Word.ws English Dictionary

on the hop

on the hop prepositional phrase: playing truant from school.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (Ireland, slang) Playing truant from school.
    • Judy: A couple of times I went on the hop.1995, G. H. Fagan, Culture, Politics and Irish School Dropouts, page 26
  2. Spontaneous; unplanned.
    • It is hard to tell whether or not Putin had decided his plan for Ukraine months ago, or whether he has been making plans on the hop, but it was certainly clear that the decision on recognition had been taken well before this strange, stage-managed event.2022 February 21, Shaun Walker, “Putin’s absurd, angry spectacle will be a turning point in his long reign”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
  3. Unprepared; unready and unable to deal with something.
    • "Tough," said Peter. "Very tough. I have a chance if I can keep him on the hop till his weight and short wind come against him—in this hot sun too. To tell the truth, I haven't much chance else. […]"1951, C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian the Return to Narnia
    • His sudden arrest caught many on the hop, including Pinochet's old ideological enemy, Cuba's Fidel Castro. "Is it true? Is it confirmed?" the 72-year-old Communist leader asked in Oporto.1998 October 18, David Connett, John Hooper, Peter Beaumont, “Pinochet arrested in London”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

on the hop meaning in Malayalam

on the hop in Malayalam

off guard, unprepared, unready
ജാഗ്രതയില്ലാത്ത സമയത്ത്, അസന്നദ്ധ, സന്നദ്ധമല്ലാത്ത, ഒരുങ്ങാത്ത, തയ്യാറില്ലാത്ത, തയ്യാറെടുപ്പില്ലാത്ത
occupied, busy, employed
ജോലിത്തിരക്കുള്ള, വ്യാപൃത, തിരക്കുള്ള, കാര്യവ്യഗ്രമായ, വ്യാപൃതമായ, ആയിരത്തെട്ടു ജോലിയുള്ള

Questions about on the hop

What does on the hop mean?
On the hop means playing truant from school.
What is on the hop in Malayalam?
On the hop in Malayalam is ജാഗ്രതയില്ലാത്ത സമയത്ത്, അസന്നദ്ധ, സന്നദ്ധമല്ലാത്ത. See On the hop meaning in Malayalam.
What part of speech is on the hop?
On the hop is a prepositional phrase.

Words near on the hop in the dictionary

  1. on the high ropes
  2. on the hog
  3. on the hog train
  4. on the hoof
  5. on the hook
  6. on the hop
  7. on the horizon
  8. on the horn
  9. on the horns of a dilemma
  10. on the hour
  11. on the house

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on the hop (page history and authors); on the hop (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). 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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-on the hop.ogg.

Cite this entry: “on the hop.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/on_the_hop. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.