a square dance for four couples made up of five or six figures, or a piece of music for this dance
The musicians were securely confined in an elevated den, and quadrilles were being systematically got through by two or three sets of dancers — Dickens
a card game for four players, a variant of ombre, played with a pack of 40 cards and popular esp in the 18th cent
Mrs Bates, the widow of a former vicar of Highbury, was a very old lady, almost past everything but tea and quadrille — Jane Austen
[French quadrille, one of four groups of knights engaged in a tournament, from Spanish cuadrilla troop, or from Italian quadriglia band, troop, company, both from Latin quadrum square]