View source for hoity-toity

{{also|hoity toity}}
==English==
{{was wotd|2023|August|4}}

===Alternative forms===
* {{alter|en|hoitytoity|hoity toity}}

===Etymology===
Probably from {{suffix|en|hoit|t1=to behave frivolously and thoughtlessly; to play the fool|y|pos2={{glossary|suffix}} forming {{glossary|adjective}}s with the sense ‘having the quality of’|id2=adjectival}}, {{glossary|reduplication|reduplicated}} with a change of the initial {{glossary|consonant}}. The {{glossary|noun}} is attested earlier than the adjective.<ref>{{R:OED Online|pos=n.'', ''adj.'', ''adv.'', and ''int|id=87662|date=June 2021|nodot=1}}; {{R:Lexico|pos=adj}}</ref>

===Pronunciation===
* {{IPA|en|/ˈhɔɪtiˈtɔɪti/|a=RP,GA}}
* {{audio|en|LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-hoity-toity.wav|a=Southern England}}
* {{rhymes|en|ɔɪti|s=4}}

===Noun===
{{en-noun|~}}

# {{lb|en|uncountable|archaic}} [[behavior|Behaviour]] [[adopt]]ed to [[demonstrate]] one's [[superiority]]; [[pretentious]] or [[snobbish]] behaviour; [[airs and graces]].
#: {{synonyms|en|affectations|airs|huffiness|pretensions}}
#* {{RQ:Robert Browning Aristophanes' Apology|page=142|passage=[O]ne piece of early homage still / Exacted of you; after your three bouts / At '''hoitytoity''', great men with long words, / And so forth,— {{...}}}}
# {{lb|en|uncountable|obsolete}} [[flighty|Flighty]], [[giddy]], or [[silly]] behaviour; also, [[noisy]] [[merriment]].
#: {{sense|flighty behaviour}} {{synonyms|en|flightiness|giddiness|silliness}}
#: {{sense|noisy merriment}} {{synonyms|en|frolic|high jinks|romping}}
#* {{RQ:De Quevedo L'Estrange Visions|page=123|passage=The ''VViddovvs'' I observ'd that vvere marching off, vvith ''the marque out of their mouths'', vvere hugely concern'd to be thought ''Young'', and ſtill talking of ''Maſques'', ''Balls'', ''Fiddles'', ''Treats''; ''Chanting'' and ''Jigging'' to every tune they heard, and all upon the '''''Hoyty-Toyty''''' like ''mad vvenches of fifteen''.}}
#* {{RQ:d'Urfey Wit and Mirth|volume=I|chapter=An Epilogue. For Crab and Gillian: In One of My Comedies.|page=354|passage=And I'll divert ye with my '''Hoyty toyty'''; / With Fortune's choicest Blessings may regale ye, / And Wealth, and Wine, and Women, never fail ye.}}
#* {{RQ:Carlyle French Revolution|volume=III|chapter=Danton, No Weakness|page=358|passage=If this [[w:Georges Danton|[Georges] Danton]] were to burst your meshwork!—Very curious indeed to consider. It turns on a hair: and what a '''Hoitytoity''' was ''there'', Justice and Culprit changing places; and the whole History of France running changed!}}
# {{lb|en|countable|Britain|dialectal}} A [[young#Adjective|young]] [[woman#Noun|woman]] [[regard#Verb|regarded]] as [[flighty]], [[giddy]], or [[silly]].
#* {{RQ:d'Urfey Wit and Mirth|volume=I|chapter=The Scotch Cuckold: A New Song to a Northern Tune|page=255|passage=Whily ''Kate'' the Brown, the Plump, / The Frowzy Browzy, / '''Hoyty Toyty''', / ''Covent''-Garden Harridan, / Soon made poor ''Jockey''’s Head to Ake, / And spoyl’d him for a merry Man.}}

====Translations====
{{trans-see|behaviour adopted to demonstrate one’s superiority|airs and graces}}
{{trans-see|flighty, giddy, or silly behaviour|flightiness|silliness}}
{{trans-see|noisy merriment|high jinks}}

{{trans-top|young woman regarded as flighty, giddy, or silly}}<!--Is there a more common word that this could redirect to?-->
* Finnish: {{t+|fi|heitukka}}
* Macedonian: {{t-needed|mk}}
{{trans-bottom}}

===Adjective===
{{en-adj|hoity-toitier}}

# [[affected#Adjective|Affected]] or [[pretentious]], sometimes with the [[implication]] of [[display#Verb|displaying]] an [[air#Noun|air]] of [[excessive]] [[fanciness]] or [[ostentation]]; [[pompous]], [[self-important]], [[snobbish]]; often displaying a feeling of [[patronizing]] [[self-aggrandizing]] or [[arrogant]] class [[superiority]].
#* {{RQ:Keats Complete Poetical Works|stanza=LXXIX|page=230|column=1|passage=[S]ee what '''hoity-toity''' airs she took{{nb...}}.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=w:Liz Nugent|chapter=Karen|title=Lying in Wait|location=[Dublin]|publisher=[[w:Penguin Books|Penguin Ireland]]|year=2016|page=113|pageurl=https://archive.org/details/lyinginwait0000nuge/page/113/mode/1up|isbn=978-1-844-88363-9|passage=The other models were gas fun, though they were all a bit '''hoity-toity'''.}}
# {{lb|en|obsolete}} [[flighty|Flighty]], [[giddy]], [[silly]]; also, [[merry#Adjective|merry]] in a [[noisy]] [[manner#Noun|manner]].
#* {{RQ:Dryden Amphitryon|scene=ii|page=21|passage=[W]e have been married fifteen Years, I take it: and that '''hoighty toighty''' buſineſs ought, in Conſcience, to be over.}}

