double Dutch

¹

noun

, Slang.

1. unintelligible or garbled speech or language:

   She could have been talking double Dutch for all we understood of it.

Double Dutch

²

noun

, (sometimes lowercase)

1. a form of the game of jump rope in which two persons, holding the respective ends of two long jump ropes, swing them in a synchronized fashion, usually directed inward so the ropes are going in opposite directions, for one or two others to jump over.

double Dutch

noun

1. informal.
   incomprehensible talk; gibberish

Word History and Origins

Origin of double Dutch¹

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

From playing double Dutch to pole dancing, Angelenos are redefining what “age-appropriate” fitness looks like.

From Los Angeles Times

We’d fashion an XL double Dutch rope out of landline cords and spend hours taking turns, inviting in anyone who passed by — usually neighborhood aunties, including my auntie Thelma, who would join us for a turn or two on her way home from work.

From Los Angeles Times

As a Black woman who grew up in New York City in the late ’90s and early aughts, double Dutch has always been near and dear to my heart.

From Los Angeles Times

It's the Black girls who "weren't afraid to jump double dutch," the Black children who may have been "ridiculed because of the color of their skin" but still went to school, who, like the Little Rock Nine and Ruby Bridges, "had to go through desegregation."

From Salon

An interlude involving a boisterous park of people playing checkers, basketball and double Dutch lets him do just that.

From New York Times