ballroom

Etymology

It is formed from English ball² + room, also written with a hyphen.^[2][3][4] The first part, a dancing party, is from French bal,^[5][3] from Old French baler (“to dance”), from Late Latin ballō (“to dance”).^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A large room for formal dancing, a room in which balls are held: 1719, in Eliza Haywood's Love in Excess.^[2][6] Etymonline gives 1724,^[3] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate 1736,^[7] and Dictionary.com 1730–40.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its single meaning, though Merriam-Webster notes its use for such rooms in hotels.^[6] The compound ballroom dancing is attested by 1872.^[3] Harlem's Savoy Ballroom, open from 1926 to 1958, made the battle of the bands famous in the late 1930s, according to Barry Popik.^(Popik|"Battle of the Bands (Savoy Ballroom)", 11 June 2005) In American slang of the 1980s a ballroom was also a singles bar known for easy sexual conquests.^[8]

Timeline

• 1719 – a large room for formal dancing.^[2][6]
• 1872 – ballroom dancing.^[3]
• 1985 – US slang, a singles bar.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large room for formal dances or balls, as in a hotel or a great house.^[2][6][9]
2. (US slang) A singles bar with a reputation for easy sexual conquests.^[8]

Word family

• ballroom dance

Related words

• ball
• room
• ballet

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin