[Sp.] A lively Spanish dance; also the air to which it is danced.
1787. J. Townsend, Journ. Spain (1792), I. 331. The happiness to see Madame Mello dance a volero.
1809. Byron, Ch. Har., I. lxxxiv. (1st draught) Wks. 1846, 14/1, note. She mingles in the gay Bolero [rhyme-wd. hero].
a. 1845. Hood, Drink. Song, iii. The jigs, the boleros, fandangos, and jumps.
1862. Athenæum, 25 Jan., 11/3. The Fandango and Bolero are only a more decent form of an originally African dance … the Bolero was invented in 1780.
fig. 1869. Ld. Lytton, Orval, 165. The new dance of the Libertines! Freedom’s bolero.
