play hooky

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

See hooky for its origin; the construction of the phrase is in the same vein as play truant.

Pronunciation

  • Audio (General Australian):(file)

Verb

play hooky (third-person singular simple present plays hooky, present participle playing hooky, simple past and past participle played hooky)

  1. (idiomatic, US) To play truant; to avoid (informally: skip) school, work, or other duties (stay away from these without permission nor an excuse); to skive or to bunk off (UK);
    Plenty of people played hooky from work to go see the movie on opening day.

Synonyms

Translations

See also