 1738), from Spanish cuadrilla, diminutive of cuadro "four-sided battle square," from Latin quadrum "a square," related to quattuor "four" (see four). The craze for the dance hit England in 1816, and it underwent a vigorous revival late 19c. among the middle classes.

Earlier the name of a popular card game for four hands, and in this sense from French quadrille (1725), from Spanish cuartillo, from cuarto "fourth," from Latin quartus. OED notes it as fashionable from 1726 ("and was in turn superseded by whist"), the year of Swift's (or Congreve's) satirical ballad on the craze:

The commoner, and knight, the peer,
Men of all ranks and fame,
Leave to their wives the only care,
To propagate their name;
And well that duty they fulfil
When the good husband's at Quadrille &c.