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  1. tarantella love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A lively, whirling southern Italian dance once thought to be a remedy for tarantism.
  2. n. The music for this dance, in 6/8 time.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A rapid, whirling dance for one couple, originating in southern Italy and specially common in the sixteenth century, when it was popularly supposed to be a remedy for tarantism.
  2. n. Music for such a dance, or in its rhythm, which in early examples was quadruple, but is now sextuple and very quick. It is usually characterized by sharp transitions from major to minor.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A rapid dance in 6/8 time, originating in Italy, or a piece of music for such a dance.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A rapid and delirious sort of Neapolitan dance in 6-8 time, which moves in whirling triplets; -- so called from a popular notion of its being a remedy against the poisonous bite of the tarantula. Some derive its name from Taranto in Apulia.
  2. n. Music suited to such a dance.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. music composed in six-eight time for dancing the tarantella
  2. n. a lively whirling Italian dance for two persons

Etymologies

  1. 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). (Wiktionary)
  2. Italian, after Taranto . (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “But the tarantella is a novelty to the sight-seeing tourist, who believes he must see everything in order to be an authority when he gets back home.”

    The Lure of the Mask

  • “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.”

    Public Opinion

  • “On all sides picturesque groups of dancers indulge in the old peasants 'measure, the _percorara, _ to the droning of bagpipes -- a demure kind of tarantella, the male capering about with faun-like attitudes of invitation and snappings of fingers, his partner evading the advances with downcast eyes.”

    Old Calabria

  • “Though it continued much longer than the corresponding manifestations in northern Europe, by the beginning of the eighteenth century it had nearly disappeared; and, though special manifestations of it on a small scale still break out occasionally, its main survival is the "tarantella," which the traveller sees danced at Naples as a catchpenny assault upon his purse.”

    A History of the warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom

  • “The 13 songs on the new CD, are tone poems of a sort, but also slightly skewed tales - in a kind of tarantella, an octopus has three hearts, one of which is for you; elsewhere, treasure hunters decide to keep, not share, their finds.”

    Lahontan Valley News - Top Stories

  • “It's 'bridge' for money or expensive prizes; and compared to the excitement it causes, the tarantella is a sitting-down dance.”

    People of the Whirlpool

  • “1. True; we learn this from his Italian journals strictly speaking he took the detour to study the folklore about both the 'tarantella' and the tarantula.”

    Pop Quiz

  • “After the second "Tippi-tippi-tay," he asked, "Has anyone ever seen a gay tarantella?”

    The Wall Street Journal: Snagging a Dinner at Rao's

  • “The new mantra sang in his head and danced a tarantella, double-speed, triple, and then it became a dirge.”

    The Silence

  • “The Spaniards dance the paso doble, the Italians dance the tarantella, but the whole word dances the tango," he says.”

    The Wall Street Journal: It Takes Two to Tango, So Long as They're Both Argentines

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hypernyms (2)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. dance music
  1. social dancing

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reverse dictionary (4)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. tarantelle
  1. tarentella
  1. saltarello
  1. tarantella

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  1. music
  1. dance

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  • frindley This dance is also a cure for the bite of the tarantula, so the legend goes. Apr 9, 2008

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‘tarantella’ has been looked up 2089 times, loved by 2 people, added to 32 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 10.