snake dancen.
1. Among the Hopi Indians, a religious dance involving the handling of live rattlesnakes. Also, among other American Indian groups, various dances so called from the motion of the dancers or the function of the dance.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > observance, ritual > kinds of rite > dance > [noun]
canticoy1670
snake dance1772
ritual dance1805
cyclic chorus1846
sun dance1849
Ghost Dance1876
kagura1884
kachina dance1888
Ghost Dancing1890
tripudium1909
ring-shout1926
trance dance1935
Shango1941
1772 D. Taitt Jrnl. 6 Mar. in N. D. Mereness Trav. Amer. Colonies (1916) 517 The women danced the Snake dance, the leader haveing her legs Covered with Turpin shells which is filled with small stones on purpose to make a noise.
1883 Pall Mall Gaz. 16 Nov. 12/1 A snake dance of Savages.
1891 8th Ann. Rep. Bureau Amer. Ethnol. 1886–7 136 Among the Hopi, particularly at Walpi, the snake-dance is renowned.
1901 Athenæum 11 May 599/2 He saw snake-dances and fire ceremonies, of which he preserved an accurate report.
1927 D. H. Lawrence Mornings in Mexico 136 The snake dance (I am told) is held once a year.
1927 D. H. Lawrence Mornings in Mexico 138 Three thousand people came to see the little snake dance this year.
1940 R. Chandler Farewell, my Lovely xx. 158 I'm no school-marm at the snake dances.
1965 R. Morris & D. Morris Men & Snakes ii. 38 The snakes used in the famous Hopi Snake Dance are not worshipped, but sent as messengers to the raingods of the underworld.
1970 K. Platt Pushbutton Butterfly ix. 100 A Shoshone snake dance.
2.
a. A dance performed as a stage entertainment in imitation of the movement of a snake or involving the handling of a snake.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > other dances > [noun]
dance of Macabre?c1430
springc1450
lege de moya1529
bobc1550
lusty gallant1569
duret1613
fading1613
huckler1617
ground-measure1621
entry1631
slatter de pouchc1640
ballo1651
Irish trot1651
omnium gatheruma1652
clutterdepouch1652
upspring1654
passacaglia1659
shuffle1659
passacaille1667
flip-flap1676
chaconne1685
charmer1702
Cheshire-round1706
Louvre1729
stick dance1730
white joke1730
baby dance1744
Nancy Dawson1766
fricassee1775
bumpkin1785
Totentanz1789
Flora('s) dance1790
goombay1790
egg-dance1801
supper dance1820
Congo dance1823
slip-jig1829
bran-dance1833
roly-poly1833
Congo1835
mazy1841
furry1848
bull-dance1855
stampede1856
double-shuffling1859
frog dance1863
hokee-pokee1873
plait dance1876
slow dancing1884
snake dance1895
beast dance1900
soft-shoe1900
cakewalk1902
floral dance1911
snake dance1911
apache dance1912
grizzly bear1912
jazz dance1917
jazz dancing1917
jazz1919
wine-dance1920
camel-walk1921
furry dance1928
snake-dance1931
pas d'action1936
trance dancing1956
touch dance1965
hokey-cokey1966
moonwalk1969
moonwalking1983
Crip Walk1989
mapantsula1990
1895 N.Y. Dramatic News 23 Nov. 4 Ida Siddons in her snake dance, two Italian pantomimists [etc.].
1971 R. Russell tr. A. Ahmad Shore & Wave vii. 66 ‘What cabaret girl?’ ‘The one who does the snake dance.’
b. A dance performed by a group of people linked together in a long line and moving about in a zig-zag fashion, as at parties, celebrations, etc. Originally and chiefly U.S.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > other dances > [noun]
dance of Macabre?c1430
springc1450
lege de moya1529
bobc1550
lusty gallant1569
duret1613
fading1613
huckler1617
ground-measure1621
entry1631
slatter de pouchc1640
ballo1651
Irish trot1651
omnium gatheruma1652
clutterdepouch1652
upspring1654
passacaglia1659
shuffle1659
passacaille1667
flip-flap1676
chaconne1685
charmer1702
Cheshire-round1706
Louvre1729
stick dance1730
white joke1730
baby dance1744
Nancy Dawson1766
fricassee1775
bumpkin1785
Totentanz1789
Flora('s) dance1790
goombay1790
egg-dance1801
supper dance1820
Congo dance1823
slip-jig1829
bran-dance1833
roly-poly1833
Congo1835
mazy1841
furry1848
bull-dance1855
stampede1856
double-shuffling1859
frog dance1863
hokee-pokee1873
plait dance1876
slow dancing1884
snake dance1895
beast dance1900
soft-shoe1900
cakewalk1902
floral dance1911
snake dance1911
apache dance1912
grizzly bear1912
jazz dance1917
jazz dancing1917
jazz1919
wine-dance1920
camel-walk1921
furry dance1928
snake-dance1931
pas d'action1936
trance dancing1956
touch dance1965
hokey-cokey1966
moonwalk1969
moonwalking1983
Crip Walk1989
mapantsula1990
1911 G. Burgess Find Woman x. 244 So he..went, reminding them of the [football] score and the snake~dance every time he opened a bottle.
1946 E. B. Thompson Amer. Daughter 234 A few minutes later [I] was a link in a howling, writhing snake dance that weaved itself in and out of the business section.
1960 Daily Tel. 15 July 19/2 23,000 in Tokyo anti-treaty snake-dance.
1964 G. B. Schaller Year of Gorilla viii. 187 One grabbed the rump hairs of the first one with both hands, the third animal did the same to the second one, and then all three careered wildly down a slope in snake-dance fashion.
1976 National Observer (U.S.) 10 July 11/1 During the rebellious days of the 1960s, college students spurned many traditional campus pleasures, from spring proms and snake dances to the social reassurance offered by membership in fraternities and sororities.
Derivatives
snake-dance v. intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > American Indian dancing > [noun]
canticoy1670
corn dance1726
pipe dance1778
bear dance1784
sun dance1849
Ghost Dance1876
matachin1882
chicken dance1888
Ghost Dancing1890
snake-dance1931
society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > other dances > [noun]
dance of Macabre?c1430
springc1450
lege de moya1529
bobc1550
lusty gallant1569
duret1613
fading1613
huckler1617
ground-measure1621
entry1631
slatter de pouchc1640
ballo1651
Irish trot1651
omnium gatheruma1652
clutterdepouch1652
upspring1654
passacaglia1659
shuffle1659
passacaille1667
flip-flap1676
chaconne1685
charmer1702
Cheshire-round1706
Louvre1729
stick dance1730
white joke1730
baby dance1744
Nancy Dawson1766
fricassee1775
bumpkin1785
Totentanz1789
Flora('s) dance1790
goombay1790
egg-dance1801
supper dance1820
Congo dance1823
slip-jig1829
bran-dance1833
roly-poly1833
Congo1835
mazy1841
furry1848
bull-dance1855
stampede1856
double-shuffling1859
frog dance1863
hokee-pokee1873
plait dance1876
slow dancing1884
snake dance1895
beast dance1900
soft-shoe1900
cakewalk1902
floral dance1911
snake dance1911
apache dance1912
grizzly bear1912
jazz dance1917
jazz dancing1917
jazz1919
wine-dance1920
camel-walk1921
furry dance1928
snake-dance1931
pas d'action1936
trance dancing1956
touch dance1965
hokey-cokey1966
moonwalk1969
moonwalking1983
Crip Walk1989
mapantsula1990
society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > ballroom dancing > [noun] > group dances
Circassian circle1888
snake-dance1931
conga1935
palais glide1936
Big Apple1937
Madison1960
society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > ballroom dancing > dance ballroom dance [verb (intransitive)] > group dance
snake-dance1931
conga1941
1931 F. L. Allen Only Yesterday 17 Eight hundred Barnard College girls snake-danced on Morningside Heights in New York.
1960 Daily Tel. 15 July 19/2 They snake-danced through the city with their paper lanterns and red banners and dispersed quietly without incident, police said.
snake-dancer n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > other dances > [noun] > dancer
florala1658
pirouetter1826
pirouettist1889
trance dancer1942
snake-dancer1977
1977 C. McCullough Thorn Birds v. 93 Princess Houri the Snake Dancer (See Her Fan the Flames of a Cobra's Rage!).
snake-dancing adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > ballroom dancing > [adjective] > group dance
snake-dancing1922
1922 Chicago Daily Maroon 3 Oct. 2/1 The public..picture..howling, snakedancing crowds whenever colleges and universities are mentioned.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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