barn dance

noun

1. a social gathering, originally held in a barn, and including square dances, round dances, and hoedown music.
2. any party featuring country dances, dress, music, etc.

barn dance

noun

1. a progressive round country dance
2. a party with hoedown music and square-dancing
3. a party featuring country dancing
4. a disco or party held in a barn

Word History and Origins

Origin of barn dance¹

An Americanism dating back to 1890–95

Example Sentences

Another fundraising event, a Dance for Meg barn dance, will be held in her home town of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, on 12 August - on what would have been Ms Newborough's 26th birthday.

From BBC

In 1960, after more than a decade of performing on many of the radio barn dances of the era, they began hosting their own syndicated television program, sponsored by the Martha White flour company.

From New York Times

“We did a rodeo, we did a demolition derby, we did a barn dance,” Nettles said, ticking off activities the contestants participated in during their quests to find love.

From Washington Post

Despite acquitting herself well on numbers such as “Wonderful, Wonderful Day,” her performance was largely overshadowed by a richly acrobatic barn dance sequence.

From Washington Post

It devastated a back-to-the-land community established in the early 1970s that with its annual barn dance and its vegetable patches fed by spring water seemed to hark back to an earlier era.

From New York Times