country-dance

[ kuhn-tree-dans, -dahns ]

noun
  1. a dance of rural English origin in which the dancers form circles or squares or in which they face each other in two rows.

Origin of country-dance

1
First recorded in 1570–80

Words Nearby country-dance

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use country-dance in a sentence

  • A country-dance was called, and the epicier claimed the fair hand of the gentle Adele.

    Night and Morning, Complete | Edward Bulwer-Lytton
  • Gertrude was standing beside him—they were going to be partners in a country-dance, which was a favourite of Ted's.

    A Christmas Child | Mrs. Molesworth
  • Madam, there's a country dance to the trifle that I sung to-day; your hand, and we'll lead it up.

    The Beaux-Stratagem | George Farquhar
  • Alliances are made and broken as if in a country dance; the English called in, now by this one, now by the other.

    Familiar Studies of Men and Books | Robert Louis Stevenson
  • The women met in sewing and quilting bees and apple-parings; the men came for the evening meal and remained for the country dance.

British Dictionary definitions for country dance

country dance

noun
  1. a type of folk dance in which couples are arranged in sets and perform a series of movements, esp facing one another in a line

Derived forms of country dance

  • country dancing, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012