ceilidh

noun

1. (Ireland, Scotland, also, attributive)An informal social gathering, especially one where traditional Irish or Scottish folk music is played, with dancing and storytelling.

   “[A]ll the details of it are recited with minute exactness around the fireside during the winter ceilidhean.”

   “These happy and informative ceilidhean are past, and we are the poorer.”

   “Traditionally, while the men were away fishing, the women would gather in the evening for a ceilidh where they would sew and sing or talk and then finish with tea. But in an older informant's memory, ceilidhean became less frequent after World War I.”

   “Members of the College contributed to the enjoyment at local ceilidhs by playing the pipes and supplying an accordionist and a fiddler and dancers.”

2. (Ireland, Scotland, abbreviation, also, alt-of, attributive, ellipsis)Ellipsis of ceilidh dance.

   “Looking for the Possible Dance [by Alison Louise Kennedy] sets up the 'dance', the ceilidh, as a site of personal and possibly national salvation, but one plagued by insecurities.”

   “'Traditional' British dance is a rather woolly genre; its bounds drawn without much discrimination and inclusive of folk dancing, ceilidh, country dancing and pretty much anything pre-20ᵗʰ century that didn't involve a tutu.”

   “We asked guests to bring something to share: poems, songs, short stories, music, even juggling—whatever they wanted to perform. Afterwards, we all danced the ceilidh, […]”

verb

1. (Ireland, Scotland, also, attributive, intransitive)To attend a ceilidh (noun sense 1).

   “Captain Mac was certainly making the most of his enforced stay at safe anchorage. He had told Fergus he would ceilidh the night away with the help of Tam McKinnon's home-brewed malt whisky. From the sound of it one half of the ceilidh was on board ship, the other half no doubt in Tam McKinnon's cottage.”

   “Some nights we went ceilidhing to the home of Danny and Paddy. Their mother was a beautiful singer and she taught many of us how to dance while Danny played the accordion. There were nights when we all sat around the hearth fire singing the old Irish songs and locally composed ballads which are long since forgotten.”

2. (Ireland, Scotland, also, attributive, intransitive)To dance a ceilidh dance.

   “Nightly the scratch of fiddles and the thud of a reel-set staccatoed the timbers [of the ship sailing from Londonderry to Boston], as the peasant Irish ceilidhed their way to 'Amerikay'.”