Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A group dance, probably of West African origin, characterized by complex rhythmic clapping and body movements and practiced on plantations in the southern United States during the 1700s and 1800s.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In zoology, the long, thick-set hair on the neck, chest, or back of certain quadrupeds; a mane.
  • noun In botany, a loose panicle with the axis deliquescent; also, a dense cluster of awns, as in the spikes of some grasses.
  • noun A characteristic dance of the plantation negroes in the southern United States.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A dance developed by slaves in the U. S., having a lively tune and accompanied by a complex rhythmic clapping, and by slapping the thighs.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun zoology The mane of an animal.
  • noun botany A loose panicle whose axis falls to pieces, as in certain grasses.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Origin unknown.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin, a mane.

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