Definition of "ridotto" [‖Ri•dot•to•ri]

• A public ball, typically a masquerade, popular in the 18th century. (noun)

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• "There was what they called a ridotto el fresco at Vauxhall, (1066) for which one paid half-a-guinea, though, except some thousand more lamps and a covered passage all round the garden, which took off from the gardenhood, there was nothing better than on a common night."
• "I was in a perspiration, and the weather was cold; I threw myself into a gondola, and in order not to get chilled I landed at the 'ridotto'."
• "After I had taken care of all the gold she had won, I gave her my arm, and we left the 'ridotto', but remarking that a few inquisitive persons were following us, I took a gondola which landed us according to my instructions."