51Թ

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hobbledehoy

[ hob-uhl-dee-hoi ]

noun

  1. an awkward, ungainly youth.


hobbledehoy

/ ˌɒəɪˈɔɪ /

noun

  1. archaic.
    a clumsy or bad-mannered youth
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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51Թ History and Origins

Origin of hobbledehoy1

1530–40; variant of hoberdyhoy, alliterative compound, equivalent to hoberd (variant of Roberd Robert) + -y 2 + -hoy for boy ( b > h for alliteration; hob 2 )
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51Թ History and Origins

Origin of hobbledehoy1

C16: from earlier hobbard de hoy, of uncertain origin
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

“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

“The idea came through,” this person said, “that they do not want it just voted on by the hobbledehoy of the music industry.”

From

Silence!" he cried, and, as at a signal, there was a rush, the two interrupters were seized and, surrounded by a gang of hobbledehoys, were hustled down the road, fighting furiously and shouting, "Blues!

From

In a tempest of rage he rushed on the nearest hobbledehoy, and felling him with his stick, rained blows upon him.

From

They who incited her very brothers, clownish hobbledehoys, and her mawkish sister to rise up against her and against him?

From

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