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 or work.
  • 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

[Perhaps from hook it, to make off.]

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Examples

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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.

    USATODAY.com - Super storylines abound in Super Bowl 2003

  • 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

  • I played "hooky" with my soon to be thirteen-year old daughter.

    James M. Lynch: 5 Tips for Budgeting Time 2010

  • 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

  • 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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