cotillion

Meanings

Noun

• A bold dance performed in groups of eight where women lift their skirts to display their ankles.
• The music regulating the cotillion.
• ; a coming-of-age party meant to present girls newly transitioned into womanhood to the community for courtship.
• A kind of woollen material for women's skirts.

Verb

• To dance the cotillion.

Origin

• Circa 1750, in the sense of the dance, from French cotillon ("petticoat"), extended to the dance because of the distinctive lift of dress revealing the petticoat, from cotte + -illon. Said to derive from the then-popular song Ma commère, quand je danse, mon cotillion va-t-il bien.