hoppestere

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A woman who dances.
• noun [That is, literally, ‘Further I saw burnt the dancing ships, the hunter strangled by the wild bears.’ The true explanation appears on comparing the original bellatrices carinæ (Statius, Thebaid, vii. 57), lit. ‘warlike ships,’ bellatrices being misread as *ballatrices, fem. of LL. ballator, a dancer (⟩ Sp. Pg. bailador, a dancer: see bayadere), ⟨ ballare, dance: see ball.]

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• adjective An unexplained epithet used by Chaucer in reference to ships. By some it is defined as “dancing (on the wave)”; by others as “opposing,” “warlike.”