INTERLUDE

n.

3 definitions — Webster’s Dictionary (1828)


1.
n.

A short entertainment exhibited on the stage between the acts of a play, or between the play and the afterpiece, to relieve the tedium of waiting. Dreams are but interludes, which fancy makes When monarch reason sleeps. Dryden.

2.
n.

A form of English drama or play, usually short, merry, and farcical, which succeeded the Moralities or Moral Plays in the transition to the romantic or Elizabethan drama.

3.
n.

A short piece of instrumental music played between the parts of a song or cantata, or the acts of a drama; especially, in church music, a short passage played by the organist between the stanzas of a hymn, or in German chorals after each line.