jukebox

noun

juke·box ˈjük-ˌbäks

: a coin-operated phonograph or compact-disc player that automatically plays recordings selected from its list

Cable TV … is now bringing you an all-music-video network that is the TV equivalent of a barroom jukebox.—

Peter Ainslie

broadly : any automatic music player that plays selections from a publicly available list

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web Transform your high school gym into a real sock hop complete with poodle skirts, records, and a jukebox. —

Samantha Olson, Seventeen, 18 May 2023 The first is the main bar, where a jukebox plays favorite songs and beer steins hang from the ceiling. —

Megan Dubois, Chron, 24 Feb. 2023 Wurlitzer, as Vince remembers, had stopped producing the super-thick 78 rpm singles that fit its jukebox mechanism, so Larry was copying all kinds of music onto these chunky old 78s and selling them to enthusiasts. —

Oli Coleman, Rolling Stone, 12 Apr. 2023 Nancy, meanwhile, causes her abusive father to die of a heart attack, leaving her and her mother free to use his life insurance payout to trade in their leaky trailer for a penthouse apartment and a fancy jukebox that only plays Connie Francis records. —

Anne Cohen, refinery29.com, 24 Oct. 2022 But what stands out are the things that would stand out for a kid: the arrival of a new jukebox, the family-run carnival that set up across the street, being one of just three kids catching the school bus to Foley. —

Lawrence Specker | , al, 13 Mar. 2023 But the first-period blues that have troubled the Stars throughout their rough patch once again played on the jukebox. —

Peter Warren, Dallas News, 1 Mar. 2023 The jukebox, photos and snarky neon signs went to auction when the diner closed in the early 2000s. —

Bahar Anooshahr, The Arizona Republic, 19 Aug. 2022 Country music booms from the jukebox. —

Dan Horn, The Enquirer, 7 June 2021 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'jukebox.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

from dialect jukehouse brothel, from juke to have sexual intercourse with, of Atlantic Creole origin; akin to Jamaican English juk to poke, stab, Krio chuk

First Known Use

1939, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of jukebox was in 1939

See more words from the same year