Dance
Dance (dȧns) , intransitive verb
[French danser, from Old High German dansōn to draw; akin to dinsan to draw, Gothic apinsan, and prob. from the same root (meaning to stretch) as English thin. See Thin.]
1.
To move with measured steps, or to a musical accompaniment; to go through, either alone or in company with others, with a regulated succession of movements, (commonly) to the sound of music; to trip or leap rhythmically.
Jack shall pipe and Gill shall dance.
Good shepherd, what fair swain is this
Which dances with your daughter?
2.
To move nimbly or merrily; to express pleasure by motion; to caper; to frisk; to skip about.
Then, 'tis time to dance off.
More dances my rapt heart
Than when I first my wedded mistress saw.
Shadows in the glassy waters dance.
Where rivulets dance their wayward round.
Collocations (1)
To dance on a rope or To dance on nothing , to be hanged.
Dance , transitive verb
To cause to dance, or move nimbly or merrily about, or up and down; to dandle.
To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind.
Thy grandsire loved thee well;
Many a time he danced thee on his knee.
A man of his place, and so near our favor,
To dance attendance on their lordships' pleasure.
Collocations (1)
To dance attendance , to come and go obsequiously; to be or remain in waiting, at the beck and call of another, with a view to please or gain favor.
Dance , noun
[French danse, of German origin. See Dance, v. i.]
1.
The leaping, tripping, or measured stepping of one who dances; an amusement, in which the movements of the persons are regulated by art, in figures and in accord with music.
2.
(Music) A tune by which dancing is regulated, as the minuet, the waltz, the cotillion, etc.
Of remedies of love she knew parchance
For of that art she couth the olde dance.
The word dance was used ironically, by the older writers, of many proceedings besides dancing.
Collocations (3)
Dance of Death (Art) , an allegorical representation of the power of death over all, -- the old, the young, the high, and the low, being led by a dancing skeleton.
Morris dance , See Morris.
To lead one a dance , to cause one to go through a series of movements or experiences as if guided by a partner in a dance not understood.