mambo

Etymology

From Haitian Creole mambo (“voodoo priestess”) (ultimately from Yoruba mambo (“to talk”)), in later senses via Cuban Spanish mambo (“dance”).

Pronunciation

• (North America) enPR: ʹmäm-bō, IPA^(key): /ˈmɑmboʊ/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmæmbəʊ/

Noun

mambo (countable and uncountable, plural mambos or mamboes)

1. A voodoo priestess. [from 20th c.]
   • 1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, p. 47:

     The mambo next presented a container of water to the cardinal points, then poured libations to the centerpost of the peristyle, the axis along which the spirits were to enter.

   • 1995, Karen McCarthy Brown, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, p. 219:

     The manbo showed her how to take small handfuls of liquid and spread it on her skin always moving in the upward direction.

2. A Latin-American musical genre, adapted from rumba, originating from Cuba in the 1940s, or a dance or rhythm of this genre. [from 20th c.]

Verb

mambo (third-person singular simple present mambos, present participle mamboing, simple past and past participle mamboed)

1. (intransitive) To perform this dance.

See also

• Mambo (music) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Mambo (dance) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• bammo

Noun

mambo n

1. mambo (dance)

Further reading

• mambo in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu

Etymology

From American & Cuban Spanish mambo

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɑ̃.bo/

Noun

mambo m (plural mambos)

1. mambo (music)
2. mambo (dance)

Further reading

• “mambo” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Etymology

From American & Cuban Spanish mambo

Noun

mambo m (invariable)

1. mambo (dance and music)

Etymology

From American & Cuban Spanish mambo

Noun

mambo m (plural mambos)

1. mambo (music)
2. mambo (dance)

Etymology

From American Spanish, likely from Haitian Creole, ultimately from Yoruba mambo (“to talk”).

Noun

mambo m (plural mambos)

1. mambo (music)
2. mambo (dance)

Noun

mambo

1. plural of jambo

Interjection

mambo

1. (colloquial) how are you?

Etymology

Blend of sambo +‎ mamma (“mum”).

Noun

mambo c

1. (somewhat humorous) A person who still lives with mum and dad