The Collaborative International Dictionary
honky-tonk \honky-tonk\ a. Pertaining to or resembling a honky-tonk.
2. (Music) Pertaining to a style of ragtime piano music
having a melody embellished with chords and syncopated
rhythms, accompanied by a bass in strict two-four or
four-four time. It is often played on an upright piano
having its strings muffled to produce a tinny sound; as, a
honky-tonk piano.
--RHUD
honky-tonk \honky-tonk\ n.
-
a cheap drinking and dancing establishment; a cheap and tawdry nightclub.
Syn: barrelhouse.
A district in which honky-tonks[1] are found.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"cheap night club," by 1898, Southern U.S., of unknown origin. As a type of music played in that sort of low saloon, it is attested from 1921.
Wiktionary
n. 1 A bar or nightclub that caters to Southern patrons and provides country music for entertainment. 2 (context dated English) Any cheap nightclub. 3 (context dated English) The type of music typically played in such a club 4 A style of country music emphasizing traditional country instruments (e.g., guitar, steel guitar and fiddle); a rough, nasal vocal style; and tragic themes such as heartbreak, infidelity and alcoholism.
WordNet
n. a cheap drinking and dancing establishment [syn: barrelhouse]
Wikipedia
A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, or tonk) is a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons. The term also refers to styles of music played in such establishments. Bars of this kind are common in the South and Southwest United States. Many eminent country music artists, such as Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard, Patsy Cline, and Ernest Tubb, began their careers as amateur musicians in honky-tonks.
The origin of the term honky-tonk is disputed, originally referring to bawdy variety shows in areas of the old West ( Oklahoma, the Indian Territories and Texas) and to the actual theaters showing them. The distinction between honky-tonks, saloons and dance halls is blurred, especially in cowtowns, mining districts, military forts and oil fields of the West.
The first music genre to be commonly known as honky-tonk was a style of piano playing related to ragtime but emphasizing rhythm more than melody or harmony; the style evolved in response to an environment in which pianos were often poorly cared for, tending to be out of tune and having some nonfunctioning keys. This honky-tonk music was an important influence on the boogie-woogie piano style. Before World War II, the music industry began to refer to hillbilly music being played from Texas and Oklahoma to the West Coast as "honky-tonk" music. In the 1950s, honky-tonk entered its golden age, with the popularity of Webb Pierce, Hank Locklin, Lefty Frizzell, Ray Price, Faron Young, George Jones and Hank Williams.
Usage examples of "honky-tonk".
Dugger was gone by then, drinking up his settlement money in the honky-tonks of Nashville, giving up fandom for different and more dangerous obsessions.
He dropped Chiun off at their rooms, then drove back to the honky-tonk block in Bay City where the Rocco Nobile Improvement Association was headquartered.
Emma thought of Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan transplanted to a Texas honky-tonk.
Phone bill, the Delta Airlines ticket envelope, receipts from the Honky-Tonk, savings passbooks, phony documents.
His name's Jones, dark glasses spewing cigarette smoke answering an ad for a job as a porter in a honky-tonk nightclub, he's asked for a character reference.
As he strolls past the honky-tonks and clip joints, doormen grab him by the arm, spin him around, and open a door so he can catch a titillating glimpse of the naked flesh of the strippers on the platform behind the bar.
The [118] receivers, of course, were those who met the mules and warehoused the cocaine, heroin, and pot until it could be delivered to dealers who, in turn, delivered it to their customers in country clubs, corporate boardrooms, honky-tonk bars, chic nightclubs, sorority and frat houses, and bar-association meetings where those who could afford the stuff bought it and used it.
Back in the days when Carl Perkins was singing about pink pedal pushers and Johnny Horton was singing about dancing all night on a honky-tonk hardwood floor and the biggest teen idol in the country was Edd 'Kookie' Byrnes.