Word.ws English Dictionary

courtesy turn

courtesy turn noun: a square dancing and contra dancing move in which the man puts his arm around the waist of the woman and turns her around by moving backwards while she moves forward.

Noun

courtesy turn (plural courtesy turns)

  1. A square dancing and contra dancing move in which the man puts his arm around the waist of the woman and turns her around by moving backwards while she moves forward.
    • In the beginning, the Eight Chain thru is taught with smooth arm-around-waist courtesy turns at each end.1969, Square Dance, volumes 24-25, page 40
    • Many of the calls associated with square dance are also heard in contra dance, but the latter is often associated with more courtesy turns (in which the gent moves backward, allowing the lady to turn around) and less swinging.2015, Simon J. Bronner, Encyclopedia of American Folklife, page 266

Forms of courtesy turn

pluralcourtesy turns

Questions about courtesy turn

What does courtesy turn mean?
Courtesy turn means a square dancing and contra dancing move in which the man puts his arm around the waist of the woman and turns her around by moving backwards while she moves forward.
What part of speech is courtesy turn?
Courtesy turn is a noun.
What is the plural of courtesy turn?
The plural of courtesy turn is courtesy turns.

Words near courtesy turn in the dictionary

  1. courtesy of the trade
  2. courtesy phone
  3. courtesy telephone
  4. courtesy title
  5. courtesy titles
  6. courtesy turn
  7. courtesy turns
  8. courtesying
  9. courtesyings
  10. courteth
  11. courtezan

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: courtesy turn (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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