Definitions

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

  • noun A dance in 4/4 time of Latin American origin, resembling the rumba.
  • noun The music for this dance.
  • intransitive verb To perform this dance.

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

  • noun A Latin-American musical genre originating from Cuba in the 1940s.
  • noun A fast-paced Latin American dance inspired by mambo music.
  • verb intransitive To perform this dance.

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

  • verb dance a mambo
  • noun a Latin American dance similar in rhythm to the rumba

Etymologies

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

[American Spanish, from Haitian Creole manbo, voodoo priestess (the extended drum breaks in mambo music being likened by Cuban musicians to a voodoo priestess's ecstatic trance), probably of African origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Cuban Spanish, from Kongo mambo ("conversation with the Gods").

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Examples

  • Orestes wrote the first song with the word mambo in the title in 1938 and he told me that he wrote it for his brother.

    NYDN Rss GREG THOMAS 2012

  • Taken from four decades of popular dance, "Neighborhood Ballroom" is a major production piece, ranging from Belle Époque serenity to a wild Latin American mambo show, all viewed through the lens of a night club denizen known as the Poet.

    marconews.com Stories hkheithaus@naplesnews.com (HARRIET HOWARD HEITHAUS 2010

  • Taken from four decades of popular dance, "Neighborhood Ballroom" is a major production piece, ranging from Belle Époque serenity to a wild Latin American mambo show, all viewed through the lens of a night club denizen known as the Poet.

    marconews.com Stories 2010

  • Is it any surprise, then, that a Cuban bandleader enamored of the Kenton band would abandon the rumba for a bombastic new variation called the mambo?

    When Cuba Invaded America Eric Felten 2010

  • The mambo was the unofficial dance of the Havana Mob, and the sultry Latin rhythms that inspired the phenomenon were to underscore the entire era.

    'Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba… and Then Lost It to the Revolution' 2008

  • The mambo is a dance which originated in the Haitian settlements of Cuba.

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows 2009

  • The mambo is a dance which originated in the Haitian settlements of Cuba.

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows 2009

  • The mambo was the dance with her doing a solo, and she shook her hips and did a good job overall.

    Best Syndication - 2008

  • I was expecting him to burst into "Do The Strand" as soon as I heard Bryan mouth "mambo", but this call to the dancefloor is louche and somewhat lazy in delivery.

    Comments for FreakyTrigger 2010

  • Indiana has taken merengue beats that nod to gritty "mambo" and tight '80s ensembles like

    NY Daily News 2010

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