jazz
See also: Jazz
English
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.[1]
Pronunciation
- enPR: jăz, IPA(key): /d͡ʒæz/
- Rhymes: -æz
Noun
jazz (uncountable)
- (music) 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.
- Energy, excitement, excitability.
- The substance or makeup of a thing.
- What jazz were you referring to earlier?
- What is all this jazz lying around?
- Unspecified thing(s).
- I'm just going down to the shops and jazz.
- (with positive terms) Something of excellent quality, the genuine article.
- That show was the jazz!
- This risotto is simply the jazz.
- Nonsense.
- Stop talking jazz.
Derived terms
Translations
musical art form
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Unspecified thing(s)
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Of excellent quality, the genuine article
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Nonsense
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
Verb
jazz (third-person singular simple present jazzes, present participle jazzing, simple past and past participle jazzed)
- To destroy.
- You’ve gone and jazzed it now!
- To play (jazz music).
- To dance to the tunes of jazz music.
- To enliven, brighten up, make more colourful or exciting; excite
- To complicate.
- Don’t jazz it too much!
- (intransitive, US slang, dated) To have sex for money, to prostitute oneself.
- 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Vintage 1993, page 59:
- ‘Jazzing?’ Temple whispered [...]. ‘Yes, putty-face!’ the woman said. ‘How do you suppose I paid that lawyer?’
- 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Vintage 1993, page 59:
- (intransitive) To move (around/about) in a lively or frivolous manner; to fool around. [from 20th c.]
- 1958, Doris Lessing, A Ripple From the Storm, HarperPerennial 1995, p. 119:
- ‘Well, if you're going to jazz about the way you do, I suppose you'll need rouge at your age.’
- 1958, Doris Lessing, A Ripple From the Storm, HarperPerennial 1995, p. 119:
- To distract/pester.
- Stop jazzing me!
Translations
References
- The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2014, →ISBN says that most authorities derive it from jasm, a variant of jism. Partridge also says it was first recorded in reference to music in a 1917 Chicago Tribune advertisement for "Bert Kelly's Jaz [sic] Band", having previously been used in baseball.
Czech
Dutch
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Finnish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈjɑts/, [ˈjɑt̪s̠]
Declension
Inflection of jazz (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation) | |||
---|---|---|---|
nominative | jazz | jazzit | |
genitive | jazzin | jazzien | |
partitive | jazzia | jazzeja | |
illative | jazziin | jazzeihin | |
singular | plural | ||
nominative | jazz | jazzit | |
accusative | nom. | jazz | jazzit |
gen. | jazzin | ||
genitive | jazzin | jazzien | |
partitive | jazzia | jazzeja | |
inessive | jazzissa | jazzeissa | |
elative | jazzista | jazzeista | |
illative | jazziin | jazzeihin | |
adessive | jazzilla | jazzeilla | |
ablative | jazzilta | jazzeilta | |
allative | jazzille | jazzeille | |
essive | jazzina | jazzeina | |
translative | jazziksi | jazzeiksi | |
instructive | — | jazzein | |
abessive | jazzitta | jazzeitta | |
comitative | — | jazzeineen |
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /dʒɑz/
Audio (file)
Further reading
- “jazz” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Italian
Norwegian Bokmål
Alternative forms
Norwegian Nynorsk
Alternative forms
Polish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /d͡ʐɛs/
audio (file)
Declension
Synonyms
Portuguese
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛs/
Quotations
For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:jazz.
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