hop, skip, and a jump

or hop, skip, and jump

noun

a short distance:
The laundry is just a hop, skip, and a jump away.

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Word History and Origins

Origin of hop, skip, and a jump¹

First recorded in 1750–60

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Idioms and Phrases

A short distance, as in It's just a hop, skip, and a jump from my house to yours . This expression, dating from the early 1700s, originally referred to an exercise or game involving these movements, but by the mid-1800s was also being used figuratively for the short distance so covered.

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Example Sentences

This ink must have got water in it somehow, and then my handwriting is such a hop-skip-and-a-jump anyway.

From Project Gutenberg

Major Barber wasn't the kind of a man who did things hop-skip-and-a-jump style.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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