cakewalkn.

Brit.

/ˈkeɪkwɔːk/, U.S.

/ˈkeɪkˌwɔk/,

/ˈkeɪkˌwɑk/

Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: cake n., walk n.¹

Etymology: < cake n. + walk n.¹

Originally U.S.

a. A contest in which participants compete to perform the most graceful, dignified, intricate, or amusing walk, usually to music, with a cake as the prize. Now chiefly historical.Apparently originating as an entertainment performed by black slaves on Southern plantations, the cakewalk perhaps developed as a parody of the formal promenade dances of white high society.In quot. 1863 in extended use.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > other amusements or entertainments > [noun]

swinging1610

shuggie-shue1653

bilboquet1743

kite-flying1804

cup and ball1836

kittly-benders1854

cakewalk1863

mudlarking1888

pogo1921

pogoing1921

yo-yo1932

waterball1950

laugher1973

karaoke1977

bouncy castle1986

paintball1987

bouncing castle1988

paintballing1989

zorbing1996

1863 H. Edgar Jrnl. 3 May in Contrib. Hist. Soc. Montana (1900) III. 133 Around and around that bush we went... We had a good laugh over our cake walk.

1870 N.Y. Daily Tribune 20 July 8/2 Some ancient relic of the joys departed suddenly recollected the festivities of her youthful days, and proposed a ‘Cake Walk’.

1897 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Mar. 341/2 ‘Cake-walks’ and frolics and preachings filled the cabins with sound and merriment.

1930 Clearfield (Pa.) Progress 6 June 11/2 A very large crowd attended the cake walk and dance held in the Legion Hall.

2010 C. V. Hill Tap Dancing Amer. ii. 35 Seven fancy-dressed couples, each competing in a cakewalk for the prize cake.

b. A piece of music, typically written in 2/4 time with a syncopated rhythm, to be used as the accompaniment to a characteristic walk (see sense 1a) or dance (see sense 1c). Now chiefly historical.

ΚΠ

1874 in C. D. Blake On Race Course (sheet music) (Advt. section) following p. 7 Marches and two-steps worth playing. Try them. Duminy Two-step. Payson W. Duncan... A cake walk for white people.

1903 H. I. Newton Second-hand Man 10 (stage direct.) Orchestra plays a cake-walk. W. S. walks once or twice around stage in burlesque fashion.

2006 M. Campbell Pop. Music in Amer. (2012) xi. 39/2 The rhythm of Joplin's early rags were more intricate than the syncopated songs..of the 1890s. Rhythmically, they found a midpoint between the improvised style of black ragtime pianists and the cakewalks and ragtime songs of the period.

c. A dance characterized by an exaggeratedly upright carriage of the body, strutting movements, and intricate steps and high kicks, performed to syncopated music.The dance was modelled on the type of movements typically associated with participants in the walking contest described at sense 1a, and became a popular feature of vaudeville and minstrel shows in the 1890s.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > African-American dancing > [noun]

calinda1763

juba18..

hoedown1841

breakdowna1864

cakewalk1902

scronch1926

Lindy Hop1931

Zydeco1949

society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > other dances > [noun]

