ridotto
nounUK /ɹɪˈdɒtəʊ/ · US /ɹəˈdoʊtoʊ/
Etymology Borrowed from Italian ridotto (“foyer”). Doublet of redoubt.
1
Historical A public ball, typically a masquerade, popular in the 18th century.
- May 26, 1742, Horace Walpole, letter to Horace Mann There are to be ridottos at guinea tickets.
- Night came, with that increase of gaiety which has always been night's peculiar privilege—perhaps on the principle of contrast. Monday, it was the ridotto; Tuesday, the opera; Wednesday, Ranelagh; Thursday, the play; Friday, a ball; Saturday, a rout, or else a little of all these blended together.1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Another London Life”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 172:
2
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music An arrangement or abridgment of a piece from the full score.