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mazurka

or ma·zour·ka

[muh-zur-kuh, -zoo r-]
See more synonyms for mazurka on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a lively Polish dance in moderately quick triple meter.
  2. music for, or in the rhythm of, this dance.
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Origin of mazurka

1810–20; < Polish, equivalent to Mazur Mazovia (district in northern Poland) + -ka noun suffix
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for mazurka

Historical Examples

  • And now the mazurka came to an end and we separated—until we should meet again.

    A Hero of Our Time

    M. Y. Lermontov

  • "I shall sleep badly to-night," she said to me when the mazurka was over.

    A Hero of Our Time

    M. Y. Lermontov

  • The mazurka had just finished, and the dancers were breaking into groups.

    The Christian

    Hall Caine

  • They came from Peru, and danced the mazurka in green jackets with a jabot.

    The Young Duke

    Benjamin Disraeli

  • She played also a Mazurka by Schulhoff, and one or two other pieces.

British Dictionary definitions for mazurka

mazurka

mazourka

noun
  1. a Polish national dance in triple time
  2. a piece of music composed for this dance
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Word Origin

C19: from Polish: (dance) of Mazur (Mazovia) province in Poland
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 mazurka

n.

lively dance, also mazourka, 1818, from Russian mazurka, from Polish mazurek "dance of the Mazur," a reference to inhabitants of Mazowsze (Medieval Latin Mazovia), ancient region in central Poland. The Polish accusative in tanczyc mazurka "to dance the mazurek" was interpreted in Russian as a feminine affix, hence the -ka ending.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper