barn dance
Americannoun
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a social gathering, originally held in a barn, and including square dances, round dances, and hoedown music.
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any party featuring country dances, dress, music, etc.
noun
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a progressive round country dance
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a party with hoedown music and square-dancing
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a party featuring country dancing
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a disco or party held in a barn
Etymology
Origin of barn dance
An Americanism dating back to 1890–95
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.
Another fundraising event, a Dance for Meg barn dance, will be held in her home town of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, on 12 August - on what would have been Ms Newborough's 26th birthday.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2023
Despite acquitting herself well on numbers such as “Wonderful, Wonderful Day,” her performance was largely overshadowed by a richly acrobatic barn dance sequence.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 16, 2021
It devastated a back-to-the-land community established in the early 1970s that with its annual barn dance and its vegetable patches fed by spring water seemed to hark back to an earlier era.
From New York Times ● Aug. 31, 2020
It has come a long way since the Grand Ole Opry barn dance became a radio hit in the 1940s, leading to a recording industry and stars from Hank Williams then to Taylor Swift today.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 18, 2017
One other thing happened at that barn dance that made a great impression on Johnny.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
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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.