soubresaut

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French soubresaut, itself an obsolete form of sursaut. Doublet of somersault.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌsuːbɹəˈsəʊ/

Noun

soubresaut (plural soubresauts)

1. (ballet) A sudden jump from both feet, travelling forward in first, third, or fifth position and landing on both feet in the same position as they started.
   • 2009 June 15, Alastair Macaulay, “Natural Liftoff and Intense Inner Life for a Daughter of the Air”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     She took to the air so naturally that it made you feel, retrospectively, that this had always been her destiny from her entrance in Act I. Springing up from both feet while keeping those feet together (in soubresauts), she drove the audience —— which had been in a tizzy of excitement all along —— wild.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /su.bʁə.so/
• Rhymes: -so

Noun

soubresaut m (plural soubresauts)

1. jolt
2. blip

Further reading

• “soubresaut”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.