Definitions

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

  • noun A dance of Latin-American origin in which the dancers form a long winding line.
  • noun The music for this dance.
  • noun A conga drum.
  • intransitive verb To perform this dance.

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

  • noun music composed for dancing the conga.
  • noun a Latin American dance of 3 steps and a kick by people in single file.

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

  • noun a tall, narrow, single-headed Cuban hand drum of African origin
  • noun a march of Cuban origin in four-four time in which people form a chain, each holding the hips of the person in front of them; in each bar, dancers take three shuffle steps and then kick alternate legs outwards at the beat; the chain weaves around the place and allows new participants to join the back of the chain
  • verb To dance the conga.

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

  • noun music composed for dancing the conga
  • noun a Latin American dance of 3 steps and a kick by people in single file
  • verb dance the conga

Etymologies

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

[American Spanish (danza) Conga, Congo (dance), from Spanish Congo, of the Congo, from Kongo -kongo, Kongo language and people.]

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Examples

  • *forms into cheezburger shape* *omnomnomnom* Hmm. still hungree. *lions up conga rats* *makes them conga* *puts mowf at end of conga lion* Ohhhhh noeeesss i ated teh conga rats and nao i has a sick!

    I think the real estate agent lied to us… - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? 2009

  • OPPENHEIM: And they go in what you call a conga line?

    CNN Transcript Dec 28, 2007 2007

  • Nobody has joined yet, so if you sign up in the next few days you’ll probably get a bunch of FREE referrals, especially since the person who started the conga is almost finished!

    stonetable.org » Free iPods 2005

  • He has a bright red shukha blanket draped over his shoulder and a baton-like weapon, called a conga, tucked in his belt.

    Craig Kielburger and Marc Kielburger: Africa Goes Wireless 2008

  • Ginny had a mini-stroke, and now walks sideways to a kind of conga beat in her head.

    Hunters Gary Moshimer 2010

  • Mr. NOZ: D.C. has always been a go-go city, which is a, you know, a style of music that's -- it's derived from funk and kind of conga driven.

    Oddisee: Hip-Hop Leaves The City 2010

  • One of my favorite moments finds Eric Burdon asked to lead his fellow Animals in a kind of conga line toward Unsworth's camera as "House of the Rising Sun" charges toward its crescendic finale; as a straight-faced Burdon relates his story of a man brought low, guitarist Hilton Valentine, visible just behind him, can't resist cracking up at the absurdity of what they're doing to promote their record.

    Archive 2006-09-10 2006

  • One of my favorite moments finds Eric Burdon asked to lead his fellow Animals in a kind of conga line toward Unsworth's camera as "House of the Rising Sun" charges toward its crescendic finale; as a straight-faced Burdon relates his story of a man brought low, guitarist Hilton Valentine, visible just behind him, can't resist cracking up at the absurdity of what they're doing to promote their record.

    POP GEAR on Flix 2006

  • Now that's the kind of conga line you want on your radio.

    CBC | Top Stories News 2009

  • The performance was a 20-minute introduction to the artistic principles and driving aesthetics of hip-hop culture, starting with naked rhythm from a conga drum, then showing the evolution of the rhythm into the DJs scratching with turntables and vinyl records.

    Gil Asakawa: Why I Love the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival Gil Asakawa 2011

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