czardas

American  

[chahr-dahsh] / ˈtʃɑr dɑʃ /

Or csardas

noun

1. a Hungarian national dance in two movements, one slow and the other fast.

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czardas British  

/ ˈtʃɑːdæʃ /

noun

1. a Hungarian national dance of alternating slow and fast sections

2. a piece of music composed for or in the rhythm of this dance

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Etymology

Origin of czardas

First recorded in 1855–60; from Hungarian csárdás, equivalent to csárda “wayside tavern” (from Serbo-Croatian čȁrdāk originally, “watchtower,” from Turkish çardak “bower, booth, pergola,” from Persian chārtāk “four-cornered room”; čār “four” + tāk “vault”) + -s adjective suffix; earlier csárdák was analyzed as csárda + -k plural suffix

Example Sentences

Orchester Prazevica The music of Slovak guitarist Tomas Drgon’s string combo mixes Eastern European czardas, Gypsy swing and jazz.

From Washington Post • Oct. 4, 2016

The last-act wedding of Raymonda and Jean honors his uncle, King Andrew of Hungary, with Hungarian national dances and classical variations on the theme of the Hungarian czardas.

From New York Times • Feb. 24, 2016

And in “Cortège Hongrois,” set to music from Glazunov’s “Raymonda,” Mikayla Lambert and Mr. Farley led the classical couples, while Christina Ghiardi and Mr. Coll fronted the lively czardas group.

From New York Times • Jun. 7, 2012

Audiences may be pardoned for anticipating a czardas instead of a square dance in the closing pageant, but otherwise Actress Bergner's linguistic eccentricities actually serve a useful purpose.

From Time Magazine Archive

When they have danced, generally a czardas, the girl goes back to the group of women, leaving the man on the platform in command of the situation!

From Woman as Decoration by Burbank, Emily