Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An animated Spanish or Spanish-American dance in triple time.
- n. A piece of music for this dance.
- n. Informal Nonsense; tomfoolery.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A lively dance, very popular in Spain and Spanish America. It is danced by two persons, male and female. Both dancers use castanets, though sometimes the male dancer substitutes for them a tambourine.
- n. Music for such a dance or in its rhythm, which is triple and often based on the formula here shown: akin to the bolero, chica, seguidilla, etc.
- n. By extension, a ball or dance of any sort, especially in the formerly Spanish parts of the United States; hence, humorously, any noisy entertainment, with or without dancing; a jollification.
Wiktionary
- n. A form of flamenco music and dance
- n. An unknown entity or contraption
- v. To dance the fandango
- v. To dance, particularly with a lot of energy
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A lively dance, in 3-8 or 6-8 time, much practiced in Spain and Spanish America. Also, the tune to which it is danced.
- n. A ball or general dance, as in Mexico.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a provocative Spanish courtship dance in triple time; performed by a man and a woman playing castanets
Etymologies
- Spanish, possibly alteration of *fadango, from fado, from Portuguese, sad song; see fado.
Examples
“The term fandango, though originally signifying a peculiar kind of dance, seems to be used here for an evening's dancing entertainment, in which many different _pas_ are introduced.”
“Telegraph readers have been inundating the Letters page with examples of the curious fortunes of the word fandango in popular song.”
“The Rolling Stones whose lyrics feature the word fandango Photo: AP”
“They have also two favourite dances, called a fandango, and a bolero, both extremely lively and graceful.”
“The New Mexicans, both men and women, had a great fondness for jewelry, dress, and amusements; of the latter, the fandango was the principal, which was held in the most fashionable place of resort, where every belle and beauty in the town presented herself, attired in the most costly manner, and displaying her jewelled ornaments to the best advantage.”
“There is one thing that I think I shall regret leaving myself, and that is, the fandango and the two or three pretty senoritas one has been in the habit of meeting at it almost every night.”
“He might indeed go to their wretched "fandango" in the end -- they had all been urging him, Stephen, Medora, everybody -- but never as a cheap imitation of a swell so long as his own good, neat, well-made, every-day wardrobe existed as it was.”
“Early next morning, I left them playing their "fandango" play.”
John Andrew Jackson. The Experience of a Slave inSouth Carolina.
“He's the kind of a guy who would put a lampshade on his head and dance the fandango if he thought it would make one person smile, and it takes a similar kind of Texas chutzpah to get up on the stage at the Carlyle, in front of debutantes and dowagers sporting enough jewelry to exceed the gross national product of Madagascar, and sing "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
The Wall Street Journal: Jubilant and Jazzy for the Holidays
“This kist makes me crazy especially since fandango has it advertised that they are selling the tickets.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘fandango’.
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Old Western Slang
a hog-killin' time, a lick and a promise, according to Hoyle, ace-high, all down but nine, arbuckle's, at sea, back down, balled up, bang-up, bazoo, bear sign and 210 more...
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The weird, the wonderful and the plain hilarious
Loved for their ingenuity, an exact description, or simply for the pure joy of it.
acidulous, aprosdoketon, higgledy-piggledy, lexicographical, ninja, audacious, somnabulist, shivaree, amorphous, quidnunc, glib, melancholy and 353 more...
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Words without the letter E
chord, slur, anabaptist, anabolic, diabolic, turbid, torpid, somniloquist, trump, bipolar, dioxin, hydrocarbon and 107 more...
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Redundancing
The Moves. Do~do~ditty!
tango, bolero, cha cha, foxtrot, foxtantino, hip hop, hustle, jive, merengue, two step, paso doble, quickstep and 219 more...
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January 2012
bloviate, pastiche, apparat, facile, paroxysm, pique, bedfellow, pedigree, tutelage, protege, protégé, retroactive and 196 more...
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Musikgenres
indietronic, shoegaze, antifolk, freak-folk, dance punk, dubstep, indie, electro, house, minimalist, underground, drum'n'base and 74 more...
bilby Possibly in Durango. Dec 4, 2008
gangerh Will you do the fandango Dec 4, 2008
everett Very good. Dec 4, 2008
yarb Citation on frolicsome. Sep 20, 2008
yarb Monterey is also a great place for cock-fighting, gambling of all sorts, fandangos, and various kinds of amusement and knavery.
- Richard Henry Dana Jr., Two Years Before the Mast, ch. 13 Sep 6, 2008
roseandivy "We skipped the light fandango
turned cartwheels 'cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
but the crowd called out for more" Mar 19, 2008
uselessness My happiness is a golden poem! Mar 12, 2007