waltzer
(ˈwɔːltsə(r))
[f. waltz v. + -er1.]
a. One who dances the waltz.
| 1811 Sporting Mag. XXXVIII. 220 The music at first is slow, but, as the Waltzers get animated, it rises to a jig. 1811 Ld. Glenbervie Jrnls. (1910) 139 Both great walzers, and insufferable coxcombs. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xlvii, My Lord George Gaunt..was one of the finest waltzers in Europe. 1912 Times 28 Sept. 11/5 Special prizes are given this season for the best waltzers. |
b. A name for a breed of domesticated mice which have the habit of spinning round rapidly; = waltzing mouse.
| 1904 Biometrika Jan. 6 All the waltzers used were of pure strain. Ibid., The offspring produced by crossing a Japanese waltzer with an albino. |
c. A fairground ride (see quots. 19611, 1968).
| 1961 F. C. Roope Come to Fair iii. 71 The Waltzer, an appropriate name for an ingenious machine. The motion of the cars..is both round and round the undulating track, and also a spinning one on their own axis. Ibid., The Waltzer is completely safe for everyone except the most foolhardy riders. 1965 [see Noah's Ark 7]. 1968 D. Braithwaite Fairground Archit. 176 Waltzer, a member of the switchback family having freely-pivoted tub-shaped cars mounted on the undulating platform. 1975 Sunday People 6 July 11/5 As he lurches about on the waltzer or is shoved away in a dodgem car, it's easy to give him a folded bottom note in place of two. 1980 R. Hill Killing Kindness vi. 50 He could be on the dodgems, or the waltzer. He helps around when they're busy. |