The Meaning of Bop: What It Is and How To Use It

Have you ever wondered about the definition of bop? This article will provide you with all of the info you need on the word bop, including its definition, etymology, usage, example sentences, and more!

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What does the word bop mean?

According to Dictionary and other sources like Collins English Dictionary and the American Heritage Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, the word bop is a noun and a verb. As a noun, bop is also known as bebop, which refers to a style of early modern jazz that was developed in the early 1940s after the Second World War. This style of jazz features dissonant triadic and chromatic chords, experimental harmonic structures,  harmonic complexity, instrumental virtuosity, complex rhythms, intricate melodic lines punctuated by pop-tune phrases, fast tempos and eccentric rhythms, and emphasizes the inventiveness of soloists. Some other types of jazz include cool jazz, hard bop, modern jazz, and progressive jazz. The bop form of jazz often requires a brilliant style of execution, especially in solo performances, to capture the strong beat of this music and ping others in the heart. Bop can also be used as a verb to mean to go, move, or proceed. This is often used in the phrase “bop on down” or “bop on over.”  A secondary definition of bop is a blow, or to strike or hit something, such as to bop someone on the head. The pronunciation of bop is bɒp.

Many languages around the word also contain words that mean bop in reference to jazz. You may notice that some of these words and phrases look similar to the word jazz. These are called cognates, which are often formed when two words have the same root or language of origin. Cognates are when two words in different languages look and sound similar, and also have the same meaning. This list of translations of jazz is provided by Word Sense

  •  Ukrainian: джаз‎ (masc.)
  •  Dutch: jazz‎ (masc.)
  •  Icelandic: djass‎ (masc.)
  •  Korean: 재즈‎ (jaejeu)
  •  Marathi: जॅज‎
  •  Macedonian: џез‎ (masc.)
  •  Slovak: džez‎ (masc.), jazz‎ (masc.)
  •  Khmer: ហ្សាស‎
  •  Estonian: džäss‎
  •  Belarusian: джаз‎ (masc.)
  •  Slovene: džez‎ (masc.), jazz‎ (masc.)
  •  Japanese: ジャズ‎ (jazu)
  •  Georgian: ჯაზი‎
  •  Cyrillic: џез‎ (masc.)
  •  Turkish: caz‎
  •  Arabic: جَاز‎ (masc.)
  •  Bulgarian: джаз‎ (masc.)
  •  Hebrew: ג׳אז‎ (jaz), ג׳ז‎ (jez)
  •  Spanish: jazz‎ (masc.)
  •  Uyghur: جاز‎
  •  Czech: džez‎ (masc.), jazz‎ (masc.)
  •  Maori: puoro takihuri‎
  •  Mandarin: 爵士樂‎, 爵士乐‎ (juéshìyuè), 爵士‎ (juéshì)
  •  Cantonese: 爵士‎ (zoek3 si6)
  •  Hindi: जाज़‎
  •  Faroese: djassur‎ (masc.)
  •  Polish: dżez‎ (masc.), jazz‎ (masc.)
  •  Irish: snagcheol‎ (masc.)
  •  Nynorsk: jazz‎ (masc.)
  •  Portuguese: jazz‎ (masc.)
  •  Finnish: jazz‎, jatsi‎
  •  Lithuanian: džiazas‎ (masc.)
  •  Catalan: jazz‎ (masc.)
  •  Malay: jaz‎
  •  Armenian: ջազ‎
  •  German: Jazz‎ (masc.)
  •  Italian: jazz‎ (masc.)
  •  Swedish: jazz‎ (common)
  •  Hungarian: dzsessz‎
  •  Greek: τζαζ‎ (fem.)
  •  French: jazz‎ (masc.)
  •  Turkmen: jaz‎
  •  Russian: джаз‎ (masc.)
  •  Tagalog: diyas‎, dyas‎
  •  Persian: جاز‎ (jâz)
  •  Bokmål: jazz‎ (masc.)
  •  Romanian: jazz‎ (neut.)
  •  Ido: jazo‎
  •  Yiddish: דזשאַז‎ (masc.)
  •  Danish: jazz‎ (common)
  •  Roman: džez‎ (masc.)
  •  Esperanto: ĵazo‎

According to The Free Dictionary, BOP can also be used as an acronym. This acronym has many. If you do decide to use one of these meanings, make sure that you provide the person you are talking to with the proper context and information so that they are not confused by the acronym’s many meanings. 

