to hopscotch
- verb
- /ˈhɑpˌskɑtʃ/
- Then we walked on the ties that were placed too close together for walking, mismatched with the human stride, so we stepped in between or hopscotched them, two or three at a time.
- hopscotched across the country
- hopscotched around the globe
- hopscotched the world
Examples
-
He'd been unable to hopscotch into different bodies, like everyone else.
Fiction book (2000) -
And you, you basically hopscotch your quantum information over some repeater cycle, which will let you send stuff from New York to LA.
-
Messages would hopscotch from boat to boat until they reached land.
Academic text (2003) -
Instead, she escapes to the Soviet Union; from there, she hopscotches to New York.
Fiction book (1996) -
He's hopscotching through swing states during the next two days, which includes a visit to Colorado.
Blog text (6) -
They're where Howard Hughes hopscotched among five different units for months at a time to avoid being served papers in a lawsuit.
Blog text (27) -
We have often observed hawk twosomes and threesomes hopscotching along a series of dunes or a line of fence poles.
Academic text (1990) -
After finishing college, she hopscotched between different jobs until she found the right one.
-
The dog hopscotched around the yard, chasing after butterflies and jumping over small obstacles.
-
During the meeting, he hopscotched from topic to topic without fully addressing any of them.
Synonyms
To make a short quick trip often by plane or car
To move by light hops in a playful way
To move quickly from one topic or state to another
To change quickly back and forth between two states
To move quickly and lightly from one place to another
Leave quickly to go somewhere or to avoid trouble
To go quickly around a town to do errands
To jump over someone with your hands and legs to move forward
To go quickly to a nearby place for a short visit
Move past someone or something very quickly and smoothly
Move quickly on foot to escape or reach a place fast
To move forward with small quick jumps using one foot then the other
Move quickly and casually from one place to another
Antonyms
How Fast
Surface Forms
Etymology
The verb hopscotch follows the same image: hop 'jump' plus scotch 'mark', like moving from square to square in the playground. So to 'hopscotch' through places or tasks means to move quickly from one to another, often skipping steps.