samba
- a rhythmic, Brazilian ballroom dance of African origin.
- to dance the samba.
Origin of samba
Related Words for samba
disco, waltz, rock, samba, tango, tap, skip, jump, shimmy, trip, caper, jig, leap, hop, frolic, sway, cavort, hustle, whirl, strutExamples from the Web for samba
Contemporary Examples of samba
“We want her to appear with the Samba band and come on and say ‘Shut the ---- up’,” one of the organisers explained.
Behind the samba beat, the country remains deeply polarized at home, in politics, and in the pews.
It was none other than comic Margaret Cho, dancing a samba to the story of “pride.”
The Woz busted a move—and who knows what else—doing “the worm” in the middle of a samba routine in Season Nine.
BREAKOUT MOMENT: Shaking her hips—Elvis be damned—during a too-hot-for-prime time samba with partner Helio Castroneves in 2007.
Historical Examples of samba
The years passed away, and Samba had become a tall and strong youth.
The Olive Fairy BookVarious
Samba lang tung pagkaigúa, It was pure luck that you hit it.
A Dictionary of Cebuano VisayanJohn U. Wolff
Samba seemed to find his way by instinct over the uneven ground.
SambaHerbert Strang
Samba had but to stretch out his hand to make prisoners of what he chose.
SambaHerbert Strang
Samba did not suspect at first that these men were connected with those he sought.
SambaHerbert Strang
samba
- a lively modern ballroom dance from Brazil in bouncy duple time
- a piece of music composed for or in the rhythm of this dance
- (intr) to perform such a dance
Word Origin for samba
Word Origin and History for samba
Brazilian dance of African origin, 1885, Zemba, from Portuguese samba, shortened form of zambacueca, a type of dance, probably altered (by influence of zamacueco "stupid") from zambapalo, the name of a grotesque dance, itself an alteration of zampapalo "stupid man," from zamparse "to bump, crash." As a verb from 1949.