fandango

(Sp. model spelled same [fandáŋgo], of uncertain origin, perhaps < fado, a popular Portuguese song and dance < Latinfatum 'destiny; prophetic utterance' because it was a lyrical commentary about a person's fate).

   1) New Mexico: 1807. A lively Spanish or Spanish-American dance in triple time accompanied by castanets.

   2) DARE: 1843. The music that accompanies such a dance.

   3) New Mexico: 1774. A social party or celebration where dancing is a principal activity.

   4) DARE: 1848. Any boisterous, disorderly get-together.

   5) Texas: 1890. A dance hall. The DARE notes that this usage is obscure.

   6) As a verb, to throw a celebration for someone.

   7) California: 1928. As an attributive adjective, it relates to prostitution (according to the DARE, dance halls were commonly associated with prostitution). Thus, a fandango house was a brothel, and fandango girls were prostitutes. Fandango is glossed in the DRAE as an old Spanish dance that is still common today in Andalusia, Spain. It is a dance in triple time with lively and passionate movements accompanied by guitar playing, singing, castanets, and sometimes violins and cymbals. In Spanish the term may also refer to the music and verses that accompany a fandango dance or, figuratively, to a brawl or uproar. Cobos glosses fandango as a dance or "shindig."