Nearby Words

quadrille

[kwo-dril, kwuh-, kuh-] Origin

quad·rille

1[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.

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

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Quadrille is always a great word to know.
So is bezoar. Does it mean:
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
Dictionary.com Unabridged

quad·rille

2[kwo-dril, kwuh-, kuh-]
noun
a card game played by four persons.

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

quad·rille

3[kwo-dril, kwuh-, kuh-]
adjective
ruled in squares, as graph paper.

Origin:
1880–85; < French quadrillé, past participle of quadriller to rule in squares, derivative of quadrille lozenge < Spanish cuadrilla; see quadrille1
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
quadrille1 (kwɒˈdrɪl, kwə-)
 
n
1.  a square dance of five or more figures for four or more couples
2.  a piece of music for such a dance, alternating between simple duple and compound duple time
 
[C18: via French from Spanish cuadrilla, diminutive of cuadro square, from Latin quadra]

quadrille2 (kwɒˈdrɪl, kwə-)
 
n
an old card game for four players
 
[C18: from French, from Spanish cuartillo, from cuarto fourth, from Latin quartus, influenced by quadrille1]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

quadrille
1773, "lively square dance for four couples," from Fr. quadrille, originally one of four groups of horsemen in a tournament (a sense attested in Eng. from 1738), from Sp. cuadrilla, dim. of cuadro "four-sided battle square," from L. quadrum "a square," related to quattuor "four" (see
EXPAND
four). The craze for the dance hit England in 1816, and it underwent a vigorous revival late 19c. among the middle classes. Earlier a popular card game for four hands (1726).
"Quadrille began to take the place of ombre as the fashionable card game about 1726, and was in turn superseded by whist." [OED]
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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