See Also: bagatelle(dictionary)

bagatelle (iou)



bagatelle noun. M17.
[French from Italian bagatella perh. dim. of Latin baca berry, or from Italian baga baggage.]
A trifle, a thing of no value or importance; a negligible amount. M17.
C. Isherwood They were well-to-do gentlemen, to whom a miserable fifty-mark note was a mere bagatelle.
A piece of verse or music in a light style. M18.
A game in which small balls are struck (usu. by a mechanical striker operated by the player) towards numbered holes on a board with a semicircular end. E19.
RUSSIAN bagatelle.
? Sense 3 is purely English in origin and use. See also vive la bagatelle s.v. VIVE interjection.