waltz

English

Etymology

German Walzer, from walzen (“to dance”), from Old High German walzan (“to turn”), from Proto-Germanic *walt- (“to turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to turn”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɔːlts/

Noun

waltz (plural waltzes)

1. A ballroom dance in 3/4 time.
2. A piece of music for this dance (or in triple time).
3. (informal) A simple task.

Derived terms

• Viennese waltz

Translations

a ballroom dance

• Arabic: رَقْصَة اَلْفَالْس‎‎ f (raqṣat al-fals)
• Armenian: վալս (hy) (vals)
• Bulgarian: валс (bg) m (váls)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 華爾茲, 华尔兹 (waa⁴ ji⁵ zi¹)

  Hakka: 華爾滋, 华尔滋 (pà-lo-chṳ́, hôa-èr-chṳ)

  Mandarin: 華爾茲 (zh), 华尔兹 (zh) (huá'ěrzī), 華爾滋, 华尔滋 (huá'ěrzī) (Taiwan)

  Min Nan: 華爾滋, 华尔滋 (hôa-ní-chu), 三步舞 (saⁿ-pō͘-bú), oa-lù-chuh

• Czech: valčík m
• Finnish: valssi (fi)
• French: valse (fr) f
• German: Walzer (de) m
• Hungarian: keringő (hu), valcer (hu)
• Irish: válsa m
• Italian: valzer (it) m
• Japanese: ワルツ (ja) (warutsu), 円舞曲 (enbukyoku)
• Korean: 왈츠 (ko) (walcheu)

• Manx: valse m
• Maori: warahi, tengitengi
• Norman: valse f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vals (no) m

  Nynorsk: vals m

• Occitan: valsa f
• Polish: walc (pl) m
• Portuguese: valsa (pt) f
• Russian: вальс (ru) m (valʹs)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: валцер m

  Roman: valcer (sh) m

• Spanish: vals m
• Swedish: vals (sv) c
• Vietnamese: van (vi)
• Volapük: valt (vo)

piece of music

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 華爾茲, 华尔兹 (waa⁴ ji⁵ zi¹), 圓舞曲, 圆舞曲 (jyun⁴ mou⁵ kuk¹)

  Mandarin: 華爾茲 (zh), 华尔兹 (zh) (huá'ěrzī), 華爾滋, 华尔滋 (huá'ěrzī) (Taiwan), 圓舞曲 (zh), 圆舞曲 (zh) (yuánwǔqǔ)

  Min Nan: 華爾滋, 华尔滋 (hôa-ní-chu), oa-lù-chuh

• Finnish: valssi (fi)
• French: valse (fr) f
• German: Walzer (de) m
• Italian: valzer (it) m

• Manx: kiaull valse f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vals (no) m

  Nynorsk: vals m

• Polish: walc (pl) m
• Portuguese: valsa (pt) f
• Russian: вальс (ru) m (valʹs)
• Swedish: vals (sv) c

simple task

• Finnish: tanssi (fi)

Verb

waltz (third-person singular simple present waltzes, present participle waltzing, simple past and past participle waltzed)

1. (intransitive, transitive) To dance the waltz (with).

   They waltzed for twenty-one hours and seventeen minutes straight, setting a record.

   While waltzing her around the room, he stepped on her toes only once.

2. (intransitive, transitive, usually with in, into, around, etc.) To move briskly and unhesitatingly, especially in an inappropriately casual manner, or when unannounced or uninvited.

   He waltzed into the room like he owned the place.

   You can't just waltz him in here without documentation!

   • 2011 September 28, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     Oxlade-Chamberlain, 18, became the youngest English Champions League scorer when he waltzed across the area to plant a low shot into the corner.

3. (informal) To accomplish a task with little effort.

   Don't worry about the interview — you'll waltz it.

4. (transitive) To move with fanfare.
   • 1884, Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapter the Last:

     And he said, what he had planned in his head from the start, if we got Jim out all safe, was for us to […] take him back up home on a steamboat, in style, and pay him for his lost time, and write word ahead and get out all the niggers around, and have them waltz him into town with a torchlight procession and a brass-band, and then he would be a hero, and so would we.

Translations

dance

• Armenian: վալսել (hy) (valsel), վալս պարել (vals parel)
• Esperanto: valsi
• Finnish: tanssia (fi) valssia, valssata (fi)
• French: valser (fr)
• Greek: βαλσάρω (el) (valsáro)
• Hungarian: keringőzik (hu), valcerezik

• Irish: válsáil
• Manx: valse
• Occitan: valsar
• Portuguese: valsar (pt)
• Russian: вальсировать (ru) (val'sírovat')
• Spanish: valsar (es), bailar vals

move briskly and unhesitatingly

• Finnish: tanssia (fi), viedä (fi) (someone)

accomplish with little effort

• Finnish: tanssia (fi)

Related terms

• waltzer
• waltz Matilda

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Czech

Noun

waltz m

1. waltz (dance)

Related terms

• valčík

Further reading

• waltz in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• waltz in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989