1. Mil. The step used in marching in quick time. Also quasi-adv., at a quick step.
1802–76. [see QUICK TIME].
1875. W. M‘Ilwraith, Guide to Wigtownshire, 51. We now move, quick-step, over the pasture-fields.
transf. 1877. Talmage, 50 Serm., 26. Nearly all the verses of the Bible have a quick-step.
2. Mus. A march in military quick time.
1811. Busby, Dict. Mus., Quick-step, a species of march generally written in two crotchets in a bar.
1885. Alice D. Le Plongeon, in Harper’s Mag., Feb., 384/1. The drum meanwhile beats a peculiar quickstep.
1897. H. Porter, Campaigning with Grant, in Century Mag., April, 826. Bands were playing stirring quicksteps.
