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Twerk vs Dance - What's the difference?

twerk | dance |

As nouns the difference between twerk and dance

is that twerk is a puny or insignificant person, generally male; a twerp while dance is a sequence of rhythmic steps or movements usually performed to music, for pleasure or as a form of social interaction.

As verbs the difference between twerk and dance

is that twerk is to twitch or jerk while dance is to move with rhythmic steps or movements, especially in time to music.

twerk

English

Etymology 1

.

Noun

(en noun)
  • (slang, dated, US) A puny or insignificant person, generally male; a twerp.
  • *1930 , , The Big Barn , page 207:
  • *:"'...but when they load a pack onto you, what'll you do? A little twerk like you?'"
  • *1932 , Forum and Century vol. 87 [http://books.google.com/books?ei=fz75RqyPOoWcpgKW19m0Dw]:
  • *:"But even then the poor twerk' s whiskers and little eyes looked kind of wistful as if the clothes had got him and was taking him somewhere..."
  • *2003 , Bernard Kamoroff, Small Time Operator [http://books.google.com/books?id=9qlizjnOrVcC], ISBN 0917510186, page 19,
  • *:You don't need those twerks who walk in off the street.
  • Usage notes
    Found primarily in the 1930s-era works of .

    Etymology 2

    (Twerking) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A fitful movement similar to a twitch or jerk.
  • *1898 , William Brigham, "Director's Report" in Occasional Papers of the Bernice Pauahi Museum vol. 1 no. 1, page 42:
  • *:"Not so the Freycineti, who looked me over critically, elevated his head crest, and giving his tail an odd little twerk , proceeded to hop deliberately up the limb like a sap-sucker..."
  • *1920 , Lilian C. McNamara Garis, The Girl Scouts at Sea Crest: Or, The Wig Wag Rescue [http://books.google.com/books?id=ulYCAAAAYAAJ], page 86,
  • *:"I hardly realize it yet that you are my really truly coz," and she gave the girl's long, brown braids a familiar twerk .
  • *1950 , Robert S. Close, Love Me Sailor [http://books.google.com/books?id=ySdBAAAAIAAJ], page 86,
  • *:With a quick twerk at her shift, the girl lifted it to her rounded belly, and squatted nakedly on his lap.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To twitch or jerk.
  • *1985 , Criena Rohan, Down by the Docks [http://books.google.com/books?id=ausNAAAAIAAJ], page 151,
  • *: in the language of the unsophisticated Port Melbourne suburbanite a bed was still something primarily intended for love-making – all the eyebrow-raising and moustache-twerking in Jo'burg couldn't alter that.
  • *2005 , Florence Hall Abssi, The Call [http://books.google.com/books?id=OyAkYG9lwD4C], page 613:
  • *:"He twerked an eyebrow at his wife."
  • To move the body in a sexually suggestive twisting or gyrating fashion.
  • *2005 , Euftis Emery, Off the Chain [http://books.google.com/books?id=Ib1vEpY4TpwC], ISBN 1411630475, page 73,
  • Gaea then stood up over me and turned so that her butt was facing me. She then had the nerve to start twerking .
  • *2006 , Lawrence Christopher, Ghettoway Weekend [http://books.google.com/books?id=gOPfQEdpxkwC], ISBN 0971227845, page 96,
  • *:"Shortie'' really knows how to ''twerk it don't she?" Marcus boasted, while still recording.
  • * 2006 , :
  • Let me see what ya twerkin with
  • To dance in a sexually suggestive manner, often involving rapid movement.
  • *2013', Nichole Smith, ABC News, ''High School Students Suspended for '''''Twerking'' [http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/05/high-school-students-suspended-for-twerking/]
  • Twerking, as it is known in the hip-hop community, is a hard-hitting, rump-shaking dance move that celebrities including Beyonce and Miley Cyrus have been known to bust out, but it has also gotten a group of San Diego high school students suspended.
    Usage notes
    In “sexually suggestive movements, especially dance”, particularly popularized since c. 2000 by US hip-hop.
    Derived terms
    * twerker

    Etymology 3

    Onomatopoeia, possibly coined by .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An abrupt call, such as made by the California Quail.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1961, author=Roger Tory Peterson, title=A Field Guide to Western Birds citation
  • passage=Note of male on territory, a loud kurr or twerk .}}

    dance

    English

    Alternative forms

    * daunce (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A sequence of rhythmic steps or movements usually performed to music, for pleasure or as a form of social interaction.
  • *
  • *:"I ought to arise and go forth with timbrels and with dances ; but, do you know, I am not inclined to revels? There has been a little—just a very little bit too much festivity so far …. Not that I don't adore dinners and gossip and dances; not that I do not love to pervade bright and glittering places."
  • A social gathering where dancing is the main activity.
  • *
  • *:"I ought to arise and go forth with timbrels and with dances; but, do you know, I am not inclined to revels? There has been a little—just a very little bit too much festivity so far …. Not that I don't adore dinners and gossip and dances ; not that I do not love to pervade bright and glittering places."
  • (lb) A fess that has been modified to zig-zag across the center of a coat of arms from dexter to sinister.
  • A genre of modern music characterised by sampled beats, repetitive rhythms and few lyrics.
  • (lb) The art, profession, and study of dancing.
  • A piece of music with a particular dance rhythm.
  • *
  • *:They stayed together during three dances , went out on to the terrace, explored wherever they were permitted to explore, paid two visits to the buffet, and enjoyed themselves much in the same way as if they had been school-children surreptitiously breaking loose from an assembly of grown-ups.
  • Hyponyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * dance music * dirty dance * fan dance * line dance * * war dance

    Verb

    (danc)
  • To move with rhythmic steps or movements, especially in time to music.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=“Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance , Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.}}
  • To leap or move lightly and rapidly.
  • * Byron
  • Shadows in the glassy waters dance .
  • To perform the steps to.
  • To cause to dance, or move nimbly or merrily about.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
  • to dance our ringlets to the whistling wind
  • * (William Shakespeare)
  • Thy grandsire loved thee well; / Many a time he danced thee on his knee.

    Derived terms

    * dance attendance * dancer * dirty dance * line dance

    See also

    * * acrobatics * ballet * ballroom * disco * foxtrot * hiphop * jazz * modern * musical theatre * tap dancing * terpsichorean

    Anagrams

    *

    References

    1000 English basic words ----