Lindy

//ˈlɪndi// name, noun, verb, slang

name, noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A jitterbug, originated in Harlem, New York.
  2. 2
    A certain dance step.
  3. 3
    an energetic American dance that was popular in the 1930s (probably named for the aviator Charles Lindbergh) wordnet
  4. 4
    A musical composition suitable for such a dance.

    ""These damned Lindys!" bubbled Janice. "Don't they play anything for old married folks?""

  5. 5
    Ellipsis of Lindy Hop abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis

    "The Lindy Hop picked up where the Charleston left off, with the first swing-outs, breakaways and "shine steps" added to a basic off-beat two-step. In its early days the Lindy flourished only in lower strata of society."

Verb
  1. 1
    To perform this dance. intransitive
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A diminutive of the female given names Linda, Lindsay, or Linnet.

    "Lindy herself hated the name Lindy. She said it sounded like a girl in pink gingham. At the beginning of this school year she'd started making all the teachers address her by her full name, Linnet."

  2. 2
    A unisex given name.
  3. 3
    Nickname of US aviator Charles Lindbergh (1902–1974). colloquial

    "It seems a fair enough deduction, since it is known that Corrigan was working at the Ryan Airplane factory while Lindy's plane, "Spirit of St. Louis," was being built there and he was one of those who helped put together that famous craft."

Example

More examples

"Lindy herself hated the name Lindy. She said it sounded like a girl in pink gingham. At the beginning of this school year she'd started making all the teachers address her by her full name, Linnet."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Probably from Lindy, the nickname of US aviator Charles A. Lindbergh.

Etymology 2

Diminutives with -y.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.