Buck-and-wing

noun, slang

noun, slang ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A form of tap dance with gliding, sliding, and stomping movements performed at high speed. countable, historical, uncountable
  2. 2
    a solo tap dance emphasizing sharp taps wordnet
  3. 3
    Something done during a presentation by the presenter to distract from any negative aspects. colloquial, countable, uncountable

    "His abrupt changes of mood and tone disturb even as they dazzle the reader, insisting upon the urgency of Tate's subjects and upon the emotional precariousness of the situations in which he finds them."

Example

More examples

"His abrupt changes of mood and tone disturb even as they dazzle the reader, insisting upon the urgency of Tate's subjects and upon the emotional precariousness of the situations in which he finds them."

Etymology

From buck meaning dance and wing referring to the wing-like flapping of the arms.

More for "buck-and-wing"

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