Meaning of balalajka | Babel Free

Definitions

Noun. [B2]

Examples

“Every Cossack is a born dancer, and the merry tinkle of a “balalajka” band eventually proved too much for the colonel (a grey-haired veteran of over six feet), who suddenly rose from his seat, hurriedly left the messroom, and the next moment was wildly “pirouetting” amongst his men with, notwithstanding a flowing robe and spurs, the grace and agility of a ballet-girl.”

“The Bayans and Balalajkas of the BERYOZKA FOLK DANCERS”

“Praising the “play⟳ of thought” in Dostoevskij’s work⟳ since Crime and Punishment he exclaims: “Well, what sort⟳ of playing was there in Poor Folk? One string, and even that on a balalajka.””

“My deceased aunts and uncles, / Playing “Balalajkas”, / Sipping glasses of wine?”

“In the Novgorod uezd (Gruzinskaja volost’), for example, whole groups of ‘gypsy’ girls dressed in brightly coloured frocks and shawls would appear⟳ in the village streets going from house to house, dancing and singing gypsy songs to a balalajka and accordion accompaniment.”

“[…] kruglolitsa” with an accompaniment by balalajkas, domras and a bajan.”

“Russ. trynka-brynka ‘worthless little coin’ or ‘plink-plunk’ (of a balalajka), associatively helped by purely onomatopoeic tryndi-bryndi ‘plink-plunk’ (verbal rendition of balalajka’s sound⟳ ~ trynka ‘small silver coin,’ or a card-game; blended with tren’kat’ / bren’kat’ ‘play⟳ badly’ as a further associative echo.”

“Other times she was just Oxana, like⟳ now, when he lifted little Kolja up from the rough planks on the veranda and danced around with him in her arms, as if there were a balalajka orchestra in her head.”

CEFR level