dance vs shimmy

dance

noun
  • A social gathering where dancing is the main activity. 

  • A sequence of rhythmic steps or movements usually performed to music, for pleasure or as a form of social interaction. 

  • A genre of modern music characterised by sampled beats, repetitive rhythms and few lyrics. 

  • A piece of music with a particular dance rhythm. 

  • The art, profession, and study of dancing. 

  • A normally horizontal stripe called a fess that has been modified to zig-zag across the center of a coat of arms from dexter to sinister. 

  • The death throes of a hanged person. 

  • A battle of wits, especially one commonly fought between two rivals. 

  • A repetitive movement used in communication between worker honey bees. 

verb
  • To make a repetitive movement in order to communicate to other worker honey bees. 

  • To cause to dance, or move nimbly or merrily about. 

  • To move with rhythmic steps or movements, especially in time to music. 

  • To kick and convulse from the effects of being hanged. 

  • To leap or move lightly and rapidly. 

  • To make love or have sex. 

  • To perform the steps to. 

shimmy

noun
  • A dance movement involving thrusting the shoulders back and forth alternately. 

  • A dance that was popular in the 1920s. 

  • An abnormal vibration, especially in the wheels of a vehicle. 

  • A sleeveless chemise. 

verb
  • To vibrate abnormally, as a broken wheel. 

  • To shake the body as if dancing the shimmy. 

  • To perform a shimmy (dance movement involving thrusting the shoulders back and forth alternately). 

  • To move across a narrow ledge, either by hanging from it or by strafing on it along the wall. 

  • To climb something (e.g. a pole) gradually (e.g. using alternately one's arms then one's legs). 

How often have the words dance and shimmy occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )