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jazz - 4 dictionary results

jazz

  [jaz]
Use jazz in a Sentence
–noun
1. music originating in New Orleans around the beginning of the 20th century and subsequently developing through various increasingly complex styles, generally marked by intricate, propulsive rhythms, polyphonic ensemble playing, improvisatory, virtuosic solos, melodic freedom, and a harmonic idiom ranging from simple diatonicism through chromaticism to atonality.
2. a style of dance music, popular esp. in the 1920s, arranged for a large band and marked by some of the features of jazz.
3. dancing or a dance performed to such music, as with violent bodily motions and gestures.
4. Slang. liveliness; spirit; excitement.
5. Slang. insincere, exaggerated, or pretentious talk: Don't give me any of that jazz about your great job!
6. Slang. similar or related but unspecified things, activities, etc.: He goes for fishing and all that jazz.
–adjective
7. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of jazz.
–verb (used with object)
8. to play (music) in the manner of jazz.
9. Informal.
a. to excite or enliven.
b. to accelerate.
10. Slang: Vulgar. to copulate with.
–verb (used without object)
11. to dance to jazz music.
12. to play or perform jazz music.
13. Informal. to act or proceed with great energy or liveliness.
14. Slang: Vulgar. to copulate.
—Verb phrase
15. jazz up, Informal.
a. to add liveliness, vigor, or excitement to.
b. to add ornamentation, color, or extra features to, in order to increase appeal or interest; embellish.
c. to accelerate.
Origin:
1905–10, Americanism; 1915–20 for def. 5; orig. uncert.

Related forms:
jazzer, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To jazz
jazz   (jāz)   
n.  
  1. Music
    1. A style of music, native to America, characterized by a strong but flexible rhythmic understructure with solo and ensemble improvisations on basic tunes and chord patterns and, more recently, a highly sophisticated harmonic idiom.
    2. Big band dance music.
    3. Animation; enthusiasm.
    4. Nonsense.
    5. Miscellaneous, unspecified things: brought the food and all the jazz to go with it.
  2. Slang
    1. Animation; enthusiasm.
    2. Nonsense.
    3. Miscellaneous, unspecified things: brought the food and all the jazz to go with it.
v.   jazzed, jazz·ing, jazz·es

v.   tr.
  1. Music To play in a jazz style.
  2. Slang
    1. To exaggerate or lie to: Don't jazz me.
    2. To give great pleasure to; excite: The surprise party jazzed the guest of honor.
    3. To cause to accelerate.
v.   intr. Slang
To exaggerate or lie.
Phrasal Verb(s):
jazz up Slang To make more interesting; enliven: jazzed up the living area with beaded curtains.

[Origin unknown.]
jazz'er n., jazz'ish adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

jazz

A form of American music that grew out of African-Americans' musical traditions at the beginning of the twentieth century. Jazz is generally considered a major contribution of the United States to the world of music. It quickly became a form of dance music, incorporating a “big beat” and solos by individual musicians. For many years, all jazz was improvised and taught orally, and even today jazz solos are often improvised. Over the years, the small groups of the original jazz players evolved into the “Big Bands” (led, for example, by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Glenn Miller), and finally into concert ensembles. Other famous jazz musicians include Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, and Ella Fitzgerald.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Language Translation for : jazz
Spanish: jazz,
German: der Jazz,
Japanese: ジャズ
More Translations »

jazz 
1909, Amer.Eng., first recorded in lyrics of song "Uncle Josh in Society" ("One lady asked me if I danced the jazz ..."), where it apparently refers to a style of ragtime dancing; as a type of music (originally to accompany the dance), attested from 1913. Probably ult. from Creole patois jass "strenuous activity," especially "sexual intercourse" but also used of Congo dances, from jasm (1860) "energy, drive," of African origin (cf. 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]
The verb meaning "to speed or liven up" is from 1917; all that jazz "et cetera" first recorded 1939; Jazzercise is 1977, originally a proprietary name. Jazz Age first attested 1922 in writings of F. Scott Fitzgerald, usually regarded as the years between the end of World War I (1918) and the Stock Market crash of 1929.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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