Lambeth Walk

noun

A dance popular in the late 1930s in which the dancer imitates the exaggerated jaunty walk of a comic Cockney character of theatrical shows.

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Meanings

nounthe Lambeth Walk (plural Lambeth Walks)

plural Lambeth Walks

  1. A dance popular in the late 1930s in which the dancer imitates the exaggerated jaunty walk of a comic Cockney character of theatrical shows.

    Boy, you should have seen me doin', doin' the Lambeth Walk.

    1951 August 20, The Daily Telegraph, Sydney, page 12, column 2
    2 more examples

    On her behalf he made a tour of Ireland introducing new dances, and was the first to demonstrate the Lambeth Walk, an adaptation of a dance from Lupino Lane's production "Me and My Girl."

    1938 April 9, The West Australian, Perth, page 23, column 4

    The "Lambeth Walk" has become very popular in Kalgoorlie. When Rene Esler and Jerry McMorrow introduced it at a dance there, it proved a great success, and was repeated several times during the evening.

    1938 October 26, The Daily News, Perth, page 11, column 5

Origin

Originally the name of a comic Cockney sketch and song, c. 1901, and later popularised as a dance in the 1937 theatrical production Me and My Girl and 1939 movie The Lambeth Walk; punning on Lambeth Walk, a street in the London suburb of Lambeth.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Lambeth Walk. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Lambeth%20Walk

MLA

“Lambeth Walk.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Lambeth%20Walk. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Lambeth Walk,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Lambeth%20Walk.

Source: Lambeth Walk on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.