hoyden

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Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈhɔɪdən/

Noun

hoyden (plural hoydens)

1. (archaic) A rude, uncultured or rowdy girl or woman.
   • 1857, Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers: In Three Volumes, London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans & Roberts, OCLC 911659634 ↗; republished [London]: D. Campbell Publishers, 1992 (Everyman's Library; 57), ISBN 978-1-85715-057-5, volume II, page 147:

     She is a hoyden, one will say. At any rate she is not a lady, another will exclaim. I have suspected her all through, a third will declare; she has no idea of the dignity of a matron; or of the peculiar propriety which her position demands.

   • 1936, Margaret Mitchell, "Gone with the Wind":

     It was the same conflicting emotion that made her desire to appear a delicate and high-bred lady with boys and to be, as well, a hoyden who was not above a few kisses.

Adjective

hoyden

1. Like a hoyden: high-spirited and boisterous; saucy, tomboyish.
   • 1796, Mary Wollstonecraft, Letters Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, letter 22

     Many of the country girls I met appeared to me pretty – that is, to have fine complexions, sparkling eyes, and a kind of arch, hoyden playfulness which distinguishes the village coquette.

   • 1809, Washington Irwing, Knickerbocker's History of New York, chapter 3

     At these primitive tea parties the utmost propriety and dignity of deportment prevailed. No flirting nor coquetting – no gambling of old ladies, nor hoyden chattering and romping of young ones […]

Verb

hoyden (hoydens, present participle hoydening; past and past participle hoydened)

1. (intransitive) To behave in a hoydenish manner.

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