Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A high-spirited, boisterous, or saucy girl.
  • adjective High-spirited; boisterous.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • See hoiden.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Same as hoiden.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun archaic A rude, uncultured or rowdy girl or woman.
  • adjective Like a hoyden: high-spirited and boisterous; saucy, tomboyish.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a girl who behaves in a boyish manner

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From earlier hoyden, a rude youth, probably from Dutch heiden, heathen, boor, from Middle Dutch; see kaito- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Probably from Middle Dutch heiden, from Germanic heidano ‘heathen, gypsy’.

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Examples

  • Although you acknowledge that "references to demons, poltergeists, and other unpleasant spiritual beings" are a matter of concern in the first edition, you excuse references to fairies, gnomes and medieval life, as well as "the occasional use of words such as hoyden and ribald," in later editions.

    07/03/2005 - 07/10/2005 2005

  • Condemn Saxon's references to fairies, gnomes, and medieval life and the use of words like "hoyden" and "ribald" just like you condemned references to poltergeists in the first edition.

    Archive 2005-07-03 2005

  • Condemn Saxon's references to fairies, gnomes, and medieval life and the use of words like "hoyden" and "ribald" just like you condemned references to poltergeists in the first edition.

    I will spue thee out of my mouth 2005

  • Although you acknowledge that "references to demons, poltergeists, and other unpleasant spiritual beings" are a matter of concern in the first edition, you excuse references to fairies, gnomes and medieval life, as well as "the occasional use of words such as hoyden and ribald," in later editions.

    I will spue thee out of my mouth 2005

  • Condemn Saxon's references to fairies, gnomes, and medieval life and the use of words like "hoyden" and "ribald" just like you condemned references to poltergeists in the first edition.

    07/03/2005 - 07/10/2005 2005

  • Although you acknowledge that "references to demons, poltergeists, and other unpleasant spiritual beings" are a matter of concern in the first edition, you excuse references to fairies, gnomes and medieval life, as well as "the occasional use of words such as hoyden and ribald," in later editions.

    Archive 2005-07-03 2005

  • If a girl does not conform, she is defined as a "hoyden" or a "tomboy."

    Human Traits and their Social Significance Irwin Edman

  • Just what turrible transgression did you commit, you wee wicked hoyden?

    The Devil Wears Plaid Teresa Medeiros 2010

  • God grant I live long enough to buy that Scottish hoyden a decent number of petticoats and at least one pair of slippers.

    Much Ado About Marriage Karen Hawkins 2010

  • God grant I live long enough to buy that Scottish hoyden a decent number of petticoats and at least one pair of slippers.

    Much Ado About Marriage Karen Hawkins 2010

Comments

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  • Dear creature!-- Did she never romp? Did she never from girlhood to now, hoyden?

    Lovelace to Belford, Clarissa by Samuel Richardson

    December 13, 2007

  • "Mary was a little hoyden, and Fred at six years old thought her the nicest girl in the world making her his wife with a brass ring which he had cut from an umbrella."

    - George Eliot, Middlemarch

    February 20, 2008

  • This word is best spoken in a Jerry Lewis voice.

    May 28, 2009

  • This word may be related, etymologically, to heathen. Very interesting.

    May 28, 2009

  • Vexample: "Is hoyden a dictionary word, or not?" — The New Girl at St. Chad's A Story of School Life

    November 21, 2009