sword dance

1. A dance in which swords are brandished or clashed together by the dancers. 2. A dance peculiar to the Scotch Highlanders, in which two swords are laid cro wise on the ground, and the dancer displays his skill by making the most intricate movements between and around them without ever touching them. sword-fern, s. Bot.: The genus Xiphopteris. Xiphopteris serru lat a, from the West Indies, is sometimes cultivated in greenhouses.