Jolly-hockey-sticks
adj
adj ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Adjective
- 1 Wholesomely athletic and enthusiastic, in a manner stereotypically associated with traditional British public schools for girls. UK
"Polly couldn't abide Pat Walsh's bossy, jolly hockey-sticks manner and her curious predilection for calling absolutely everyone "babe.""
Example
More examples"Polly couldn't abide Pat Walsh's bossy, jolly hockey-sticks manner and her curious predilection for calling absolutely everyone "babe.""
Etymology
From a catchphrase introduced in a BBC radio comedy programme, Educating Archie (1950)http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-jol1.htm.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.