I. ˈfyüg noun
( -s )
Etymology: alteration (influenced by French fugue, from Italian fuga ) of earlier fuge, probably from Italian fuga fugue, act of running away, flight, from Latin, act of running away, flight; akin to Latin fugere to run away, flee — more at fugitive
1. : a contrapuntal musical composition in which one or two melodic themes are repeated or imitated by the successively entering voices and developed in a continuous interweaving of the voice parts into a well-defined single structure — compare canon
2. : something having a thematic structure that is suggestive of a musical fugue
it was an immense, dissonant fugue in black with incidental color — Alfred Frankenstein
3. : a pathological disturbance of consciousness during which the patient performs acts of which he appears to be conscious but of which on recovery he has no recollection
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
intransitive verb
: to compose or perform a musical fugue
transitive verb
: to make a fugue of