seguidilla

American  

[sey-guh-deel-yuh, -dee-yuh, seg-uh-, se-gee-thee-lyah] / ˌseɪ gəˈdil yə, -ˈdi yə, ˌsɛg ə-, ˌsɛ giˈði lyɑ /

noun

plural

seguidillas

1. Prosody. a stanza of four to seven lines with a distinctive rhythmic pattern.

2. a Spanish dance in triple meter for two persons.

3. the music for this dance.

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seguidilla British  

/ ˌsɛɡɪˈdiːljə /

noun

1. a Spanish dance in a fast triple rhythm

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

3. prosody a stanzaic form consisting of four to seven lines and marked by a characteristic rhythm

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Etymology

Origin of seguidilla

1755–65; < Spanish, equivalent to seguid ( a ) sequence ( segui- (stem of seguir ≪ Latin sequī to follow) + -da < Latin -ta feminine past participle suffix) + -illa diminutive suffix

Example Sentences

There were romances and the early, original forms of all those Spanish dances that went on to pervade Europe and the world at large, such as the fandango and seguidilla.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 3, 2020

Even my faithless comrade, draped in her flower-garden shawl, practised the steps of a seguidilla to the rattle of the castanets and laughed at my defeats.

From Spanish Highways and Byways by Bates, Katharine Lee

Percy sings a Spanish seguidilla, or a German lied, or a French romance, or a Neapolitan canzonet, which, I am bound to say, excites very little attention.

From The Newcomes Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family by Thackeray, William Makepeace

The next striking number is the dance tempo, "Presso il bastion de Seviglia," a seguidilla sung by Carmen while bewitching Don José.

From The Standard Operas (12th edition) Their Plots, Their Music, and Their Composers by Upton, George P. (George Putnam)

And every Christmas, when I was in the convent the Sisters made a serenade to the Virgin, or a seguidilla to our blessed Lord.

From Remember the Alamo by Barr, Amelia Edith Huddleston