▪ I. † coranto1 Obs. exc. Hist.
(kəʊˈrɑːntəʊ, -æ-)
Also 6–7 couranto, chora(u)nto, 7 corranto, caranto, -onto, carranto, -ta, 7–8 curranto.
[Ultimately from F. courante lit. ‘running (dance)’; either a modification of the French word itself, assimilated to words of It. and Sp. origin in -o (cf. coranto-), or immediately from It. coranta, corranta ‘a kinde of French dance’ (Florio), an It. adaptation of the French. The French form was itself adopted somewhat later: see courante.]
1. A kind of dance; the same as courante.
| 1564 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 313 Paid to Mr. Attkynson for stayynge the choraunto..xxs. 1598 E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 26 Excuse This quick Couranto of my merry Muse. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iii. v. 33 They bid vs to the English Dancing-Schooles, And teach Lauolta's high, and swift Carranto's. 1611 Cotgr., Courante, a Curranto. 1651 Ogilby æsop (1665) 136 How stately move in a Coranto. 1692 J. Salter Triumphs Jesus 24 The skipping Mountains in Choranto dance. 1696 tr. Dumont's Voy. Levant 284 A sort of Country-Dance or Couranto, danc'd by Pairs. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 383 He..suffered the fair owner to ransom the rest by dancing a coranto with him on the heath. 1874 Green Short Hist. vii, 363 |
2. A tune in triple time used for accompanying this dance; = courante 2.
| 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. (1608) 120 A Carranta plaide in the new proportions by them lately found out. 1668 Shadwell Sullen Lovers i. i, Torments me with a damn'd Coranto, as he calls it, upon his violin. 1776 Sir J. Hawkins Hist. Mus. IV. iii. i. 387 The Coranto..is a melody or air consisting of three crotchets in a bar, but moving by quavers. |
3. attrib., as coranto movement, coranto pace (the latter also transf. = ‘a very swift pace’).
| 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. ii. Wks. 1856 I. 21 Running a caranto pase. a 1627 Middleton More Dissemblers (N.), But away rid I, sir; put my horse to a coranto pace. 1782 Mason Collect. Anthems xxxvi, I cannot be persuaded that he..ever admitted Coranto or Gavot movements. |
▪ II. † coˈranto2 Obs.
Also 7 corranto, curranto(e, coranta, caranto.
[A variant of courant, modified in form in the same way as the prec.]
A letter or paper containing public news; a gazette, news-letter, or newspaper; = courant n.2
| 1621 Burton Anat. Mel., Democritus to Rdr. 3 New books, every day, pamphlets, currantoes, stories. 1625 Meade in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. 318 III. 209, I send you a Corranto..it was well aired and smok't before I received it, as our Lettres all used to be. a 1635 Corbet Poems (1807) 140 Corantoes, diets, packets, newes. |
| attrib. a 1652 Brome Crt. Beggar ii. Wks. 1873 I. 212, I..stood..at the Coranto-shop to read the last great news. |