n. 1. A slow, stately pattern dance in 3/4 time for groups of couples, originating in 17th-century France. 2. The music for this dance. 3. A movement in 3/4 time that is usually the third, but sometimes the second, of a four-movement symphony or string quartet. [French menuet, from Old French, small, dainty (from the small steps characteristic of the dance), diminutive of menu, small, from Latin minūtus; see MINUTE2.] |
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