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chassé

[sha-sey or, esp. in square dancing, sa-shey]Dance.
noun
  1. a gliding step in which one foot is kept in advance of the other.
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verb (used without object), chas·séd, chas·sé·ing.
  1. to execute a chassé.
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Origin of chassé

1795–1805; < French: literally, chased, followed, past participle of chasser to chase1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for chasse

Historical Examples

  • Yes, my dear cousin, you possess a part right over Chasse Loups.

    Sir Jasper Carew

    Charles James Lever

  • Hang it, thought I, have they gone off to the chasse without me?

    Arthur O'Leary

    Charles James Lever

  • “It is why I asked for my transfer to chasse,” he told me afterward.

    High Adventure

    James Norman Hall

  • We were soon convinced, however, that the lugger in sight was a chasse marée.

    Salt Water

    W. H. G. Kingston

  • Then half a bottle of red wine, a demi-syphon, and a caf and chasse.

British Dictionary definitions for chasse

chassé

noun
  1. one of a series of gliding steps in ballet in which the same foot always leads
  2. three consecutive dance steps, two fast and one slow, to four beats of music
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verb -sés, -séing or -séd
  1. (intr) to perform either of these steps
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Word Origin

C19: from French: a chasing
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

Word Origin and History for chasse

n.

from French chassé "chase, chasing," past participle of chasser "to chase, hunt" (see chase (v.)); borrowed 19c. in a variety of senses and expressions, such as "chaser" (in the drinking sense), short for chasse-café, literally "coffee-chaser." Also as a dance step (1867).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper