waltz

name

1. A surname.

   “According to the Atlantic, national security adviser Mike Waltz earlier this month convened a text conversation with top US officials, including Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to discuss strikes on Houthi militants in Yemen who had been threatening international shipping in the Red Sea. Waltz, apparently accidentally, added Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg to the chain.”

2. A place in the United States:
3. A place in the United States:
4. A place in the United States:

noun

Etymology: From German Walzer, from walzen (“to dance”), from Old High German walzan (“to turn”), from Proto-Germanic *walt- (“to turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn”). Doublet of valse. More at *waltaną.

1. A ballroom dance in 3/4 time.

   “Miss Esler and Mr. McMorrow went to Kalgoorlie to adjudicate at the goldfields waltz and quickstep championships, and found the standard of dancing surprisingly high.”

2. A piece of music for this dance (or in triple time).
3. A simple task.

verb

Etymology: From German Walzer, from walzen (“to dance”), from Old High German walzan (“to turn”), from Proto-Germanic *walt- (“to turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn”). Doublet of valse. More at *waltaną.

1. To dance the waltz (with).

   “They waltzed for twenty-one hours and seventeen minutes straight, setting a record.”

   “While waltzing her around the room, he stepped on her toes only once.”

2. To move briskly and unhesitatingly, especially in an inappropriately casual manner, or when unannounced or uninvited.

   “He waltzed into the room like he owned the place.”

   “You can't just waltz him in here without documentation!”

3. To accomplish a task with little effort.

   “Don't worry about the interview — you'll waltz it.”

4. To move with fanfare.

   “And he said, what he had planned in his head from the start, if we got Jim out all safe, was for us to[…] take him back up home on a steamboat, in style, and pay him for his lost time, and write word ahead and get out all the niggers around, and have them waltz him into town with a torchlight procession and a brass-band, and then he would be a hero, and so would we.”