boogaloo

Meanings

Noun

• A genre of music that blends rhythm and blues and soul music with Cuban-style rhythms, originating in the United States in the 1960s.
• A style of dance to this music, popular in the 1960s.
• A piece of music, or an instance of dancing, in or of this style.
• A type of freestyle, improvisational street dance incorporating soulful steps and robotic movements, originally danced to funk and disco, but later more commonly to hip-hop.
• A sequel or repetition of events, etc. Often used to mock a lack of creativity.
• A hypothetical second American Civil War, in which far-right or antigovernment activists rise up against the government.
• A black person.

Verb

• To dance in this style.

Origin

• Attested as a style of dance since at least January 1966 (and found in the titles of many songs around that time), perhaps from boogie (for the ending, compare crackaloo, hullabaloo). (Compare Spanish bugalú, the Spanish name for the style of music and dance.) Kent Harris used the stage name "Boogaloo" in the 1950s. Compare the sense "black person" to boogalee, a term for a Cajun, attested since 1960 or earlier.