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Dec 3, 2023 · Play hooky" means to skip school, work, or another obligation secretly and without a good reason. People use this phrase when someone avoids these responsibilities for leisure or fun. It often implies a sneaky or rebellious act but in a light-hearted way. Some words with a similar meaning are "skip," "bunk off," and "ditch."
Apr 9, 2015 · hooky, hookey (n.) is part of an idiom, to play hooky, which means "to be truant, to hook {escape} school." Its plurals are hookeys or hookies, and neither is much used. Hooky was once slang, but it has lasted so well that it is now Standard in its idiom.
- Dictionary discussions of 'hookey' John Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms (1848) has entries for "hookey" and for a term that I suspect may be...
- UPDATE: @Old-School's answer sounds the most plausible (and most interesting), so I've marked it as the accepted answer. Since the phrase has been...
- I was told by my grandparents that at one time the Amish were called "Hookies". This was because they wore "hook and eye" closures instead of zipp...
- My father, born in 1914 in Ohio and lived in and around Detroit had told me that playing hooky was in reference to kids not going to school and g...
1. : curved or bent like a hook. Her nose was long and hooky, and she had no teeth—or if she had them, they weren't in her mouth. K. C. Constantine. His coal-black, glossy hair commanded and obtained her admiration, and she found his hooky nose to be handsome. Anthony Trollope. 2. music : appealing and easy to remember : catchy.
Aug 24, 2022 · The phrase “play hooky” is an American invention and has a number of variations: in Boston, children who skip school were “hooking jack”. And hooky may have come from the phrase...
- Jim Loboy
Jan 18, 2021 · To play hookey, is to play truant. A term used among schoolboys. A use from an 1856 issue of Mother’s Magazine gives a slightly different definition of playing hooky, that is not coming directly home after school and instead getting into mischief.
When you play hooky, you take the day off from what you're supposed to be doing. A man who goes to the beach instead of to his job at a bank decides to play hooky. The classic example of someone who plays hooky is a kid who skips school, or is truant. You can also play hooky from any obligation, simply by not showing up.
The phrase 'Play Hooky' means to skip school, work or any other obligation without a justified excuse. Example of use: “My friends are playing hooky today so that they can be first in line to buy tickets for the concert tonight” Interesting fact about Play Hooky.
