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• country-dance
  country-dance

  noun

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

  noun

  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

country-dance

American  

[kuhn-tree-dans, -dahns] / ˈkʌn triˌdæns, -ˌdɑns /

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.

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country dance British  

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

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Other Word Forms

• country dancing
  noun

Etymology

Origin of country-dance

First recorded in 1570–80

Example Sentences

Courses are as varied as English country-dance, the presidency and genealogy on the computer.

From Time Magazine Archive

It was not quadrille dancing, nor minuet dancing, nor even country-dance dancing.

From The Battle of Life by Dickens, Charles

I think Miss Fairfax dances very well; and Mrs. Weston is the very best country-dance player, without exception, in England.

From Emma by Austen, Jane

It was a regular jig-a-jig—a country-dance of pousette, down the middle, and right and left.

From Olla Podrida by Marryat, Frederick

Now, if we can knock the Comte off a couple of points, in passing, all his fellows astern will follow, and the Warspite and Blenheim and Thunderer will slip by like girls in a country-dance!

From The Two Admirals by Cooper, James Fenimore