galliard

or gail·lard

[ gal-yerd ]

noun
  1. a spirited dance for two dancers in triple rhythm, common in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Origin of galliard

1
1525–35; <Middle French gaillard, noun use of adj.: lively, vigorous (>Middle English gaillard,late Middle English galyarde), probably <Gallo-Romance *galia<Celtic (compare MIr gal warlike ardor, valor); see -ard

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How to use galliard in a sentence

  • I gave the address of M. Gaillard, and the design was published.

    My Memoirs | Marguerite Steinheil
  • The road we traverse is that which appears so conspicuously in Turner's great painting of the Chateau-Gaillard.

    Normandy, Complete | Gordon Home
  • He dressed at the "Rhin," put on an overcoat, and set out to walk to the Rue Gaillard about half-past seven.

    Lady Rose's Daughter | Mrs. Humphry Ward
  • For the past six months Raoul Gaillard had been in Paris looking for safe lodging-places.

  • Racking them up on the electronic tracker, he turned back to Gaillard, "Let her go!"

British Dictionary definitions for galliard

galliard

/ (ˈɡæljəd) /


noun
  1. a spirited dance in triple time for two persons, popular in the 16th and 17th centuries

  2. a piece of music composed for this dance

adjective
  1. archaic lively; spirited

Origin of galliard

1
C14: from Old French gaillard valiant, perhaps of Celtic origin

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