dance of Macabre?c1430

springc1450

lege de moya1529

bobc1550

lusty gallant1569

duret1613

fading1613

huckler1617

ground-measure1621

entry1631

slatter de pouchc1640

ballo1651

Irish trot1651

omnium gatheruma1652

clutterdepouch1652

upspring1654

passacaglia1659

shuffle1659

passacaille1667

flip-flap1676

chaconne1685

charmer1702

Cheshire-round1706

Louvre1729

stick dance1730

white joke1730

baby dance1744

Nancy Dawson1766

fricassee1775

bumpkin1785

Totentanz1789

Flora('s) dance1790

goombay1790

egg-dance1801

supper dance1820

Congo dance1823

slip-jig1829

bran-dance1833

roly-poly1833

Congo1835

mazy1841

furry1848

bull-dance1855

stampede1856

double-shuffling1859

frog dance1863

hokee-pokee1873

plait dance1876

slow dancing1884

snake dance1895

beast dance1900

soft-shoe1900

cakewalk1902

floral dance1911

snake dance1911

apache dance1912

grizzly bear1912

jazz dance1917

jazz dancing1917

jazz1919

wine-dance1920

camel-walk1921

furry dance1928

snake-dance1931

pas d'action1936

trance dancing1956

touch dance1965

hokey-cokey1966

moonwalk1969

moonwalking1983

Crip Walk1989

mapantsula1990

1884 Frank Leslie's Illustr. Newspaper 19 Apr. 139/3 The negroes thoroughly enjoy the melodies, always popular tunes, and..do not hesitate to indulge in an impromptu break-down, or the more dignified measure of a cake-walk.

1902 W. N. Harben Abner Daniel 53 I was doing the cake-walk with that fat Howard girl from Rome.

1921 K. Adams Midsummer iii. 29 She's only laughed the one time when you and I danced the cake walk.

2002 R. Guillaume & D. Ritz Guillaume 67 Several couples strut the stage doing the cakewalk.

d. figurative. A task or role which is easily accomplished or performed; a contest which is easily won.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > easiness > [noun] > that which is easy

ball play?c1225

child's gamec1380

boys' play1538

walkover1861

picnic1870

pudding1884

cakewalk1886

pie1886

cinch1888

snipa1890

pushover1891

pinch1897

sitter1898

pipe1902

five-finger exercise1903

duck soup1912

pud1917

breeze1928

kid stuff1929

soda1930

piece of cake1936

doddle1937

snack1941

stroll1942

piece of piss1949

waltz1968

1886 North Amer. (Philadelphia) 10 July He has a large fortune made from a rope walk in the Quaker City, but life here is ‘a cake walk’ for him.

1894 ‘M. Twain’ in Critic (N.Y.) 7 July 8/1 This Shelley biography..is a literary cake-walk.

1916 J. B. Cooper Coo-oo-ee xi. 153 Whether they would give him victory in a fight that would not be a cake-walk, he did not know.

1966 J. M. Brett Cargo of Spent Evil x. 87 This should be a cakewalk for you.

2017 A. Poston Geekerella ii. 90 Trust your instincts, trust your director, and it'll be a cakewalk.

2. An attraction at a fairground or amusement park, consisting of a promenade or floor which is moved back and forth (and also up and down) by machinery, on which people walk, often with musical accompaniment.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > entertainment > place of amusement or entertainment > fairground or amusement park > [noun] > fairground ride > other rides

wiggle-waggle1825

helter-skelter lighthouse1906

cakewalk1908

flip-flap1908

ghost train1931

tunnel of love1954

log flume1963

razzle1969

flume1978

1908 Sketch 26 Aug. 201 (caption) Dancing by Machinery: On the ‘Cake Walk’ at Earl's Court.

1968 D. Braithwaite Fairground Archit. p. ix The boneshaking old Cake-walk changes its name to suit the fashion of the day, becoming at one time the Jolly Jersey Bounce and more recently the Rock an' Roll.

2015 L. T. Talbot Dr. Bakewell's Wondrous School of Confectionary viii. 39 They each tried..to cross the ceaselessly moving wooden bridges; wobbling, stumbling and laughing as the cake-walk threw them off balance.

3. U.S. Any of various games in which a number of participants walk or dance to music, typically in a circle, until the music stops and a winner is selected at random (usually by stopping in a particular place), and receives a cake as a prize.

ΚΠ

1940 Handy Play Party Bk. 49 Arkansas Cake Walk—The cake walk that we know here is as follows: A large double circle is blocked off into numbered sections which are sold for 10 cents each. Couples stand in the sections until a sufficient number have been sold. Then the music (preferably string ensemble) starts, and the couples walk until the music stops. A number is drawn and the couple [printed ocuple] standing on the section of corresponding number receive a cake.

