[a. mod.Fr. allemande German (sc. dance). For the various historical forms under which the word was formerly englished, see ALMAIN.]
1. A name given to various German dances.
1775. Sheridan, Rivals, III. iv. 130. These outlandish heathen allemandes and cotillons are quite beyond me!
a. 1790. in Scots Songs, II. 56. The Spaniards dance fandangos well, Mynheer an all’mand prances.
1883. C. Phelps, in Harper’s Mag., Jan., 284/1. What pressure of hands was exchanged when Sandy authorized ‘alamande left’!
2. A piece of music forming one of the movements of the Suite.
1685. Lond. Gaz., mmlxxxi/4. Airs for the Violin, To wit, Preludes, Fuges, Allmands, Sarabands.
1833. Penny Cycl., I. 346. Handel, and other composers of his period … never intended their allemandes to be so fast as they are performed by modern players.
1879. E. Prout, in Grove, Mus. Dict., I. 55/2. The allemande is a piece of moderate rapidity—about an allegretto—in common time.
