Entry · catalog no. 9217
swing
/ /swɪŋ/ /SWING
noun / verb · New York, Chicago and Kansas City (1920s-30s) · 1930s
✓ Verified
1.
The buoyant, driving rhythmic feel of jazz, in which the beat rolls forward and the offbeats lean into the next beat.
“The band had that swing from the first bar.”
2.
The style of big-band jazz played for dancing from the mid-1930s to the mid-1940s.
“My grandparents met at a swing dance in 1941.”
3.
To play with that feel, and by extension to be excellent.
“That rhythm section swings.”
Origin & Attribution
The sense comes from Black jazz musicians of the 1920s and 30s. Louis Armstrong's mid-1920s playing, Fletcher Henderson's orchestra from 1923, Earl Hines's Chicago radio broadcasts from 1928 and Count Basie's Kansas City band built the style. Duke Ellington and lyricist Irving Mills named the quality in 'It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)' (written 1931, recorded 1932). White bandleader Benny Goodman's August 1935 Palomar Ballroom engagement launched the national 'swing era', which is why swing is often credited to him; the music and the word came out of Black bands.
1932
Ellington's 'It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)' written and recorded
1935
Benny Goodman's Palomar Ballroom engagement begins the swing era for mass audiences
1937
Count Basie's Savoy Ballroom engagement brings Kansas City style to national attention
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
New York, Chicago and Kansas City (1920s-30s) · 1930s
Spoken by
Black jazz musicians, then dancers and the general public
$SWINGThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady4 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
50/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1931
in the culture
Recorded here
2026
point of first record
Mainstream crossover
1935
search interest spikes
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
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Citations & Sources
■
Duke Ellington and His Orchestra, 'It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)' (1932)
recording
■
+ Cite a sourceWikipedia, 'Swing music' (Henderson, Hines, Basie, Goodman dates); secondary
web
See also