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hoity-toity

 - 3 dictionary results

hoi⋅ty-toi⋅ty

  [hoi-tee-toi-tee]
Use hoity-toity in a Sentence
–adjective
1. assuming airs; pretentious; haughty.
2. giddy; flighty.
–noun
3. giddy behavior.
Origin:
1660–70; rhyming compound based on hoit to romp, riot (now obs.)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To hoity-toity
hoi·ty-toi·ty   (hoi'tē-toi'tē)   
adj.  

  1. Pretentiously self-important; pompous.

  2. Given to frivolity or silliness.


[From reduplication of dialectal hoit, to romp; perhaps akin to hoyden.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

hoity-toity 
1668, "riotous behavior," from earlier highty tighty "frolicsome, flighty," perhaps an alteration and reduplication of dial. hoyting "acting the hoyden, romping" (1594), see hoyden. Sense of "haughty" first recorded late 1800s, probably on similarity of sound.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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