Double Dutch

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noun (sometimes lowercase)

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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Words nearby Double Dutch

double dribble, double drift, double drummer, double dummy, double-dumped, Double Dutch, double-duty, double-dyed, double eagle, double-edged, double-edged sword

Other definitions for Double Dutch (2 of 2)

double Dutch

noun Slang.

unintelligible or garbled speech or language: She could have been talking double Dutch for all we understood of it.

Origin of double Dutch

First recorded in 1875–80

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use Double Dutch in a sentence

And Ollie says, ‘Oh, I see, well, let me have two double vodka martinis.’
The Story Behind Lee Marvin’s Liberty Valance Smile|Robert Ward|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST
A few weeks after returning from England, I was trolling the dairy section and came across the Cotswold Double Gloucester.
Biking With the Bard|Kara Cutruzzula|December 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He went on to say that even such double horrors had never kept cops from continuing on.
Two Cops ‘Assassinated’ in Brooklyn|Michael Daly|December 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Faced with the loss of middle class voters, the administration seems determined to double down on its current coalition.
Time to Bring Back the Truman Democrats|Joel Kotkin|December 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Between June and October 1943, 4,283 British, 1,303 Dutch, 1,630 Australian, and 88 American soldiers died.
Riding Thailand’s WWII Death Railway|Liza Foreman|December 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Under the one-sixth they appear as slender, highly refractive fibers with double contour and, often, curled or split ends.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
In treble, second and fourth, the first change is a dodge behind; and the second time the treble leads, there's a double Bob.
Tintinnalogia, or, the Art of Ringing|Richard Duckworth and Fabian Stedman
Mrs. Woodbury paints in oils and water-colors; the latter are genre scenes, and among them are several Dutch subjects.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.|Clara Erskine Clement
She did her work at a most interesting period in Dutch painting.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.|Clara Erskine Clement
The stratagem worked, because the ships went about from one tack to the other without being seen by the Dutch.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XX, 1621-1624|Various

British Dictionary definitions for Double Dutch

double Dutch

noun

British informal incomprehensible talk; gibberish

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with Double Dutch

double Dutch

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.

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