Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A ballroom dance similar to the foxtrot, based on a dance of Martinique and St. Lucia.
  • noun The music for this dance.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See Beguin.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A woman belonging to one of the religious and charitable associations or communities in the Netherlands, and elsewhere, whose members live in beguinages and are not bound by perpetual vows.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A ballroom dance, similar to a slow rumba, that originated in the French West Indies.
  • noun The music for this dance.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (Roman Catholic Church) a member of a lay sisterhood (one of several founded in the Netherlands in the 12th and 13th centuries); though not taking religious vows the sisters followed an austere life
  • noun a ballroom dance that originated in the French West Indies; similar to the rumba
  • noun music written in the bolero rhythm of the beguine dance

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French (West Indies) béguine, from French béguin, hood, flirtation, from beguine, Beguine; see Beguine.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From American French béguine, from béguin.

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Examples

Comments

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  • both a dance

    Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine" (1935) refers to a kind of popular dance of West Indian origin, from French colloquial béguin "an infatuation, boyfriend, girlfriend," earlier "child's bonnet," and before that "nun's headdress" (14c.), from Middle Dutch beggaert, ultimately the same word. - Online Etymology Dict.

    and an order of women religious

    late 15c., from French béguine (13c.), Medieval Latin beguina, a member of a women's spiritual order said to have been founded c.1180 in Liege in the Low Countries. They are said to take their name from the surname of Lambert le Bègue "Lambert the Stammerer," a Liege priest who was instrumental in their founding, and it's likely the word was pejorative at first.

    The order generally preserved its reputation, though it quickly drew imposters who did not; nonetheless it eventually was condemned as heretical. A male order, called Beghards founded communities by the 1220s in imitation of them, but they soon degenerated (cf. Old French beguin "(male) Beguin," also "hypocrite") and wandered begging in the guise of religion; they likely were the source of the words beg and beggar, though there is disagreement over whether Beghard produced Middle Dutch beggaert "mendicant" or was produced by it. OnLine Etymology Dict.

    February 6, 2013