A hula-hoop is a toy — a plastic, circular tube you rotate around your body by circling your hips. Some experts can get several hula-hoops spinning at the same time. Twirling a hula-hoop around your waist is fun, and it's also good exercise. Hoops have been used as playthings for centuries, but the hula-hoop was invented in 1958. The toy made from plastic tubing was based on traditional hoops made of rattan or bamboo, and it was wildly popular. At one point, the manufacturer produced 50,000 hula-hoops a day. The word hula was used because the hip movements were seen as similar to the Hawaiian hula dance.
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The group has been known to break out into hopscotch, Hula-Hoop, line dancing, jump rope and patty-cake, among other games.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2024
Hula-Hoop Girl, which was discovered in Nottingham, will be exhibited at The National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket.
From BBC ● May 23, 2023
As I sat at this table, I taught kids how to Hula-Hoop, how to spin a top, and how to draw different animals.
From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2019
A heavier hoop—and a larger hoop—takes longer to make a revolution around your waist, which makes them easier to “hoop” than a typical toy-store Hula-Hoop.
From National Geographic Kids ● Jul. 11, 2016
What was the point of even trying to figure out what a Hula-Hoop was, or why this beetle band was so great?
From "I Survived the Great Alaska Earthquake, 1964" by Lauren Tarshis
With a few chunks of chicken, our 7-year-old son instantly taught him to roll over and jump through a Hula Hoop.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 20, 2023
The Hula Hoop Tree, which, as the name suggests, is covered in hundreds of hula hoops, has become a popular attraction in recent years and has even drawn visitors from out of state.
From Fox News ● Sep. 10, 2019
My dad turned 37 in 1963; I cannot, for the life of me, picture him twirling a Hula Hoop at Arlington.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 17, 2016
A “trend” implies that first, a few people are doing something, then more people start doing it, then pretty soon, everyone’s doing it, like the Hula Hoop in the ’50s.
From New York Times ● Sep. 15, 2015
There’s life after "Cheerleader"! I have to give OMI a ton of credit for "Hula Hoop," a song that builds on the glory of his massive summer hit without copying it outright.
From The Verge ● Aug. 28, 2015
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.
