Bopping

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of striking something lightly with a quick motion ; moving the body rhythmically and energetically to music
2. A gentle or playful blow delivered with the hand or an object ; a lively style of dancing marked by upbeat movements
3. A soft or casual hit often done in a playful way ; performing a brisk, spirited dance typically to upbeat tunes

Etymology: Bopping is the -ing form of "bop," and the verb's history starts with sound rather than with any single person. Its earliest traceable roots lie in the jazz world: "bop" is a shortening of "bebop," the fast, complex style of jazz that emerged in the 1940s, and the bebop name itself seems to have been imitative of its rhythmic patterns. The verb itself has a different ancestry. It blends older English words such as "whop," meaning to strike with an impact, and "bob," meaning to move up and down gently, with the bebop dance influence, which described a lively, bouncing way of moving. That mix of impact and gentle motion explains why the modern sense of lightly tapping someone sits comfortably between the two. Slang use in African American Vernacular English turned the word in quite different directions. In the 2020s, a widely shared social media explanation popularized an abbreviation origin, though that explanation is an internet-era story rather than an established historical fact, and the term has since also been applied to a stylish, attractive person.

Synonyms: dancing, grooving