English · Idiom Historical

Merry Dancers

Preserved but no longer current.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

The northern lights, so called from their undulatory motion. The French also call them chevres dansantes (dancing goats).

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Ánh sáng phương bắc, được đặt tên như vậy vì chuyển động sóng

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)

Sources & notes

Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.

Topics: Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “Merry Dancers” mean?

The northern lights, so called from their undulatory motion. The French also call them chevres dansantes (dancing goats).

Is “Merry Dancers” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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