rigadoon

American  

[rig-uh-doon] / ˌrɪg əˈdun /

Also rigodon

noun

1. a lively dance, formerly popular, for one couple, characterized by a jumping step and usually in quick duple meter.

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

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rigadoon British  

/ ˌrɪɡəˈduːn, riɡodɔ̃ /

noun

1. an old Provençal couple dance, light and graceful, in lively duple time

2. a piece of music for or in the rhythm of this dance

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Etymology

Origin of rigadoon

1685–95; < French rigaudon, perhaps from name Rigaud

Example Sentences

An indignant captain looks like “he’d just been asked if he danced the rigadoon or played the hurdy-gurdy.”

From New York Times • Sep. 22, 2022

This might be true if The Wonder Bar were really a night box where one could attend the entertainment and at the same time, eat, drink, rigadoon and speak freely with friends.

From Time Magazine Archive

All night long shouting crowds surged up & down under the huge plane trees of the ramblas to rigadoon round the statue of Christopher Columbus and back up the hill again.

From Time Magazine Archive

At that moment the sound of the piano came vibrating through the dark stairway, telling of the first movement of a fascinating rigadoon.

From The Marquis of Pe?alta (Marta y Mar?a) A Realistic Social Novel by Palacio Vald?s, Armando

All through the vernal afternoon   My other neighbour's children skate A wild Bacchantic rigadoon   On rollers; nor does it abate Till dark; and then his babies cry What time I fain would versify.

From Tobogganing on Parnassus by Adams, Franklin P. (Franklin Pierce)