Word.ws English Dictionary

hucklebuck

US/ˈhʌkl.bʌk/

hucklebuck noun: a rhythmic dance from the time just prior to rock and roll.

Noun

hucklebuck (plural hucklebucks)

  1. A rhythmic dance from the time just prior to rock and roll.
    • 1948, Paul Williams, The hucklebuck, quoted in Talkin' that talk (1986), page 168
    • It's the dance you should know, when the lights are down low, / Grab your baby, then go, do the hucklebuck, do the hucklebuck, / If you don't know how to do it, boy, you're out of luck, / Push your partner out, then you hunch your back, / Have a little movement in your sacroiliac, / Wiggle like a...1949, Roy Alfred (lyrics), Andy Gibson (music)
  2. (New Orleans) A treat consisting of frozen Kool-Aid served in a dixie cup.
    • I am turtle soup, gator soup, tenderloin catfish, shrimp saute
      Shrimp Samantha, fried shrimp, stuffed shrimp, peeled ice
      shrimp, Crabmeat au gratin, berled crab, stuffed crab, Shrimp
      Newberg, Shrimp etoufeé, Bananas Foster, Hubig’s Pies, Roman1988, Arthur Pfister, "My Name is New Orleans", re-printed in Arthur Pfister, My Name is New Orleans: 40 Years of Poetry & Other Jazz, Margaret Media, Inc. (2009) →ISBN, page 5
    • So, we made soul food, hucklebucks,
      corn pone, and bread pudding,
      gumbo, and greyas.2005, Mona Lisa Saloy, Red Beans and Ricely Yours: Poems, Truman State University Press, →ISBN, page 91
  3. (derogatory, slang) A hillbilly or otherwise culturally backwards person.
    • […] I had a patrolman pull over a hot roller 'bout two hours ago. One a'them boys in the stolen car opened up on my man, who's in Atlanta General breathing through a tube and, according to the docs, ain't never gonna wake up. […] If they find those hucklebucks, I'm gonna have a hollow-point street...1996, Stephen J. Cannell, Final Victim, Avon Books, published 1997, →ISBN, page 107
    • Who? I'm guessing a country singer of some reknown - I have heard the name before but I have no idea what he said or sang. Anyway, I will admit that when a celebrity with conservative beliefs states his opinion the response is usually more restained,^([sic]) but there's still a response. And a lot...2003 March 23, M1ahearn [username], “Re: NBC>>Ben Affleck is a MORON”, in rec.music.artists.springsteen (Usenet)

Verb

hucklebuck (third-person singular simple present hucklebucks, present participle hucklebucking, simple past and past participle hucklebucked)

  1. To dance the hucklebuck.
    • "We jumped* and boped*
      and stamped around the floor,
      we hucklebucked until my back is sore
      but honey, wont you waltz with me once more*.1948, Paul Williams, "The Hucklebuck", quoted in Jean-Paul Levet, Talkin' That Talk, Soul Bag (1986), page 168
    • The guys stood around the jukebox applejacking and hucklebucking to the music...1957, Herbert Simmons, Corner Boy, Houghton Mifflin, published 1957, page 58
  2. To move quickly, with quick movements and, often, going in circles.
    • Macon hucklebucked eleven flights rather than risk one elevator stare.2005, Adam Mansbach, Angry Black White Boy: The Miscegenation of Macon Detornay, Three Rivers Press, →ISBN, page 151
    • It is only a game. I join the rhythmic clapping that always follows the fight song while the last of the players extracts himself from the stands and hucklebucks his way to join the milling, weight-shifting, pocketjammed team, […]2011, Jay Nelson, Cold Creek, Xlibris, →ISBN, page 646

Examples of hucklebuck in a sentence

  • And a lot of it is of the "he should stick to singing to hucklebucks / he should stick to blowing stuff up in movies" type responses.2003 March 23, M1ahearn [username], “Re: NBC>>Ben Affleck is a MORON”, in rec.music.artists.springsteen (Usenet):
  • who cares if you did? does it say you're not sophisticated if you voted for a hucklebuck? maybe you have money in petroleum or halliburton.2006 April 5, Jeff White, “Re: Darwin Answered His Own Evolution Questions”, in alt.religion.christian (Usenet):
  • I cold-turkeyed to Bird doin 'Now's the Time,' and hucklebucked out a the spell of heroin. […]1995, Wesley Brown, Tragic Magic, Ecco Press, →ISBN, page 37:

Forms of hucklebuck

Noun
pluralhucklebucks
Verb
third-person singular presenthucklebucks
present participlehucklebucking
past participlehucklebucked
pasthucklebucked

Origin of hucklebuck

The dance is perhaps from huckle (“hip”) + buck.

Questions about hucklebuck

What does hucklebuck mean?
Hucklebuck means a rhythmic dance from the time just prior to rock and roll.
How do you use hucklebuck in a sentence?
And a lot of it is of the "he should stick to singing to hucklebucks / he should stick to blowing stuff up in movies" type responses.
What part of speech is hucklebuck?
Hucklebuck can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce hucklebuck?
Hucklebuck is pronounced /ˈhʌkl.bʌk/ (US).
What is the plural of hucklebuck?
The plural of hucklebuck is hucklebucks.

Words near hucklebuck in the dictionary

  1. huckleberry above one's persimmon
  2. Huckleberry Finn
  3. huckleberrying
  4. hucklebone
  5. hucklebones
  6. hucklebuck
  7. hucklebucked
  8. hucklebucking
  9. hucklebucks
  10. huckled
  11. huckles

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hucklebuck (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-hucklebuck.ogg.

Cite this entry: “hucklebuck.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hucklebuck. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.