Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A Spanish stanza form of four or seven lines.
  • noun A lively Spanish dance in triple meter.
  • noun The music for this dance.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A Spanish dance, usually of a lively character, for two dancers.
  • noun Music for such a dance or in its rhythm, which is triple and quick, resembling the bolero.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Spanish, diminutive of seguida, sequence, from feminine past participle of seguir, to follow, from Vulgar Latin *sequere, from Latin sequī; see sekw- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • (Spaniards use the word "seguidilla") was of Moorish origin.

    Byron's Poetical Works, Volume 1 George Gordon Byron Byron 1806

  • Los cuales durante el último tiempo han protagonizado una seguidilla de compras de empresas que proveen servicios vía Web (ej. la compra de Writely por Google, Flickr por Yahoo), incluso han comprado empresas que no están directamente ligadas a la Web, pero cuya tecnología propietaria muestra un gran potencial de apalancamiento para otros servicios Web (Ej. la compra de Keyhole por Google).

    The Rule of 3 or 1 « The Paradigm Shift 2006

  • Percy sings a Spanish seguidilla, or a German lied, or a French romance, or a Neapolitan canzonet, which, I am bound to say, excites very little attention.

    The Newcomes 2006

  • Whether the little seguidilla meant any thing in the lips of the songstress, I do not presume to say.

    Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 54, No. 334, August 1843 Various

  • The _jota_, the _malaguena_, and the _seguidilla_ are combinations of music, song, and dance; the last two bear distinct indications of Oriental origin; each form is linked to a traditional air, with variations.

    Spanish Life in Town and Country L. Higgin

  • When the seguidilla -- during the continuance of which Luis had gained his post of observation -- was brought to a close, there seemed to ensue a sort of break in the amusements of the evening.

    Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, Number 361, November, 1845. Various

  • The sound of laughter and merriment issued from it; but this was presently hushed, and two voices, accompanied by guitars, began to sing a lively _seguidilla_, of which, at the end of each piquant couplet, the listeners testified their approbation by a hum of mirthful applause.

    Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, Number 361, November, 1845. Various

  • Even when men are alone in a tavern, drinking wine, two of them will often enough stand up to tread a _seguidilla_.

    The Land of The Blessed Virgin; Sketches and Impressions in Andalusia 1919

  • In the distance there was the sound of united frivolities, a band of twenty guitars thrumming a wilful _seguidilla_.

    The Prophet of Berkeley Square Robert Smythe Hichens 1907

  • It is the seguidilla to our blessed Lord, written by the daughter of Lope de Vega -- the holy Marcela Carpio.

    Remember the Alamo 1888

Comments

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  • "... Spain and Spanish dances had a reputation as severe threats to the self-discipline and moral rectitude of honest northern Europeans. The French traveler J. F. Bourgoing confronted this ambiguous challenge that year, writing, 'a Spanish female dancing the seguidilla ... is one of the most seducing objects which love can employ to extend its empire.'"

    —Glenn Kurtz, Practicing: A Musician's Return to Music (New York: Vintage Books, 2007), 115

    November 4, 2008