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• double Dutch
  double Dutch

  noun

  unintelligible or garbled speech or language.
• Double Dutch
  Double Dutch

  noun

  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.

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

See Examples For:

double Dutch Double Dutch

As a Black woman who grew up in New York City in the late ’90s and early aughts, double Dutch has always been near and dear to my heart.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 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

A double Dutch team whirred ropes around elementary-schoolers, and teams of college rollerskaters spun in loops and figure eights on the asphalt.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 9, 2022

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

Little kids play double Dutch in the empty lot, their braided ropes thwacking against the cold asphalt.

From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles

They responded by painting a vivid, two-story mural that shows children and families playing a range of sports, including Double Dutch jump rope.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026

She recalled one teacher and her husband who bought her clothes so that as she traveled to participate in Double Dutch competitions she could also visit colleges.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 1, 2022

The Canadian documentary shows kids playing Double Dutch and dancing to a merengue band in the courtyard.

From Slate ● Jan. 10, 2022

In August 2017, he proposed to her at the Double Dutch Espresso, where he slid a box across a table containing a ring with a diamond once belonging to his paternal grandmother.

From New York Times ● Aug. 25, 2018

Some of them came up from Tubman Quadrangle with their roommates and rope for Double Dutch.

From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates