dance

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A sequence of rhythmic steps or movements usually performed to music, for pleasure or as a form of social interaction.

   “I do a dance when she plays the drums!”

   “He does the Fortnite dance with his friends in school.”

   “"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. (countable, uncountable)A social gathering where dancing is the main activity.

   “The dance we had in August 2008 is one of the greatest moments of my life!”

   “"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.[…]"”

   “But, he continued, "the experience of the Peking Municipal Communist Youth League shows that, as long as dance parties are organized and supervised well by the work units concerned and these units organize their own sentries, as long as the people attending these dances are given a little coaching in advance on what is meant by normal socializing and recreation, and as long as these dances are organized, led and guided properly, there will be no incidents."”

3. (uncountable)The art, profession, and study of dancing.
4. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, uncountable)Ellipsis of electronic dance music.
5. (countable, uncountable)A piece of music with a particular dance rhythm.

   “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. (countable, figuratively, uncountable)A battle of wits, especially one commonly fought between two rivals.

   “So how much longer are we gonna do this dance?”

7. (countable, dated, figuratively, uncountable)Any strenuous or difficult movement, action, or task.

   “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. (countable, uncountable)A repetitive movement used in communication between 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.”

9. 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.”

   “Or, a dance gules, in chief 3 lions' faces sable.”

verb

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!”

   ““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.”

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.”

   “And woods along the banks are waving high, / Whose shadows in the glassy waters dance,”

   “A common and beautiful side-effect of high solar activity is the Aurora Borealis - the northern lights that dance across Arctic skies.”

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.

   “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. (euphemistic, figuratively)To make love or have sex.

   “You make me feel like dancing.”

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. (euphemistic, figuratively)To kick and convulse from the effects of being hanged.

   “If that veil can be maintained, if the workers can be kept from knowing the perfidy of officials, the criminality of capitalism, the murderous vengeance that is planned by the plutocratic powers of America, then Charles Moyer, William D. Haywood, and George Pettibone will dance on empty air, while the ghouls of capitalism rejoice because they have landed another blow upon the body of resisting labor.”

   “Beneath the shoulder blades of the limp form lying there lay the heart that had hated him, that had beat high at the thought of seeing him kick at the end of a hangman's rope, that had exulted in the prospect of him dancing a death dance on air.”

   “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.”

   “Not only will you be whipped, but Jack Ketch will be displeased. He knows how to attach the rope just so...a man's neck can be snaped in an instant and he feels pain for a moment only. Or, at Ketch's pleasure, the man swings in the air, his legs dance in an ungainly manner, his face turns red, his tongue turns purple and protrudes - a poor devil once bit off the tip and spit it out, and he chocked(sic) to death.”

name

1. A surname.