A round dance, formerly danced at weddings, in which the women and men alternately knelt on a cushion to be kissed.
1607. Heywood, Woman kilde, Wks. 1874, II. 97. I that haue ere now deseru’d a cushion, call for the cushion dance.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., II. ii. VI. iv.
1698. The Dancing Master, 7. Joan Sanderson, or The Cushion Dance. An old Round Dance. [Described in full.]
1767. W. Hanbury, Charities Ch. Langton, 86. The Cushion Dance … seemed to be his greatest favourite.
1870. R. B. Brough, Marston Lynch, ii. 6. There was to be a mistletoe, and the cushion-dance.
