hop, skip, and a jump

American

Or hop, skip, and jump

noun

a short distance.

The laundry is just a hop, skip, and a jump away.

hop, skip, and a jump Idioms

A short distance, as in It's just a hop, skip, and a jump from my house to yours. This expression, dating from the early 1700s, originally referred to an exercise or game involving these movements, but by the mid-1800s was also being used figuratively for the short distance so covered.

Etymology

Origin of hop, skip, and a jump

First recorded in 1750–60

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Wasn’t it a hop, skip, and a jump from selling Mother’s goods on the black market to ferrying around documents on her bicycle, to couriering medicines, to smuggling out people?

From Literature

Nick León, “A Tropical Entropy” Hailing from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., just a hop, skip and a jump north of Miami, the electronic mixmaster Nick León broke through a busy pop music landscape this year as a producer with a distinctly Floridian point of view.

From Los Angeles Times

These men and women must put down their DJ careers and pick up the pressed cotton uniforms worn by the staff at Castello Rosato, the gorgeous Italian palace where Vanderpump has staged Season 2 — just a hop, skip and a jump from the French chateau where Season 1 was filmed.

From Salon

A snowy hop, skip and a jump away from Seattle at Snoqualmie Pass is this tubing park with all the bells and whistles at the Summit at Snoqualmie ski area, should you wish to skip the old-school sledding experience for the ski-hill alternative.

From Seattle Times

The historic ghost town of Bodie is just another hop, skip and a jump away, while the flash of a snowshoe hare’s white feet might catch your eye from the trail.

From Seattle Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023