hooky

¹ American  

[hook-ee] / ˈhʊk i /

Or hookey

noun

1. unjustifiable absence from school, work, etc. (usually used in the phraseplay hooky ).

   On the first warm spring day the boys played hooky to go fishing.

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hooky ² American  

[hook-ee] / ˈhʊk i /

adjective

hookier, hookiest

1. full of hooks.

2. hook-shaped.

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hooky British  

/ ˈhʊkɪ /

noun

1. informal truancy, usually from school (esp in the phrase play hooky )

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hooky Idioms  

1. see play hooky.

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Etymology

Origin of hooky¹

1840–50, perhaps alteration of phrase hook it escape, make off

Origin of hooky²

First recorded in 1545–55; hook ¹ + -y ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hooky hookier hookiest

And Mr. Taupin is, after all, also the co-author of such heavier-beat, hooky pop as “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” and “Crocodile Rock,” and there proves to be room for some upbeat rousers here, too.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026

Braun’s script was on the Black List, a collection of the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood, which tends to reward hooky, high-concept projects, often to mixed results.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

Onlookers are invited to be mesmerized by the fuchsia flames of Gwi-Ma’s realm as the movie’s hooky synth pop bounces in the foreground.

From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2025

Angular riffs, clever-clever lyrics and big, hooky choruses were the order of the day.

From BBC ● May 8, 2025

“Nobody gets away with playing hooky from my schools.”

From "Miracles on Maple Hill" by Virginia Sorensen

Westerberg emerged as the group’s leader, providing ragged lead vocals and hooky, sharp-as-a-tack songs that grew steadily hookier and sharper as the albums progressed.

From The New Yorker ● May 23, 2016

Here, Amplify Dot spits admirably across happy hardcore synths and disjointedly funky beats, while also coming up with a chorus that's hookier than Peter Hook's tackle box.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 26, 2013

With a hookier nose, and bigger eyebrows, and a hump on her back.

From Susan A Story for Children by Amy Walton

It was the evening’s hookiest offering, and somehow one of its most heartbreaking.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 16, 2022

Captained by the sibling duo of the singer-guitarist Eva Hendricks and her drummer brother, Sam, the group took care to mask their sweetest, hookiest instincts with fuzzy, grungy guitar on their first album, 2017’s “Guppy.”

From New York Times ● Nov. 7, 2019

The famous, hookiest part of the song was not really about that.

From Slate ● Aug. 15, 2012

I give the boy credit for all he is, but——" "But you don't intend to let him marry your daughter if by the hookiest hook and crookedest crook you can prevent it.

From Play the Game! by Ruth Comfort Mitchell

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