Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A post–World War II style of jazz characterized by rhythmic and harmonic complexity, improvised solo performances, and a brilliant style of execution.
  • intransitive verb To dance or move to the beat of this music.
  • intransitive verb Slang To go.
  • transitive verb To hit or strike.
  • noun A blow; a punch.

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

  • noun an early form of modern jazz (originating around 1940).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun onomatopoeia A very light smack, blow or punch.
  • verb To gently or playfully strike someone or something.
  • noun A style of improvised jazz from the 1940s.
  • verb To dance to this music, or indeed any sort of popular music with a strong beat.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb dance the bebop
  • verb hit hard
  • noun the law enforcement agency of the Justice Department that operates a nationwide system of prisons and detention facilities to incarcerate inmates sentenced to imprisonment for federal crimes
  • noun an early form of modern jazz (originating around 1940)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Short for bebop.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Imitative.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

imitative of the sound made

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

shortened from bebop

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Examples

  • And sometimes my pieces actually have chord changes, though not like in bop — more like a set of bass lines or a general harmonic movement of some kind.

    X Jazz 2005

  • And sometimes my pieces actually have chord changes, though not like in bop — more like a set of bass lines or a general harmonic movement of some kind.

    X Jazz 2005

  • Lawmaker: Ban BP from outer continental shelf due to 'lethal' behavior jack wrote: I thought the bop was a last resort ...

    chron.com Chronicle 2010

  • Lawmaker: Ban BP from outer continental shelf due to 'lethal' behavior jack wrote: I thought the bop was a last resort ...

    chron.com Chronicle 2010

  • You could ask the guy who put the 'bop' in the 'bop shoo bop shoo bop' -- who *was* that man?

    A Question of Import Walter Jon Williams 2010

  • I demand an apology immediately, lest the rest of this blog's posters forever brand you a cretinous misogynist with borderline racist tendenciesyou were very specific in your suggestion that I should "bop" for COLOMBIAN hookers.

    2/18 – Declarative Rabbit Says… | Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources 2008

  • P.P.S: The insinuation that I "bop" for hookers of any nationality is both horribly insulting and incredibly crude.

    2/18 – Declarative Rabbit Says… | Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources 2008

  • Then she pulled out the flask with brandy in it, and her hand shook so that the spirit splashed about in the flask, and then she took such a gulp, that it went 'bop' in her throat.

    Popular Tales from the Norse George Webbe Dasent 1856

  • Bebop, or simply "bop," came about in the 1940s as an attempt to move jazz from its danceable, popular, swing and ragtime origins into the realm of true "musician's music," into a more challenging musical expression combining elements of the avant-garde and heavy improvisation.

    RutlandHerald.com 2010

  • Four pioneers of modern jazz standing abreast beneath the awning at Minton's Playhouse, the house that "bop" allegedly built.

    NPR Topics: News 2010

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