hobbledehoy

n., pl., -hoys.
A gawky adolescent boy.

[Origin unknown.]

(HOB-uhl-dee-hoy)

noun
An awkward young fellow.

Etymology
Of uncertain origin.

Usage
"However, the vines are still too young to deliver fruit profound enough for top quality wine. In other words, the Shiraz class was probably compromised by young vines yielding wine that was a little too gawky and hobbledehoy." — Michael Fridjhon, Shiraz Falls Short of Expectations, Business Day (Johannesburg), Jul 25, 2002.

"The literature of fandom - Frederick Exley on Edmund Wilson, Boswell on Johnson, Eckermann on Goethe, Goethe on Goethe - presents a skittish equation between subject and author. Thus the first question that might attend a reading of Nicholson Baker's hilarious and hobbledehoy homage to John Updike, now twice-laureled by the Pulitzer Prize, is, `How do you suppose Updike will react?' Robert Taylor, Nicholson Baker Writes About the Updike He Imagines, The Boston Globe, Apr 17, 1991.

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The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: an awkward bad-mannered adolescent boy

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