hobbledehoy
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of hobbledehoy
1530–40; variant of hoberdyhoy, alliterative compound, equivalent to hoberd (variant of Roberd Robert) + -y 2 + -hoy for boy ( b > h for alliteration; see hob 2)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“I know a lot of these young men who are at a somewhat awkward stage, like Trollope’s hobbledehoy, caught somewhere between childhood and adulthood,” says Schine.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2023
In Louisiana an Elson Reader was banned because of this Mother Goose couplet: The gentleman rides gallop-a-trot, gallop- a-trot; The farmer rides hobbledehoy, hobble- de-hoy.
From Time Magazine Archive
For Anthony, "a hobbledehoy of 19, without any idea of a career," Frances obtained a clerkship in the London Post Office.
From Time Magazine Archive
He grew more silent too; the hobbledehoy was gone.
From A Bed of Roses by Walter Lionel George
I seemed to witness the actual progress of M. Armand, a hobbledehoy from the provinces losing his awkwardness, acquiring ease and polish in his contact with the refinement of Paris.
From The Four Corners of the World by A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley) Mason
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
