also jook (jo͞ok, jo͝ok) Southeastern U.S.
noun A roadside or rural establishment offering liquor, dancing, and often gambling and prostitution. Also called juke house, juke joint.
intransitive verb juked juked also
jooked,
juk·ing also
jook·ing,
jukes also
jooks - To play dance music, especially in a juke.
- To dance, especially in a juke or to the music of a jukebox.
Regional Note: Gullah, the English-based Creole language spoken by people of African ancestry off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, retains a number of words from the West African languages brought over by slaves. One such word is
juke, “bad, wicked, disorderly,” the probable source of the English word
juke. Used originally in Florida and then chiefly in the Southeastern states,
juke (also appearing in the compound
juke joint) was an African-American word meaning a roadside drinking establishment that offers cheap drinks, food, and music for dancing and often doubles as a brothel. “To juke” is to dance, particularly at a juke joint or to the music of a jukebox whose name, no longer regional and having lost the connotation of sleaziness, contains the same word.
