belly dance

Meanings

Noun

• A form of dance originating in the Middle East and characterized by movements of the torso.

Verb

• To perform a belly dance.

Origin

• , equivalent to belly + dance. First attested in English in 1889, in an article about that year's Exposition Universelle in Paris in the November 22 edition of the Yorkshire Factory Times: "A café in the Rue du Caire attracted 2,000 spectators daily to see the ‘belly dance’, and realised a total of 400,000 francs." Early sources also used the French term danse du ventre as-is.