hobbledehoy

[ hob-uhl-dee-hoi ]

noun

1. an awkward, ungainly youth.

hobbledehoy

/ ˌhɒbəldɪˈhɔɪ /

noun

1. archaic.
   a clumsy or bad-mannered youth

Word 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 )

Word History and Origins

Origin of hobbledehoy¹

C16: from earlier hobbard de hoy, of uncertain origin

Example Sentences

“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 Los Angeles Times

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

From New York Times

Among these words are such corkers as juggins, fizgig, hobbledehoy and condiddle.

From The Guardian

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

From Project Gutenberg

A dismal passage led toward a dark stairway, up which they had to climb flight after flight to reach at last a dusty, ill-smelling, gas-lighted room, inhabited only by a shabby, shock-headed hobbledehoy of uncertain age and unprepossessing appearance, perched on a preposterously high stool at a still higher desk, behind a cage-like partition.

From Project Gutenberg