strathspey

American  

[strath-spay, strath-spay] / ˌstræθˈspeɪ, ˈstræθˌspeɪ /

noun

1. a slow Scottish dance in quadruple meter.

2. the music for this dance.

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strathspey British  

/ ˌstræθˈspeɪ /

noun

1. a Scottish dance with gliding steps, slower than a reel

2. a piece of music in four-four time composed for this dance

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Etymology

Origin of strathspey

First recorded in 1645–55; after Strath Spey, the valley of the river Spey in Scotland

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

strathspey

Peggy and I laughingly approved, telling him that it was high time for him to assert his authority, and he went off in great good humour across the river field, whistling a Highland strathspey.

From Chronicles of Avonlea by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

"By my troth, lad, ye had better be at Cremona, playing an Italian strathspey, than here in our abbey, if ony o' our kilted barons be within hearin."

From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 14 by Various

There was quite a large company there, very well employed in practicing the steps of a new strathspey, and others in exhibiting their special bits of splendor.

From Christine A Fife Fisher Girl by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr

“Take down your fiddle, Findlayson, and play a rattling strathspey or reel, that’ll cheer me up more wholesomely than any amount of ‘wee drappies.’”

From From Squire to Squatter A Tale of the Old Land and the New by Gordon Stables

Suddenly the soutar started off at full speed in a strathspey, which was soon lost in the wail of a Highland psalm-tune, giving place in its turn to 'Sic a wife as Willie had!'

From Robert Falconer by George MacDonald

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