hopscotch
(ˈhɒpskɒtʃ)
[f. hop v.1 + scotch n. an incised line or scratch: a formation like catchpenny, heal-all, etc.]
A children's game, consisting in hopping on one foot and driving forward with it a flat stone, fragment of a slate or tile, etc., from one compartment to another of an oblong figure traced out on the ground, so as always to hop over or clear each scotch or line. Also called hop-score, hop-scot, and (earlier) scotch-hoppers.
| 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. iv. iv. 339 Among the school⁓boys in my memory there was a pastime called Hop-Scotch. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxiii. 72 Playing hopscotch and other games on the hard sand. 1886 American XII. 140 It would seem that the well-known boys' game of ‘hop⁓scotch’ dates back to the beginning of the Christian era. |
| attrib. 1897 Pop. Sci. Monthly Nov. 64 Streets and lanes cross and recross in delightfully hopskotch fashion. |