"Moresque dance" is a fancy term for the English Morris dance (OED, quoting Chambers' Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, 1727).

The Moresque style of Renaissance ornament is a European adaptation of the Islamic arabesque that began in the late 15th century and was to be used in some types of work, such as bookbinding, until almost the present day.

However the term "moresque" is not used of these medieval versions.

However the term "moresque" is not used of these medieval versions.

Scrolls, arabesques, and grotesques were particular favourites. The moresque, based on Islamic designs, was also popular.

According to Harold Osborne, in France, the "characteristic development of the French arabesque combined bandwork deriving from the moresque with decorative acanthus foliage radiating from C-scrolls connected by short bars".

The moresque or arabesque style was especially popular and long-lived in the Western arts of the book: bookbindings decorated in gold tooling, borders for illustrations, and printer's ornaments for decorating empty spaces on the page.

As well as revived classical ornament, both architectural and the grotesque style derived from Roman interior decoration, these included new styles such as the moresque, a European adaptation of the Islamic arabesque (a distinction not always clear at the time).