waltz

From German Walzer, from walzen (“to dance”), from Old High German walzan (“to turn”), from Proto-Germanic *walt- (“to turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn”). Doublet of valse. More at *waltaną.

• (UK) enPR: wŏlts, wôlts; IPA^(key): /wɒlts/, /wɔːlts/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) enPR: wôlts, IPA^(key): /wɔlts/
  • (cot–caught merger) enPR: wälts, IPA^(key): /wɑlts/
• Rhymes: -ɔːlts, -ɒlts

waltz (plural waltzes)

1. A ballroom dance in 3/4 time.
   • 1938 October 26, The Daily News, Perth, page 11, column 5:

     Miss Esler and Mr. McMorrow went to Kalgoorlie to adjudicate at the goldfields waltz and quickstep championships, and found the standard of dancing surprisingly high.

2. A piece of music for this dance (or in triple time).
3. (informal) A simple task.

• bridal waltz
• cross-step waltz
• English waltz
• French waltz
• international standard waltz
• slow waltz
• Viennese waltz
• wedding waltz

waltz (third-person singular simple present waltzes, present participle waltzing, simple past and past participle waltzed)

1. (intransitive, transitive) To dance the waltz (with).

   They waltzed for twenty-one hours and seventeen minutes straight, setting a record.

   While waltzing her around the room, he stepped on her toes only once.

   • 2010, Peter Corris, Torn Apart, Allen and Unwin, page 212:

     "Can you flamenco?" "If I have to. How about you?" "Love, I can barely waltz. Jive a bit if I'm pissed enough."

2. (intransitive, transitive, usually with in, into, around, etc.) To move briskly and unhesitatingly, especially in an inappropriately casual manner, or when unannounced or uninvited.

   He waltzed into the room like he owned the place.

   You can't just waltz him in here without documentation!

   • 2011 September 28, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Olympiakos”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Oxlade-Chamberlain, 18, became the youngest English Champions League scorer when he waltzed across the area to plant a low shot into the corner.

   • 2021 February 25, Mara Altman, “Glitzy, Tragic and Selfish: Female Con Artists Waltz by Society’s Rules”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     The women in Ms. Telfer’s book waltz right by societal rules that would leave the rest of us at a standstill. We are left tsk-tsking, while also in awe.

3. (informal) To accomplish a task with little effort.

   Don't worry about the interview — you'll waltz it.

4. (transitive) To move with fanfare.
   • 1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “Chapter the last”, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC:

     And he said, what he had planned in his head from the start, if we got Jim out all safe, was for us to […] take him back up home on a steamboat, in style, and pay him for his lost time, and write word ahead and get out all the niggers around, and have them waltz him into town with a torchlight procession and a brass-band, and then he would be a hero, and so would we.

• waltzer
• waltz Matilda

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): [ˈvalt͡s]

waltz m inan

1. waltz (dance)

• waltz in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• waltz in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989