pirouetten.

Brit.

/ˌpɪrʊˈɛt/, U.S.

/ˌpɪrəˈwɛt/

Forms: 1600s piroite, 1700s piroet, 1700s pyroet, 1700s piroutte (irregular), 1700s– pirouette.

Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French pirouette.

Etymology: < French pirouette teetotum, spinning top (1451 in Middle French), circular movement (1596), (in dance) complete turn of the body made while standing on point on one leg (1611 in Cotgrave; 1798 in figurative use), circular movement made by a horse while remaining in the same place (1680), probably ultimately < a Romance base *pir- with the sense ‘peg’ (see Französisches etymol. Wörterbuch at pir-), perhaps as an alteration (perhaps after girouette windvane) of Middle French pirouelle sort of teetotum (1364; itself probably modelled on rouelle small wheel), perhaps via the intermediary forms piroet, pirouet (in turn after rouet small wheel).

1. Dressage. A full circle move by a horse pivoting on a hind leg while walking or cantering.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > special movements performed by trained horse > [noun] > types of turn

repolon1598

caracol1614

demi-voltea1648

passade1652

pirouette1667

1667 Duke of Newcastle New Method to dress Horses iii. 231 For the Piroite, his Croup goes a little out.

1685 C. Cotton tr. M. de Montaigne Ess. I. xlviii. sig. Oo4/^v The Gascons had terrible Horses, that would wheel, and make the Pirouette in their full speed, which the French, Picards, Dutch, and Brabanters lookt upon as a Miracle.

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. Pirouette, or Piroet, in the Manage, a Turn or Circumvolution which a Horse makes, without changing his Ground.

1771 R. Berenger Hist. & Art Horsemanship II. xxii. 148 To change in the Pirouette, the Rider must take care to place the horse's head on the side opposite to that to which he was turning.

1847 W. Irving in Life & Lett. (1864) IV. 20 He is rather skittish also, and has laid my coachman in the dust by one of his pirouettes.

1884 E. L. Anderson Mod. Horsemanship ii. xvii. 148 The school gallop is employed in traversing, and for voltes and pirouettes.

1948 A. Podhajsky Die Spanische Hofreitschule: Spanish Riding School 79/2 The half and full pirouettes owe their origin to combat schools of the Middle Ages.

1988 Dressage Rev. Summer 28/4 This horse has..the ability to collect correctly by lowering his quarters, and consequently the ability to make good canter pirouettes.

2014 A. Kottas-Heldenberg & A. Fitzpatrick Dressage Solutions iii. 37 Lateral work will help improve suppleness... As he improves, half-passes and pirouettes can also be added.

a. An act of spinning round on one foot or on the points of the toes, as performed by a ballet dancer, etc. Also more generally: a rapid whirl of the body.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > dancing > ballet > [noun] > movements

entrechat1706

pirouette1706

sissonne1706

batterie1712

cabriole1753

ballonné1760

balancé?1770

brisé1786

ballotté1802

rond de jambe1824

petit battement1828

battement1830

elevation1830

fouetté1830

jeté1830

changement de pied1840

développé1888

temps1890

pas de ciseaux1892

plié1892

changement1905

beat1913

ciseaux1913

glissé1913

ouvert1913

allegro1914

pas de chat1914

pas de cheval1916

soubresaut1916

grand jeté1919

lift1921

toe-dancing1924

pointwork1925

posé1927

jeté en tournant1930

tour1930

extension1934

tour jeté1935

fondu1939

retiré1941

chaîné1946

soutenu1947

passé1948

saut1948

contretemps1952

promenade1953

piqué1954

gargouillade1957

the world > movement > motion in specific manner > revolution or rotation > [noun] > spinning > pirouetting > an act of

pirouette1706

1706 P. Siris tr. R.-A. Feuillet Art of Dancing 42 A Table of Pirouettes.

1735 K. Tomlinson Art of Dancing xxxi. 90 The Pirouette is a Step that altogether consists of Motion and Turning.

1822 W. Hazlitt Table-talk II. xii. 277 A Columbine practising a pirouette in sober sadness.

1875 J. Grant One of Six Hundred I. vi. 89 Berkeley..made a species of pirouette on the brass heels of his glazed boots.

1928 Daily Express 19 Dec. 15/4 Her pirouettes, toe-spins, and counter-rockers.

1994 Mod. Maturity July 55/3 Brook Copeland assists Debora Weiss with her picture-perfect pirouette.

2015 M. Poland Keeper iv. 40 Stamp, stamp, stamp—the rapid fire of her heels on the wooden floor. A leap, a pirouette.

b. figurative. A turn or twist, a volte-face; an elegant, showy, or complicated manoeuvre, esp. a mental one.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > expressed belief, opinion > change of opinion > [noun] > strong, thorough

revulsion1699

revirement1824

pirouette1832

right-about face1837

volte-face1883

right about1936

1832 J. F. Cooper Heidenmauer II. xvii. 223 We frequently see whole communities making a moral pirouette in a breath, adopting this year a set of principles that are quite in opposition to all they had ever before professed.

