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ring shout

noun

a group dance of West African origin introduced into parts of the southern U.S. by Black revivalists, performed by shuffling counterclockwise in a circle while answering shouts of a preacher with corresponding shouts, and held to be, in its vigorous antiphonal patterns, a source in the development of jazz.

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Origin of ring shout

An Americanism dating back to 1930–35

Words nearby ring shout

ring-porous, ring road, ring rot, ringsail, ring scotoma, ring shout, ringside, ringsider, ringside seat, ring snake, Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

British Dictionary definitions for ring shout

ring-shout

noun

a West African circle dance that has influenced jazz, surviving in the Black churches of the southern US
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