jazz
pronunciation
How to pronounce jazz in British English:
UK [dʒæz]
How to pronounce jazz in American English:
US [dʒæz]
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- Noun:
- empty rhetoric or insincere or exaggerated talk
- a genre of popular music that originated in New Orleans around 1900 and developed through increasingly complex styles
- a style of dance music popular in the 1920s; similar to New Orleans jazz but played by large bands
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- Verb:
- play something in the style of jazz
- have sexual intercourse with
Word Origin
- jazz
- jazz: [20] Words of unknown origin always attract speculation, and it is hardly surprising that such an unusual and high-profile one as jazz (first recorded in 1913) should have had more than its fair share (one of the more ingenious and colourful theories is that it comes from the nickname of one Jasbo Brown, an itinerant black musician along the Mississippi – Jasbo perhaps being an alteration of Jasper).Given that the word emerged in Black English (probably originally in the sense ‘copulation’), it is not surprising that attempts have been made to link it with some West African language, and picture it crossing the Atlantic with the slave ships, but there is no convincing evidence for that (the scenario seems to have got started with a 1917 article in the New York Sun, which was purely the invention of a press agent).
- jazz (v.)
- "to speed or liven up," 1917, from jazz (n.). Related: jazzed; jazzing.
- jazz (n.)
- by 1912, American English, first attested in baseball slang; as a type of music, attested from 1913. Probably ultimately from Creole patois jass "strenuous activity," especially "sexual intercourse" but also used of Congo dances, from jasm (1860) "energy, drive," of African origin (compare Mandingo jasi, Temne yas), also the source of slang jism.If the truth were known about the origin of the word 'Jazz' it would never be mentioned in polite society. ["Étude," Sept. 1924] All that jazz "et cetera" first recorded 1939.
Example
- 1. Jazz is also a reminder of music 's power .
- 2. Her upbringing was surrounded by jazz .
- 3. Jazz exists outside of time .
- 4. Every memorable class is a bit like a jazz composition .
- 5. Miles davis died . But jazz remained a language .