SONG AND DANCE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does song and dance mean? 

• SONG AND DANCE (noun)
  The noun SONG AND DANCE has 2 senses:

1. theatrical performance combining singing and dancing

2. an interesting but highly implausible story; often told as an excuse

  Familiarity information: SONG AND DANCE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SONG AND DANCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Theatrical performance combining singing and dancing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("song and dance" is a kind of...):

performance; public presentation (a dramatic or musical entertainment)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An interesting but highly implausible story; often told as an excuse

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

cock-and-bull story; fairy story; fairy tale; fairytale; song and dance

Hypernyms ("song and dance" is a kind of...):

fib; story; tale; taradiddle; tarradiddle (a trivial lie)

 Context examples 

"And it seems to me," Martin continued, "that knowledge of the land question, in turn, of all questions, for that matter, cannot be had without previous knowledge of the stuff and the constitution of life. How can we understand laws and institutions, religions and customs, without understanding, not merely the nature of the creatures that made them, but the nature of the stuff out of which the creatures are made? Is literature less human than the architecture and sculpture of Egypt? Is there one thing in the known universe that is not subject to the law of evolution? Oh, I know there is an elaborate evolution of the various arts laid down, but it seems to me to be too mechanical. The human himself is left out. The evolution of the tool, of the harp, of music and song and dance, are all beautifully elaborated; but how about the evolution of the human himself, the development of the basic and intrinsic parts that were in him before he made his first tool or gibbered his first chant? It is that which you do not consider, and which I call biology. It is biology in its largest aspects.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)