disk jockey
16
3.5
- noun
- /dɪsk ˈdʒɑːki/
- US
:
DJ
- To become a disc jockey, one really needs a liking and desire for records.
- music announced by disk jockey
So I go up to the disc jockey station, say what I want.
- So I go up to the disc jockey station, say what I want.
- You know, I did listen to like the disc jockeys on WABC, Dan Ingram in the afternoon, Cousin Brucey.
- Payolas, When a record company gives money to radio stations or disc jockeys to play their songs, that's against the law.
Examples
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Lester's a disc jockey at a little radio station back home.
-
The swing band was replaced by a disc jockey.
Fiction book (1998) -
So I go up to the disc jockey station, say what I want.
-
- You want to be a disc jockey?
-
Quit Wall Street, go be a disc jockey somewhere.
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You can be a disc jockey.
-
And yet, as the disc jockeys once had it, the beat goes on.
Academic text (1997) -
If you want to be a disc jockey, go out into the marketplace.
-
Station-produced programming consists of music announced by disc jockeys.
Academic text (1991) -
Lester's a disc jockey at a little radio station back home.
Synonyms
153
3.3
A person who chooses and plays recorded music for people
73
3.0
A person who presents shows on radio or television
4
2.8
A person who presents radio programs and speaks to listeners on air
3
3.5
A person who makes and shares audio shows on the internet
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a person who plays recorded music' is directly derivable from combining 'disk' (a record) with 'jockey' (an operator/one who handles or operates something). This agentive composition (object + operator) is a transparent, compositional pattern and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituent meanings.
Etymology
The name disk jockey comes from the old records called disks and the word jockey, which meant a person who worked skillfully with something. So a disk jockey was someone who played and mixed records, and today the phrase means 'a person who announces and plays recorded music'.