‖ chassé-croisé
(ʃase krwaze)
[Fr., = chassé n. + croisé, pa. pple. of croiser to cross.]
A dance figure in which one of two partners chassés first to the right and then to the left, while the other chassés first to the left and then to the right. Hence transf. and fig. applied to actions or situations in which persons or things cross each other or change positions backwards and forwards.
| [1874 Ball-Room Guide 90 Chassez croisez. Lady and gentleman chassez in opposite directions.] 1883 Sat. Rev. 10 Nov. 595/1 His drama is a perpetual chassé-croisé at the edge of a precipice. 1886 Athenæum 17 Apr. 516/1 When he arrived alongside, the Espiègle and the galley were performing a sort of vertical chassé-croisé. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 27 Jan 3/2 A ménage à trois and a kind of matrimonial chassé-croisé are discussed. 1928 Observer 8 Apr. 5/2 The metamorphoses of character, the chassé-croisé of incident. |