Other forms: waltzes
A waltz is a gliding partner dance in three beats to the bar. Dance a waltz, the Viennese waltz, waltz around the room.
It scandalised polite society when it arrived, because the partners held each other closely and turned continuously — earlier dances kept people apart. The three-beat count is what gives it the rise and fall. To waltz in means to arrive without ceremony. Note that the German walzen means to turn.
1nounwaltzA gliding partner dance in three beats to the bar.
“The bride and her father danced a slow waltz at the wedding.”
waltz is a dance.
German Walzer comes from walzen, to turn or roll. Waltz and revolve come from a related turning.
Proto-Indo-European
*welH- — to turn
Proto-Germanic
*walt- — to turn
Old High German
walzan — to turn
German
Walzer
English, today
waltz
Built from
From German Walzer, from walzen (“to dance”), from Old High German walzan (“to turn”), from Proto-Germanic walt- (“to turn”), from Proto-Indo-European welH- (“to turn”). a doublet of valse. More at waltaną.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA