beguine

From American French béguine, from French béguin.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /beɪˈɡiːn/
• (US) IPA^(key): /bə.ˈɡiːn/

beguine (plural beguines)

1. A ballroom dance, similar to a slow rumba, originally from French West Indies and popularized abroad largely through the song Begin the Beguine; the music for the dance.
   • 1935, Cole Porter, Begin the Beguine,

     When they begin the beguine, / It brings back the sound of music so tender / It brings back the night of tropical splendor, / It brings back a memory ever green.

   • 1956, Langston Hughes, I Wonder as I Wander, 2003, Arnold Rampersad, Dolan Hubbard (editors), The Collected Works of Langston Hughes, Volume 14: Autobiography, page 69,

     It was a haunting kind of beguine with a strange sad lyric about slavery and freedom set against insistent drums and voluptuous maracas:

   • 2003, Brent Hayes Edwards, The Practice of Diaspora, page 174,

     He is especially fascinated by the chacha, the percussion instrument that sets the basic rolling rhythmic foundation of the beguine and propels the dancers, writing that “the tempo is set by a shiny tin container filled with pebbles. […] ″

beguine

1. beguine (dance and music)