Pippi Longstocking
nounUK /ˈpɪpɪ lɒŋˈstɒkɪŋ/
Etymology From long + stocking, calque of Swedish Pippi Långstrump. As a common noun, after the appearance and nature of the fictional character.
1
A person, especially a girl or woman, with long or flamboyant red hair, especially in pigtails or parted down the middle, and prominent freckles.
- Little and skinny for ten years old, cursed with waist-length hair and freckles that all the kids teased made her look just like Pippi Longstocking, she had been, that day, the butt of jokes from the entire fifth grade.2007, Karen Robards, Ghost Moon, Random House:
- She has threaded rags through her hair, tying it in two Pippi Longstocking braids.2009, Rachel Shteir, Gypsy: the Art of the Tease, Yale University Press, page 140:
3 more examples
- If I turned around, you could see a bizarre array of silver clippies, and a “Pippi Longstocking” part down the middle.2010, Laura DuPriest, Natural Beauty: Pamper Yourself with Salon Secrets at Home, Random House, page 15:
- Put her in pigtails and stick her finger in a light socket, and she’d be Pippi Longstocking.2011, Julia Watts, Finding H. F., Bella Books:
- I was positively Pippi Longstocking, minus the pigtails.2012, Kate Bornstein, A Queer and Pleasant Danger: The true story of a nice Jewish boy who joins the Church of Scientology, and leaves twelve years later to become the lovely lady she is today, Beacon Press:
2
A person, especially a girl or woman, given to headstrong, wild behaviour, flights of fancy, or irrepressible optimism.
- Then we’re swept back to her school days, where we see her giggling like a regular Pippi Longstocking as she spies on Rivera (Alfred Molina) applying his creative juices to an artist’s model while being berated by his wife (Valeria Golino).2002 October 23, Ella Taylor with Frida (reviewer), “Sex-mad and Self-obsessed”, in LA Weekly:
- You’re a regular Pippi Longstocking, you know that?2014, P. V. Lundqvist, The Counterfeit Father: A Tony Pandy Mystery, Stick Raven Press:
1 more example
- Have I discovered my inner Pippi Longstocking?2015, Patrice Vecchione, Step Into Nature: Nurturing Imagination and Spirit in Everyday Life, Simon & Schuster, page 10: