Definition of "galliard" [gal•liard]

• A spirited dance popular in France in the 16th and 17th centuries. (noun)
• The triple-time music for this dance. (noun)
• Archaic Spirited; lively; gay. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "On p. 64 Arbeau treats of the Lavolta ( 'high lavolt' of Shakespeare), which he says is a kind of galliard well known in Provence."
• "An omnivorous troubadour, he roves from Manchester libraries to Colombian villages to salvage musical traditions – with recordings that move from Berber beats to the raptures of a raga, from the thrilling stillness of an Armenian lament to the sprightliness of an Elizabethan galliard."
• "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."