1949 Ohio Farm Bureau News Apr. 13/2 If they become tired of dancing, a cake walk is staged—or maybe ‘musical chair’.

2010 K. M. Romaner Sci. Making Things Happen ii. 43 I participated in a cakewalk, a simple game of chance played like musical chairs.

Compounds

C1. General use as a modifier, as in cakewalk dance, cakewalk music, etc.

ΚΠ

1874 Daily Saratogian (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) 23 Apr. The ladies of Zion church will give a cake-walk festival in the lower assembly room of the Town Hall.

1898 F. H. Smith C. West 314 A certain—to him—cake-walk cut to the coat and white duck trousers.

1901 Westm. Gaz. 3 June 3/1 Although there is a painful amount of cake-walk music.

1903 Daily Chron. 21 Apr. 7/3 The closing number in the bill will be a grand cake-walk promenade.

2019 Stanford Daily (Stanford Univ.) (Nexis) 2 Jan. 1 Judy Garland's cakewalk dances are manic attempts by the Smith family to keep their depression at bay.

C2. As a modifier, with the sense ‘easily won or accomplished’ (cf. sense 1d), as in cakewalk win, etc.

ΚΠ

1900 Daily Echo (Shortridge High School, Indianapolis) 7 Nov. 4/1 This was a regular ‘cake walk’ game, which we won to the tune of 50 to 0.

1945 Times of India 12 Dec. 5/2 A ‘cake walk’ victory is expected for the Congress candidate.

2015 Irish Daily Mail (Nexis) 7 Sept. 32 Two goals in a little over two minutes early in the second half were enough to turn a tight tussle with Tipperary into a cakewalk win.

Derivatives

ˈcakewalker n. a person who competes or performs in a cakewalk (sense 1a); a person who dances a cakewalk (sense 1c).

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > African-American dancing > [noun] > dancer

cakewalker1878

1878 St. Louis (Missouri) Globe-Democrat 11 Aug. 12/1 He..took lessons in graceful walking from a scientific ‘Cake Walker’, and in short Sam soon acquired all the lofty bearing and ease of a prince.

1898 B. Williams & G. Walker Let. 16 Jan. in J. W. Johnson Black Manhattan (1930) x. 105 We, the undersigned world-renowned cake-walkers..hereby challenge you to compete with us in a cake-walking match.

1957 M. Moore Let. 25 Jan. in Sel. Lett. (1997) 537 But done with a grace and sense of timing that no old time cakewalker could surpass.

2016 M. Pugh Amer. Dancing 23 Amateur white European cakewalkers were imitating professional black American cakewalkers, who were imitating white minstrel cakewalkers imitating black slaves imitating their masters, who were unable to recognize that they were being mocked.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2020; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

cakewalkv.

Brit.

/ˈkeɪkwɔːk/, U.S.

/ˈkeɪkˌwɔk/,

/ˈkeɪkˌwɑk/

Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: cakewalk n.

Etymology: < cakewalk n. Compare earlier cakewalking n. and (with sense 1b) cakewalking adj.

a. intransitive. To walk or move in a manner suggestive of the participants in a cakewalk (cakewalk n. 1a), esp. to walk in a strutting or dignified manner, or with exaggerated or intricate steps. Also figurative.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > progressive motion > walking > walk, tread, or step [verb (intransitive)] > in stately or affected manner

prancea1398

jeta1400

prankc1450

strut1518

stalk1530

jotc1560

brank1568

piaffe1593

strit1597

swagger1600

stretch1619

prig1623

flutter1690

prink1696

jut1763

strunt1789

straddle1802

major1814

cakewalk1890

sashay1968

1890 Judge's Libr. Mar. 18/2 He cake-walked down the long, sombre drawing-room, and was introduced to the Biddletons.

1904 ‘Saki’ Reginald 90 A mouse used to cake-walk about my room.

1951 V. Nabokov Speak, Memory xv. 237 Pale-blue and pink underwear cakewalking on a clothesline.

2001 E. Lowell Beautiful Dreamer (large print ed.) xxviii. 381 Mares cakewalking across the yard, their heads raised high, nostrils flared to drink the scent of the wind.

b. intransitive. To compete or perform in a cakewalk (cakewalk n. 1a); to dance a cakewalk (cakewalk n. 1c). Now chiefly historical.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > African-American dancing > [verb (intransitive)]

hoe1835

cakewalk1898

1898 Daily Picayune (New Orleans) 21 Aug. 3/5 Miss Edna Camp and Master Vincent Burk, who cake walked.

1904 Daily Chron. 22 Mar. 4/7 The genuinely tip-top men Were those who never cake-walked.

1958 R. P. Blesh & H. Janis They all played Ragtime 3 Soon the French were cakewalking in the streets of Paris to le temps du chiffon.

2012 J. Franceschina Hermes Pan ix. 191 Jeanne was able to cakewalk so that step was included in the number as well.

2. intransitive. figurative. To do something easily or with little effort; to win a contest easily. Frequently with through, to. Also occasionally transitive, with a task, contest, etc., as object.

ΚΠ

1897 Centralia (Illinois) Daily Sentinel 23 June Cox got four balls and cake walked to first [base].

1927 Melody Maker Sept. 931/2 The syndicate..cake-walks to prosperity.

1962 B. Jackson & D. Marsden Educ. & Working Class (1986) i. ii. 29 I sat the scholarship exam [for grammar school]—and I passed it too! In fact I cake-walked it—but I wasn't allowed to go!

2018 Globe & Mail (Ontario) (Nexis) 29 Nov. s1 The team cakewalked through most of the season.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2020; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

