Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Absence without leave; truancy.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A pupil absent from school without leave; a truant: only in the phrase to play hooky, equivalent to to play truant. Also
hookey . - Full of hooks; pertaining to hooks.
- Given to hooking: as, a hooky cow.
- Hooked.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Full of hooks; pertaining to hooks.
- noun A word used only in the expression
to play hooky , to be truant, to run away; -- used mostly of youths absent from school without a valid reason and without the knowledge of their parents. Also (figuratively and jocosely), to be absent from duty for frivolous reasons.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Absence from
school orwork . - adjective Full of
hooks . - adjective Shaped like a hook.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun failure to attend (especially school)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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I must confess that I came away feeling a bit ashamed to be a member of the media and journalism tribe (even as I played hooky from the Online News Association's annual confab uptown).
Jeff Jarvis: To Rally, Perchance to Dream Jeff Jarvis 2010
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Playing hooky, in other words, sits on a paradox in which you are parent and child at the same time.
BREAKFAST WITH SOCRATES ROBERT ROWLAND SMITH 2010
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Playing hooky, in other words, sits on a paradox in which you are parent and child at the same time.
BREAKFAST WITH SOCRATES ROBERT ROWLAND SMITH 2010
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We've got footage of a mountain lion attacking a doe, a sea-lion on the interstate, and the best lies to use for playing hooky from the office.
Best of the Boards: Week In Review Dave Hurteau 2008
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A Republican state lawmaker from Baytown has filed a bill that would charge parents of public school students with a Class C misdemeanor and fine them for playing hooky from a scheduled parent-teacher conference.
Archive 2007-01-28 Bill Crider 2007
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Gruden playing hooky is more about getting a day away from the endless "so what will it be like to play your old team?" questions then it is about schooling his former assistant.
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Had not read this in decades and was struck by how it was not "hooky" or "elevator pitch-able" or anything like that.
mrissa: Books read, early June mrissa 2010
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I played "hooky" with my soon to be thirteen-year old daughter.
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To finish up the day I played "hooky" from work today as I was a bit under the weather with a stomach virus I listened to some of my favorite podcasts from the University of Houston in a series called "Engines of Our Ingenuity".
Books, Movies, and Coincidence Bea Amaya 2007
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To finish up the day I played "hooky" from work today as I was a bit under the weather with a stomach virus I listened to some of my favorite podcasts from the University of Houston in a series called "Engines of Our Ingenuity".
Archive 2007-12-01 Bea Amaya 2007
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