"to hit, strike, punch," 1931, imitative. As a noun from 1934. Sense of "play bop music, play (a song) in a bop style" is from 1948, from bop (n.). It soon came to mean "do any sort of dance to pop music" (1956). Related: Bopped; bopping.
"manner;" late 14c., "melodies, strains of music" (a sense now obsolete; see musical senses below), from Old French mode and directly from Latin modus "measure, extent, quantity; proper measure, rhythm, song; a way, manner, fashion, style" (in Late Latin also "mood" in grammar and logic), from PIE root *med- "take appropriate measures."
Meaning "manner of acting or doing, was in which a thing is done" is by 1660s. Sense of "inflectional category in conjugation" is mid-15c. In music, 1670s as "method of dividing the intervals of the octave for melodic purposes" in reference to ancient Greek music; by 1721 in reference to modern music.
1846 as a kind of sauce served with meat; 1975 as a kind of dance music; separate borrowings from Spanish, literally "sauce," from Vulgar Latin *salsa "condiment" (see sauce (n.)). In American Spanish it is especially used of a kind of relish with chopped-up ingredients; the music is a "blend" of Latin jazz and rock styles.
