attendance
(redirected from attendances)Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus.
Related to attendances: reassign
be in attendance
To be present for something; to be at a particular event as it happens. Any of my students who are in attendance at tonight's lecture will get extra credit. How many people were in attendance for the concert? Was it another sellout? I sure hope that some of the professors who doubted my research topic will be in attendance at my lecture!
See also: attendance
dance attendance (up)on (someone)
To perform assiduously and obsequiously any task required or requested by someone. After earning his fortune, he now has servants constantly dancing attendance on him. He's always dancing attendance upon us so that we'll let him hang out with us. Would you relax, rookie? You made the team fair and square—you don't have to dance attendance on us.
See also: attendance, dance
take attendance
To review a list of people who are supposed to be in attendance and mark down who is actually present. Make sure you take attendance as soon as the bell rings, because it must be noted if a student is late.
See also: attendance, take
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
take attendance
to make a record of persons attending something. The teacher took attendance before starting the class. I will take attendance each day.
See also: attendance, take
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
dance attendance on
Wait on attentively and obsequiously, obey someone's every wish or whim. For example, He expected his secretary to dance attendance on him so she quit her job. This expression alludes to the old custom of making a bride dance with every wedding guest. In the 1500s it was used first to mean "await" an audience with someone, but by about 1600 it had acquired its present meaning. Also see at someone's beck and call.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
dance attendance on
do your utmost to please someone by attending to all their needs or requests.The expression originally referred to someone waiting ‘kicking their heels’ until an important person summoned them or would see them.
1999 Shyama Perera I Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet Tammy and I sat on a vinyl bench seat and watched the visiting flow while Jan disappeared to dance attendance on her mother.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
be in atˈtendance
(formal) be present at a special event: Several heads of state were in attendance at the funeral.See also: attendance
take atˈtendance
(American English) check who is present and who is not present at a place and mark this information on a list of names: The teacher took attendance at the beginning of every class.See also: attendance, take
ˌdance atˈtendance on somebody
(British English, formal) do a lot of small jobs in order to please somebody: She always has an assistant dancing attendance on her.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
dance attendance on
To attend to or try to please (someone) with eagerness or obsequiousness.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
dance attendance on, to
To obey someone’s slightest whim or wish, to act as someone’s obsequious flunky. The term comes from the ancient custom of having the bride dance with every wedding guest, whether she wanted to or not. It has been used since the early sixteenth century, first in the sense of waiting for someone to grant an audience, as by John Skelton (Why Come Ye Not to Court? 1522), “And syr ye must daunce attendance . . . for my Lord’s Grace hath now no time nor space to speke with you as yet.” By Shakespeare’s time it had been extended to being at someone’s beck and call (“To dance attendance on their lordships’ pleasures,” HenryVIII, 5.2). It was a cliché by about 1700.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer