baton twirler
1
6.5
- noun
:
bailarín de bastón
- Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck lead a parade of high-stepping baton twirlers through Tokyo Disneyland.
Examples
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The championship event featured numerous baton twirlers showcasing their skills in front of an enthusiastic audience.
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You were a baton twirler in a religious service?
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I didn't know you were a baton twirler.
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I'm interviewing a 14-year-old blind baton twirler.
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Mount Rose Main Street - Later the Passing Parade: Three fat vets, dressed as the Revolutionary War trio, hold American, Minnesota, and POW/MIA flags. Two baton twirlers stand in front of the Mount Rose High School Band.
Fiction book (1999) -
During the parade, the talented baton twirler amazed the crowd with her graceful spins and flips.
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As a proud baton twirler in the marching band, she practiced every day to perfect her routine.
Synonyms
4
8.1
A person who twirls a baton in a marching band or parade
1
5.6
A person who spins a baton in parades and shows
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a person who performs with and twirls a baton' is directly and predictably derived from the constituents 'baton' (a lightweight twirling rod) and 'twirler' (one who twirls). This compound noun follows a straightforward English agent-noun formation and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Baton twirler comes from marching bands and parades, where a person holds a long stick called a baton and spins or flips it to make a show. Because they do tricks with the baton, the phrase means 'a person who performs with and twirls a baton', often to lead or entertain a crowd.