Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Dance \Dance\, n. [F. danse, of German origin. See {Dance}, v.
   i.]
   1. The leaping, tripping, or measured stepping of one who
      dances; an amusement, in which the movements of the
      persons are regulated by art, in figures and in accord
      with music.

   2. (Mus.) A tune by which dancing is regulated, as the
      minuet, the waltz, the cotillon, etc.

   Note: The word dance was used ironically, by the older
         writers, of many proceedings besides dancing.

               Of remedies of love she knew parchance For of
               that art she couth the olde dance. --Chaucer.

   {Dance of Death} (Art), an allegorical representation of the
      power of death over all, -- the old, the young, the high,
      and the low, being led by a dancing skeleton.

   {Morris dance}. See {Morris}.

   {To lead one a dance}, to cause one to go through a series of
      movements or experiences as if guided by a partner in a
      dance not understood.

Source : WordNet®

dance of death
     n : a medieval dance in which a skeleton representing death
         leads a procession of others to the grave [syn: {danse
         macabre}]