An old fashioned word that deserves a chance at revival. It means awkward or clumsy, or a youth unfortunate enough to be so. Elizabeth Gaskell’s Wives and Daughters refers to hobbledehoyhood, the state of being awkward or clumsy.
‘… the difficulty of finding subjects of conversation in talking to girls in a state of feminine hobbledehoyhood.’
Source: Elizabeth Gaskell, Wives and Daughters, p. 119
