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  1. cancan love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. An exuberant dance that originated in France, performed by women and marked by high kicking.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A kind of dance performed in low resorts by men and women, who indulge in extravagant postures and lascivious gestures; hence, a quadrille or a similar dance performed in this manner.
  2. To perform the dance known as the cancan (which see).

Wiktionary

  1. n. A high-kicking chorus line dance originating in France.
  2. n. motocross A trick where one leg is brought over the seat, so that both legs are on one side.
  3. v. To dance the cancan.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A rollicking French dance, accompanied by indecorous or extravagant postures and gestures.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a high-kicking dance of French origin performed by a female chorus line

Etymologies

  1. French. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “Is it mere coincidence that the most representative Parisian dance is called the cancan?”

    Skinny Legs and All

  • “After dinner du Maurier and Barty sang capital songs of the quartier latin, and told stories of the atelier, and even danced a kind of cancan together -- an invention of their own -- which they called "_le dernier des Abencerrages_.”

    The Martian

  • “The word "cancan" in French means "scandal," and the high-kicks and lifting and tossing of skirts did scandalize”

    Answers.com: Today's Highlights

  • “Fancy abandoned the cancan for the Charlie Brown theme song.”

    Simon & Schuster: Slice Of Cherry

  • “It clearly depicted a little boy and a slightly bigger woman dancing the cancan and every once in a while kissing a little.”

    Simon & Schuster: Bubble in the Bathtub

  • “And in that light he saw an amazingly beautiful rainbow, like a line of multicolored, high-kicking cancan dancers at the Moulin Rouge in Paris in 1909.”

    Simon & Schuster: Bubble in the Bathtub

  • “This night his tiny fingers made shadows that turned into a line of kicking cancan dancers on the curtain fabric.”

    Simon & Schuster: Bubble in the Bathtub

  • “Just as naked as the day I was born, in front of a huge audience and eight super-attractive cancan dancers.”

    Simon & Schuster: Bubble in the Bathtub

  • “And a line of cancan dancers all dressed in red were staring at Nilly.”

    Simon & Schuster: Bubble in the Bathtub

  • “But most of all, he dreamed that he was dancing the cancan on the stage at the Moulin Rouge in Paris, where an enthusiastic audience and all the dancing girls were clapping to the beat and yelling: Nil-ly!”

    Simon & Schuster: Bubble in the Bathtub

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