belly dance
A form of dance originating in the Middle East and characterized by movements of the torsoA form of dance originating in the Middle East and characterized by movements of the torso.
» Mary is very good at belly dancing.
Spamster · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
1 senses(countable, uncountable)A form of dance originating in the Middle East and characterized by movements of the torso.
Bauchtanz, Orientalischer Tanz
та́нец живота́tánec životá, восто́чный та́нецvostóčnyj tánec, беллидэ́нсbellidɛ́ns
танець животаtanecʹ žyvota, Східний танецьSxidnyj tanecʹ
a Middle Eastern dance in which the dancer makes sensuous movements of the hips and abdomen
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
9 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
By 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.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: belly dancesSynonyms
3 synonyms- a Middle Eastern dance in which the dancer makes sensuous movements of the hips and abdomen:belly dancingdanse du ventre
Lessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable