dance

1. 1

   A sequence of rhythmic steps or movements usually performed to music, for pleasure or as a form of social interaction.countableuncountable

   • I do a dance when she plays the drums!
   • He does the Gangnam Style dance with his friends in school.
2. 2

   A social gathering where dancing is the main activity.countableuncountable

   • The dance we had in August 2008 is one of the greatest moments of my life!
3. 3

   The art, profession, and study of dancing.uncountable

4. 4

   Ellipsis of electronic dance music.abbreviationalt-ofellipsis

5. 5

   A piece of music with a particular dance rhythm.countableuncountable

   • 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 surreptit
6. 6

   A battle of wits, especially one commonly fought between two rivals.countablefigurativelyuncountable

   • So how much longer are we gonna do this dance?
7. 7

   Any strenuous or difficult movement, action, or task.countabledatedfiguratively

   • 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
8. 8

   A repetitive movement used in communication between worker honey bees.countableuncountable

   • 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.

syn. dance

1. 1

   To move with rhythmic steps or movements, especially in time to music.intransitive

   • I danced with her all night long.
   • These drum beats are making me dance!
2. 2

   To leap or move lightly and rapidly.figurativelyintransitive

   • His eyes danced with pleasure as he spoke. She accused her political opponent of dancing around the issue instead of confronting it.
3. 3

   To perform the steps to.transitive

   • Have you ever danced the tango?
4. 4

   To cause to dance, or move nimbly or merrily about.transitive

   • 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.
   • Thy grandsire loved thee well; / Many a time he danced thee on his knee.
5. 5

   To make love or have sex.euphemisticfiguratively

   • You make me feel like dancing.
6. 6

   To make a repetitive movement in order to communicate to other worker honey bees.

   • 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.
7. 7

   To kick and convulse from the effects of being hanged.euphemisticfiguratively

   • Simon had seen other men executed at Berkeley, both in the castle and outside in the village. They were usually strung up like rats, left to dance, their death throes sometimes seeming to last forever.

syn. get some · have sex · do the deed

1. 1

   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.

   • The fact appears to have been that Simon de Montacute bore two coats; the one, Argent, three fusils, which it is most probable was a corruption of a fess dancette, or a dance, Gules; and the other, Azure, a griffin segreant[…]
   • It is as follows - being headed by a shield of arms in colours - gold with a dance gules between three croslets fitchy gules.

syn. dance