bop
1 Americannoun
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
noun
-
Originally called: bebop. a form of jazz originating in the 1940s, characterized by rhythmic and harmonic complexity and instrumental virtuosity
-
informal a session of dancing to pop music
verb
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of bop1
1945–50, (be)bop
Origin of bop2
First recorded in 1935–40; variant of bob 3
Explanation
If you bop your little brother, you hit him lightly. If you do this, he's probably going to bop you right back. The origin of the word bop is imitative: bop sounds like the noise your hand makes when you bop someone or something. You can also use bop to mean bebop, the fast-tempo jazz that became popular in the 1940s, after the swing era. The word comes from the jazz tradition of singing nonsense words like bebop and rebop.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The company says its "companion-centric" device can interpret human gestures and bop to musical rhythms, as well as take selfies and steady videos.
From Barron's ● Jul. 19, 2026
Still, this was music one could bop their head to, even if dance parties were limited during the global pandemic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
He adds a funky countermelody, reminiscent of Horace Silver or Lee Morgan, and remakes “Billy Joe” into a remarkable slice of hard bop, a 12-minute roller-coaster ride.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 1, 2026
And every now and then, I might find a little bop, a little sundress, a little something to throw on, drop the things back off and then head down into the city.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2025
Somehow, between Miss Palma saying, “Please take note of the dramatic irony in this scene,” and my brain saying, “Bip bop dit dit doo-wah,” I got through the class.
From "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" by Jordan Sonnenblick
In a sparkly gold dress, the 20-year-old floated above the pressure, bopped along to the music of Donna Summer and glided her way to stardom—and the top of the podium.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 23, 2026
Szabolcs Csépe, from Budapest, bopped to over 3000 songs and burned more than 22,000 calories in his quest to romp into the record books.
From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2025
She says that gun owners “are bopped over the head constantly with safety,” from all parts of the gun industry.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2024
As five women including myself bopped around the Upper West Side on that brisk December afternoon, we stopped by the restaurant Barney's Greengrass.
From Salon ● Dec. 25, 2023
Then she bopped off down the hall with the old bunny-on-puppet-strings walk I was used to, leaving me to wonder what had just happened.
From "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" by Jordan Sonnenblick
It’s hard to disagree that the current system, with quarterbacks bopping from campus to campus like jam bands and 26-year-olds lining up against 18-year-olds, needs revision.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 9, 2026
What did teen girls bopping to “Modern Love” know about any of that?
From Salon ● Jan. 24, 2026
The aunties seemed genuinely delighted, bopping along to Bruno Mars as if this were the triumph of civic joy they had been waiting for since Election Day.
From Slate ● Jan. 3, 2026
When Nash-Betts isn’t on set, she can be found bopping around the city with her “hersband” singer-actor Jessica Betts, whom she married in 2020, and spending time with her three adult kids.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2025
“Hi, y’all,” she said, bopping up, setting her can of earrings down.
From "As Brave As You" by Jason Reynolds
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
