US /bɑp/ UK /bɒp/
verb noun

Meanings

  1. 1
    verb

    to hit lightly; to dance to popular music; a style of jazz

    She bopped along the corridor humming to her headphones.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 verb · to hit lightly; to dance to... hittapknockstrikedancebebop
Word family
Derived forms bopperbopping

Etymology

Imitative in origin, echoing the sound of a light blow (mid-20th century); the jazz sense is a shortening of bebop, itself imitative of scat-singing syllables.

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Topics

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