Double Dutch
- 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
- unintelligible or garbled speech or language: She could have been talking double Dutch for all we understood of it.
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Origin of double Dutch
First recorded in 1875–80
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for double dutch
Historical Examples
The paper was covered with lines, circles, and writing that appeared to us like "double-Dutch."
double Dutch
- British informal incomprehensible talk; gibberish
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for double dutch
Double Dutch
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with double dutch
double Dutch
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.
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2
A game of jump rope in which players jump over two ropes swung in a crisscross fashion.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.