barn dance
3
3.6
- noun
- /bɑrn dæns/
:
baile en el granero
- We had a great time at the barn dance, dancing to live country music with friends.
- a barn dance night
And it was at a barn dance, a Contra dance, actually.
- And it was at a barn dance, a Contra dance, actually.
Examples
-
The center, named for Alpharetta resident Dorothy Benson, celebrated its 13th birthday on Oct. 25 with a barn dance.
Blog text (24) -
When he was younger, there had been barn dances during the summer, and sometimes he still recalled the smell of perfume and hay.
Fiction book (1994) -
All right, it's a barn dance.
-
Let's invite both groups to a barn dance and find out!
Blog text (2) -
And it was at a barn dance, a Contra dance, actually.
-
But they're having a barn dance next month, so...
-
She caught a ride to a barn dance one night with a neighbor.
Fiction book (1991) -
P216 Hank and Darlene normally held their barn dance on the Fourth of July.
Fiction book (1995) -
Five years ago, I never suspected that I'd meet my future husband back there in the tangled clearings at a barn dance.
Academic text (1994) -
She and Tom kissed in secrecy behind Hank's house the night of the barn dance.
Fiction book (1998)
Synonyms
463
1.0
A social event where people move to music
14
6.2
A lively country party with folk music and dancing
1
3.3
A traditional group dance where couples face each other in lines and do the same steps to folk music
How Lively
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a social event in a barn' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'barn' (a farm building) with 'dance' (a social gathering for dancing). This location+event compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer it refers to a dance held in a barn or rural venue.
Etymology
Barn dance comes from real dances held in a barn, where people in the countryside would gather to dance and celebrate. So today barn dance means a 'social event' with country music and dancing.