belly dance
To perform a belly danceTo perform a belly dance.
» Mary is very good at belly dancing.
Meaning
1 sensesTo perform a belly dance.
bauchtanzen
perform a belly dance
Examples
3 sentencesMary is very good at belly dancing.
Aside from a brief flirtation with belly dancing, Mary decided she would rather kick-box.
"What are you doing here?" "Belly-dancing."
Translations
2 languagesBy meaning 1
Origin
Calque of French danse du ventre, equivalent to belly + dance. First attested in English iCalque of French danse du ventre, equivalent to belly + dance. First attested in English in 1889, in an article about that year's Exposition Universelle in Paris in the November 22 edition of the Yorkshire Factory Times: "A café in the Rue du Caire attracted 2,000 spectators daily to see the ‘belly dance’, and realised a total of 400,000 francs." Early sources also used the French term danse du ventre as-is.
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Forms
belly dances, belly dancing, belly danced, belly danced| Base form | belly dance · to belly dance |
|---|---|
| 3rd person singular | belly dances |
| Present participle | belly dancing |
| Past simple | belly danced |
| Past participle | belly danced |
regular
Word family
2 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, irregular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle