country-dance

[ kuhn-tree-dans, -dahns ]

/ ˈkʌn triˌdæns, -ˌdɑns /

a dance of rural English origin in which the dancers form circles or squares or in which they face each other in two rows.

Origin of country-dance

First recorded in 1570–80

You are thrown on your back immediately; the conversation is stopt like a country-dance by those who do not know the figure.

Conversation |Mary Greer Conklin
The country-dance called the ‘Triumph, or Follow my Lover,’ was the figure with which they opened.

Under the Greenwood Tree |Thomas Hardy
The Miss Darnels and their partners took their places near the top of the country-dance.

Pencil Sketches |Eliza Leslie
Everybody laughed, and we took our places to lead off the country-dance.

The Chaplain of the Fleet |Walter Besant and James Rice

The choosing of husbands and wives went on as merrily as the choosing of partners for a country-dance.

The Doctor's Red Lamp |Various