| 释义 |
ˈsnake dance
Also snake-dance.
[snake n.]
1. Among the Hopi Indians, a religious dance involving the handling of live rattlesnakes. Also, among other American Indian groups, various dances so called from the motion of the dancers or the function of the dance.
1772D. Taitt Jrnl. 6 Mar. in N. D. Mereness Trav. Amer. Colonies (1916) 517 The women danced the Snake dance, the leader haveing her legs Covered with Turpin shells which is filled with small stones on purpose to make a noise. 1883Pall Mall G. 16 Nov. 12/1 A snake dance of Savages. 1891Rep. Bureau Amer. Ethnol. VIII. 136 Among the Hopi, particularly at Walpi, the snake-dance is renowned. 1901Athenæum 11 May 599/2 He saw snake-dances and fire ceremonies, of which he preserved an accurate report. 1927D. H. Lawrence Mornings in Mexico 136 The snake dance (I am told) is held once a year. Ibid. 138 Three thousand people came to see the little snake dance this year. 1940R. Chandler Farewell, my Lovely xx. 158 I'm no school-marm at the snake dances. 1965R. & D. Morris Men & Snakes ii. 38 The snakes used in the famous Hopi Snake Dance are not worshipped, but sent as messengers to the raingods of the underworld. 1970K. Platt Pushbutton Butterfly ix. 100 A Shoshone snake dance.
2. a. A dance performed as a stage entertainment in imitation of the movement of a snake or involving the handling of a snake.
1895N.Y. Dramatic News 23 Nov. 4 Ida Siddons in her snake dance, two Italian pantomimists [etc.]. 1971R. Russell tr. Ahmad's Shore & Wave vii. 66 ‘What cabaret girl?’ ‘The one who does the snake dance.’
b. A dance performed by a group of people linked together in a long line and moving about in a zig-zag fashion, as at parties, celebrations, etc. orig. and chiefly U.S.
1911G. Burgess Find Woman x. 244 So he..went, reminding them of the [football] score and the snake⁓dance every time he opened a bottle. 1946E. B. Thompson Amer. Daughter 234 A few minutes later [I] was a link in a howling, writhing snake dance that weaved itself in and out of the business section. 1960Daily Tel. 15 July 19/2, 23,000 in Tokyo anti-treaty snake-dance. 1965G. B. Schaller Year of Gorilla viii. 206 One grabbed the rump hairs of the first one with both hands, the third animal did the same to the second one, and then all three careened wildly down a slope in snake-dance fashion. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 10 July 11/1 During the rebellious days of the 1960s, college students spurned many traditional campus pleasures, from spring proms and snake dances to the social reassurance offered by membership in fraternities and sororities.
Also (with hyphen) as v. intr.; so snake-dancing ppl. a.; hence snake-dancer.
1922Chicago Daily Maroon 3 Oct. 2/1 The public..picture..howling, snakedancing crowds whenever colleges and universities are mentioned. 1931F. L. Allen Only Yesterday 17 Eight hundred Barnard College girls snake-danced on Morningside Heights in New York. 1960Daily Tel. 15 July 19/2 They snake-danced through the city with their paper lanterns and red banners and dispersed quietly without incident, police said. 1977C. McCullough Thorn Birds v. 93 Princess Houri the Snake Dancer (See Her Fan the Flames of a Cobra's Rage!). |