country-dance

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coun·try-dance

(kŭn′trē-dăns′)

A folk dance of English origin in which two lines of dancers face each other.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

coun′try-dance`

a dance of rural English origin, esp. one in which the dancers face each other in two rows.

[1570–80]

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Noun	1.	country-dance - a type of folk dance in which couples are arranged in sets or face one another in a line contra danse, contradance, contredanse, country dancing folk dance, folk dancing - a style of dancing that originated among ordinary people (not in the royal courts) longways, longways dance - country dancing performed with couples in two long lines facing each other square dance, square dancing - American country dancing in which couples form squares do-si-do - a square-dance figure; two dancers approach each other and circle back to back before returning to their original places promenade - a square dance figure; couples march counterclockwise in a circle sashay - a square dance figure; partners circle each other taking sideways steps swing - a square dance figure; a pair of dancers join hands and dance around a point between them landler - a moderately slow Austrian country dance in triple time; involves spinning and clapping
Verb	1.	country-dance - perform a contradance contra danse, contradance, contredanse trip the light fantastic, trip the light fantastic toe, dance - move in a pattern; usually to musical accompaniment; do or perform a dance; "My husband and I like to dance at home to the radio"

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In five minutes the eleven and half a dozen of the Wellesburn and Marylebone men got partners somehow or another, and a merry country-dance was going on, to which every one flocked, and new couples joined in every minute, till there were a hundred of them going down the middle and up again; and the long line of school buildings looked gravely down on them, every window glowing with the last rays of the western sun; and the rooks clanged about in the tops of the old elms, greatly excited, and resolved on having their country- dance too; and the great flag flapped lazily in the gentle western breeze.

As Tom and the rest of the eleven were turning back into the close, and everybody was beginning to cry out for another country-dance, encouraged by the success of the night before, the young master, who was just leaving the close, stopped him, and asked him to come up to tea at half-past eight, adding, "I won't keep you more than half an hour, and ask Arthur to come up too."

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I consider a country-dance as an emblem of marriage.

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Craig, and Mary Burge by Adam; and now the music struck up, and the glorious country-dance, best of all dances, began.

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She warned him that she could not dance anything but a country-dance; but he, of course, was willing to wait for that high felicity, meaning only to be complimentary when he assured her at several intervals that it was a "great bore" that she couldn't waltz, he would have liked so much to waltz with her.

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Crawford's very cordial adieus, pass quietly away; stopping at the entrance-door, like the Lady of Branxholm Hall, "one moment and no more," to view the happy scene, and take a last look at the five or six determined couple who were still hard at work; and then, creeping slowly up the principal staircase, pursued by the ceaseless country-dance, feverish with hopes and fears, soup and negus, sore-footed and fatigued, restless and agitated, yet feeling, in spite of everything, that a ball was indeed delightful.

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At times, indeed, whether from art or nature I will not determine, he gave his usual loose to gaiety and mirth; but this was always in general company, and with other women; for even in a country-dance, when he was not my partner, he became grave, and put on the softest look imaginable the moment he approached me.

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As for Godfrey, he was feeling so happy and oblivious under the long charm of the country-dance with Nancy, that he got rather bold on the strength of her confusion, and was capable of leading her straight away, without leave asked, into the adjoining small parlour, where the card-tables were set.

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The fiddle and the flageolet took a deep interest in bottles and glasses; at the end of a country-dance, they hung their instruments from a button on their reddish-colored coats, and stretched out their hands to a little table set in the window recess to hold their liquor supply.

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Joe Willet rode leisurely along in his desponding mood, picturing the locksmith's daughter going down long country-dances, and poussetting dreadfully with bold strangers--which was almost too much to bear--when he heard the tramp of a horse's feet behind him, and looking back, saw a well-mounted gentleman advancing at a smart canter.

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(country-dances being low, were utterly proscribed) and so gained an advantage over his rival, who sat despondingly in a corner and contemplated the glorious figure of the young lady as she moved through the mazy dance.

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But as to dancing, they could hardly help my learning country-dances, because they always wanted me to make up even number; and, on the other hand, they were as heartily willing to learn me everything that they had been taught themselves, as I could be to take the learning.