bayadere

Noun

bayadere (countable and uncountable, plural bayaderes)

1. (countable, dated) A female dancer.
   • Her performance being finished, the bayadere was succeeded by others, each of whom appeared to have her specialty--one imitating by her postures a serpent-charmer; another quite unequivocally representing a man-charmer; another rapidly executing what seemed an interminable pirouette.1876, Various, Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. XVII, No. 99, March, 1876
   • For the time, at any rate, the neat dexterity of counting and numbering machines, building machines, spinning engines, patent doorways, explosive motors, grain and water elevators, slaughter-house machines and harvesting appliances, was more fascinating to Graham than any bayadere.1899, H.G. Wells, The Sleeper Awakes

   Synonyms:

   balladine

2. (attributive) A type of fabric having strongly contrasting stripes.
   • Bertha had chosen a blue and white silk of a bayadere stripe, with lace ruffles at the neck and wrists and a skirt of voluminous fulness.1906, Carolyn Wells, Patty's Summer Days