strathspey

After Strathspey, valley of the river Spey.

• Rhymes: -eɪ

strathspey (plural strathspeys)

1. A Scottish dance with gliding steps, slower than a reel.
2. A piece of music composed for or in the rhythm of this dance.
   • 1817, Walter Scott, Rob Roy:

     He muttered an exclamation in Gaelic, strode across the floor, and then, with an air of dogged resolution, as if fixed and prepared to see the scene to an end, sate himself down on the oak table, and whistled a strathspey.

   • 1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin 2006, p. 239:

     Arms are raised, the cheers are deafening, the pipes turn to a strathspey and a whole section of the crowd launches into a mad jig.