boogaloo
noun
boo·ga·loo
¦bü-gə-¦lü
variants
or less commonly bugalú
: a genre of Latino popular music of especially New York in the 1960s influenced by soul and rhythm and blues
More crucial to the fate of boogaloo, however, was the rise of Puerto Rican cultural nationalism and the contemporaneous emergence of salsa, a music that, unlike boogaloo, was deeply rooted in Spanish Caribbean musical traditions.—Deborah Pacini Hernandez, Oye Como Va!, 2010
also
: a dance performed to boogaloo music
The boogaloo is, or was, one of the thousand dances the land was full of in the 1960s … —Luc Sante, New York Review of Books, 17 July 2003
boogaloo
intransitive verb
boogalooed; boogalooing; boogaloos
"Business ain't too bad, ain't too bad," Leery said, then glanced toward the other room where Jane Wayne and The Bad Czech were waxing nostalgic and trying to boogaloo.
—Joseph Wambaugh, The Delta Star, 1983
You can dance on the 4th if you want to, of course—as long as it's outside. You just can't boogaloo in the rotunda. Is that so much to ask?
—James Lileks, National Review, 20 June 2011
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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