jazz

I. noun Usage: often attributive Etymology: origin unknown Date: 1913 1. a. American music developed especially from ragtime and blues and characterized by propulsive syncopated rhythms, polyphonic ensemble playing, varying degrees of improvisation, and often deliberate distortions of pitch and timbre b. popular dance music influenced by jazz and played in a loud rhythmic manner 2. empty talk ; humbug <

spouted all the scientific jazz — Pete Martin

> 3. similar but unspecified things ; stuff <

that wind, and the waves, and all that jazz — John Updike

> • jazzlike adjective II. verb Date: 1917 transitive verb 1. a. enliven — usually used with up b. accelerate 2. to play in the manner of jazz intransitive verb 1. to go here and there ; gad 2. to dance to or play jazz