Definitions

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

  • noun A style of step dance featuring energetic leg and arm movements and typically performed in wooden-soled shoes, popular in the 19th-century United States and considered an early form of tap dance.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a solo tap dance emphasizing sharp taps

Etymologies

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

[From buck (dance) + (pigeon) wing, a dance step in which the performer jumps up and strikes one leg against the other while in the air.]

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Examples

  • Sure, and why not do a buck-and-wing and holler "Yowza" while you're at it.

    Archive 2009-07-01 2009

  • "I'll meet you outside, after the last act," Martin whispered, the while his face showed undivided interest in the buck-and-wing dancing on the stage.

    Chapter 15 2010

  • Sure, and why not do a buck-and-wing and holler "Yowza" while you're at it.

    Standing up to the bullies 2009

  • From a buck-and-wing, DBS quickly maneuvered into a bossa-nova, followed by a Russian country dance.

    Archive 2007-10-01 2007

  • In a live feed where news is breaking, they buck-and-wing while research staffs scramble to Google up information to make them look a little less piteous.

    Brian Ross: Can We Separate Television News from the Game Show Mentality? 2009

  • Through a mammoth effort, Becky was able to suppress her first instinct, which was to break into a joyous buck-and-wing while belting out “Happy Days Are Here Again.”

    Little Earthquakes Jennifer Weiner 2004

  • They went round and round, jerking in a buck-and-wing, bent at the waist, stepping with high knees, their faces alternately staring down at their feet on the ground and bending back to speculate on the blanked heavens.

    Cold Mountain Frazier, Charles, 1950- Cold Mountain 2003

  • They went round and round, jerking in a buck-and-wing, bent at the waist, stepping with high knees, their faces alternately staring down at their feet on the ground and bending back to speculate on the blanked heavens.

    Cold Mountain Frazier, Charles, 1950- Cold Mountain 1997

  • Whereupon two or three youngsters jumped out and performed a good imitation of a buck-and-wing dance.

    Negritos of Zambales William Allan Reed

  • Doc's part in the evening's entertainment was a buck-and-wing dance of a most violent sort, and when he had finished, Jarrow told him to serve all hands with a tot of rum.

    Isle o' Dreams Frederick Ferdinand Moore 1930

Comments

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  • If you're moved to an artistic fling
    You could join in a chorus and sing;
    Or choose not to mingle,
    Perform as a single
    If you're up to a brisk buck-and-wing.

    April 23, 2014