dance

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See also: Dance, dancé, and daňče

English

A man and woman dancing.

Alternative forms

Etymology

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, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tens- (“to stretch, pull”). Replaced Old English sealtian (“to dance”) borrowed from Latin saltāre (“to leap, dance”). More at thin.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /dæns/
    • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "ae-tensing" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): [dɛəns], [deəns]
      • Audio (US):(file)
    • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "Northern England" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): [dæns], [dans], [däns]
    • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "AU" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): [dæːns]
  • IPA(key): /dɑːns/
    • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): [dɑːns]
    • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "Cultivated Australian" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): [däːns], [dɐːns]
    • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "InE" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): [ɖɑːns]
  • Rhymes: -ɑːns, -æns

Noun

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:
      "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:
      "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, 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. (figurative) A battle of wits, especially one commonly fought between two rivals.
    So how much longer are we gonna do this dance?
  7. (figurative, dated) Any strenuous or difficult movement, action, or task.
    • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, 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.
  9. (apiology) A repetitive movement used in communication between worker honey bees.
    • 1961 November, W. Wittekindt, “An Understanding of Dancing Behaviour”, in G. H. Cale, editor, The American Bee Journal‎[1], volume 101, number 11, Hamilton, page 434:
      It was seen that the readiness to dance and intensity of the dance are clearly increased when the temperature in the hive remained between 28-36° C.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

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.
    I danced with her all night long.
    These drum beats are making me dance!
  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.
    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
      Met we on hill, in dale, forest, or mead,
      By pavèd fountain, or by rushy brook,
      or in the beachèd margent of the sea,
      To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,
      But with thy brawls thou hast disturbed our sport.
    • c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:
      Thy grandsire loved thee well; / Many a time he danced thee on his knee.
  5. (figurative, euphemistic) To make love or have sex.
    You make me feel like dancing.
  6. (apiology, of a worker honey bee) To make a repetitive movement in order to communicate to other worker honey bees.
    • 1961 November, W. Wittekindt, “An Understanding of Dancing Behaviour”, in G. H. Cale, editor, The American Bee Journal‎[2], volume 101, number 11, Hamilton, page 434:
      It was seen that the readiness to dance and intensity of the dance are clearly increased when the temperature in the hive remained between 28-36° C.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

  • → Scottish Gaelic: danns
  • → Zulu: dansa

Translations

See also

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References

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

Further reading

Anagrams

French

Etymology

From English dance. Doublet of danse.

Pronunciation

Noun

dance f (uncountable)

  1. dance music

Galician

Verb

dance

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

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French dance.

Noun

dance f (plural dances)

  1. dance

Descendants

Old French

Etymology

From the verb dancier; see English dance, French danse.

Noun

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

  1. dance

Portuguese

Verb

dance

  1. Template:pt-verb-form-of

References

Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): (Spain) /ˈdanθe/ [ˈd̪ãn̟.θe]
  • IPA(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /ˈdanse/ [ˈd̪ãn.se]

Verb

dance

  1. inflection of danzar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative
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