bop1
[bop]
- Also called bebop. early modern jazz developed in the early 1940s and characterized by often dissonant triadic and chromatic chords, fast tempos and eccentric rhythms, intricate melodic lines punctuated by pop-tune phrases, and emphasizing the inventiveness of soloists.Compare cool jazz, hard bop, modern jazz, progressive jazz.
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- Slang. to move, go, or proceed (often followed by on down): Let's bop on down to the party.
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Origin of bop1
bop2
[bop]Slang.
- to strike, as with the fist or a stick; hit.
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- a blow.
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Origin of bop2
First recorded in 1935–40; variant of bob3
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for bopping
Contemporary Examples
It was superficial and jumpy and herky-jerky, bopping all over the place.
They came in bouncing, bubbly, bopping off him like popcorn.
Historical Examples
They had been perfectly normal juvenile delinquents, stealing cars and bopping a stray policeman or two.
Occasion for DisasterGordon Randall Garrett
bop1
- a form of jazz originating in the 1940s, characterized by rhythmic and harmonic complexity and instrumental virtuosityOriginally called: bebop
- informal a session of dancing to pop music
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- (intr) informal to dance to pop music
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Word Origin
C20: shortened from bebop
bop2
- (tr) to strike; hit
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- a blow
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Word Origin
C19: of imitative origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for bopping
bop
n.
1948, shortening of bebop or rebop; as a verb, "play bop music, play (a song) in a bop style," from 1948. It soon came to mean "do any sort of dance to pop music" (1956). Related: Bopped; bopping.
The musical movement had its own lingo, which was in vogue in U.S. early 1950s. "Life" magazine [Sept. 29, 1952] listed examples of bop talk: crazy "new, wonderful, wildly exciting;" gone (adj.) "the tops--superlative of crazy;" cool (adj.) "tasty, pretty;" goof "to blow a wrong note or make a mistake;" hipster "modern version of hepcat;" dig "to understand, appreciate the subtleties of;" stoned "drunk, captivated, ecstatic, sent out of this world;" flip (v.) "to react enthusiastically." [Life Sept. 29, 1952]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper