jazz
Forms
- Plural
- jazzes
- present (v1)
- jazz
- past (v2)
- jazzed
- past participle (v3)
- jazzed
- present participle
- jazzing
- 3rd person singular
- jazzes
Definitions
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.
- You dare to bring your jazz songs into my house!
- You all look out now, here I come, everybody step aside, I’m gonna show you where from! I'm gonna blow in this horn and make you know that jazz is the king and let it be so!
2.Energy, excitement, excitability.
- He loves the risk. The danger. He loves the jazz.
- “You want something zippy there. Something with a bit of jazz to it!”
3.The substance or makeup of a thing; unspecified thing(s).
- What is all this jazz lying around?
- I'm just going down to the shops and jazz.
- Dad, I want to be a jock. All a jock needs is some hep patter and a real gone image. Now, they just don't teach that jazz in college.
4.Something of excellent quality, the genuine article.
- This risotto is simply the jazz.
- That show was the jazz!
1.To destroy; to ruin.(slang)
- You’ve gone and jazzed it now!
2.To enliven, brighten up, make more colourful or exciting.
3.To play (jazz music).
4.To dance to the tunes of jazz music.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #3531
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Synonyms
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.