▪ I. dancing, vbl. n.
(ˈdɑːnsɪŋ, -æ-)
[-ing1.]
a. The action of the verb dance.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 7601 (Gött.) In þair dauncing þis was þair sang. a 1340 Hampole Psalter xxxix. 6 Hoppynge & daunceynge of tumblers & herlotes. 1530 Tindale Pract. Prelates Wks. (1573) 375 As who should say, we payd for all mens daunsing. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. vii. xxx. 92 With dancings, gifts and songs. 1670 Cotton Espernon ii. vi. 244 One night that the King had appointed a great Dancing at Court. 1766 Fordyce Serm. Yng. Women (ed. 4) I. vi. 236 What is dancing, in the best sense, but the harmony of motion rendered more palpable? 1855 Thackeray Newcomes xxiv, They had no dancing at Grand⁓mamma's: but she adores dancing. |
b. attrib. and
Comb., as
dancing-assembly,
dancing-chamber,
dancing-class,
dancing-club,
dancing-days,
dancing-dress,
dancing-floor,
dancing-hall,
dancing-house,
dancing-list,
dancing-match,
dancing-party,
dancing-pipe,
dancing-pump,
dancing-shoe,
dancing-teacher, etc.;
dancing-malady,
-mania,
-plague = chorea;
dancing-mistress, a female teacher of dancing;
dancing-partner, (
a) a person with whom one dances; (
b) (see
quot. 1921);
† dancing rapier, a sword worn only for ornament in dancing;
dancing-room, a room for dancing;
spec. one for public dancing. Also
dancing-master, -school.
| 1765 Cowper Let. to J. Hill 3 July, Here is a card-assembly, and a *dancing-assembly. |
| c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 1106 Dido, To *daunsyng-chaumberys..This Enyas is led. |
| 1870 A. S. Stephens Married in Haste xxxi. 172 Constance had never felt..pleasure in departing for her *dancing classes. |
| 1902 ‘G. M. Martin’ Emmy Lou 277 ‘There's to be a *dancing club on Friday evenings,’ she explained, ‘and I'm invited.’ 1918 A. Bennett Roll-Call ii. i. 217 They had belonged to two dancing clubs whose members met weekly in the saloons of the great hotels. |
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. v. 33 Nay sit..For you and I are past our *dauncing daies. 1724 Swift Stella's Birthday, As when a beauteous nymph decays, We say, she's past her dancing-days. |
| 1843 Longfellow Sp. Student ii. i, Now bring me..my *dancing dress And my most precious jewels! |
| 1839 ― Hyperion iii. iii, Used as a *dancing-floor. |
| 1753 Goldsm. Let. Wks. 1881 IV. 474 When a stranger enters the *dancing-hall he sees one end of the room taken up with the ladies. |
| 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. ix, Nae frequenter of play-house, or music-house, or *dancing-house. |
| 1871 Mrs. Stowe Pink & White Tyranny xxi. 263 Her *dancing-list seemed in a fair way to be soon filled up for the evening. |
| 1878 tr. Ziemssen's Cycl. Med. XIV. 416 As a pandemic disease, the *dancing-mania died out in the fifteenth century. |
| 1741 Richardson Pamela II. 145 All the Ladies could prevail upon my Master for, was a *Dancing-match. |
| 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. II. vii, *Dancing-mistress though in her limited ambition she aspired to be. |
| 1920 World's Pict. News 27 Feb. 9/2 (caption) Gaby..with her famous *dancing partner. 1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §899 Dancing partner.., an expert dancer engaged by proprietor or manager of dancing hall or by individual dancer, to act as partner when required and to teach ball-room dancing. |
| 1852 J. Reynolds Pioneer Hist. Illinois 52 They arrange all things necessary for the *dancing party. 1889 Kansas Times & Star 13 Dec., The dancing party given by Mrs. Kirk Armour and her sister, Mrs. Ed Smith, at the Casino last night was the most brilliant social event of the early winter. |
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 114 *Dawncynge pype, carola. |
| 1847 Alb. Smith Chr. Tadpole xix. (1879) 167 They all wear jackets and trowsers, and trodden out *dancing-pumps. |
| 1788 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Peter's Pension Wks. 1812 II. 17 T'illume The goodly Company and *Dancing-room. 1836 Murray's Handbk. N. Germ. 271 Occupied by low taverns and dancing-rooms. |
| 1709 Steele Tatler No. 180 ¶8 *Dancing-Shoes not exceeding Four Inches Height in the Heel. |
| 1841 J. F. Cooper Deerslayer xxiv. 112 His step as lofty as *dancing-teachers and a light heart could make it. 1880 G. W. Cable Grandissimes xliii. 336, I could be..a dancing-teacher. |
▪ II. ˈdancing, ppl. a. [-ing2.] That dances, in various senses of the verb.
| [c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1343 What ladies fairest bene or best daunceinge.] 1568 U. Fulwell Like Will to Like in Hazl. Dodsley III. 310 Whom have we here? Tom Tumbler, or else some dancing bear? 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 33 Their dansing minions, that minse it ful gingerlie. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 506 Chaff with eddy Winds is whirl'd around, And dancing Leaves are lifted from the ground. 1701 De Foe True-born Eng. 8 A Dansing Nation, Fickle and Untrue. 1887 J. Ball Nat. in S. Amer. 15 The irregular surface of the little dancing waves. |
b. † dancing-goats [
Lat. capræ saltantes], a species of meteor or aurora;
dancing-damsel,
-wench,
-woman = dancing-girl.
| 1563 W. Fulke Meteors (1640) 6 b, Of fiery meteors..they have divers names: for they are called burning stubble, torches, dauncing or leaping Goates. Ibid. 7 b, Dansing Goats are..as when two torches be seene together, and the flame appeareth to leape or daunce from one part to the other. 1606 G. W[oodcocke] tr. Justin 42 b, He begat Larissa, a dauncing damsel. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 160 The Dancing Wenches singing with Bells at their Wrists and Heels. 1810 T. Williamson E. India Vade M. I. 386 (Y.) The dancing-women are of different kinds. |