====Derived terms====
* {{l|en|hoity-toitily}}
* {{l|en|hoity-toitiness}}

====Translations====
{{trans-top-also|affected or pretentious, sometimes with the implication of displaying an air of excessive fanciness or ostentation|pompous|snobbish}}
* Bulgarian: {{t+|bg|надменен}}, {{t+|bg|префърцунен}}
* Finnish: {{t+|fi|koppava}}
* German: {{t+|de|etepetete}}
* Macedonian: {{t|mk|на́дмен}}, {{t|mk|на́дуен}}
* Polish: {{t+|pl|ą-ę}}
* Romanian: {{t+|ro|arogant}}, {{t+|ro|încrezut}}, {{t+|ro|îngâmfat}}
* Swedish: {{t+|sv|pompös}}, {{t+|sv|snobbig}}, {{t+|sv|uppblåst}}
* Welsh: {{t+|cy|ffroenuchel}}
{{trans-bottom}}

===Adverb===
{{en-adv}} {{term-label|en|obsolete}}

# [[flightily|Flightily]], [[giddily]].
# [[merrily|Merrily]], in a [[noisy]] [[manner#Noun|manner]].
#* {{RQ:Bickerstaffe Love in a Village|air=XVIII|scene=iii|page=30|passage=Then '''hoity''', '''toity''', / VVhiſking, friſking, / Green vvas her govvn upon the graſs: / Oh! ſuch vvere the joys of our dancing days.}}

===Interjection===
{{en-intj}}

# {{lb|en|dated}} {{non-gloss|[[express#Verb|Expressing]] [[disapprobation]] or [[surprise#Noun|surprise]] at [[act#Noun|acts]] or [[word#Noun|words]] that are [[pompous]] or [[snobbish]], or [[flighty]].}}
#* {{RQ:Congreve Love for Love|scene=x|page=46|passage='''Hoity toity''', VVhat have I to do vvith his Dreams or his Divination—Body o' me, this is a Trick to defer Signing the Conveyance.}}
#* {{RQ:Fielding Tom Jones|volume=III|book=VII|chapter=Containing Scenes of Altercation, of No Very Uncommon Kind|page=59|passage=‘'''Hoity'''! '''toity'''!’ cries ''Honour'', ‘Madam is in her Airs, I proteſt.{{nb...}}’}}
#* {{RQ:Bickerstaffe Love in a Village|scene=ii|page=26|passage=VVhy, here is nothing in the vvorld in this houſe but catter-vvavvling from morning till night, nothing but catter-vvavvling. '''Hoity toity'''! vvho have vve here?}}
#* {{RQ:Dickens Nicholas Nickleby|chapter=Of the Proceedings of Nicholas, and Certain Internal Divisions in the Company of Mrs. Vincent Crummles|page=478|passage="I have some reason to fear," interrupted Nicholas, "that before you leave here my career with you will have closed." {{...}} "Why, he don't mean to say he's going!" exclaimed Mrs. Grudden, making her way towards Mrs. Crummles. "'''Hoity toity'''! nonsense."}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=w:May Byron|chapter=II|title={{w|J. M. Barrie}}’s {{w|Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens}}: Retold for Little People{{nb...|by May Byron with the Permission of the Author: Pictures by Arthur Rackham}}|location=London|publisher=[[w:Hodder & Stoughton|Hodder and Stoughton]]|month=November|year=1929|year_published=1958|section=part II (The Little House in Kensington Gardens)|page=70|pageurl=https://archive.org/details/peterpan0000unse_e5g9/page/70/mode/1up|oclc=16980698|passage="'''Hoity-toity'''!" said the Chrysanthemum, "what is this? Who is it? Where is it?" So she had to come out from under the holly; and the young trees gathered round her, fussing and twittering, and asked each other what they had better do. It was very puzzing for them—because no such thing had ever happened before, as a Human Child in the Gardens on a winter night.}}

====Translations====
{{trans-top|''expressing disapprobation or surprise at acts or words that are pompous or snobbish, or flighty''}}
* Finnish: {{t|fi|[[olla|onpa]] [[koppava]]a}}
* Macedonian: {{t-needed|mk}}
* Welsh: {{t|cy|twt-twt}}, {{t|cy|hoiti-toiti}}
{{trans-bottom}}

===References===
<references/>

{{cln|en|reduplications}}
{{C|en|Female people|Personality}}