  •  Binary Oriented Protocol
  •  Base Out Percentage
  •  Bought Out Part
  •  Banking on the Poor (microfinance)
  •  Buffer Overflow Protection (software)
  •  Basic Operator Panel
  •  Bill of Process
  •  Boring Old People
  •  Business over Pleasure
  •  Balance of Plant
  •  Bottom of Porch (Penstemon Margarita plant)
  •  Budget Opérationnel de Programme (French: Operational Program Budget)
  •  Balance Of Payments (international accounts, financial account, and capital account referring to transactions, exports, and foreign direct investment)
  •  Boston Oil Party
  •  Begin of Partition
  •  Federal Bureau Of Prisons (Prison service providing humane care to the country’s individuals and federal inmates during imprisonment in detention facilities in the nationwide system of prisons; law enforcement agency of the Justice Department)
  •  Bill of Parameters
  •  Buick Oldsmobile Pontiac
  •  Basis of Provisioning
  •  Bottom of the Pyramid
  •  Bay of Plenty (New Zealand)
  •  Border Outpost
  •  Broken Orange Pekoe (tea)
  •  Bill of Particulars
  •  Board of Parole (law enforcement)
  •  Board of Probation (law enforcement)
  •  Back of Pack (packaging design)
  •  Business Operating Plan
  •  Box Office Prophet (movies; Crystal Tech)
  •  Brew on Premises (business)
  •  Bit-Oriented Protocol
  •  Business Owner’s Policy
  •  Book of Praise (Canadian and American Reformed Churches)
  •  Business Office Personnel
  •  Bird of Prey
  •  Branch Operating Policy
  •  Bow of Peril (Lineage II; video game)
  •  Best Operations Practices (various locations)
  •  Business Operating Procedure
  •  Ban on Politics (newsgroup usage)
  •  Bleeding on probing measurement
  •  Base of the Pyramid
  •  Both Arrays Fed Out-of-Phase (antennas)
  •  Bank of Punjab (India)
  •  Bind on Pickup (MMORPG, gaming)
  •  Bleeding on Probing (dentistry)
  •  Bircham’s Office Products
  •  Back Office Product
  •  Breach of Parole
  •  Bit Oriented Protocol
  •  Building Operating Plan
  •  Byte-Oriented Protocol
  •  Blowout Preventer (oil industry)
  •  Base Of Preference
  •  Biologie des Organismes et des Populations (French: Biology of Organisms and Populations)
  •  Business Opportunities Page
  •  Budget Operating Plan
  •  Beginning of Period
  •  Bridge Operating Platform (McDonald’s)
  •  Binary Output Program
  •  Blast Overpressure (high energy impulse noise)
  •  Brotherhood of Pain (gaming clan)
  •  Brand Optimization Planning
  •  Bottom of Pipe
  •  Builder Option Package (Energy Star)
  •  Business Operating Profit
  •  Bivio Oltp Program
  •  Borough of Poole (UK)
  •  Brotherhood of Pwnage (gaming clan)
  •  Block of Packets
  •  Breach of Peace (law enforcement)
  •  Basic Operation Plan
  •  Boat Offloading Point
  •  Balance Of Power
  •  Birds of Paradise
  •  Business Opportunity Proposal
  •  Binary Operation
  •  Branch of Practice (medicine)
  •  Back Office Processes
  •  Blessing of Protection (gaming, World of Warcraft ability)
  •  Basic Oxygen Process
  •  Bandwidth Occupancy Plan
  •  Blowout Prevention (oil-gas industry)
  •  Break Out Panel (electronics)
  •  Baseline Operations Plan
  •  Burden of Proof
  •  Bureau of Personnel (various locations)
  •  Bump on Pad
  •  Buffer Overflow Protection

What are synonyms and antonyms of bop?

There are many different words that have the same meaning as the word bop. These are called synonyms, which can be used interchangeably with the word bop. Learning synonyms is a great way to improve your English vocabulary. You can also use synonyms to add variety to your writing. This list of synonyms of bop is provided by Power Thesaurus.

  •   slap
  •  plug
  •  attack
  •  balance of trade
  •  batter
  •  buffet
  •  catch
  •  clobber
  •  crack
  •  lick
  •  pummel
  •  rap
  •  slog
  •  swing
  •  after-party
  •  bed
  •  blues
  •  box
  •  bullshit
  •  bump uglies
  •  club
  •  eff
  •  get it on
  •  have sex
  •  hump
  •  jab
  •  lambaste
  •  lash
  •  let someone have it
  •  let someone off with
  •  light into
  •  pelt
  •  socks
  •  thrash
  •  whip
  •  aggress
  •  assail
  •  assault
  •  baile
  •  ball
  •  beat up on
  •  belting
  •  beset
  •  blast
  •  bludgeon
  •  bobby
  •  boink
  •  bone
  •  bump
  •  bunch of fives

Overall, the word bop means an early form of modern jazz music. This sort of popular music rose to popularity in the 1940s.

Sources:

  1. BoP – What does BoP stand for? | The Free Dictionary  
  2. Bop Definition & Meaning | Dictionary  
  3. Bop synonyms – 692 Words and Phrases for Bop | Power Thesaurus 
  4. jazz: meaning, origin, translation | Word Sense