Definitions

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

  • adjective Marked by assertive action.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or engaging in a type of speculative, short-term stock-market operation.
  • adjective Characterized by the fast growth and development that invites speculative investment.
  • adjective Of or relating to discotheques or to the energetic music and dancing performed at discotheques.

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

  • noun music A style of funk music from the 1970s.
  • adjective Of, or relating to this style of music.
  • adjective Of, or relating to the style of music played at discotheques.
  • adjective Fast and lively.

Etymologies

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

[ Intensive reduplication (influenced by go-go) of go.]

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

[From à gogo.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1964, US, partly from Whisky a Go Go, an influential American nightclub (in turn from French à gogo ("abundant")), partly by reduplication of go, from 1962 slang the go ("the rage, fashionable"), from sense the go ("in motion") as in on the go.

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Examples

  • The so-called go-go years of the 1960s had given way to recession, inflation, a Dow in a prolonged decline—off 45 percent in 1973 alone—and pervasive gloom.

    The Rise and Fall of Bear Stearns Alan C. Greenberg 2010

  • The so-called go-go years of the 1960s had given way to recession, inflation, a Dow in a prolonged decline—off 45 percent in 1973 alone—and pervasive gloom.

    The Rise and Fall of Bear Stearns Alan C. Greenberg 2010

  • The Argument, and it's got a polyrhythmic sound that was influenced by go-go, which is our local, indigenous music.

    NPR Topics: News 2011

  • As some of the 1980s’ most successful business figures—Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken, and Charles Keating among them—were carted off to serve prison terms, and government agencies attempted to sift through the ruins of banks and savings and loans, what had been dubbed the go-go decade seemed to lose some of its luster.

    Beyond the Bottom Line Joel Makower 1994

  • As some of the 1980s’ most successful business figures—Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken, and Charles Keating among them—were carted off to serve prison terms, and government agencies attempted to sift through the ruins of banks and savings and loans, what had been dubbed the go-go decade seemed to lose some of its luster.

    Beyond the Bottom Line Joel Makower 1994

  • Any Grammy ceremony would benefit from a little go-go.

    Lady Antebellum, Arcade Fire take home top prizes at 53rd Annual Grammy Awards Chris Richards 2011

  • Many of those real-estate loans taken out during the go-go years are maturing.

    Goldman Opts Out of Japan Property Stake Alison Tudor 2011

  • In the go-go years of the U.S. housing boom, virtually anybody could get a few hundred thousand dollars to buy a home, and private lenders flooded the market, aggressively pursuing borrowers no matter their means or financial history.

    POLITICAL HOT TOPICS: September 07, 2009 2009

  • Over 20 years, which counts the go-go 1990s, its lead is narrower: 8.4% versus 8.3%.

    Options for Nervous Investors Jack Hough 2011

  • Chuck Brown, the 74-year-old godfather of go-go, was up for the very first Grammy of his career but came up short, losing best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocals to Sade.

    Lady Antebellum, Arcade Fire take home top prizes at 53rd Annual Grammy Awards Chris Richards 2011

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  • "All of them, the go-go dancers, the prostitutes, the widows whose president misappropriated their meagre funds, the dead, the imprisoned, are casualties of American policy in Vietnam. If the Americans were to vanish tomorrow, the scars of their presence would not heal for a generation."

    - Germaine Greer, 'Saigon', Sunday Times, 1971.

    April 13, 2008