Walkman

name, noun, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A Sony portable personal compact cassette player product line.

    "He places the Walkman in the case alongside a Panasonic wallet-size cordless portable finding Easa-phone (he used to own the NEC 9000 Porta portable) and pulls out today’s newspaper."

  2. 2
    A Sony brand for personal portable audio media players.

    "Outside the toilets school parties from France and Germany stood in stiff groups photographing themselves. They talked loudly without removing their Walkmans. Their headsets sizzled and tished."

  3. 3
    A street urchin. derogatory
Noun
  1. 1
    A portable personal audio cassette player with headphones. countable, uncountable

    "Because I can't stand looking at that inexplicable Walkman anymore. You're carrying around a brick playing a cassette tape. We're not savages—so I'm gonna put a thousand songs in your pocket."

  2. 2
    Alternative letter-case form of walkman. alt-of

    "But it took a decade to make any impression on the mainstream – people stuck with cassettes for recording, and Walkmen and Discmen for portability – and almost as soon as it did, it was killed by the MP3 player."

  3. 3
    (trademark) a pocket-sized stereo system with light weight earphones wordnet
  4. 4
    Pigs' ears, chopped, shaved, marinated, skewered, then grilled, sold as street food. Philippines, informal, uncountable

Etymology

Etymology 1

(cassette player): Genericized trademark from the Sony trademark Walkman.

Etymology 2

A trademark; from walk + man, coined in reference to an earlier product, Pressman, a portable tape recorder for journalists.

Etymology 3

A trademark; from walk + man, coined in reference to an earlier product, Pressman, a portable tape recorder for journalists.

Next best steps

Mini challenge

Unscramble this word: walkman