释义 |
▪ I. ‖ pas (‖ pa, pɑː) [F. pas step, precedency, etc.] 1. The right of going first; precedence. Phrases, to dispute, give, take, yield, the pas [F. prendre, céder le pas, etc.] Also fig.
1707Vulpone 23 It appears they have always fiercely contended for the pas among themselves. 1712Addison Spect. No. 529 ⁋7 Aristotle would have the latter yield the Pas to the former. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. 8 Nov., My aunt and her paramour took the pas. 1848Thackeray Bk. Snobs xvi, He takes the pas of dukes. 1885Spectator 22 Aug 1109/2 It is difficult to give any one portion of it the pas of the others. 2. A step in dancing; a kind of dance; mostly in names of special dances, as pas d'action, a thematic dance or mime; pas de basque, a dance step derived from Basque national dances; pas de bourrée: see bourrée 2; pas de chat (see quot. 1957); pas de cheval (see quots.); pas de deux, a dance or figure for two persons; also transf. and fig.; pas de quatre, a dance or figure for four persons; pas de trois, a dance or figure for three persons; also transf. and fig.; pas grave, a slow or solemn dance; pas seul, a dance or figure for one person.
1775Sheridan Rivals iii. iv, Mine are true-born English legs, they don't understand their curst French lingo! their pas this, and pas that, and pas t'other. 1868Daily News 3 Nov., The father of some ‘young phenomenon’ of a minor theatre fiddling in an ecstacy of admiration at his little daughter's rehearsal of her ‘pas’ before going on.
1951Ballet Ann. V. 25 He has a superb plastic imagination which he showed even in that wickedly conceived *pas d'action to the music of Tristan. 1957G. B. L. Wilson Dict. Ballet 206 Pas d'action, lit. action dance. A dance expressive of a theme or telling a story, in oppostion to absolute dance—e.g. the Rose Adagio in Sleeping Beauty.
1818T. Wilson Quadrille & Cotillion Panorama 100 *Pas de basque, a Step used in Quadrille Dancing. 1865Mrs. Gaskell Lett. (1966) 748 The neat maid servant had performed a sort of ‘pas-de-basque’, hopping & sliding with more grace than security to the dishes she held. 1892E. Scott Dancing ix. 119 Remember, in performing a gavotte, that the French pas de basque is employed, in which the first two movements are made to one count of the music. 1948Ballet Ann. II. 144 To see a Basque dancer perform the pas de basque is to realise the true nature of that step. The soft, cat-like landing gives an impression of immense strength and of power in reserve. 1964J. F. & T. M. Flett Trad. Dancing in Scotl. viii. 190 In reel tempo the commonest setting step was the pas de Basque. 1968J. Winearls Mod. Dance (ed. 2) iii. 88 The pas de basque lends itself to many rhythmic and expressive variations.
1914T. & M. W. Kinney Dance iv. 90 In this group might appropriately be included *pas de bourrée dessus-dessous (i.e., in front and behind); glissades; petits battements; and the devilish-looking little *pas-de-chat. 1916Dancing Times Sept. 327 [Espinosa's] ‘Syllabus of Dancing.’..Steps. — .. pas de basque, pas de chat, pas de cheval. 1922Beaumont & Idzikowski Man. Classical Theatr. Dancing ii. v. 197 Pas de chat. This pas is composed of three movements, generally executed en diagonale. 1953E. Taylor Sleeping Beauty vi. 114 The staggered thumps of children practising a pas de chat. Ibid. 116 She was still humming the pas de chat tune. 1957G. B. L. Wilson Dict. Ballet 207 Pas de chat, lit. a cat's step. A springing movement in which one foot jumps over the other, executed on the diagonal. A jumping step in which the feet are one after the other drawn up to the knee of the opposite leg... Also called pas de papillon. 1976New Yorker 15 Nov. 111/1 The pas-de-chat/pirouette ending of the second variation, nowadays done at the New York City Ballet as a line of brisés, gave her no difficulty.
1916*Pas de cheval [see pas de chat above]. 1930Craske & Beaumont Theory & Pract. Allegro in Classical Ballet 41 Pas de cheval. Stand erect in the centre of the room and face 2, with the head upright [etc.]. 1957G. B. L. Wilson Dict. Ballet 207 Pas de cheval, a pawing movement of one foot while the dancer hops on the other.
