jive

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See also: jívě and ji ... ve

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Unknown. Slang attested in African-American and rural American culture. Frequently used to imply lying, verbal deception or trickery. Has a possible historical antecedent in gyve (“shackle”). Alternatively, of African origin, compare Wolof jev, jeu (“to talk about someone absent, especially in a disparaging manner”).

Verb

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jive (third-person singular simple present jives, present participle jiving, simple past and past participle jived)

  1. (transitive, intransitive, US, colloquial) To deceive; to be deceptive.
    Don’t try to jive me! I know where you were last night!
    • 1964, Malcolm X, The Ballot or the Bullet:
      It's the year when all of the white politicians will be back in the so-called Negro community jiving you and me for some votes.
  2. (intransitive, colloquial) To dance, originally to jive or swing music; later, to jazz, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, disco, etc.
    • 1976, “Dancing Queen”, performed by ABBA:
      You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life; ooh, see that girl, watch that scene, diggin' the dancing queen!
    • 2010, Peter Corris, Torn Apart, Allen and Unwin, page 212:
      "Can you flamenco?" "If I have to. How about you?" "Love, I can barely waltz. Jive a bit if I'm pissed enough."
Derived terms
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Translations
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Noun

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jive (countable and uncountable, plural jives)

  1. (uncountable) A dance style popular in the 1940–50s.
  2. (uncountable) Swing, a style of jazz music.
  3. (uncountable) A slang associated with jazz musicians; hepcat patois or hipster jargon.
  4. (US, colloquial) Synonym of bullshit: patent nonsense, transparently deceptive talk.
    Don’t give me that jive. I know where you were last night.
  5. (US, colloquial, often derogatory) African-American Vernacular English.
    • 1993, Peter Tse, Kansai Japanese: The Language of Osaka, Kyoto, and Western Japan: This Japanese Phrasebook and Language Guide Teaches the Kansai Dialect, Tuttle Publishing, →ISBN, page 17:
      Although speaking Western Japanese to your friends in Ōsaka, Kyōto, or Kōbe will allow you to get closer to them, speaking Western Japanese in Tōkyō might seem as outlandish as hearing a Japanese exchange student back home speaking jive or cockney.
    • 2019, Mathea Morais, There You Are, Amberjack Publishing, →ISBN:
      "Oh come on," she said. "I heard you talking jive the other day when you were playing with your dolls. And back in February, when you recited that poem by, by—what was the poet's name?
      "Langston Hughes?"
      "Right, Langston Hughes," Kanta said. "You spoke jive when you read that poem, remember?"
Derived terms
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Translations
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See also

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Etymology 2

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Verb

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jive (third-person singular simple present jives, present participle jiving, simple past and past participle jived)

  1. (US) To jibe, in the sense of to accord, to agree
Usage notes
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  • "Jive" and "jibe" have been used interchangeably in the US to indicate the concept "to agree or accord." While one recent dictionary accepts this usage of "jive," most sources consider it to be in error.

Czech

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Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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jive m inan

  1. jive (dance)

Declension

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Declension of jive (hard masculine inanimate foreign)
singular plural
nominative jive jivy
genitive jivu jivů
dative jivu jivům
accusative jive jivy
vocative jive jivy
locative jivu jivech
instrumental jivem jivy

Further reading

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  • “jive”, in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu (in Czech)
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