Fugue [from French fugue, an adaptation of the Italian fuga, literally "flight", from the Latin fuga, related to fugere, to flee] 1. A polyphonic composition constructed on one or more short subjects or themes, which are harmonized according to the laws of counterpoint, and introduced from time to time with various contrapuntal devices. 2. Psychiatry. A flight from one's own identity...

Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. (1989)