a ballroom dance in triple time with strong accent on the first beat, or a piece of music for or in the tempo of this
The waltz is the essence of the ballroom, with a characteristic strong beat followed by two lighter ones. A heady mixture of whirling and swaying that originated in the Austrian peasant Laendler, from the 18th cent. onwards it inspired countless compositions and is still popular in Vienna, the city of The Blue Danube. This was the first dance in which couples embraced each other, which naturally rendered it both popular and scandalous — Amanda Holden
[German Walzer, from walzen to roll, dance, from Old High German walzan to turn, roll]