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
It’s scary, having a bot bop around the web for me, and there are real risks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025
The strangest song Jepsen has ever written, according to Jepsen: “Store,” the improbably exuberant bop about grocery shopping that she sang at the Troubadour while two-stepping down an imaginary frozen foods aisle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2025
Now, he’s lost the one place he could bop around as freely and easily as any other 10-year-old.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 28, 2025
His shoulders are always back, and he has this bop that I know he must've practiced for years to perfect.
From "When I Was the Greatest" by Jason Reynolds
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
For years, Justine Lupe bopped back and forth between Los Angeles and New York.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 27, 2024
As the singer bopped around city to city on her own tour and eventually Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, she would tailor each outro to a new city.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2024
“Who was that French guy who bopped me on the head?”
From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein
Behold the swaggy celebrity fans like Timothée Chalamet, the $10,000 nosebleed seats, the President of the United States bopping north to catch Monday’s Game 3 at Madison Square Garden.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
Iran is no bastion of free expression, in other words, which anyone bopping to those raps about enacting revenge on “the Baal-worshipping Epstein crew” must remember.
From Salon ● Apr. 26, 2026
Duncan appeared confident and poised as he took underhanded tosses from a team manager and fired passes, even bopping his head ever so slightly as Blink-182’s “All the Small Things” blared over the stadium loudspeakers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2025
These bubbly creatures seemed to float by on the positive energy of the crowd, sometimes blithely bopping along, sometimes stopping to take photos with enthusiastic fellow inflatable-wearers.
From Slate ● Oct. 19, 2025
“Thank you, Dr. Z!” said Mr. Lemoncello, bopping the button to make the audience cheer again.
From "Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library" by Chris Grabenstein
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.
