/ˈmæmbəʊ/, /ˈmɑmboʊ/
OriginFrom Haitian Creole manbo (“voodoo priestess”) (ultimately from Yoruba mambo (“to talk”)), in later senses via Cuban Spanish mambo (“dance”).
- countable, uncountableA voodoo priestess (in Haiti)
“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.”
“The manbo showed her how to take small handfuls of liquid and spread it on her skin always moving in the upward direction.”
“In the 1950s, Ukrainian American filmmaker Maya Deren traveled to Haiti and became initiated as a manbo (priestess) in Haitian Vodou.”
- countable, uncountableA Latin-American musical genre, adapted from rumba, originating from Cuba in the 1940s, or a dance or rhythm of this genre.
- intransitiveTo perform this dance.
Formsmambos(plural) · mamboes(plural) · manbo(alternative) · mambos(present, singular, third-person) · mamboing(participle, present) · mamboed(participle, past) · mamboed(past)