1762G.-A. Gallini Treat. Art Dancing 282 Venus and Adonis form a *pas-de-deux, or duet-dance. 1775H. Walpole Let. 23 Aug. in Corr. (1965) XXXII. 255, I was not so struck with the dancing as I expected, except with a pas de deux by the Marquis de Noailles and Madame Nolstein. 1802[see ensemble n. 1]. 1806E. Fremantle in Wynne Diaries (1940) III. 265 The grand Ballet..has fine effect... Des Hayes pas de deux with his wife quite beautiful. 1808T. Ashe Trav. Amer. III. xxxv. 118 The Waltz had most votaries; the Pas de deux next. 1819T. Hope Anastasius (1820) I. vii. 136 A pas-de-deux which we performed together as a lover and his mistress. 1955Times 5 July 14/1 The choreography is designedly adventurous,..particularly in the long central section which is set as a pas de deux. 1960[see pas de trois below]. 1962Listener 13 Sept. 380/2 Dr Adenauer would have to go faster and further in the pas de deux to convince himself and his people that ‘the Franco-German alliance is what counts’. 1973Times Lit. Suppl. 26 Oct. 1324/1 Between them they perform a ritual examination of conscience, a pas de deux in which they are painfully at cross-purposes. 1978Times 27 May 14/7 This was no ordinary debut performance in the corps de ballet, but was a solo performance in a pas de deux specially introduced for her. 1978Country Life 27 July 220/2 She..rode side-saddle in the pas-de-deux dressage with David Hunt.
1882Standard 26 Dec. 5 The famous *pas de quatre which had the effect of killing the Ballet in England. 1890[see gaiety 4]. 1897G. Bell Let. 28 Jan. (1927) I. iii. 42 There is a rather nice sort of variant of the ‘pas de quatre’ which they call the ‘pas de patineur’ which I quickly learnt. 1902Chesterton Twelve Types 43 His metre is a bounding ‘pas de quatre’. 1978Times 9 Mar. 13/6 Ashton's pas de quatre and Neapolitan dance.
1762G.-A. Gallini Treat. Art Dancing 280 A *pas-de-trois or trio-dance follows. 1773H. Walpole Let. 3 Apr. in Corr. (1965) XXXII. 116 Lord Delawar's two eldest daughters and the Ancaster infanta performed a pas de trois as well as Mlle Heinel. 1794[see divertissement 2]. 1823T. Creevey Let. 14 Feb. in Creevey Papers (1963) xi. 190 We went to our own play⁓house, where we saw 1st a pas de trois between Wilson, Hobhouse and Canning, and then a pas de deux between Broughman and Canning. 1957G. B. L. Wilson Dict. Ballet 208 Pas de trois (de quatre, de cinq, de six, etc.), a dance for three (four, five, six, etc.) persons. 1960A. Podhajsky Spanish Riding School Vienna 40 The ‘Pas de Deux’ or ‘Pas de Trois’ demands perfectly trained horses which allow themselves to be led by the rider both as regards keeping time and performing the steps with great precision. 1976New Yorker 9 Feb. 95/1 There is a gracious and supple, long-limbed pas de trois..in which the boy holds an invisible lute or mandolin. 1977D. Williams Treasure by Degrees vi. 55 The Dean's violent about-turn led him straight into the arms of Amelia Hatch... She, in turn, recoiled on to Witaker so that all three had momentarily become engaged in a curious pas de trois for ill-matched performers.
1804C. Smith Conversations, etc. I. 140 She..shewed a new *pas grave, which her dancing-master had lately introduced.
1813Byron Waltz 14 Not decent David, when, before the ark, His grand *pas-seul excited some remark. 1830R. Barton tr. Blasis's Code of Terpsichore v. 354 From time to time these bacchanalia are interrupted by pas seuls and pas de deux. 1832F. Trollope Dom. Manners Amer. I. xiii. 188 Had Mercury stepped down, and danced a pas seul upon earth, his godship could not have produced a more violent sensation. 1839Dickens Nich. Nick. xlviii. 473 A castanet pas seul by the Infant Phenomenon. 1849Thackeray Pendennis I. xxvii. 260 Now the young ladies went over to Pen's side, and Cornet Perch performed a pas seul in his turn. 1863Mrs. Gaskell Sylvia's L. I. xiii. 291 Philip hardly knew what he said in reply, the mention of that pas-seul lifted such a weight off his heart. 1870M. Bridgman Rob Lynne I. viii. 165 Fanny..performed a..pas de seul up the garden path. 1939Joyce Let. 28 Jan. (1966) III. 436, I am afraid the traditional pas seul with high kicking effects..will be beyond my powers this year of grace. 1955Times 29 Aug. 10/5 If Mr. Ashton has not succeeded in making the love-duet the climax of his work he has almost compensated for it in Juliet's pas seul after the marriage in Friar Laurence's cell. 1978S. Rosenfeld Temples of Thespis iv. 71 Little Chatterley, as the black slave, was admired for his pas seul. 3. pas-de-souris. (Fortif.) [F. lit. ‘mouse-steps’.] A staircase from the ravelin to the ditch.
1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Pas de Souris. 1859F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 268 Stairs, or Pas de souris. These steps of masonry are made at the gorges of the several works, and at the salient, and re-entering angles of the counterscarp. ▪ II. pas obs. form of pace, pass. |