sun dance

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noun

a religious ceremony associated with the sun, practiced by North American Indians of the Plains, consisting of dancing attended with various symbolic rites and commonly including self-torture.

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Origin of sun dance

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50

Words nearby sun dance

sun cream, sun-cured, Sund., sundae, Sunda Islands, sun dance, Sundanese, Sunda Strait, Sunday, Sunday baby, Sunday best

How to use sun dance in a sentence

Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance is a different sound for you.
Belle & Sebastian Aren’t So Shy Anymore|James Joiner|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
There was deep brown flesh, and bronze flesh, and pallid white flesh, and flesh turned red from the hot sun.
Powerful Congressman Writes About ‘Fleshy Breasts’|Asawin Suebsaeng|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
They will do it,” Revels declared, “as certainly as the sun shines in the heavens.
The Black Man Who Replaced Jefferson Davis in the Senate|Philip Dray|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Twelve-year-old dance prodigy Maddie Ziegler has suffered the wrath of Dance Moms tyrant Abby Lee Miller.
See Burly Shia LaBeouf Interpretive Cage Fight Lil Sia in the Singer’s Fantastic New Music Video|Marlow Stern|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST

The nanas and poppies and grannies and grampses who flocked there to roast in the sun.
Powerful Congressman Writes About ‘Fleshy Breasts’|Asawin Suebsaeng|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Behold a dumpy, comfortable British paterfamilias in a light flannel suit and a faded sun hat.
God and my Neighbour|Robert Blatchford
The moon seemed to smile on him; the aurora appeared to dance with unwonted vigour, as if in glee; the very stars winked at him!
The Giant of the North|R.M. Ballantyne
It was very warm, and for a while they did nothing but exchange remarks about the heat, the sun, the glare.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin
The sun was shining when they arrived at Salon, the gayest, the most coquettish, the most laughing little town in Provence.
The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol|William J. Locke
Only the petrol tins they took for water right and left of their pathway up the cliff; huge diamonds in the evening sun.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I|Ian Hamilton

British Dictionary definitions for sun dance

sun dance

noun

a North American Indian ceremony associated with the sun, performed at the summer solstice

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