bourrée

[ boo-rey; French boo-rey ]

noun

, plural bour·rées [b, oo, -, reyz, boo-, rey].

1. an old French and Spanish dance, somewhat like a gavotte.
2. the music for it.

bourrée

/ ˈbʊəreɪ /

noun

1. a traditional French dance in fast duple time, resembling a gavotte
2. a piece of music composed in the rhythm of this dance

Word History and Origins

Origin of bourrée¹

1700–10; < French: literally, bundle of brushwood, originally, the twigs with which the bundle was stuffed (the dance may once have been done around brushwood bonfires); noun use of past participle (feminine) of bourrer to stuff, fill, verbal derivative of bourre hair, fluff < Late Latin burra wool, coarse fabric

Word History and Origins

Origin of bourrée¹

C18: from French bourrée a bundle of faggots (it was originally danced round a fire of faggots)

Example Sentences

A little higher, and I passed a pair of men in a tree with pruning-hooks, and one of them was singing the music of a bourrée.

From Project Gutenberg