Main Entry: 2jazz Pronunciation Guide Pronunciation: " Function: noun Inflected Form(s): -es 1 : COPULATION -- usually considered vulgar 2 a : American music developed from religious and secular songs (as spirituals, shout songs), blues, ragtime, and other popular music (as brass-band marches) and characterized by improvisation, syncopated rhythms, contrapuntal ensemble playing, special melodic features (as flatted notes, blue notes) peculiar to the individual interpretation of the player, and the introduction of vocal techniques (as portamento) into instrumental performance -- see BOP, DIXIELAND; compare SWING b : popular dance music influenced by jazz and played (as in the late 1920s) in a loud rhythmic manner c : a dance to jazz music with incisive rhythms and often acrobatic and grotesque steps -- compare JITTERBUG 1 3 : excessively earnest and enthusiastic talk or preoccupation : stuffy foolishness : HUMBUG Citation format for this entry: "jazz." Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (24 Mar. 2007).