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
T' third morning I caught sight of some men loading a boat at Louis's stage, so, being only a hobbledehoy then, I guessed they'd not take much notice of me, and no more they did.
From Labrador Days Tales of the Sea Toilers by Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
At fourteen and a quarter Gwen Gascoyne was at a particularly difficult and hobbledehoy stage of her development.
From The Youngest Girl in the Fifth A School Story by Stanley Davis
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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.
