hooky

1 of 2

adjective

hookier; hookiest

1

: curved or bent like a hook

Her nose was long and hooky, and she had no teeth—or if she had them, they weren't in her mouth.

—K. C. Constantine

His coal-black, glossy hair commanded and obtained her admiration, and she found his hooky nose to be handsome.

—Anthony Trollope

2

music : appealing and easy to remember : catchy

a hooky melody/tune/rhythm

… combining scintillating rhythm tracks with a kaleidoscope of hooky musical styles …

—Dave Marsh

Wild is a vibrant, hooky pop song flavored with Joni Mitchell illusions and funk.

—Nelson George

hooky

2 of 2

noun

ˈhu̇-kē 

variants or less commonly hookey

Phrases

play hooky or less commonly play hookey

US, informal

: to be away from school without permission

Out on the playground, a boy from another homeroom cavorted around on a dirt bike, doing wheelies. He was playing hooky, but evidently couldn't stay away.

—Tracy Kidder

When he was a small child [Babe] Ruth was a holy terror. He had incredible energy, was relentlessly active and was always in trouble. He played hooky from school. He stole fruits and vegetables from stores, threw them at truck-drivers and ran and hid from the police.

—Robert W. Creamer

He [Tom Sawyer] moped to school gloomy and sad, and took his flogging, along with Joe Harper, for playing hookey the day before, with the air of one whose heart was busy with heavier woes and wholly dead to trifles.

—Mark Twain

also : to be away from work or similar duties in a way likened to a child skipping school

Hawkins is a tanned, muscular man in his 40s who's playing hooky today from his job as a printer's ink chemist.

—Doug Stewart

Most New Yorkers were at work last Tuesday while the official ceremony was going on—and many of those who played hooky chose to go to the ticker-tape parade for the world champion New York Mets.

—David Gates

… in 1948 I once played hookey from my radio writing job with Edgar Bergen to play in the Santa Monica Open.

—Arthur Marx

Examples of hooky in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

But director Roshan Sethi gives the musical interludes some visual pop; and the songs are genuinely hooky. —Noel Murray, Los Angeles Times, 27 June 2023

And, of course, songs are hooky but have heart. —Liza Lentini, SPIN, 29 July 2022

Noun

Kids played hooky from school to watch qualifying; their parents would let them — and would play hooky from work. —Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 13 Apr. 2025

The Amateur takes off from a hooky hypothetical: What if the most intelligent man in central intelligence had to leave his desk and enter the field? —A.a. Dowd, Rolling Stone, 11 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

probably from slang hook, hook it to make off

First Known Use

Adjective

1608, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

1842, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing hooky

• play hooky

Rhymes for hooky

• bookie
• cookie
• rookie

Kids Definition

hooky

noun

variants also hookey

ˈhu̇k-ē 

plural hookies or hookeys

: truant

play hooky