bop

See also: BOP, Bop, bóp, bớp, and вор

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɒp/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒp

Etymology 1

Imitative of the sound made.

Noun

bop (plural bops)

1. (colloquial, onomatopoeia) A very light smack, blow or punch.

Verb

bop (third-person singular simple present bops, present participle bopping, simple past and past participle bopped)

1. (colloquial, transitive) To strike gently or playfully.
   • 2013, Karin Tanabe, The List, page 37:

     “Better him than me,” I said while my mother fluttered her blue eyes at me and bopped me on the nose with a wooden spoon.

Synonyms

• bip, boop

Derived terms

• bop around
• bop it up
• bop the bishop
• hop and bop

 

Translations

a very light smack, blow or punch

• Bulgarian: лек удар m (lek udar)
• German: Stups (de)
• Hungarian: legyintés (hu)

to strike gently or playfully

• German: stupsen (de)
• Hungarian: meglegyint (hu), legyint (hu)

Etymology 2

Shortened from bebop.

Noun

bop (countable and uncountable, plural bops)

1. (uncountable, music) A style of improvised jazz from the 1940s.
   • 1957, Jack Kerouac, chapter 13, in On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC:

     That grand wild sound of bop floated from beer parlors; it mixed medleys with every kind of cowboy and boogie-woogie in the American night.

2. (slang, countable) A good, catchy song; a song that makes one want to dance.
   • 2022 September 5, Maria Sherman, “The essential Harry Styles song book”, in Rolling Stone UK‎^[1]:

     In the later years of One Direction, especially those after the departure of Zayn Malik, the boy band morphed into the vintage pop-rock group of their (well, let’s be real, Harry’s) dreams. ‘What a Feeling’ feels prescient: its Fleetwood Mac style structure laid the groundwork for Styles’ future endeavours. It’s a bop!

3. (countable) A casual party with dancing; a disco.
   • 2012, Barbara Claypole White, The Unfinished Garden, page 308:

     […] their first kiss during the school bop, with Paul Weller singing “You're the Best Thing” and everything tingling from her toes up […]

4. (countable, Oxbridge slang) A party hosted by a college's JCR or MCR.
   • 2005, Johnny Rich, Push Guide to Which University, page 472:

     Theatres; Music House used for bands; May Ball; very popular weekly bops in JCR and MCR; library (57,000 books); 40 networked PCs, 24-hrs.

   • 2012, Owen Jones, Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class, page 120:

     At universities like Oxford, middle-class students hold 'chav bops' where they dress up as this working-class caricature.

Derived terms

• bopper
• boppish
• boppy
• hard bop
• postbop
• post-bop

 

Verb

bop (third-person singular simple present bops, present participle bopping, simple past and past participle bopped)

1. To dance to music with a marked beat.

   She was bopping to the song's drum beats.

   • 2019 February 17, Chris Mench, “Blueface Wants People To Pay Attention To His Lyrics, Not Just Bop To His Music”, in Genius News‎^[2]:

     I’d rather you be stiff with a stuck look on your face than just bopping, not even listening to what a nigga saying.

   • 2020 October 8, Tall Boy Special (lyrics and music), “Clothes”‎^[3]:

     The hat was sorta dancing, just bopping around
     Floating in the air six feet above the ground

Etymology 3

Variant of whop (“to move around quickly with an impact”) and bob (“to move gently vertically”) as well as from the dances above interpreted as a manner of locomotion.

Verb

bop (third-person singular simple present bops, present participle bopping, simple past and past participle bopped)

1. (informal, transitive, intransitive) To walk casually; to stroll.
   • 2011, S. E. Finken, Near Misses, page 199:

     "I bopped down to take Charlie out for a surprise lunch, but he's out at the warehouse doing something with somebody or something. So I'm letting you take me to lunch."

   • 2019 July 31, “Taste (Make It Shake)”, Aitch (lyrics)‎^[4]:

     I'm just bopping, give a fuck who's in the place

     In the music video around this line, he is walking on road and barely dancing.

2. (slang, transitive, intransitive) To have sex.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:copulate

   • 2002, Tim Cockey, The Hearse You Came In On:

     I'm here because your wife and I have been bopping like bunnies. Here are the pictures to prove it.

   • 2012, Terrence Oral Taylor, Dancing with the Boogie Man, page 196:

     […] You aren't the Boy Scout you pretend to be. I'll bet you two bopped all night long.” Colin shook his head. “You're wrong. We didn't.” “You just took her home?” “That's about it.”

3. (slang, transitive, intransitive) To fellate.
   • 2016 June 28, “Hazards”, Loski (lyrics)‎^[5]performed by Loski, 2:39:

     Squa' said she just done the 6, now she on the ends just boppin' (Bad, she bad)
     Now she on the ends just boppin (Boppin')

     The rapper's gestures do not leave room for ambiguity.

Noun

bop (plural bops)

1. (slang, offensive) A promiscuous woman, especially in the context of having a high body count or giving fellatio to many men.

Anagrams

• BPO, OBP, PBO

Swedish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English bop.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɔp/

Noun

bop c (uncountable)

1. (jazz) bebop

Declension

Declension of bop

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	bop	bops
	definite	bopen	bopens
plural	indefinite	—	—
	definite	—	—

References

• bop in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɔp/

Noun

bop

1. Soft mutation of pop.

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
pop	bop	mhop	phop
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.