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.

---

hooky ² American  

[hook-ee] / ˈhʊk i /

adjective

hookier, hookiest

1. full of hooks.

2. hook-shaped.

---

hooky British  

/ ˈhʊkɪ /

noun

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

---

hooky Idioms  

1. see play hooky.

---

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hooky hookier hookiest

“I was immediately caught by the simple but hooky straightforward guitar riff, and ripping drums holding it down,” Dragge says.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026

And because it is common for a few employees to walk in together, with only one swiping a badge to open the door, HR departments were reluctant to accuse anyone of playing hooky.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 30, 2025

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

“I just tried to think, what's really hooky and what would be fun to sing with a crowd. Those were my parameters.”

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2024

Two or three days she played hooky from school.

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

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 Walton, Amy

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 Mitchell, Ruth Comfort