pas de deux

English

Alternative forms

• pas-de-deux

Etymology

Borrowed from French pas de deux (literally “step of two”). Compare paso doble.

Noun

pas de deux (plural pas de deux)

1. (dance) A dance performed by two dancers.
   • 1845, Charles Dickens, chapter 4, in Pictures From Italy:

     The way in which they dance . . . the final passion of a pas-de-deux; and the going off with a bound!—I shall never see a real ballet, with a composed countenance again.

   • 1921, Margaret Pedler, chapter 5, in The Lamp of Fate:

     The Russian was a beautiful youth, like a sun-god with his flying yellow locks and glorious symmetry of body, and the pas de deux between him and Magda was a thing to marvel at.

   • 2003 November 19, Richard Corliss, “That Old Feeling: The Show at the Casino”, in Time:

     But at the end of the show, as two senior citizens are brought from the audience to dance together — first tentatively, then springing into a graceful acrobatic pas de deux — we realize that the human body's most sensuous organ is the head.

2. (figuratively) A complicated relationship or process involving two entities, usually persons.
   • 1978 December 9, Mitzel, “Post-Briggs Blues”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 20, page 5:

     There is a seductive and terminal pas-de-deux going on between the real right in this country and their "opposition," the liberals. It is deadly for us to get caught in their maneuverings.

   • 1985, Roger Ebert, "White Nights" film review‎^[1]:

     But "White Nights" has been made in a cynical world where it is actually believed that a dance movie will interest more people if it is also a thriller: a pas de deux between the CIA and the KGB, if you will.

   • 2018, Alex Blasdel, “Bowel movement: the push to change the way you poo”, in Guardian‎^[2]:

     As the rectum fills with the products of digestion, it signals, through nerves running into the sacral region of the spinal cord, that defecation may be necessary. The internal and external anal sphincters then begin a culturally mediated pas de deux, the former pressing for release and the latter restricting discharge until the opportune moment.

Translations

a dance performed by two dancers

• Bulgarian: па дьо дьо (pa djo djo)
• Danish: pas de deux c
• French: pas de deux (fr) m
• Icelandic: tvídans m
• Russian: па-де-де́ (ru) n (pa-dɛ-dɛ́), па-де-дё (ru) (pa-dɛ-djó)
• Swedish: pas de deux (sv) c or n

References

• “pas de deux”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Further reading

• pas de deux on Wikipedia.Wikipedia