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Rock and roll
Definitions
- 1 A genre of popular music that evolved in the 1950s from a combination of rhythm and blues and country music, characterized by electric guitars, strong rhythms, and youth-oriented lyrics. uncountable
- 2 a genre of popular music originating in the 1950s; a blend of black rhythm-and-blues with white country-and-western wordnet
- 3 A style of vigorous dancing associated with this genre of music. uncountable
- 4 An intangible feeling, philosophy, belief or allegiance relating to rock music, characterized by unbridled enthusiasm, hedonism, and cynical regard for authoritarian bodies. attributive, especially, uncountable
"rock and roll lifestyle"
- 5 Dole, payment by the state to the unemployed. Cockney, slang, uncountable
"I'm back on rock and roll"
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- 6 The full automatic fire capability selection on a selective fire weapon. US, slang, uncountable
- 7 The ability to run the picture and audio back and forth in synchronization, allowing the correction of mistakes during dubbing. uncountable
"The dubbing theatre is a viewing theatre equipped for running the picture with a great many tracks interlocked to run synchronously. Once laced up, they can be run forwards or backwards remaining in synch; when it was first introduced this system was given the name 'rock and roll'."
- 1 To have sex. dated, euphemistic, slang
- 2 To play rock and roll music.
- 3 To start, commence, begin, get moving; move along with a rocking, rolling motion.
"Does everyone know what car they're going in? Then let's rock and roll!"
Etymology
From rock (move back and forth) + and + roll; originally a verb phrase common among African Americans, meaning "to have sexual intercourse"; it was an euphemism that appeared in song titles since at least 1914 (Trixie Smith's "My Man Rocks Me With One Steady Roll"). As a name for a specific style of popular music from the early 1950s, popularized by disc jockey Alan Freed in reference to the euphemistic use in song titles.
From rock (move back and forth) + and + roll; originally a verb phrase common among African Americans, meaning "to have sexual intercourse"; it was an euphemism that appeared in song titles since at least 1914 (Trixie Smith's "My Man Rocks Me With One Steady Roll"). As a name for a specific style of popular music from the early 1950s, popularized by disc jockey Alan Freed in reference to the euphemistic use in song titles.
See also for "rock and roll"
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