noun
- an awkward, gawky young man, especially one in the transition from boyhood to manhood
Usage: somewhat archaic
Examples
- The hobbledehoy stumbled over his own feet as he tried to ask the girl to dance.
- At fifteen, he was still a hobbledehoy, all elbows and knees with a cracking voice.
- The awkward hobbledehoy had grown six inches in a year and hadn’t adjusted to his new height.
- She watched the hobbledehoy struggle with the heavy door, too proud to accept help.
- The gangly hobbledehoy knocked over three displays while walking through the store.
- His mother still saw him as her little boy, but to others he was clearly a hobbledehoy.