jolly-hockey-sticks
jolly-hockey-sticks adjective: wholesomely athletic and enthusiastic, in a manner stereotypically associated with traditional British public schools for girls.
Adjective
jolly-hockey-sticks (comparative more jolly-hockey-sticks, superlative most jolly-hockey-sticks)
- Wholesomely athletic and enthusiastic, in a manner stereotypically associated with traditional British public schools for girls.
- Polly couldn't abide Pat Walsh's bossy, jolly hockey-sticks manner and her curious predilection for calling absolutely everyone "babe."2003, Caroline Upcher, Falling for Mr. Wrong
- We had to march along behind one of our mistresses — they were all very jolly hockey-sticks. March to church and then a lockstep turn about the park, everyone staring at us, knowing where we were from.2005, Jim Christy, The redemption of Anna Dupree, page 122
Forms of jolly-hockey-sticks
| comparative | more jolly-hockey-sticks |
|---|---|
| superlative | most jolly-hockey-sticks |
Origin of jolly-hockey-sticks
From a catchphrase introduced in a BBC radio comedy programme, Educating Archie (1950)http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-jol1.htm.
Questions about jolly-hockey-sticks
- What does jolly-hockey-sticks mean?
- Jolly-hockey-sticks means wholesomely athletic and enthusiastic, in a manner stereotypically associated with traditional British public schools for girls.
- What part of speech is jolly-hockey-sticks?
- Jolly-hockey-sticks is an adjective.
Words near jolly-hockey-sticks in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: jolly-hockey-sticks (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “jolly-hockey-sticks.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/jolly-hockey-sticks. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.