English Explanatory Dictionary

hooky

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Absence from school or work; truancy.
adj
  1. Full of hooks (in any sense).
  2. Shaped like or resembling a hook; hooked.
  3. Dodgy; crooked; illicit.

Pronunciation

/ˈhʊki/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-hooky.wav

Word forms

hooky hookier hookiest

Etymology

First attested in 1848 in New York City. Most likely from Dutch hoekje (“nook, corner; 'spot to hide' in hide-and-seek”). Formerly, "hoekje spelen" could be used to mean "to play hide-and-seek", though the common term for the game nowadays is verstoppertje. By surface analysis, hook + -y.

Synonyms

beaking bunking bobbing cutting class dipping ditching dogging going on the hop going on the lang going on the mitch jigging kidding mitching pawning pipping playing hooky poning sculling self-motivated field trip skipping skiving skidgin sluffing truancy truantness tula wagging

Derived words

hooky-playing play hooky
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on H Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary