Meanings
plural disquaires · alternative discaire
- dateddanceA disc jockey, especially one in a French-speaking country.
He'd given the albums to the disquaire affiliated with Chez Castel, the popular Parisian discotheque.
2012, William J. Mann, “Spring 1964”, in Hello, Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisand, New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, section 7, page 4873 more examples
Some discothèques allow their patrons to suggest tunes to the disquaire, but at many such an impertinence would be unthinkable—like asking Pablo Casals to play Melancholy Baby.
1963 July 5, “The Compleat Virtuosi”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Dec 2008In fact, [Harry] Meyerson had Slim Hyatt, the "disquaire" (disk jockey) at Shepheards, assist him in programming the album.
1964 May 30, Mike Gross, “Deccareques Put Out for Discothequeniks”, in Billboard: The International Music-record Newsweekly, Cincinnati, Oh.: The Billboard Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 1, column 3In France, clubs found they didn't need live musicians to get people to dance – just a disquaire who "programmed" dance records and moods for the evening. Such a place had a name too, a discotheque.
2010, Robert Milliken, “Lillian Roxon: Selected Writings”, in Mother of Rock: The Lillian Roxon Story, 2nd edition, U.S.A.: ReadHowYouWant.com, →ISBN, pages 408–409
Origin
- Frenchdisquaire“record dealer; record shop”
- Englishdisquaire
Borrowed, with a change in meaning, from French disquaire (“record dealer; record shop”).
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with disquaire
Cite this entry
disquaire. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disquaire
“disquaire.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disquaire. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “disquaire,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disquaire.
Source: disquaire on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.