Word of the Day

: April 15, 2011

terpsichorean

adjective terp-sih-kuh-REE-un

What It Means

: of or relating to dancing

terpsichorean in Context

One film critic speculated that this feel-good, terpsichorean movie would have tweens across the nation begging their parents to send them to dance school.

"The Jazz Singer turned the industry on its ear, and Jolson's contribution can hardly be overstated. His vitality, inseparable from his ego, was tuned to a vocal, terpsichorean, and comedic pitch that nullified the need for microphones, scripts, or other actors." -- From Gary Giddins' 2010 book Warning Shadows: Home Alone with Classic Cinema

Did You Know?

In Greek and Roman mythology, Terpsichore was one of the nine muses, those graceful sister-goddesses who presided over learning and the arts. Terpsichore was the patron of dance and choral song (and later lyric poetry), and in artistic representations she is often shown dancing and holding a lyre. Her name, which earned an enduring place in English through the adjective "terpsichorean," literally means "dance-enjoying," from "terpsis," meaning "enjoyment," and "choros," meaning "dance." "Choros" is also the source of "choreography" and "chorus" (those "choruses" in Athenian drama consisted of dancers as well as singers). The only other word we know that incorporates "terpsis" is "terpodion," an obsolete term for a piano-like musical instrument that was invented in 1816 but never really caught on.