mambo

American  

[mahm-boh] / ˈmɑm boʊ /

noun

• mambos
  plural

1. a fast ballroom dance of Caribbean origin, rhythmically similar to the rumba and cha-cha but having a more complex pattern of steps.

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verb (used without object)

1. to dance the mambo.

mambo British  

/ ˈmæmbəʊ /

noun

1. a modern Latin American dance, resembling the rumba, derived from the ritual dance of voodoo

2. a voodoo priestess

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verb

1. (intr) to perform this dance

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• mambos
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of mambo

First recorded in 1935–40; from Caribbean Spanish (Cuba), from Haitian Creole manbo “ritual dance; Vodou priestess”; perhaps from Kongo màmbu, plural of diàmbu “ritual negotiation, message”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mambo mambos

KFC ran a similar mambo sauce promotion at select locations in 2021.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 26, 2023

For the first four innings, the Mariners seemed destined to take a step back in their never-ending dance between a winning record and a losing record — call it the mambo of mediocrity.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 17, 2023

He then regaled the crowd — and even got Taylor Swift out of her seat to dance! — with his explosive mambo track, “Despues de la Playa.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2023

His fourth solo album is a sunshine beam, taking reggaeton and Latin trap as starting points and embracing styles from across the Caribbean, from mambo to dembow.

From New York Times ● Nov. 30, 2022

Popular items were the boxes on the floor filled with Spanish LPs from past decades, old mambo and salsa records, plena, bomba, Latin hits our parents would dance to.

From "Bodega Dreams" by Ernesto Quinonez

Josué, the singer and oungan, noted that some young people becoming Vodouists are trying to change traditional prayers or certain practices, but he said oungans and mambos are not embracing the push.

From Seattle Times ● May 9, 2024

Musically, she showed uncommon adventurousness as well, singing everything from yodels and cowboy tunes to gospel standards, mambos, and torch ballads.

From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2018

There are those dances, for one thing — freestyle choreographic interpretations of ancient rituals by Aztecs and Incas, as well as sambas, mambos, tangos and an Irish jig.

From New York Times ● Mar. 27, 2017

High-flying mambos and glass-shattering blasts from Sandoval's trumpet helped get the crowd on its feet as actor Andy Garcia assumed the role of a bongo brick in the orchestra's wall of percussion.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2014

But the buildings were here long before the mambos reigned, and who built them, or why, no one knows.

From Impressions of South Africa by James Bryce, Viscount Bryce

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