pirouette
Americannoun
-
a whirling about on one foot or on the points of the toes, as in ballet dancing.
-
Dressage. a complete turn in which the horse uses its hind legs as a pivot.
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
Etymology
Origin of pirouette
1700–10; < French: a whirl, top, feminine of Middle French pirouet, equivalent to pirou- (cognate with Italian pirolo, diminutive of piro peg) + -et -et
Explanation
A dancer's spin, especially when he's balanced on one foot, is a pirouette. A pirouette is a ballet term meaning to whirl or spin while balanced on the toes. In the case of a ballerina, she would pirouette while "en pointe," poised on the very toe of her shoe with the other leg bent. You can also use the word to describe a more casual spin, like an exuberant little boy who pirouettes through the halls of his school. In Old French, the root word pirouet meant "spinning top."
Vocabulary lists containing pirouette
Power Suffix: -ette
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Curtain Call: Dance and Theater Terms
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The Phantom Tollbooth
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Maybe there really was something a little more masculine about them, I thought, before reaching defiantly for a Pirouette and breathing through it like a straw, as one does.
From Slate • Sep. 5, 2012
And when she found herself alone, and went back towards the Rue Pirouette, she reflected that those three cackling hussies were not worth a rope to hang them.
From The Fat and the Thin by Vizetelly, Ernest Alfred
He recollected having heard Claude name the old one—Mademoiselle Saget—when they were in the Rue Pirouette; and he made up his mind to question her when she should have parted from her tall withered acquaintance.
From The Fat and the Thin by Vizetelly, Ernest Alfred
Just as they were leaving the Rue Pirouette, some one called to Claude from a wine shop at the corner of the street.
From The Fat and the Thin by Vizetelly, Ernest Alfred
They had a relation in Paris, a brother of their mother's, one Gradelle, who was in business as a pork butcher in the Rue Pirouette, near the central markets.
From The Fat and the Thin by Vizetelly, Ernest Alfred
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
