strathspey

American  

[strath-spey, strath-spey] / ˌstræθˈspeɪ, ˈstræθˌspeɪ /

noun

1. a slow Scottish dance in quadruple meter.

2. the music for this dance.

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strathspey British  

/ ˌstræθˈspeɪ /

noun

1. a Scottish dance with gliding steps, slower than a reel

2. a piece of music in four-four time composed for this dance

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Etymology

Origin of strathspey

First recorded in 1645–55; after Strath Spey, the valley of the river Spey in Scotland

Example Sentences

Peggy and I laughingly approved, telling him that it was high time for him to assert his authority, and he went off in great good humour across the river field, whistling a Highland strathspey.

From Chronicles of Avonlea by Montgomery, L. M. (Lucy Maud)

“Take down your fiddle, Findlayson, and play a rattling strathspey or reel, that’ll cheer me up more wholesomely than any amount of ‘wee drappies.’”

From From Squire to Squatter A Tale of the Old Land and the New by Stables, Gordon

No one could sing a Scotch song with more humor, and few of the lads and lassies could match Peter in a blithe foursome reel or a rattling strathspey.

From Winter Evening Tales by Barr, Amelia Edith Huddleston

Suddenly the soutar started off at full speed in a strathspey, which was soon lost in the wail of a Highland psalm-tune, giving place in its turn to 'Sic a wife as Willie had!'

From Robert Falconer by MacDonald, George

"Dinna think bonnie lassie, I'm goin' to leave you," I remember was his best; it is a strathspey tune; I learned it from him.

From From Edinburgh to India & Burmah by Burn Murdoch, W. G. (William Gordon)