hootenanny

[hoot-n-an-ee, hoot-nan-]

noun

plural

hootenannies 

1. a social gathering or informal concert featuring folk singing and, sometimes, dancing.

2. an informal session at which folk singers and instrumentalists perform for their own enjoyment.

3. Older Use.,  thingamajig.

hootenanny

/ ˈhuːtˌnænɪ, ˈhuːtəˌnænɪ /

noun

1. an informal performance by folk singers

2. something the name of which is unspecified or forgotten

Word History and Origins

Origin of hootenanny¹

First recorded in 1910–15; origin uncertain

Word History and Origins

Origin of hootenanny¹

C20: of unknown origin

Example Sentences

In 1972, Time Magazine said the holiday had become “a three-day nationwide hootenanny that seems to have lost much of its original purpose.”

From Washington Times

Even if you don’t give a hootenanny about folk music, you’ve probably heard Williams play.

From Seattle Times

It started when a local drum and dance group performed to honor their guests, and it quickly turned into an impromptu hootenanny.

From Seattle Times

His older sister, Bernice, hosted the Ash Grove’s predecessors — the famed hootenannies — at her home in the early 1950s.

From Los Angeles Times

The Dukes play it as a rollicking hootenanny, with Earle growling its sardonic twist on a folk cliché: “I don’t know where I’m going no more/I don’t know, and I don’t care.”

From New York Times