courante, courant
(‖ kurɑ̃t, kuːˈrɑːnt, -æ-)
Also 7–9 corant, 8 currant, corrant, (courant).
[a. F. courante in same sense, lit. ‘running (dance)’, from courant, -ante, pr. pple. of courir to run. In 17th c. usually corant, and coranto, q.v.; in 18th c. conformed to the French, and in this form alone now used as a musical term.]
1. A kind of dance formerly in vogue, characterized by a running or gliding step (as distinguished from leaping).
| 1586 E. Hoby tr. Cognet's Truth & Lying xi. 39 The Voltes, courantes, and vyolent daunses proceede from furie. [1596 Davies Orchestra lxix, What shall I name those current travases, That on a triple dactyl foot do run Close by the ground, with sliding passages, Wherein that dancer greatest praise hath won, Which with best order can all orders shun: For everywhere he wantonly must range, And turn and wind with unexpected change.] 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 181 The volte rising and leaping, the courante trauising and running..The courant hath twise so much in a straine, as the English country daunce. 1676 G. Etherege Man of Mode iv. i, I am fit for Nothing but low dancing now, a Corant, a Boreè, Or a Minnuét. a 1701 Sedley Grumbler iii. i, L. You would have a grave, serious dance perhaps? G. Yes, a serious one..L. Well, the courante, the bocane, the sarabande. 1746 Eliza Heywood Female Spect. (1748) IV. 304 She..swam round the room, as if leading up a courant. c 1817 Hogg Tales & Sk. V. 10 He dreamed of the reel, the jig,..and the corant. |
| attrib. 1667 Dryden Maiden Q. v. i, I can..walk with a courant slur. |
2. Mus. The tune used for accompanying this dance, or a tune of similar construction; a piece of music in triple time, regularly following the Allemande as a movement of the Suite.
| 1597 [see 1]. 1674 Playford Skill Mus. Pref. 9 Our late solemn Musick is now justled out of esteem by the new Corants and Jigs of Foreigners. 1694 Holder Treat. Harmony ix. (1731) 151 The Kinds of Air..as, Almand, Corant, Jigg, etc. 1880 Prout in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 410 As a component of the suite, the Courante follows the Allemande, with which in its character it is strongly contrasted. |
3. dial. A running or careering about.
| 1795 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Lousiad i. Wks. 1812 I. 176 All her wild Couraunts in fields of clover. 1865 R. Hunt Pop. Rom. W. Eng. Ser. ii. 244 By a courant with the boys, they mean a game of running romps. |