English

Cartoon of a "hobbledehoy" William Cobbett enlisting in the army. From the Political Register of 1809. Artist James Gillray.

Alternative forms

Noun

hobbledehoy ‎(plural hobbledehoys)

1. An awkward adolescent boy.
   • 1836, Dickens, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club , chapter 28

     [...] all the men, boys, and hobbledehoys attached to the farm [...]

   • 1886, Jerome K Jerome, Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, On being shy

     A man rarely carries his shyness past the hobbledehoy period.

   • 1895, H G Wells, The Wonderful Visit, chapter 12

     Two hobbledehoys were standing by the forge staring in a bovine way at the proceedings.

   • 1895, Hardy, Jude the Obscure, part 1, chapter 3

     And though it do take—how many years, Bob?—five years to turn a lirruping hobble-de-hoy chap into a solemn preaching man with no corrupt passions, they'll do it, if it can be done [...]

   • 1912, Romain Rolland ,Jean-Christophe, Morning, 2

     He was a fair boy, with round pink cheeks, with his hair parted on one side, and a shade of down on his lip. He looked frankly what he was — a hobbledehoy — though he made great efforts to seem grown up.

Derived terms

• hobbledehoyhood

Translations

Scots

Noun

hobbledehoy ‎(plural hobbledehoys)

1. An awkward adolescent boy.

Alternative forms

• hobbetyhoy, hobbarddehoy, hobbedehoy, hobdehoy, hobbledygee, hobereau, hobby, hoi to-day.

References

• Hobbledehoydom, Juan Martinez, 2004.