Definitions

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

  • adjective Somewhat hoyden.

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

  • adjective used of girls; wild and boisterous

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Required to range from the hoydenish to the blithe, she rises to it with a performance that is alert, funny and deliciously un-twee.

    Alice's Adventures in Wonderland – review 2011

  • But Sharp berated Neal over the perceived inaccuracies of their "hoydenish", boisterous dancing, while she in turn accused him of pedantry.

    Cecil Sharp and the Morris Men 2011

  • But Sharp berated Neal over the perceived inaccuracies of their "hoydenish", boisterous dancing, while she in turn accused him of pedantry.

    Cecil Sharp and the Morris Men 2011

  • Few knew that this wild, hoydenish, half-mad humour, was only superinduced over her real character, for the purpose of — getting well married.

    Saint Ronan's Well 2008

  • Fitzpiers recognized her as Suke Damson, a hoydenish damsel of the hamlet, who was plainly mistaking him for her lover.

    The Woodlanders 2006

  • “We want you to be a lady,—a lady above reproach,” he wrote to her, “—a lady always…never hoydenish…”35

    Mark Twain Ron Powers 2005

  • “We want you to be a lady,—a lady above reproach,” he wrote to her, “—a lady always…never hoydenish…”35

    Mark Twain Ron Powers 2005

  • Her principal charm was a laughing, hoydenish countenance and roguish eyes.

    The Titan 2004

  • Her manner was boyish, hoydenish at times, and although convent-trained, she was inclined to balk at restraint in any form.

    The Financier 2004

  • If her mother had been alive, she'd likely have earned a scolding for such hoydenish behavior, but her mother had died too long ago for her to remember clearly, her father scarcely seemed to notice what she did, and she had only herself to please.

    Phoenix And Ashes Lackey, Mercedes 2004

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