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Showing results for hanky-panky. Search instead for hank+panky.
Synonyms

hanky-panky

American  
[hang-kee-pang-kee] / ˈhæŋ kiˈpæŋ ki /
Also hanky pank or hankey-pankey

noun

Informal.

  1. unethical behavior; deceit.

    When the bank teller bought an expensive car and house, they suspected there might be some hanky-panky going on.

  2. illicit sexual relations.

hanky-panky British  
/ ˈhæŋkɪˈpæŋkɪ /

noun

  1. dubious or suspicious behaviour

  2. foolish behaviour or talk

  3. illicit sexual relations

"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

Etymology

Origin of hanky-panky

1835–45; rhyming compound; compare initial h, p of higgledy-piggledy, hocus-pocus, hodgepodge ( def. ), etc.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.