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sword dance

noun
  1. any of various dances, usually performed by men, in which swords are ceremonially flourished or are laid on the ground and danced around.
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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. 2018

Examples from the Web for sword dance

Historical Examples

  • 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
  1. a dance in which the performers dance nimbly over swords on the ground or brandish them in the air
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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