jazzy, a. orig. U.S.
(ˈdʒæzɪ)
[f. jazz n. + -y1.]
Pertaining to or resembling jazz; characterized by jazz; spirited, lively, exciting; vivid, gaudy. Hence in more pejorative senses: ‘corny’, false, phoney.
| 1919 Quill Apr. 8 Gil Boag promises the Jazziest dance of the season. 1920 Collier's 13 Mar. 57/2 Bergstrom's two-piece orchestra was in the throes of its jazziest fox-trot number. 1922 Dialect Notes V. 142 She's the jazziest girl in Pem East. 1924 Galsworthy White Monkey i. ix. 76 ‘Whom do you think to meet him, besides Alison?’ ‘Nothing jazzy.’ Ibid. iii. iii. 238, I should like to change my bedroom curtains to blue... The present curtains really are too jazzy. 1925 Chambers's Jrnl. 466/2 To sing some jazzy stuff called ‘Alexander's Rag Time Band’. 1925 D. H. Lawrence Refl. Death Porcupine 82 Inside it, the worms will jig the same jazzy dances. 1928 ‘J. Sutherland’ Knot xv. 204, I may be frivolous and modern and jazzy and all the things you clever people hate. 1934 [see corniness]. 1937 Amer. Speech XII. 46/2 Jazzy, outmoded, showy, ostentatious style of playing. 1944 Metronome Apr. 22 Most musicians use the adjective ‘jazzy’ to denote ‘corny’. 1957 Sunday Mail (Glasgow) 10 Feb. 11 Poor ole-fashioned jazz is almost a dirty word with the kids. So Jazzy means phoney or false. 1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 2 Oct. 556/3 The jazzy ebullience of the United States seems curiously out of date. 1961 C. McCullers Clock without Hands vii. 149 Hard as it was for Jester to make up jazzy hurtful remarks, he was learning to do it. 1963 N. & J. Kantrowitz in A. Dundes Mother Wit (1973) 351 Jazzy motherfucker..describes someone fluent, glib, animated. 1967 E. Short Embroidery & Fabric Collage ii. 54 Beach clothes can take bold areas of really ‘jazzy’ colours. 1967 Melody Maker 27 May 10/3 The material he works over on eleven tracks isn't the jazziest ever. 1971 Homes & Gardens Aug. 32 Jazzy colours are confined to the bathrooms and kitchen, where they make a vibrant contrast to the other rooms. 1973 B. Broadfoot Ten Lost Years xxvii. 311 He bought a new car, the jazziest in Calgary. |
Hence ˈjazzily adv.; ˈjazziness.
| 1921 J. C. Lincoln Galusha the Magnificent xv. 253 They danced jazzily in the hotel parlor and on the porches. 1927 Melody Maker Sept. 847/2 Quite as full of jazziness of song and dance as it is now. 1928 Ibid. Feb. 183/2 The slow tempo and complete absence of ‘jazziness’ is the ideal treatment for a melody number. 1928 Gramophone VI. 300/1 With a musically artistic legato rhythmic swing and not ‘jazzily’. 1951 Archit. Rev. CIX. 220/2 The freedom of handling, the faith in elementary cubic forms, the occasional jazziness of detail. 1959 Encounter Nov. 60/1 When the ballets met with resistance, it often hinged on this question of jazziness. 1968 D. E. Allen Brit. Tastes v. 126 These jazzily unnerving designs and patterns. |