Yankee Doodle

American  

[dood-l] / ˈdud l /

noun

1. (italics) a song with a melody of apparent British origin, popular with American troops during the Revolutionary War.

2. a Yankee.

---

Yankee Doodle British  

noun

1. an American song, popularly regarded as a characteristically national melody

2. another name for Yankee

---

“Yankee Doodle” Cultural  

1. A popular American song, dating from the eighteenth century. The early settlers of New York were Dutch, and the Dutch name for Johnny is Janke, pronounced “Yankee.” This is the most likely origin of the term Yankee. Doodle meant “simpleton” in seventeenth-century English. First sung during the American Revolutionary War by the British troops to poke fun at the strange ways of the Americans (Yankees), the song was soon adopted by American troops themselves. Since then, the song has been considered an expression of American patriotism. The popular version of the first stanza is:

   Yankee Doodle came to town

   Riding on a pony;

   He stuck a feather in his hat

   And called it macaroni.

   Yankee Doodle, keep it up,

   Yankee Doodle dandy;

   Mind the music and the step,

   And with the girls be handy.

---

Example Sentences

Chu himself got his name from the lead character of the 1980s series “Hart to Hart,” and his professional name follows the format of Broadway legend George M. Cohan, after he saw the movie ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’ with his grandfather.

From Los Angeles Times

She’s at her most politically vociferous on “Do or Die,” singing about “Yankee Doodle Dandy” to a Latin beat.

From Washington Times

Its waste is dumped in what’s known as the Yankee Doodle Tailings pond, which is contained by the giant dam that looms, out of sight, above Butte.

From Washington Post

“Yankee Doodle Dandy” was filmed on the same Warner soundstage where WarnerMedia executives gathered last month to unveil their HBO Max streaming service.

From New York Times

Warner Bros. would prefer if everyone forgot about the racist Bugs Bunny cartoons it put out in the 1940s; “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” a James Cagney musical from 1942, includes a grandiose blackface number.

From New York Times