bourrée

/bʊˈreɪ/

noun

A baroque dance of French origin, common in Auvergne and Biscay in Spain in the 17th century.

Meanings

nounbourrée (plural bourrées)

plural bourrées

  1. A baroque dance of French origin, common in Auvergne and Biscay in Spain in the 17th century.
  2. A piece of music in character with such a dance.

    Stationed just outside the main gate, the band is hammering away at ‘Rule Britannia’ and the bourrée from the ‘Royal Fireworks Music.’

    1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 309
verbbourrée (third-person singular simple present bourrées, present participle bourréeing, simple past and past participle bourréed)

present singular third person bourrées · participle present bourréeing · participle past bourréed · past bourréed

  1. To perform this dance.

    As a physical presence, nevertheless, he can bourree with the best of them and packs a mean port-de-bras.

    1991 April 6, Ron Caldwell, “Kind of Stranger”, in Gay Community News, page 16

Origin

  1. Frenchbourrée
  2. Frenchbourrée
  3. Englishbourrée

Borrowed from French bourrée.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 佈雷舞曲 /布雷舞曲
  • 佈雷舞曲 /布雷舞曲 (bùléiwǔqǔ)a baroque dance of French origin
Dutch bourree
  • bourreea baroque dance of French origin
French bourrée
  • bourréea baroque dance of French origin
German Bourrée
  • Bourréea baroque dance of French origin
Russian бурре
  • бурре (burre)a baroque dance of French origin
Swedish bourré
  • bourréa baroque dance of French origin
Cite this entry
APA

bourrée. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bourr%C3%A9e

MLA

“bourrée.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bourr%C3%A9e. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bourrée,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bourr%C3%A9e.

Source: bourrée on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.