tarantella
nounUS /ˌtɛɹənˈtɛlə/ · UK /tæɹənˈtɛlə/
Etymology Borrowed from Italian tarantella, a diminutive of Taranto, a town in southern Italy (but popularly associated with tarantola (“tarantula”), on the belief that the dance was variously a result of, or cure for, its bite).
1
A rapid dance in 6/8 time, originating in Italy, or a piece of music for such a dance.
- The set in which they found themselves was composed of English, and Amy was compelled to walk decorously through a cotillion, feeling all the while as if she could dance the tarantella with relish.1868–1869, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, Little Women: […], (please specify |part=1 or 2), Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC:
- "A tarantella, I presume?" blandly suggested the doctor. Miss Mannersley stopped, and rose carelessly from the piano. "It is a Moorish gypsy song of the fifteenth century," she said dryly.1895, Bret Harte, The Devotion of Enriquez:
1 more example
- We learn to understand why our addled minds seize so little with precision, why they are caught up and tossed about in a kind of tarantella by headlines and catch-words, why so often they cannot tell things apart or discern identity in apparent differences.1922, Walter Lippmann, “chapter v”, in Public Opinion: