Definitions

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

  • noun A fast, erotic dance of the 1500s of Mexico and Spain.
  • noun A stately court dance of the 1600s and 1700s, in slow triple time.
  • noun The music for either of these dances.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A slow and stately dance of Spanish origin, primarily for a single dancer, but later used as a contra-dance.
  • noun Music for such a dance or in its rhythm, which is triple and slow, usually with a decided emphasis upon the second beat of the measure.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A slow Spanish dance of Saracenic origin, to an air in triple time; also, the air itself.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A slow Spanish dance of Saracenic origin, to an air in triple time; also, the air itself.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a stately court dance of the 17th and 18th centuries; in slow time
  • noun music composed for dancing the saraband

Etymologies

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

[French sarabande, from Spanish zarabanda.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French sarabande, Spanish zarabanda, from Persian serbend ("a song").

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Examples

  • In music, a saraband is a distinctive style of dance in triple time.

    BroadwayWorld.com Featured Content 2009

  • A saraband is a piece of dance music, Italian in origin; and that was a very beautiful composition. "

    The Young Castellan A Tale of the English Civil War George Manville Fenn 1870

  • I his saraband his song partners in sunset silent separate beings in the twilight we circle each other

    Andalusia 2010

  • Then she could hear him resume his walk through the room, and, as if his spirits had been somewhat relieved and elevated by the survey of his wardrobe, she could distinguish that at one turn he half recited a sonnet, at another half whistled a galliard, and at the third hummed a saraband.

    The Monastery 2008

  • So is it any different when a short Leroy Anderson piece that parodies or tries to pay homage to a dance form like the saraband, is that any different, really, than Mozart and would poke fun at the form, or Brahms, or Schubert, or Mahler?

    Leroy Anderson: Master of the Miniature 2008

  • In a fit of desperation, he faced round upon Bruin and lifted his cane; at the sight of which the instinct of discipline prevailed, and the animal, instead of tearing him to pieces, rose up upon his hind-legs and instantly began to shuffle a saraband.

    The Bride of Lammermoor 2008

  • So is it any different when a short Leroy Anderson piece that parodies or tries to pay homage to a dance form like the saraband, is that any different, really, than Mozart and would poke fun at the form, or Brahms, or Schubert, or Mahler?

    Leroy Anderson: Master of the Miniature 2008

  • (A saraband is an erotic dance for two dancers, and the name of a movement in Bach's cello suites.)

    A LAST DANCE 2007

  • On the chimney-piece was a mirror in a painted frame, adorned with figures dancing a saraband; on one side hung the glorious pipe, on the other was a Chinese jar in which the musician kept his tobacco.

    A Daughter of Eve 2007

  • (A saraband is an erotic dance for two dancers, and the name of a movement in Bach's cello suites.)

    PERISCOPE 2007

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