He made no answer, and had turned his face away from her again, and Mrs. Hall, feeling that her conversational advances were ill-timed, laid the rest of the table things in a quick staccato and whisked out of the room

Hi could you help me with the meaning of "a quick staccato" please?
thnaks in advance

Question

He made no answer, and had turned his face away from her again, and Mrs. Hall, feeling that her conversational advances were ill-timed, laid the rest of the table things in a quick staccato and whisked out of the room

Hi could you help me with the meaning of  "a quick staccato" please?
thnaks in advance

Answer

‘Staccato’ is a musical term. It means a short, sharp sound. So she’s setting the table quickly and a bit noisily. It might be meant to show that she’s nervous.

Answer

Hi Ed, 
I will just add a couple notes and examples.
-it is from Italian
-it is used very commonly in music playing/theory, but non-musicians will encounter it rarely (probably only in written fiction)

Think of drumming
https://youtu.be/JaGoM25tGVA?t=66

or dancers with loud shoes
https://youtu.be/cm9IYSDxagc?t=6

or knocking quickly on someone's door.  A series of hard, short, fast noises.

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