单词	cakewalk
释义	cakewalkn. Brit. /ˈkeɪkwɔːk/, U.S. /ˈkeɪkˌwɔk/, /ˈkeɪkˌwɑk/ Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: cake n., walk n.¹ Etymology: < cake n. + walk n.¹ Originally U.S. 1. a. A contest in which participants compete to perform the most graceful, dignified, intricate, or amusing walk, usually to music, with a cake as the prize. Now chiefly historical.Apparently originating as an entertainment performed by black slaves on Southern plantations, the cakewalk perhaps developed as a parody of the formal promenade dances of white high society.In quot. 1863 in extended use. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > other amusements or entertainments > [noun] swinging1610 shuggie-shue1653 bilboquet1743 kite-flying1804 cup and ball1836 kittly-benders1854 cakewalk1863 mudlarking1888 pogo1921 pogoing1921 yo-yo1932 waterball1950 laugher1973 karaoke1977 bouncy castle1986 paintball1987 bouncing castle1988 paintballing1989 zorbing1996 1863 H. Edgar Jrnl. 3 May in Contrib. Hist. Soc. Montana (1900) III. 133 Around and around that bush we went... We had a good laugh over our cake walk. 1870 N.Y. Daily Tribune 20 July 8/2 Some ancient relic of the joys departed suddenly recollected the festivities of her youthful days, and proposed a ‘Cake Walk’. 1897 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Mar. 341/2 ‘Cake-walks’ and frolics and preachings filled the cabins with sound and merriment. 1930 Clearfield (Pa.) Progress 6 June 11/2 A very large crowd attended the cake walk and dance held in the Legion Hall. 2010 C. V. Hill Tap Dancing Amer. ii. 35 Seven fancy-dressed couples, each competing in a cakewalk for the prize cake. b. A piece of music, typically written in 2/4 time with a syncopated rhythm, to be used as the accompaniment to a characteristic walk (see sense 1a) or dance (see sense 1c). Now chiefly historical. ΚΠ 1874 in C. D. Blake On Race Course (sheet music) (Advt. section) following p. 7 Marches and two-steps worth playing. Try them. Duminy Two-step. Payson W. Duncan... A cake walk for white people. 1903 H. I. Newton Second-hand Man 10 (stage direct.) Orchestra plays a cake-walk. W. S. walks once or twice around stage in burlesque fashion. 2006 M. Campbell Pop. Music in Amer. (2012) xi. 39/2 The rhythm of Joplin's early rags were more intricate than the syncopated songs..of the 1890s. Rhythmically, they found a midpoint between the improvised style of black ragtime pianists and the cakewalks and ragtime songs of the period. c. A dance characterized by an exaggeratedly upright carriage of the body, strutting movements, and intricate steps and high kicks, performed to syncopated music.The dance was modelled on the type of movements typically associated with participants in the walking contest described at sense 1a, and became a popular feature of vaudeville and minstrel shows in the 1890s. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > African-American dancing > [noun] calinda1763 juba18.. hoedown1841 breakdowna1864 cakewalk1902 scronch1926 Lindy Hop1931 Zydeco1949 society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > other dances > [noun] dance of Macabre?c1430 springc1450 lege de moya1529 bobc1550 lusty gallant1569 duret1613 fading1613 huckler1617 ground-measure1621 entry1631 slatter de pouchc1640 ballo1651 Irish trot1651 omnium gatheruma1652 clutterdepouch1652 upspring1654 passacaglia1659 shuffle1659 passacaille1667 flip-flap1676 chaconne1685 charmer1702 Cheshire-round1706 Louvre1729 stick dance1730 white joke1730 baby dance1744 Nancy Dawson1766 fricassee1775 bumpkin1785 Totentanz1789 Flora('s) dance1790 goombay1790 egg-dance1801 supper dance1820 Congo dance1823 slip-jig1829 bran-dance1833 roly-poly1833 Congo1835 mazy1841 furry1848 bull-dance1855 stampede1856 double-shuffling1859 frog dance1863 hokee-pokee1873 plait dance1876 slow dancing1884 snake dance1895 beast dance1900 soft-shoe1900 cakewalk1902 floral dance1911 snake dance1911 apache dance1912 grizzly bear1912 jazz dance1917 jazz dancing1917 jazz1919 wine-dance1920 camel-walk1921 furry dance1928 snake-dance1931 pas d'action1936 trance dancing1956 touch dance1965 hokey-cokey1966 moonwalk1969 moonwalking1983 Crip Walk1989 mapantsula1990 1884 Frank Leslie's Illustr. Newspaper 19 Apr. 139/3 The negroes thoroughly enjoy the melodies, always popular tunes, and..do not hesitate to indulge in an impromptu break-down, or the more dignified measure of a cake-walk. 1902 W. N. Harben Abner Daniel 53 I was doing the cake-walk with that fat Howard girl from Rome. 1921 K. Adams Midsummer iii. 29 She's only laughed the one time when you and I danced the cake walk. 2002 R. Guillaume & D. Ritz Guillaume 67 Several couples strut the stage doing the cakewalk. d. figurative. A task or role which is easily accomplished or performed; a contest which is easily won. