Dictionary.com
definitions

sword dance

|

noun

any of various dances, usually performed by men, in which swords are ceremonially flourished or are laid on the ground and danced around.

Origin of sword dance

First recorded in 1595–1605
Related formssword dancer, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for sword dance

Historical Examples of sword dance

  • Then the Laird danced a sword-dance over two T squares and broke them both.

    Trilby

    George Du Maurier

  • Do you think any one can dance the sword-dance without the pipes?

    Macleod of Dare

    William Black

  • The entertainment concluded with a hornpipe and sword-dance,—an exhibition which seemed to please the two kings highly.

  • It is said that when Cruikshank was eighty-three, he executed a sword-dance before an old officer who had mentally buried him.

    George Cruikshank

    W. H. Chesson

  • To one spectator it was more interesting than the sword-dance, more exciting than a steeple-chase.

British Dictionary definitions for sword dance

sword dance

noun

a dance in which the performers dance nimbly over swords on the ground or brandish them in the air
Derived Formssword dancer, nounsword dancing, noun
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