rondeau

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A lyrical poem of French origin having 13 or sometimes 10 lines with two rhymes throughout and with the opening phrase repeated twice as a refrain.
2. n. A medieval French song, either monophonic, as in the songs of the trouvères, or polyphonic in construction.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A poem in a fixed form, borrowed from the French, and consisting either of thirteen lines on two rimes with an unriming refrain, or of ten lines on two rimes with an unriming refrain. It may be written in octosyllabic or decasyllabic measure. The refrain is usually a repetition of the first three or four words, sometimes of the first word only. The order of rimes in the thirteen-line rondeau, known technically as the “rondeau of Voiture” (that is, Vincent Voiture, 1598-1648), is a, a, b, b, a; a, a, b (and refrain); a, a, b, b, a (and refrain); that of the ten-line rondeau, known technically as the “rondeau of Villon” (that is, François Villon, 1431-1461 ?), is a, b, b, a; a, b (and refrain); a, b, b, a (and refrain). These are the strict rules; but, as in the case of the sonnet, both in France and England, they are not always observed. There is also a form called the rondeau redoublé. It consists of six quatrains, a, b, a, b, on two rimes. The first four lines form in succession the last lines of the second, third, fourth, and fifth quatrains. At the end of the final quatrain, the first words of the poem are added as an unriming and independent refrain. Sometimes the final quatrain is styled the envoi or envoy.
2. n. In music. See rondo.
3. n. A game in which nine small balls are placed in front of a stick and propelled diagonally across a billiard-table. At least one ball must fall into the corner pocket and at least one must remain on the table. The players bet on whether the number will be odd or even, the bank taking ten per cent. of all the wagers.

Wiktionary

1. n. A fixed form of verse based on two rhyme sounds and consisting usually of 13 lines in three stanzas with the opening words of the first line of the first stanza used as an independent refrain after the second and third stanzas.
2. n. A monophonic song with a 2-part refrain.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A species of lyric poetry so composed as to contain a refrain or repetition which recurs according to a fixed law, and a limited number of rhymes recurring also by rule.
2. n. (Mus.) See Rondo, 1.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a musical form that is often the last movement of a sonata
2. n. a French verse form of 10 or 13 lines running on two rhymes; the opening phrase is repeated as the refrain of the second and third stanzas