Dance Attendance On
Meaning
To wait upon someone in an overly assiduous or sycophantic manner.
Origin
The derivation of this phrase isn’t known. It probably has the same root source as kick one’s heels, although that is a later phrase. Both phrases refer to someone shuffling and tapping their feet impatiently while waiting to be summoned.
The first citation of ‘dance attendance’ is from John Skelton’s Why come ye nat to courte?, circa 1522:
“And Syr ye must daunce attendance, And take patient sufferaunce, For my Lords Grace, Hath now no time or space, To speke with you as yet.”
