English Explanatory Dictionary

jazz

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A musical art form rooted in West African cultural and musical expression and in the African American blues tradition, with diverse influences over time, commonly characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms and improvisation.
  2. Energy, excitement, excitability.
  3. The substance or makeup of a thing; unspecified thing(s).
  4. Something of excellent quality, the genuine article.
  5. Nonsense.
  6. Semen, jizz.
  7. A red-skinned variety of eating apple.
verb
  1. To destroy; to ruin.
  2. To play (jazz music).
  3. To dance to the tunes of jazz music.
  4. To enliven, brighten up, make more colourful or exciting.
  5. To complicate.
  6. To have sex for money, to prostitute oneself.
  7. To move (around/about) in a lively or frivolous manner; to fool around.
  8. To distract or pester.
  9. To ejaculate.
name
  1. A diminutive of the male given name Jasper.
  2. A diminutive of the male given name James.
  3. A diminutive of the female given name Jasmine.

Pronunciation

jăz /d͡ʒæz/ En-au-jazz.ogg

Word forms

jazz jazzes jaz jas jass jasz jazzing jazzed

Etymology

Unknown. First attested around 1912 in a discussion of baseball; attested in reference to music around 1915. Numerous references suggest that the term may be connected to jasm and jism.

Synonyms

stuff Sorted by number of Google hits widget hickey gizmo thingy gimmick thingie jigger gismo gubbins whatsit thingamajig doodad whatchamacallit doohickey thingo thingamabob thingummy whatsis thingumajig thingumabob whatchacallit Sorted alphabetically affair bazinga bizzo dealie dealy dinglehopper dingus dohickey dojigger dongle doo-hickey doober doodah doofer doohickus doohinkey doohinkus doojigger doovalacky foobar foo frammis frobnitz gadget geegaw gewgaw gingambob gingumbob hodad hootenanny jawn jimbang jobber jobby joint junk

Derived words

acid jazz Afro-Cuban jazz all that jazz bluegrass jazz bluegrass-jazz cool jazz electrojazz Ethio-jazz free jazz good enough for jazz gypsy jazz hot jazz jazz around jazz band jazzbo jazz bow jazz box jazz cabbage jazz cigarette jazzcore jazz dance jazzdom jazz dot jazzen jazzer jazzerati jazzercise jazzetry jazzfest jazz funeral jazz-funk jazz fusion jazz garter jazz hands jazzhead jazz-hop jazzical jazzification jazzify jazzish jazzist jazzistic jazz journalism jazzless jazz-like jazz mag jazz-mugham jazz mugham jazznik jazzophile jazzophone jazz pants jazzperson jazz player jazz poet jazz poetry jazz rap jazz-rock jazz square jazzstep
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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