quadrille

1. (dance) A dance originating in the mid-1700s with four couples forming a square, rather much like the modern square dance.Examples: "The movements of the other women were more or less similar to Tess's, the whole bevy of them drawing together like dancers in a quadrille at the completion of a sheaf by each, every one placing her sheaf on end against those of the rest, till a shock, or 'stitch' as it was here called, of ten or a dozen was formed."

2. (music) The music for this dance.Examples: "There was ol' Mickey Coote Who played hard on his flute When the ladies lined up for a set He was tootin' with skill For each sparkling quadrille Though the dancers were fluther'd and bet"

3. (card games) A Spanish trick-taking card game from the 1700s played with a 40-card deck.Examples: "It now first struck her that she was selected from among her sisters as worthy of being the mistress of Hunsford Parsonage, and of assisting to form a quadrille table at Rosings, in the absence of more eligible visitors."