1880 T. Dutt Sheaf gleaned in French Fields (new ed.) 141 Now they [sc. rhymes] dance a pirouette, Like waves.

1917 School Educ. Feb. 12/1 I floundered, language and tact both deserting me at the suddenness and completeness of Min's mental pirouette.

1940 F. Reinfeld Pract. End-game Play 129 The neat pirouettes at the disposal of the White Bishop.

1973 H. L. Nieburg Culture Storm ix. 192 The legendary entourage of drag queens, juvenile models, and human parrotfish are [sic] arrayed in vacuous and plotless pirouettes.

1997 N.Y. Times 7 Sept. 14/4 Liberal whites perform..intricate pirouettes of euphemism and tact.

2010 O. Brooks Tsunami Alert vii. 106 The ultimate mental pirouette comes when Abidin shows a slide bearing a geologist's view of Sumatra's offshore fault.

3. Early Music. A form of mouthpiece used with a shawm, rackett, or similar reed instrument (see quot. 1961).

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > wind instrument > woodwind instruments > [noun] > reed instrument > associated parts

fipple1626

wind-way1875

staple1880

pirouette1891

plaque1940

windcap1940

tongue1953

scrape1954

reed-cap1960

1891 Descr. Catal. Mus. Instruments Royal Mil. Exhib., London, 1890 iv. 64 The reeds used in these early times were generally rather hard and difficult to manage. To render them more manageable they were placed in a sort of case, called pirouette, which covered the lower part of the reed.

1911 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 780/1 The rackett is played by means of a large double reed placed within a pirouette or cap.

1961 A. C. Baines Musical Instruments through Ages ix. 233 The European shawmist presses the lips to a wooden ‘pirouette’..which permits lip-control without appreciably reducing the reed's amplitude of vibration.

1983 New Oxf. Compan. Music ii. 1676/2 The reed..is set in a ‘pirouette’.

2001 B. Haynes Eloquent Oboe i. 23 The lip control implied by the absence of the pirouette allowed for more nuance of tone and dynamics than had been needed on the shawm.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

pirouettev.

Brit.

/ˌpɪrʊˈɛt/, U.S.

/ˌpɪrəˈwɛt/

Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French pirouetter.

Etymology: < French pirouetter (16th cent. in Middle French) < pirouette pirouette n.

intransitive. To perform a pirouette; to spin on (the points of) the toes; to move with a whirling motion. Also figurative.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in specific manner > revolution or rotation > revolve or rotate [verb (intransitive)] > spin

spin1667

pirouette1741

pirl1791

turbinate1797

snoove1808

twizzlea1825

teetotum1831

teetotumize1841

purl1857

1706 P. Siris tr. R.-A. Feuillet Art of Dancing Fig. 13 To Pirouetter, or Whirl about on the two Points of the Toes half-round.]

1741 tr. J. J. Rutledge Mem. Julia de M— II. 84 His fat carcase was constantly pirouetting on two high red heels.

1822 T. Mitchell tr. Dicast turned Gentleman in tr. Aristophanes Comedies II. 318 See, the king of the shell-fish advancing,..pirouetting and dancing!

1894 S. Baring-Gould Queen of Love I. 8 To..pirouette at the apex of his loftiest elocution.

1955 O. Manning Doves of Venus i. v. 57 At midday she pirouetted across the studio floor.

2004 Wakefield Express (Nexis) 27 Aug. Students..have been tapping, pirouetting and stretching their vocal chords in preparation to showcase their skills.

Derivatives

† pirouettism n. figurative Obsolete an inclination towards or habit of pirouetting.Apparently an isolated use.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > inconstancy > [noun]

unsteadfastnessa1300

falsenessc1330

unstablenessc1380

varyingc1380

inconstancec1386

variance1390

geriness1412

instabilityc1422

changeability?a1425

mutabilitya1425

changec1425

changeableness1447

unconstancec1449

unstabilitya1470

mutableness1481

unsureness1481

instableness1483

variation1509

inconstancy1526

shittleness1530

fickleness1548

unconstancy1548

unconstantness1551

inconstantness?a1562

pliableness1562

fast and loose1575

volubility1603

levity1604

unconstability1611

flexibleness1623

vagrancy1642

self-inconsistency1655

inconsistency1665

flittingnessa1680

easiness1705

inconsistence1713

versatility1755

contrariety1762

vibration1785

changefulness1791

girouettism1825

pirouettism1839

weathercockism1843

pirouettiveness1844

volatileness1849

unfixity1856

ficklety1888

1839 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 46 533 A bitterness seldom exercised towards the pirouettism of a lawyer.

† pirouettiveness n. figurative Obsolete the art or practice of pirouetting.Apparently an isolated use.

ΘΚΠ