Double Dutch
a form of the game of jump rope in which two persons, holding the respective ends of two long jump ropes, swing them in a synchronized fashion, usually directed inward so the ropes are going in opposite directions, for one or two others to jump over.
Other definitions for double Dutch (2 of 2)
unintelligible or garbled speech or language: She could have been talking double Dutch for all we understood of it.
Origin of double Dutch
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use Double Dutch in a sentence
The paper was covered with lines, circles, and writing that appeared to us like "double-Dutch."
500 of the Best Cockney War Stories | VariousA Double Dutch Agency circulates a report of a great patriotic concert recently held in Berlin.
He says the document is in Hebrew, and he has translated it into Double Dutch.
John Thorndyke's Cases | R. Austin FreemanWhen the rope is turned inwards, it is called “Double Dutch,” when turned outwards, “French dutch.”
The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol II of II) | Alice Bertha Gomme
British Dictionary definitions for double Dutch
British informal incomprehensible talk; gibberish
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with Double Dutch
Language that cannot be understood, gibberish, as in They might have been speaking double Dutch, for all I understood. This usage dates from the 1870s (an earlier version, however, had it as high Dutch) and is heard less often today than the synonym double talk.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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