DANCER

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does dancer mean? 

• DANCER (noun)
  The noun DANCER has 2 senses:

1. a performer who dances professionally

2. a person who participates in a social gathering arranged for dancing (as a ball)

  Familiarity information: DANCER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DANCER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A performer who dances professionally

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

dancer; professional dancer; terpsichorean

Hypernyms ("dancer" is a kind of...):

performer; performing artist (an entertainer who performs a dramatic or musical work for an audience)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dancer"):

ballet master (a man who directs and teaches and rehearses dancers for a ballet company)

ballet dancer (a trained dancer who is a member of a ballet company)

taxi dancer (a woman employed to dance with patrons who pay a fee for each dance)

tap dancer; tapper (a dancer who sounds out rhythms by using metal taps on the toes and heels of the shoes)

nautch girl (a professional dancing girl in India)

kachina (a masked dancer during a Pueblo religious ceremony who is thought to embody some particular spirit)

hoofer; stepper (a professional dancer)

dance master; dancing-master (a professional teacher of dancing)

chorine; chorus girl; showgirl (a woman who dances in a chorus line)

belly dancer; exotic belly dancer; exotic dancer (a woman who performs a solo belly dance)

ballet mistress (a woman who directs and teaches and rehearses dancers for a ballet company)

Instance hyponyms:

Eugene Curran Kelly; Gene Kelly; Kelly (United States dancer who performed in many musical films (1912-1996))

Nijinsky; Vaslav Nijinsky; Waslaw Nijinsky (Russian dancer considered by many to be the greatest dancer of the 20th century (1890-1950))

Nureyev; Rudolf Nureyev (Russian dancer who was often the partner of Dame Margot Fonteyn and who defected to the United States in 1961 (born in 1938))

Lola Montez; Marie Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert; Montez (Irish dancer (1818-1861))

Anna Pavlova; Pavlova (Russian ballerina (1882-1931))

Ginger Rogers; Rogers; Virginia Katherine McMath; Virginia McMath (United States dancer and film actress who partnered with Fred Astaire (1911-1995))

Salome (woman whose dancing beguiled Herod into giving her the head of John the Baptist)

Shawn; Ted Shawn (United States dancer and choreographer who collaborated with Ruth Saint Denis (1891-1972))

Moira Shearer; Shearer (Scottish ballet dancer and actress (born in 1926))

Ruth Saint Denis; Ruth St. Denis; Saint Denis; St. Denis (United States dancer and choreographer who collaborated with Ted Shawn (1877-1968))

Maria Tallchief; Tallchief (United States ballerina who promoted American ballet through tours and television appearances (born in 1925))

Tharp; Twyla Tharp (innovative United States dancer and choreographer (born in 1941))

Antony Tudor; Tudor (United States dancer and choreographer (born in England) (1909-1987))

Galina Sergeevna Ulanova; Galina Ulanova; Ulanova (Russian ballet dancer (1910-1998))

Gaetan Vestris; Vestris (Italian dancing-master for Louis XVI who was considered the greatest dancer of his day; he was the first to discard the mask in mime (1729-1808))

Leonid Fyodorovich Myasin; Leonide Fedorovitch Massine; Massine (French choreographer and ballet dancer (born in Russia) (1895-1979))

Alicia Alonso; Alonso (Cuban dancer and choreographer (born in 1921))

Astaire; Fred Astaire (United States dancer and cinema actor noted for his original and graceful tap dancing (1899-1987))

Balanchine; George Balanchine (United States dancer and choreographer (born in Russia) noted for his abstract and formal works (1904-1983))

Baryshnikov; Mikhail Baryshnikov (Russian dancer and choreographer who migrated to the United States (born in 1948))

Cunningham; Merce Cunningham (United States dancer and choreographer (born in 1922))

Agnes de Mille; Agnes George de Mille; de Mille (United States dancer and choreographer who introduced formal dance to a wide audience (1905-1993))

Duncan; Isadora Duncan (United States dancer and pioneer of modern dance (1878-1927))

Dame Margot Fonteyn; Fonteyn (English dancer who danced with Rudolf Nureyev (born in 1919))

Graham; Martha Graham (United States dancer and choreographer whose work was noted for its austerity and technical rigor (1893-1991))

Jamison; Judith Jamison (United States dancer and choreographer (born in 1944))

Karsavina; Tamara Karsavina (Russian dancer who danced with Nijinsky (1885-1978))

Dame Alicia Markova; Lilian Alicia Marks; Markova (English ballet dancer (born in 1910))

Arthur Mitchell; Mitchell (United States dancer who formed the first Black classical ballet company (born in 1934))

Derivation:

dance (move in a pattern; usually to musical accompaniment; do or perform a dance)

dance (move in a graceful and rhythmical way)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person who participates in a social gathering arranged for dancing (as a ball)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

dancer; social dancer

Hypernyms ("dancer" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dancer"):

clog dancer (someone who does clog dancing)

dancing partner (one of a pair of people who dance together)

folk dancer (someone who does folk dances)

raver (a participant in a rave dancing party)

waltzer (a dancer who waltzes)

Derivation:

dance (move in a pattern; usually to musical accompaniment; do or perform a dance)

dance (move in a graceful and rhythmical way)

 Context examples 

I was diverted with none so much as that of the rope-dancers, performed upon a slender white thread, extended about two feet, and twelve inches from the ground.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I am a pretty good dancer in my way, but I dare say you are a better.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

He was a good dancer, and she whirled around and around with him in a heaven of delight, her head against his shoulder, wishing that it could last forever.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He was no dancer in general.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

But these celestial dancers are all twirling at different speeds.

(Kepler Watches Stellar Dancers in the Pleiades Cluster, NASA)

Alleyne crossed himself as he gazed at this unnatural sight, and could scarce hold his ground with a steady face, when the two dancers, catching sight of him, came bouncing in his direction.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I told you I would send Adele to school; and what do I want with a child for a companion, and not my own child,—a French dancer's bastard?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

But this was far from being the case, and though by unwearied diligence they gained even the top of the room, their situation was just the same; they saw nothing of the dancers but the high feathers of some of the ladies.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

So Frank Churchill is a capital dancer, I understand.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

And turning to his uncle, who was now close to them, “Is not Fanny a very good dancer, sir?”

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)