Meanings
nounhoofer (plural hoofers)
plural hoofers
- USslangA professional dancer, particularly one who has paid his or her dues.
Once a good friend of mine, a fine hoofer who was having trouble getting bookings, ran up to that tree, gave it a big smack, and yelled “Lawd please make me a pimp, any kind of a pimp, long as I’m pimpin’. I’m tired of scufflin’ and my feet are too long outa work.”
1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Tell a Green Man Something”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 3 (1928–1935: The Big Apple), page 208
Synonyms & antonyms
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱoph₂ós
- Proto-Germanic*hōfaz
- Proto-West Germanic*hōf
- Old Englishhōf
- Middle Englishhof
- Englishhoof
- Englishhoofer
From hoof (“dance”, verb) + -er.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Italian ballerino, ballerina
- ballerinoprofessional dancer
- ballerinaprofessional dancer
Cite this entry
APA
hoofer. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hoofer
MLA
“hoofer.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hoofer. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hoofer,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hoofer.
Source: hoofer on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.