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• Yankee Doodle
  Yankee Doodle

  noun

  a song with a melody of apparent British origin, popular with American troops during the Revolutionary War.
• “Yankee Doodle”
  “Yankee Doodle”

  A popular American song, dating from the eighteenth century. The early settlers of New York were Dutch, and the Dutch name for Johnny is Janke, pronounced “Yankee.” This is the most likely origin of the term Yankee. Doodle meant “simpleton” in seventeenth-century English. First sung during the American Revolutionary War by the British troops to poke fun at the strange ways of the Americans (Yankees), the song was soon adopted by American troops themselves. Since then, the song has been considered an expression of American patriotism. The popular version of the first stanza is:

  Yankee Doodle came to town

  Riding on a pony;

  He stuck a feather in his hat

  And called it macaroni.

  Yankee Doodle, keep it up,

  Yankee Doodle dandy;

  Mind the music and the step,

  And with the girls be handy.

Yankee Doodle

American  

[dood-l] / ˈdud l /

noun

1. (italics) a song with a melody of apparent British origin, popular with American troops during the Revolutionary War.

2. a Yankee.

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Yankee Doodle British  

noun

1. an American song, popularly regarded as a characteristically national melody

2. another name for Yankee

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“Yankee Doodle” Cultural  

1. A popular American song, dating from the eighteenth century. The early settlers of New York were Dutch, and the Dutch name for Johnny is Janke, pronounced “Yankee.” This is the most likely origin of the term Yankee. Doodle meant “simpleton” in seventeenth-century English. First sung during the American Revolutionary War by the British troops to poke fun at the strange ways of the Americans (Yankees), the song was soon adopted by American troops themselves. Since then, the song has been considered an expression of American patriotism. The popular version of the first stanza is:

   Yankee Doodle came to town

   Riding on a pony;

   He stuck a feather in his hat

   And called it macaroni.

   Yankee Doodle, keep it up,

   Yankee Doodle dandy;

   Mind the music and the step,

   And with the girls be handy.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Yankee Doodle “Yankee Doodle”

Ted, having had his fill of foreignness, heads to the Yankee Doodle Burger Barn restaurant, which advertises American food in American portions.

From New York Times ● Apr. 19, 2023

"I know of only two tunes: one of them is Yankee Doodle Dandy, and the other isn't."

From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2022

“When you opened the door, it played Yankee Doodle Dandy,” said Clayton Pennington, a Maine Antique Digest reporter, according to an article in CBC.

From The Verge ● Oct. 16, 2020

It was a hot day for Concord, sunny and ninety degrees on Main Street, with its stolid Yankee Doodle Dandy red-brick buildings.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 14, 2019

We’ll go to the Coliseum Cafe and have fish and chips, all he wants, lemonade galore, and then we’ll go to see Yankee Doodle Dandy with James Cagney and eat two big bars of chocolate.

From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt

From the origins of “Yankee Doodle” to the first rock ’n’ roll single to hit No. 1—or identifying presidential nicknames and recalling movie lines—there’s much to know about culture in America.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 28, 2026

Kimball’s playing on “Yankee Doodle” is at first loose and unpracticed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2020

A regimental band played “Yankee Doodle” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

From Washington Post ● Sep. 21, 2018

I also explored the music archive, which has twenty-five million items, from thousand-year-old chant music to the first opera score ever published to sheet music for “Yankee Doodle” and Beyoncé.

From The New Yorker ● Feb. 19, 2017

The woman said nothing as she passed by me but started singing the second verse of “Yankee Doodle” in a strong voice, which I thought curious indeed.

From "Chains" by Laurie Halse Anderson