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battement

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French battement (beating, hitting).

Noun

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battement (plural battements)

  1. (ballet) A ballet move involving a beating action with an extended leg
    • 1894, Arthur Machen, Memoirs of Casanova[1]:
      [] he raised slowly his rounded arms, stretched them gracefully backward and forward, moved his feet with precision and lightness, took a few small steps, made some battements and pirouettes, and disappeared like a butterfly.
    • 1988 March 11, Dorothy Samachson, “Chicago Repertory Dance Ensemble”, in Chicago Reader[2]:
      Ernst and Watson are superb dancers--extraordinarily agile and acrobatic, and their unison spins, battements, and body lines showed a split-second timing.
  2. (obsolete) A thumping or beating sensation
    • 1796, Erasmus Darwin, Zoonomia, Vol. I[3]:
      Secondly, though there is an audible vertigo, as is known by the battement, or undulations of sound in the ears, which many vertiginous people experience [] .

French

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Etymology

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From battre (to beat) +‎ -ment.

Pronunciation

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  • Audio:(file)
  • Audio (Canada):(file)

Noun

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battement m (plural battements)

  1. beating; hitting
    battement du cœur
    beating of the heart
  2. (ballet) battement

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Norman

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Etymology

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(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

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battement m (plural battements)

  1. (Jersey, medicine) heartbeat