Friday, December 27, 2013

Fwd: quadrille: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dictionary.com <doctor@dictionary.com>
Date: 2013/12/27
Subject: quadrille: Dictionary.com Word of the Day
To: "Hector William G." <hectorpinillos@gmail.com>

Word of the Day for Friday, December 27, 2013

quadrille \kwo-DRIL, kwuh-, kuh-\, 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.

…I found that every one of the other couples had retired, and that we four were left to dance the quadrille by ourselves!
-- William Makepeace Thackeray, The Fitz-Boodle Papers, 1842

"What a delightful quadrille we are having!" she said enthusiastically as she passed him. "Delightful!" he acquiesced, with a sudden leap at his heart, and forthwith he resolved to engage her for the next dance as soon as ever he should be at liberty.
-- Ross Neil, The Heir Expectant, 1870

Quadrille entered English in the 1700s from the Latin quadra meaning "square."

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