beatnik

beatnik
n
someone following a beat lifestyle or modes of dress. The term was coined by newspapermen to deride the self-styled members of the beat generation but was later adopted by beatniks themselves; the '-nik' suffix came from Russian and was meant to identify the beats with god-less Communism (as well as being a derogatory word-ending in Yiddish terms such as nudnik). Aspects of the beatnik lifestyle included scruffy dress (often black), berets, modern jazz, coffee bars, a slightly more liberal attitude to sex than their contemporaries, at least a pretence at interest in modern arts and literature and a youth cult. Beatniks had passed their peak by 1960, but many of them (who incidentally referred to themselves simply as beats) were absorbed into the hippy movement in the mid-1960s. A petition signed by 2,321 residents and holidaymakers at St Ives, Cornwall was handed to the Mayor, Ald. Archie Knight during the weekend. It calls for tighter va-grancy laws to rid the town of beatniks.' (Daily Telegraph, 21 July 1969)

Contemporary slang . 2014.

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  • Beatnik — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda …   Wikipedia Español

  • beatnik — [ bitnik ] n. • 1959; de l angl. amér. beat generation « génération foutue » et de nik, suff. yiddish d o. slave ♦ Anglic. Personne en révolte contre le conformisme bourgeois et la société de consommation, qui vit d expédients, sans domicile fixe …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • beatnik — eat nik n. a member of the Beat Generation; a nonconformist in dress and behavior. [WordNet 1.5] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • beatnik — (ingl., de «beat generation» y el sufijo yiddish « nik»; pronunc. [bítnic]; pl. «beatniks») adj. y n. De un movimiento juvenil surgido en Estados Unidos en los años cincuenta, caracterizado por su actitud vitalista y el rechazo de los valores… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • beatnik — / bi:tnik/, it. / bitnik/ s. ingl. [der. di beat ], usato in ital. al masch. e al femm. 1. (soc.) [chi fa parte di un movimento giovanile nato negli Stati Uniti d America, caratterizzato da atteggiamenti ribelli e anticonformisti] ▶◀ beat. 2.… …   Enciclopedia Italiana

  • beatnik — coined 1958 by San Francisco newspaper columnist Herb Caen during the heyday of nik suffixes in the wake of SPUTNIK (Cf. Sputnik). From Beat generation (1952), associated with beat (n.) in its meaning rhythm (especially in jazz) as well as beat… …   Etymology dictionary

  • beatnik — /ˈbitnik, ingl. ˈbiːtnɪk/ s. m. e f. inv.; anche agg. capellone, hippy …   Sinonimi e Contrari. Terza edizione

  • beatnik — [n] uncoventional, free sprited person beat, Bohemian, demonstrator, dropout, flower child*, hippie, iconoclast, maverick, nonconformist, peacenik*, protester, radical; concept 423 …   New thesaurus

  • beatnik — {{/stl 13}}{{stl 7}}[wym. bitnik]{{/stl 7}}{{stl 17}}ZOB. {{/stl 17}}{{stl 7}}bitnik {{/stl 7}} …   Langenscheidt Polski wyjaśnień

  • beatnik — ► NOUN ▪ a young member of a subculture associated with the beat generation …   English terms dictionary

  • beatnik — ☆ beatnik [bēt′nik ] n. [ BEAT, adj. 2 + NIK] a member of the beat group …   English World dictionary

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