dances

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of dance.

   The lead performer dances with remarkable precision in the final act.

   Whenever the music starts, the toddler dances around the living room.

   Note

   Every use of the verb runs through this form, intransitive and transitive alike: a couple dances, she dances the tango, a breeze dances the leaves about. It also names a honeybee's movements that signal to other workers in the hive. Because the verb has a euphemistic sexual sense, a phrase like who she dances with can occasionally read double. The -s ending is required after he, she, it or any singular subject.

   She dances the tango every Friday night.

   The wind dances the dry leaves across the yard.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of dance.

   The festival featured traditional dances from several countries.

   The choreographer arranged the dances in order of increasing difficulty.

   Note

   Only the countable meanings of dance can be pluralized: steps and routines, social gatherings, pieces of music with a dance rhythm, even the figurative battle of wits between rivals. The art of dancing and the beat-driven music genre stay uncountable, so the dances of Bali means particular dances, never the discipline. The same spelling also serves the present-tense verb. A determiner or number in front marks the noun.

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