2 historicala dancing contest among African Americans in which a cake was awarded as a prize.
▪a strutting dance popularized by minstrel shows in the late 19th century.
▸verb[no object]
1 informalachieve or win something easily:
he cakewalked to a 5–1 triumph.
2 walk or dance in the manner of a cakewalk:
a troupe of clowns cakewalked by.
– ORIGIN mid 19th century: from cake + walk. The cakewalk apparently originated as an entertainment performed by enslaved black people on Southern plantations, possibly as a parody of the formal dances of white high society.
EnglishOxford Dictionary of English