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > easiness > [noun] > that which is easy ball play?c1225 child's gamec1380 boys' play1538 walkover1861 picnic1870 pudding1884 cakewalk1886 pie1886 cinch1888 snipa1890 pushover1891 pinch1897 sitter1898 pipe1902 five-finger exercise1903 duck soup1912 pud1917 breeze1928 kid stuff1929 soda1930 piece of cake1936 doddle1937 snack1941 stroll1942 piece of piss1949 waltz1968 1886 North Amer. (Philadelphia) 10 July He has a large fortune made from a rope walk in the Quaker City, but life here is ‘a cake walk’ for him. 1894 ‘M. Twain’ in Critic (N.Y.) 7 July 8/1 This Shelley biography..is a literary cake-walk. 1916 J. B. Cooper Coo-oo-ee xi. 153 Whether they would give him victory in a fight that would not be a cake-walk, he did not know. 1966 J. M. Brett Cargo of Spent Evil x. 87 This should be a cakewalk for you. 2017 A. Poston Geekerella ii. 90 Trust your instincts, trust your director, and it'll be a cakewalk. 2. An attraction at a fairground or amusement park, consisting of a promenade or floor which is moved back and forth (and also up and down) by machinery, on which people walk, often with musical accompaniment. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > place of amusement or entertainment > fairground or amusement park > [noun] > fairground ride > other rides wiggle-waggle1825 helter-skelter lighthouse1906 cakewalk1908 flip-flap1908 ghost train1931 tunnel of love1954 log flume1963 razzle1969 flume1978 1908 Sketch 26 Aug. 201 (caption) Dancing by Machinery: On the ‘Cake Walk’ at Earl's Court. 1968 D. Braithwaite Fairground Archit. p. ix The boneshaking old Cake-walk changes its name to suit the fashion of the day, becoming at one time the Jolly Jersey Bounce and more recently the Rock an' Roll. 2015 L. T. Talbot Dr. Bakewell's Wondrous School of Confectionary viii. 39 They each tried..to cross the ceaselessly moving wooden bridges; wobbling, stumbling and laughing as the cake-walk threw them off balance. 3. U.S. Any of various games in which a number of participants walk or dance to music, typically in a circle, until the music stops and a winner is selected at random (usually by stopping in a particular place), and receives a cake as a prize. ΚΠ 1940 Handy Play Party Bk. 49 Arkansas Cake Walk—The cake walk that we know here is as follows: A large double circle is blocked off into numbered sections which are sold for 10 cents each. Couples stand in the sections until a sufficient number have been sold. Then the music (preferably string ensemble) starts, and the couples walk until the music stops. A number is drawn and the couple [printed ocuple] standing on the section of corresponding number receive a cake. 1949 Ohio Farm Bureau News Apr. 13/2 If they become tired of dancing, a cake walk is staged—or maybe ‘musical chair’. 2010 K. M. Romaner Sci. Making Things Happen ii. 43 I participated in a cakewalk, a simple game of chance played like musical chairs. Compounds C1. General use as a modifier, as in cakewalk dance, cakewalk music, etc. ΚΠ 1874 Daily Saratogian (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) 23 Apr. The ladies of Zion church will give a cake-walk festival in the lower assembly room of the Town Hall. 1898 F. H. Smith C. West 314 A certain—to him—cake-walk cut to the coat and white duck trousers. 1901 Westm. Gaz. 3 June 3/1 Although there is a painful amount of cake-walk music. 1903 Daily Chron. 21 Apr. 7/3 The closing number in the bill will be a grand cake-walk promenade. 2019 Stanford Daily (Stanford Univ.) (Nexis) 2 Jan. 1 Judy Garland's cakewalk dances are manic attempts by the Smith family to keep their depression at bay. C2. As a modifier, with the sense ‘easily won or accomplished’ (cf. sense 1d), as in cakewalk win, etc. ΚΠ 1900 Daily Echo (Shortridge High School, Indianapolis) 7 Nov. 4/1 This was a regular ‘cake walk’ game, which we won to the tune of 50 to 0. 1945 Times of India 12 Dec. 5/2 A ‘cake walk’ victory is expected for the Congress candidate. 