[a. Gr. Τερψιχόρη ‘dance-enjoying,’ name of the Muse of dancing and of the dramatic chorus, f. τέρπειν to delight + χορός dance, CHORUS.] The Muse of dancing; hence, a female dancer; dancing as an art.
1711. Shaftesb., Charac. (1737), I. 317. The Thalia’s, the Polyhymnia’s, the Terpsychore’s, the Euterpe’s willingly join their parts.
1756–7. trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), III. 427. Stranger, approach, behold this homely chair, Which e’en Terpsichore herself might chuse.
1906. 19th Cent., March, 457. We should lament the death of Terpsichore.
Hence Terpsichorean a., of, pertaining to, or of the nature of dancing; saltatory. So Terpsichoreal a. (rare) in same sense; hence Terpsichoreally adv., by means of dancing.
1869. Daily News, 19 May. The loving couples … hold themselves aloof from the busy hum, or mix in it for *terpsichoreal or restorative purposes only. Ibid. (1900), 12 March, 8/4. A poem, ‘Voltigia,’ which poem the ‘Tenth Muse’ condescends to interpret *terpsichoreally.
1825. T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Sutherl. (Colburn), 26. She had seen their *Terpsichorean evolutions.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. xi. An entirely new view of the Terpsichorean art.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 98. Sometimes a series of co-ordinated gestures and movements [in hysterical persons] constitute a regular terpsichorean display.
