hippity hopv.
/ˌhɪpᵻtɪ ˈhɒp/, U.S. /ˈhɪpədi ˌhɑp/, /ˌhɪpədi ˈhɑp/ intransitive. To walk, jump, skip, etc., with an uneven or hopping step or gait; to move with a hippity-hop.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > progressive motion > walking > walk, tread, or step [verb (intransitive)] > unevenly
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1879 E. P. W. Packard Great Drama IV. 27 So I tried to ‘hippity-hop’, as fast as I could;..I knew how to ‘hippity-hop’ when I was a little girl.
1883 Overland Monthly Jan. 10/2 Tina, with half a dozen children clinging to her hands, was ‘hippetty-hopping’ back to the other room.
1925 D. H. Lawrence Refl. Death Porcupine 186 ‘I am the captain of my soul!’ Are you, old boy? Then why hippety-hop? He was a cripple at that!
1960 J. W. Meagher Tippy Locklin xiv. 173 Cora began hopping back and forth on one leg. ‘I'm Mrs. John Silver,..the girl pirate.’ She hippety-hopped over to him.
2004 News-Journal (Daytona Beach, Florida) (Nexis) 31 Mar. 8 c There are more than a dozen Easter events planned..as the Easter Bunny hippity-hops through West Volusia.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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