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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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

double Dutch Double Dutch

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

After Daddy dies I learn to jump double Dutch slowly tripping again and again over my too-big feet.

From "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson

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

Joyce and Raissa De Haas, who founded Double Dutch drinks, explain the power of being identical twins in business, for our entrepreneurship and business advice series CEO Secrets.

From BBC ● Feb. 13, 2023

Biles’ message also resonated with Whaley, who co-created an event series in New York City called Brooklyn Recess to preserve the culture of Double Dutch, a rope jumping sport popular in Black communities.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 3, 2021

On Dec. 8, they will compete in the Double Dutch Holiday Classic at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, a major competition hosted by the National Double Dutch League.

From New York Times ● Nov. 27, 2019

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

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