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Glite Dictionary
🎷 A jazz style 🗣️ To talk dishonestly 💃 To dance energetically
jive

jive

24 8.4
A lively jazz style played by big bands in the 1930s
  • noun
  • /dʒaɪv/
  • Archaic
translation icon : swing
  • In the 1930s, many people enjoyed dancing to the lively rhythms of jive music at big band concerts.
  • jive talk
  • jive turkey
  • shuck-and-jive

Examples

  • At the swing dance event, the band played a vibrant piece of jive that got everyone on their feet.

  • The dance floor was filled with couples showcasing their skills in jive, a popular style of jazz music.

  • Separate the truth from the jive

    Happy Feet (2006)

  • The German ones are much better, like precision, handcrafted engineering, and all that jive.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Faithful yet irreverent, Jumpin' Jive is Jackson at his finest and was a harbinger of great things to come.

    Blog text (22)

  • ♪ That weren't no DJ ♪ ♪ That was hazy cosmic jive ♪

    CODA (2021)

  • All the qualities I admired in Rufus—his reticent glib jive talk, his phrasing on the sax, his way of being—

    Fiction book (1993)

Synonyms

jazz
vsjive
273 1.0

A lively music style with a strong beat where players make up parts while playing

is a narrower 1930s big band style with less complex arrangements
swing
vsjive
60 4.8

A lively jazz music style with a strong rhythm

is the specific big band form with flowing rhythms and simpler arrangements
swing music
vsjive
1 3.9

A lively style of jazz with a strong beat that big bands play

is a narrower big band style with smoother rhythms and simpler arrangements
jass
vsjive
  • Archaic
9.9

An early spelling of jazz for music with a swinging beat and improvised parts

is the narrower 1930s big band form with flowing rhythms and simpler arrangements

Idioms

to shuck and jive
  • Slur
1 9.9

To speak in a dishonest or unclear way to avoid answering

Compounds

jive turkey
  • Offensive
3 9.9

A person who pretends and lies to impress others

How Rhythmic

bebop
16 8.2
swing
60 4.8
jive
  • Archaic
24 8.4
cool jazz
1 4.5
ballad
  • Literature
62 3.7

Surface Forms

jive singular
jives plural

Etymology

Jive began as African American jazz slang in the 1930s for a style of music that was 'lively' and 'easy to dance to'. That's why a jive tune today means a bright, danceable kind of jazz.