[a. Sp. fandango; alleged to be of negro origin.]
1. A lively dance in 3/4 time, very popular in Spain and Spanish America.
17[?]. Eliz. Carter, Lett. (1808), 138. You are twirled round in the fandango of the world.
1774. Mad. D’Arblay, Early Diary (1889), I. 286. Upon my word, the fandango, like the allemande, requires sentiment, to dance it well.
1812. S. Rogers, Voyage of Columbus, v. 146.
| And strike your castanets, with gipsy-maid | |
| Dancing Fandangos in the chestnut shade. |
1863. Ouida, Held in Bondage I. iv. 104. Scores of Castilian girls I have seen doing the fandango, under the village chestnut-trees, would beat her hollow.
b. Mus. A tune to which the fandango is danced.
1800. H. Wells, Constantia Neville (ed. 2), I. 258. Spanish ladies with guittars, most elegantly dressed according to the style of the country, who never had read of a fandango, or could play a tune fit to be heard.
1851. Mayne Reid, Scalp Hunt., III. xvii. 224. The playing commences. It is a merry air—a fandango; one of those to which the Andalusian foot delights to keep time.
1866. Engel, Nat. Mus., i. 10. Gluck adopted in his ballet ‘Don Juan’ a well-known Spanish fandango.
2. A social assembly for dancing, a ball.
In 18th c. common in English use; now only U.S., or with reference to foreign countries.
1760–72. trans. Juan & Ulloa’s Voy. (ed. 3), I. 39. One of the most favourite amusements of the natives here, is a ball, or Fandango.
1766. C. Anstey, Bath Guide, xiii. 14.
| You’ve heard of my Lady Bunbutter, no doubt, | |
| How she loves an assembly, fandango, or rout. |
1785. Cowper, The Faithful Bird, 33.
| O ye, who never taste the joys | |
| Of Friendship, satisfied with noise, | |
| Fandango, ball, and rout! |
1854. Bartlett, Personal Narrative, I. xviii. 429. A perpetual fandango was thus kept up day and night; where people of all sorts, sizes, and conditions might be seen twirling to the slow measure of the Spanish reel, or the more active waltz and polka.
3. = FANDANGLE. rare.
1856. Miss Mulock, J. Halifax, x. (1859), 109. No fripperies or fandangos of any sort.
4. attrib., as fandango-bird.
1871. J. F. Hamilton, in Ibis, 305. The natives [of Brazil] call them Fandango birds, and say that they are in the habit of performing a dance.
