Fugue (?), n. [F., fr. It. fuga, fr. L. fuga a fleeing, flight, akin to fugere to fiee. See Fugitive.] (Mus.) A polyphonic composition, developed from a given theme or themes, according to strict contrapuntal rules. The theme is first given out by one voice or part, and then, while that pursues its way, it is repeated by another at the interval of a fifth or fourth, and so on, until all the parts have answered one by one, continuing their several melodies and interweaving them in one complex progressive whole, in which the theme is often lost and reappears.

All parts of the scheme are eternally chasing each other, like the parts of a fugue.

• A contrapuntal piece of music wherein a particular melody is played in a number of voices. At the beginning of the piece, each voice is introduced in turn by playing the melody, after which it consists of a mix of counter-melodies, accompaniment passages, periods of rest, and returns to the main melody (often transformed in some way).
  
• Anything in literature, poetry, film, painting, etc., that resembles a fugue in structure or in its elaborate complexity and formality.