interlude Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an intervening period or episode
  2. noun a brief show (music or dance etc) inserted between the sections of a longer performance
    intermezzo; entr'acte.
  3. verb perform an interlude
    • The guitar player interluded with a beautiful improvisation

WordNet

In`ter*lude noun
Etymology
OE. enterlude, LL. interludium; LL. inter between + ludus play, fr. ludere to play: cf. F. interlude. See Ludicrous.
Definitions
  1. 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. 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. (Mus.) 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.

Webster 1913