fandango

What it means

1. countableuncountabledanceA form of lively flamenco music and dance that has many regional variations (e.g. fandango de Huelva), some of which have their own names (e.g. malagueña, granadina).First known use mid 18th c.

   We skipped the light fandango / Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor

   1967, “A Whiter Shade of Pale”, in Procol Harum, performed by Procol Harum

   4 more examples

   The soldiers were oftener gambling and dancing beneath the walls than keeping watch upon the battlements, and nothing was heard from morning till night but the noisy contests of cards and dice, mingled with the sound of the bolero or fandango, the drowsy strumming of the guitar, and the rattling of the castanets, while often the whole was interrupted by the loud brawl and fierce and bloody contest.

   1829, Washington Irving, chapter XXVI, in Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada

   […] sweet to us it is to behold delightful dancing, be it the stately splendour of the Pavane which progresseth as large clouds at sun-down that pass by in splendour; or the graceful Allemande; or the Fandango, which goeth by degrees from languorous beauty to the swiftness and passion of Bacchanals dancing on the high lawns under a summer moon that hangeth in the pine trees; or the joyous maze of the Galliard; or the Gigue, dear to the Foliots.

   1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 33

   I see a little silhouetto of a man / Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the fandango?

   1975, Freddie Mercury, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, in A Night at the Opera, performed by Queen

   I'm wearing a Spanish skirt so what's wrong with dancing a fandango.

   2014, Rosie Harris, Looking For Love, page 179

2. countableuncountableA gathering for dancing; a ball.

   When Auguste Fretéllière and the painter Theodore Gentilz attended a fandango in the 1840s, the festivities took place near Military Plaza.

   2008, Gene Fowler, Mavericks: A Gallery of Texas Characters, page 38

   1 more example

   Fortunately, in the nineteenth century Iosé Maria Esteva wrote a poetic and detailed account of 'La guanabana' being danced by a group of women at a fandango.

   2013, Alec Dempster, Lotería Jarocha: Linoleum Prints, page 66

3. colloquialcountablefigurativelyuncountableAn unknown entity or contraption.

   What’s that fandango you’re using?

   1 more example

   She had on a new silk dress, flounced clear up to her knees, and some kind of a fandango of a thing on her shoulders.

   1878, Lumasea, Ruined, and how, page 25

In a sentence

We skipped the light fandango / Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor

1967, “A Whiter Shade of Pale”, in Procol Harum, performed by Procol Harum

Where it comes from

1. Spanishfandango
2. Englishfandango

Borrowed from Spanish fandango, of uncertain origin. Possibly related to Portuguese fado, or of West African origin.

First known use: mid 18th c.