Ceilidh
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An informal social gathering, especially one where traditional Irish or Scottish folk music is played, with dancing and storytelling. Ireland, Scotland, also, attributive
"The fire in the centre of the room was almost a necessity of the good old Ceilidh days. When the people congregated in the evening, the circle could be extended to the full capacity of the room, and occasionally it became necessary to have a circle within a circle. […] The circle became extended by merely pushing back the seats, and this arrangement became absolutely necessary in the houses which were most celebrated as the great Ceilidh centres of the district. The Ceilidh rendezvous is the house in which all the Folk-lore of the country, all the old sgculachdan or stories, the ancient poetry known to the bards or Seanachaidhean, and old riddles and proverbs are recited from night to night by old and young."
- 2 an informal social gathering at which there is Scottish or Irish folk music and singing and folk dancing and story telling wordnet
- 3 Ellipsis of ceilidh dance. Ireland, Scotland, abbreviation, also, alt-of, attributive, ellipsis
"Looking for the Possible Dance [by Alison Louise Kennedy] sets up the 'dance', the ceilidh, as a site of personal and possibly national salvation, but one plagued by insecurities."
- 1 To attend a ceilidh (noun noun sense 1). Ireland, Scotland, also, attributive, intransitive
"Captain Mac was certainly making the most of his enforced stay at safe anchorage. He had told Fergus he would ceilidh the night away with the help of Tam McKinnon's home-brewed malt whisky. From the sound of it one half of the ceilidh was on board ship, the other half no doubt in Tam McKinnon's cottage."
- 2 To dance a ceilidh dance. Ireland, Scotland, also, attributive, intransitive
"Nightly the scratch of fiddles and the thud of a reel-set staccatoed the timbers [of the ship sailing from Londonderry to Boston], as the peasant Irish ceilidhed their way to 'Amerikay'."
Example
More examples"Aren’t they going to the ceilidh in the town?"
Etymology
The noun is borrowed from Scottish Gaelic cèilidh (“a pilgrimage; a social call, visit; a sojourn; a social gathering with dancing, etc., ceilidh”) and Irish célidhe (archaic), céilí (“a social call, visit; a social gathering with dancing, etc., ceilidh”), both from Old Irish célide (“social call, visit”), from céile (“companion, fellow; neighbour”) (ultimately from Proto-Celtic *kēiliyos (“companion; servant”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- (“to settle”)) + -ide. The plural form ceilidhean is borrowed from Scottish Gaelic cèilidhean. The verb is derived from the noun.