hepcat
Americannoun
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a performer or admirer of jazz, especially swing.
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a person who is hep; hipster.
noun
Etymology
Origin of hepcat
An Americanism dating back to 1930–35; hep 1 + cat ( def. )
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.
Goldblum seems very much in life the talkative eccentric hepcat he is in pictures — it’s impossible to tell when he’s on script or just telling you what he knows.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 26, 2022
Then, often while combing his blond pompadour, he engaged in some hepcat patter as he took the car keys.
From Washington Post • Jan. 10, 2020
The hepcat slang in the original was already a throwback in 1970, when Scatman Crothers performed it in “The Aristocats.”
From New York Times • Nov. 18, 2016
The OED isn't much help; it traces the word back to the 1940s and offers "hepcat" as its rough equivalent.
From The Guardian • Oct. 14, 2010
The Teds' notion of sartorial splendor ranges from a caricature of Edwardian elegance to the zoot padding of a Harlem hepcat.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
