Dancing. [Fr.; lit. ‘chasing, chase.’] A gliding step, in a quadrille and other dances, executed by bringing one foot behind the other while this is at the same time advanced, much as in bringing oneself into step in walking; also, the name of a figured step, containing two of these, the direction for which is chassez croisez.
1867. Miss Broughton, Cometh up as Fl., II. iii. 42–3 (Hoppe). Who makes her steps and chassé’s, as the world chasséd in the days when she was Miss Martha Harris.
1880. Ball-room Compan. (Routledge), 22. (Quadrille) Steps are gone quite out of fashion: even the chassé has been given up for some time past. Ibid., 74. (Valse à deux temps) The step contains two movements, a glissade and a chassez.
