juke
1 Americanverb (used with object)
noun
noun
Etymology
Origin of juke1
Spelling variant of jouk
Origin of juke2
By shortening
Explanation
Use the word juke when you talk about a little roadside bar where you can dance to jukebox music or a live band. Another word for a juke is a "roadhouse." If you visit a rowdy rural bar with dancing and beer, you can call it a juke. Many country and blues bands got their start playing at jukes in the south, although some jukes offer jukeboxes as their only music. You can also call it a "juke joint." The word juke comes from the Southern United States Creole known as Gullah — in which juke or joog means "wicked" or "disorderly."
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:
Sadly, his background vocal is mixed low and seems like an afterthought, but it’s an affecting song nonetheless, conjuring images of truck stops and roadside juke joints.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026
Unless James can juke Father Time and pull off another odds-defying dead lift for the ages.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026
The film unfolds during the opening of a Mississippi juke joint in 1932.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2026
As the juke joint crowd responds, he loses himself in the timeless transcendence artists hope for.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2026
Cool Papa Byrd—which was what those blues-loving people called him—stayed on the road in blues clubs, honky-tonks, and juke joints, playing the blues with the Bluesmen.
From "Clayton Byrd Goes Underground" by Rita Williams-Garcia
O.J. did as O.J. was famous for doing, and juked.
From New York Times ● Apr. 12, 2024
He danced and juked, dodged and eluded tacklers, using his instincts to find open space that allowed him to use his speed to outrace the defense into the end zone.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 11, 2024
In his best play of the season, Hemby evaded one defender, then juked another as he took the ball 61 yards to the 2.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 30, 2023
Even then, Bennett juked defenders with the same dead-leg move that Ohio State linebacker Steele Chambers called “annoying” while praising the quarterback’s mobility.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 30, 2022
He juked and jived and spun and danced and darted, and he left them squeezing handfuls of air.
From "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli
Justin Herbert just kept running, juking and winning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2024
The result is something like shuffling, juking bas-reliefs or ghosts.
From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2024
“Ken is out there just juking guys and making guys miss left and right,” quarterback Geno Smith marveled later.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 27, 2023
Irving skittered across the lane juking defenders on his way to 24 points, six rebounds and five assists.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 12, 2022
We joked a little more, I thought like regular American men, faking, dipping, juking.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
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.
