conga line
5
3.6
- noun
- /ˈkɔŋɡə laɪn/
:
línea de conga
- The children laughed when she joined the conga line at the wrong end.
- form a conga line
- join a conga line
- lead a conga line
Examples
-
Dominguez leads a conga line.
Fiction book (1999) -
Dominguez leads the conga line down the stairs into the street, where mariachis gather.
Fiction book (1999) -
Then again, you always were at the back of the conga line.
-
Start the conga line dance.
-
Behind him now, a conga line has formed.
Fiction book (1999) -
Right now, we're witnessing the largest conga line ever.
-
♪ Come along with me to the conga line ♪
-
The women's conga line circles Dominguez.
Fiction book (1999) -
In the living room, Juanita and her cousin Julia were arranging the children into a conga line, beginning with the smallest.
Fiction book (1990) -
At the party, everyone joined hands and formed a large conga line, dancing joyfully to the music.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a line of people dancing the conga' is directly derivable from combining 'conga' (a specific single-file dance) with 'line' (a formation or queue). This noun+noun composition follows a transparent, common English pattern (and similar constructions exist in other languages), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily understand the MWE.
Etymology
Conga line comes from a dance from Cuba called the conga, where people hold hands or touch hips and move forward together in a long line to the beat of a drum. So the picture of people joined and moving one after another explains why it means 'a line of people, one behind another, dancing together'.