dance

See also: Dance and dancé

EnglishEdit

 
A man and woman dancing.

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English dauncen, daunsen, a borrowing from Anglo-Norman dauncer, dancer (“to dance”) (compare Old French dancier), from Frankish *þansōn (“to draw, pull, stretch out, gesture”) (compare Old High German dansōn (“to draw, pull”)), from Proto-West Germanic *þansōn. Replaced Old English sealtian (“to dance”) borrowed from Latin saltāre (“to leap, dance”). More at thin.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

dance (countable and uncountable, plural dances)

  1. A sequence of rhythmic steps or movements usually performed to music, for pleasure or as a form of social interaction.
    • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter II, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326:
      "I ought to arise and go forth with timbrels and with dances; but, do you know, I am not inclined to revels? There has been a little—just a very little bit too much festivity so far …. Not that I don't adore dinners and gossip and dances; not that I do not love to pervade bright and glittering places. […]"
  2. A social gathering where dancing is the main activity.
    • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter II, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326:
      "I ought to arise and go forth with timbrels and with dances; but, do you know, I am not inclined to revels? There has been a little—just a very little bit too much festivity so far …. Not that I don't adore dinners and gossip and dances; not that I do not love to pervade bright and glittering places. […]"
  3. (uncountable) The art, profession, and study of dancing.
  4. (uncountable) A genre of modern music characterised by sampled beats, repetitive rhythms and few lyrics.
  5. A piece of music with a particular dance rhythm.[1]
    • 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “A Court Ball”, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, OCLC 491297620, page 9:
      They stayed together during three dances, went out on to the terrace, explored wherever they were permitted to explore, paid two visits to the buffet, and enjoyed themselves much in the same way as if they had been school-children surreptitiously breaking loose from an assembly of grown-ups.
  6. (figuratively) A battle of wits, especially one commonly fought between two rivals.
    So how much longer are we gonna do this dance?
  7. (figuratively, dated) Any strenuous or difficult movement, action, or task.
    • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 170:
      He that would watch the king's hares must not drag himself along as if he was a lazybones with soles of lead to his boots, or like a fly on a tar-brush, for when the hares began to scamper about on the hill-sides it was quite another dance than lying at home and catching fleas with mittens on.
  8. (heraldry) A normally horizontal stripe called a fess that has been modified to zig-zag across the center of a coat of arms from dexter to sinister.

HyponymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

Terms derived from dance (noun)

TranslationsEdit

VerbEdit

dance (third-person singular simple present dances, present participle dancing, simple past and past participle danced)

  1. (intransitive) To move with rhythmic steps or movements, especially in time to music.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:
      “Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.
    I danced with her all night long.
  2. (intransitive) To leap or move lightly and rapidly.
    His eyes danced with pleasure as he spoke.   She accused her political opponent of dancing around the issue instead of confronting it.
  3. (transitive) To perform the steps to.
    Have you ever danced the tango?
  4. (transitive) To cause to dance, or move nimbly or merrily about.
  5. (figuratively, euphemistic) To make love or have sex.
    You make me feel like dancing.

SynonymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

DescendantsEdit

  • → Scottish Gaelic: danns
  • → Zulu: dansa

TranslationsEdit

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ “dance” in John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors, The Compact Oxford English Dictionary, volume I (A–O), 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, [1989] 1991, →ISBN, page 387.

Further readingEdit

AnagramsEdit

FrenchEdit

EtymologyEdit

From English dance.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

dance f (uncountable)

  1. dance music

GalicianEdit

VerbEdit

dance

  1. first-person singular present subjunctive of danzar
  2. third-person singular present subjunctive of danzar

Middle FrenchEdit

EtymologyEdit

Old French dance.

NounEdit

dance f (plural dances)

  1. dance

DescendantsEdit

Old FrenchEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Germanic, see English dance, French danse

NounEdit

dance f (oblique plural dances, nominative singular dance, nominative plural dances)

  1. dance

PortugueseEdit

VerbEdit

dance

  1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of dançar
  2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of dançar
  3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of dançar
  4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of dançar

ReferencesEdit

SpanishEdit

PronunciationEdit

VerbEdit

dance

  1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of danzar.
  2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of danzar.
  3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present subjunctive form of danzar.
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