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honky-tonk

 - 3 dictionary results

honk⋅y-tonk

[hong-kee-tongk, hawng-kee-tawngk]
–noun
1. a cheap, noisy, and garish nightclub or dance hall.
–adjective
2. Also, honk⋅y-tonk⋅y [hong-kee-tong-kee, hawng-kee-tawng-] . of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a honky-tonk: a honky-tonk atmosphere.
3. characterized by or having a large number of honky-tonks: the honky-tonk part of town.
4. Music. noting a style of ragtime piano-playing characterized by a strict two-four or four-four bass, either contrapuntal or chordal, and a melody embellished with chords and syncopated rhythms, typically performed on a piano whose strings have been muffled and given a tinny sound.
–verb (used without object)
5. to visit or frequent honky-tonks.

Origin:
1890–95, Americanism; rhyming compound based on honk


honky-tonker, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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hon·ky-tonk   (hông'kē-tôngk', hŏng'kē-tŏngk')   
n.  A cheap, noisy bar or dance hall.
adj.  
  1. Of or relating to such a bar or dance hall; tawdry: a honky-tonk district; honky-tonk entertainers.

  2. Of, relating to, or being a type of ragtime characteristically played on a tinny-sounding piano or in a honky-tonk.

intr.v.   hon·ky-tonked, hon·ky-tonk·ing, hon·ky-tonks
To visit cheap, noisy bars or dance halls.

[Perhaps from honk.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

honky-tonk 
"cheap night club," 1924, earlier honk-a-tonk (1894), of unknown origin. As a type of music played in that sort of low saloon, it is attested from 1933.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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