2015 Irish Daily Mail (Nexis) 7 Sept. 32 Two goals in a little over two minutes early in the second half were enough to turn a tight tussle with Tipperary into a cakewalk win. Derivatives ˈcakewalker n. a person who competes or performs in a cakewalk (sense 1a); a person who dances a cakewalk (sense 1c). ΘΚΠ society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > African-American dancing > [noun] > dancer cakewalker1878 1878 St. Louis (Missouri) Globe-Democrat 11 Aug. 12/1 He..took lessons in graceful walking from a scientific ‘Cake Walker’, and in short Sam soon acquired all the lofty bearing and ease of a prince. 1898 B. Williams & G. Walker Let. 16 Jan. in J. W. Johnson Black Manhattan (1930) x. 105 We, the undersigned world-renowned cake-walkers..hereby challenge you to compete with us in a cake-walking match. 1957 M. Moore Let. 25 Jan. in Sel. Lett. (1997) 537 But done with a grace and sense of timing that no old time cakewalker could surpass. 2016 M. Pugh Amer. Dancing 23 Amateur white European cakewalkers were imitating professional black American cakewalkers, who were imitating white minstrel cakewalkers imitating black slaves imitating their masters, who were unable to recognize that they were being mocked. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2020; most recently modified version published online June 2022). cakewalkv. Brit. /ˈkeɪkwɔːk/, U.S. /ˈkeɪkˌwɔk/, /ˈkeɪkˌwɑk/ Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: cakewalk n. Etymology: < cakewalk n. Compare earlier cakewalking n. and (with sense 1b) cakewalking adj. 1. a. intransitive. To walk or move in a manner suggestive of the participants in a cakewalk (cakewalk n. 1a), esp. to walk in a strutting or dignified manner, or with exaggerated or intricate steps. Also figurative. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > progressive motion > walking > walk, tread, or step [verb (intransitive)] > in stately or affected manner prancea1398 jeta1400 prankc1450 strut1518 stalk1530 jotc1560 brank1568 piaffe1593 strit1597 swagger1600 stretch1619 prig1623 flutter1690 prink1696 jut1763 strunt1789 straddle1802 major1814 cakewalk1890 sashay1968 1890 Judge's Libr. Mar. 18/2 He cake-walked down the long, sombre drawing-room, and was introduced to the Biddletons. 1904 ‘Saki’ Reginald 90 A mouse used to cake-walk about my room. 1951 V. Nabokov Speak, Memory xv. 237 Pale-blue and pink underwear cakewalking on a clothesline. 2001 E. Lowell Beautiful Dreamer (large print ed.) xxviii. 381 Mares cakewalking across the yard, their heads raised high, nostrils flared to drink the scent of the wind. b. intransitive. To compete or perform in a cakewalk (cakewalk n. 1a); to dance a cakewalk (cakewalk n. 1c). Now chiefly historical. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > African-American dancing > [verb (intransitive)] hoe1835 cakewalk1898 1898 Daily Picayune (New Orleans) 21 Aug. 3/5 Miss Edna Camp and Master Vincent Burk, who cake walked. 1904 Daily Chron. 22 Mar. 4/7 The genuinely tip-top men Were those who never cake-walked. 1958 R. P. Blesh & H. Janis They all played Ragtime 3 Soon the French were cakewalking in the streets of Paris to le temps du chiffon. 2012 J. Franceschina Hermes Pan ix. 191 Jeanne was able to cakewalk so that step was included in the number as well. 2. intransitive. figurative. To do something easily or with little effort; to win a contest easily. Frequently with through, to. Also occasionally transitive, with a task, contest, etc., as object. ΚΠ 1897 Centralia (Illinois) Daily Sentinel 23 June Cox got four balls and cake walked to first [base]. 1927 Melody Maker Sept. 931/2 The syndicate..cake-walks to prosperity. 1962 B. Jackson & D. Marsden Educ. & Working Class (1986) i. ii. 29 I sat the scholarship exam [for grammar school]—and I passed it too! In fact I cake-walked it—but I wasn't allowed to go! 2018 Globe & Mail (Ontario) (Nexis) 29 Nov. s1 The team cakewalked through most of the season. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2020; most recently modified version published online December 2021). < n.1863v.1890
随便看	imperilled imperilling imperilment imperilments imperilous imperils imperiosity imperious imperiously imperiousness imperiousnesses imperishabilities imperishability imperishable imperishableness imperishablenesses imperishables imperishably imperite imperitely imperium imperium in imperio imperiums imperiwigged impermanence