morris-dance (n.)

traditional English dance of persons in costume, mid-15c., moreys daunce "Moorish dance," from Flemish mooriske dans, from Old French morois "Moorish, Arab, black," from More "Moor" (see Moor). It is unknown why the English dance (which typically is based on the Robin Hood stories) was called this, unless it is in reference to fantastic dancing or costumes (compare Italian Moresco, a related dance, literally "Moorish;" German moriskentanz, French moresque).

also from mid-15c.

Entries linking to morris-dance

moor (v.)

"to fasten (a ship) in a particular location by or as by cables, anchors, etc.," late 15c., probably related to Old English mærels "mooring rope," via unrecorded *mærian "to moor," or possibly borrowed from Middle Low German moren or Middle Dutch maren "to moor," from West Germanic *mairojan. Related: Moored, mooring. French amarrer is from Dutch.

Trends of morris-dance

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hobby

Earlier it meant "a wooden or wickerwork figure of a horse," as a child's toy or a costume in the morris-dance, the connecting...Hobby as a shortening of hobbyhorse also was used in the "morris horse" sense (1760) and the "child's toy horse" sense (1680s...

hobbyhorse

also hobby-horse, 1550s, "mock horse used in the morris-dance;" 1580s, "child's toy riding horse," from hobby (n.) + horse...

carol

c. 1300, "joyful song," also a kind of dance in a ring, from Old French carole "kind of dance in a ring, round dance accompanied...Perhaps from Medieval Latin choraula "a dance to the flute," from Latin choraules "flute-player," from Greek khoraulēs "flute...player who accompanies the choral dance," from khoros "chorus" (see chorus) + aulein "to play the flute," from aulos "reed...

ball

"dancing party, social assembly for dancing," 1630s, from French, from Old French baller "to dance," from Late Latin ballare..."to dance," from Greek ballizein "to dance, jump about," literally "to throw one's body" (ancient Greek dancing being highly...

samba

Brazilian dance of African origin, 1885, Zemba, from Portuguese samba, shortened form of zambacueca, a type of dance, probably...altered (by influence of zamacueco "stupid") from zambapalo, the name of a grotesque dance, itself an alteration of zampapalo...

mazurka

lively Polish dance, properly for four or eight pairs of dancers, also mazourka, 1818, from Russian mazurka, from Polish...mazurek "dance of the Mazur," a reference to inhabitants of Mazowsze (Medieval Latin Mazovia), ancient region in central...The Polish accusative in tańczyć mazurka "to dance the mazurek" was interpreted in Russian as a feminine affix, hence the...

conga

type of Latin American dance, "usu. performed by several people in single file and consisting of three steps forward followed...by a kick" [OED], 1935, from American Spanish, fem. of (danza) Congo "Congo (dance)" (see Congo); so called because it was...Congo dance is attested from 1823....

magazine

1580s, "warehouse, place for storing goods, especially military ammunition," from French magasin "warehouse, depot, store" (15c.), from Italian magazzino, from Arabic makhazin, plural of makhzan "storehouse" (source of Spanish almacén "warehouse, magazine"), from khazana "to stor

voluptuous

late 14c., "of or pertaining to desires or appetites," from Old French voluptueux, volumptueuse and directly from Latin voluptuosus "full of pleasure, delightful," from voluptas "pleasure, delight, enjoyment, satisfaction," from volup "pleasurably," perhaps ultimately related to

giant

c. 1300, "fabulous man-like creature of enormous size," from Old French geant, earlier jaiant "giant, ogre" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *gagantem (nominative gagas), from Latin gigas "a giant," from Greek Gigas (usually in plural, Gigantes), one of a race of divine but savage and m

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updated on February 24, 2019

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Dictionary entries near morris-dance

morphogenesis

morphogeny

morphology

morphosis

Morris

morris-dance

morrow

Morse code

morsel

mort

mortal