Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Villanella \Vil`la*nel"la\, n.; pl. {Villanelle}. [It., a pretty
   country girl.] (Mus.)
   An old rustic dance, accompanied with singing.

Villanelle \Vil`la*nelle"\, n. [F.]
   A poem written in tercets with but two rhymes, the first and
   third verse of the first stanza alternating as the third
   verse in each successive stanza and forming a couplet at the
   close. --E. W. Gosse.