Meanings
plural hoop jumpers · alternative hoop-jumper
- One who jumps through hoops.
Time and time again he claims he has been offered help — but only if he will jump through some hoops. You know, the social contract. But Marvin is not a hoop jumper.
2004 April, Annasue McCleave Wilson, “The Man on the Porch”, in Cincinnati Magazine, volume 37, number 7, page 692 more examples
Here's what I always try to remember when I'm tempted to start jumping through hoops to make others happy: Jesus wasn't a hoop jumper. He did what he did and left it up to people to take him or leave him.
2010, Mark Atteberry, Let it Go: Come Home from Your Guilt TripThroughout life there are things we do not want to do, but we do them to get to our objective; we jump through the hoop, and have to work like worker bees. This book is specifically written to get the hoop jumpers and worker bees on their way to managing and taking control of their financial futures.
2017, Dr. Jack Burrow, Buffett, Munger Marathon Investing: Passion Investing
Origin
From the idiom jump through hoops.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
hoop jumper. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hoop%20jumper
“hoop jumper.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hoop%20jumper. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hoop jumper,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hoop%20jumper.
Source: hoop jumper on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.