double Dutch

¹ American  

noun

Slang.

1. unintelligible or garbled speech or language.

   She could have been talking double Dutch for all we understood of it.

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Double Dutch ² American  

noun

(sometimes lowercase)

1. a form of the game of jump rope in which two persons, holding the respective ends of two long jump ropes, swing them in a synchronized fashion, usually directed inward so the ropes are going in opposite directions, for one or two others to jump over.

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double Dutch British  

noun

1. informal incomprehensible talk; gibberish

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double Dutch Idioms  

1. Language that cannot be understood, gibberish, as in They might have been speaking double Dutch, for all I understood . This usage dates from the 1870s (an earlier version, however, had it as high Dutch ) and is heard less often today than the synonym double talk .

2. A game of jump rope in which players jump over two ropes swung in a crisscross fashion.

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Etymology

Origin of double Dutch

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

This past summer, we gathered in New Rochelle and did double Dutch lessons, clowning classes and Pilates.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2025

An interlude involving a boisterous park of people playing checkers, basketball and double Dutch lets him do just that.

From New York Times • Apr. 4, 2024

Double Dutch Divas, a local health and fitness nonprofit, is celebrating young double Dutch players and community wellness at its end-of-the-year jump rope event in Seattle’s NewHolly neighborhood.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 23, 2023

Whether this "double Dutch" dynamic re-emerges in Britain, depends on what happens to the housing market after the pandemic.

From Reuters • Jul. 7, 2021

Jackie and Shirley from school are turning the ropes for double Dutch on the sidewalk.

From "Finding Langston" by Lesa Cline-Ransome