toe-dance

To dance on en pointe or on the balls of one's feet.

At eight she could perform Chopin, sing Italian classics, paint and toe-dance.

In a few more months, she toe-danced, twirled and reached for the sun.

To avoid an issue by equivocation, diplomacy, or changing the subject.

For five years, he toe-danced his way through a path of idiotic triple talk, before the FCC finally shouted him down.

If a newsman had asked me to comment on Spiro T. Agnew, even a few weeks before the 1968 Republican convention, I would have “toe-danced”—which in press secretary terminology means dodging the question.

Alternative form of toe dance.

For the first number Bob presented another Bob, namely Bob Murphy, a Cambridge boy who started things going with a snappy toe-dance.

They showed teens how to skate with the new beat of rock and roll—including the “tanglefoot,” a type of toe-dance with a bit of Elvis swivel thrown in.

Alternative form of toe dance.

Re Guy Davenport's toe-dance around Joan Didion's brilliant Rum River [May 7]: save the non-reviews for the non-books.

Drawing fine distinctions between various covenants or agreements is a toe-dance around the rule and is wasted effort when the import of the statute can be given effect simply by stating that the documents are within the statute but that the intention of the parties shall prevail.