jukebox: machine that automatically plays a selected song when a coin is inserted
Juke, also spelled jook or jouk, evolved from a West African Wolof word meaning wicked or disorderly. Long before the advent of recorded music, a juke or juke joint was a rough roadside tavern where food, drink, and dancing could be enjoyed. Juke house could also be slang for a brothel.
Beginning in the thirties, juke could be slang for dance. A 1941 volume of American Speech explains, "'Let's jouk' is an invitation to dance, but 'let's go joukin'' is a request for a date." Dancing requires music, so it made sense that when a machine for providing dance music became popular, it should be named after juking. Jukeboxes were everywhere by the 1930s. Time magazine for November 27, 1939 reports, "Glenn Miller attributes his crescendo to the 'juke-box', which retails recorded music at 5¢ a shot in bars, restaurants and small roadside dance joints."
Jukeboxes held on even after vinyl records disappeared. They are now sometimes found spinning CDs, though at a somewhat higher price than a nickel. The word has recently acquired a new meaning—a computing device that stores numerous disks and allows information to be read off them as required.