▪ I. moo, n.1
(muː)
[f. moo v.]
The low of a cow; an act of lowing.
| 1789 D. Davidson Seasons 46 Thou rangest o'er thy food, among the queys, A' fearless o' thy moo, or cap'ring tail. 1902 Contemp. Rev. Dec. 840 The cows utter long ‘moos’ of excitement. |
Add: 2. colloq. [Abbrev. of moo-cow n.] a. A cow. b. derog. (Applied usu. to a woman.) A stupid or objectionable person; euphem. for ‘cow’ (see cow n.1 4 b).
| 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang § 120/14 Cow, boss, bossy,..moo, moo cow, mooer. 1967 Listener 24 Aug. 252/1 Those bells which announce the approach of psychedels like medieval lepers or a herd of moos. 1967 P. Bailey At Jerusalem i. 70 Unless she's one of those stupid moos who..look into crystal balls. 1973 J. Speight Till Death us do Part: Scripts 30 Course it's tax free—it's a rebate—you silly moo. 1990 Sun 1 Mar. 3 Silly council moos sent his cows poll tax forms. 1994 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 1 Jan. 15/8 (heading) Famed old moo dies... Dublin: The world's oldest cow, Big Bertha, has died at age 49. |
▪ II. moo, n.2
(muː)
Shortened f. moola.
| 1945 F. Fay How to be Poor i. 3 In the vernacular of those in the know, you have the ‘moola’ (sometimes abbreviated ‘moo’, meaning ‘money’). Ibid. xi. 45 What Are We Gonna Do, To Get Rid of All Our ‘Moo’? Catchy, isn't it?.. Later on I shall give and teach you—for free—..the lyrics and music for this our battle cry of freedom, using my well-known ‘Dum-De-De-Um-Dum’ method. After you have mastered ‘What Are We Gonna Do, To Get Rid of All Our {oqq}Moo{cqq}?’, I shall expect to hear you full-throatedly singing this chant of Truth from the housetops. 1949 W. R. Burnett Asphalt Jungle (1950) vii. 56 After all, as far as she knew, he was still loaded with what the boys vulgarly referred to as moo! 1975 D. Bloodworth Clients of Omega ix. 84 Most of my nurses..don't work for moo... But local stuff I pay. |
▪ III. moo, v.
(muː)
Also 6 mo, (9 mue).
[Echoic.]
intr. Of a cow or ox: To low. b. Of a person: To utter the sound represented by ‘moo’.
| 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 39 The calfis began tyl mo. 1565 Golding Ovid's Met. i. (1593) 21 Thou [sc. Io]..dolefullie dost moo Unto my talke. 1607 Barley-Breake (1877) 25 Whose dolefull Sounds the Eccho did receiue, That to his moanes the syluan beasts did moo. 1818 Todd, To Mue,..2. To low as a cow; usually pronounced moo, though mue should seem to be the orthography. 1855 Thackeray Newcomes II. 174 Blessed darling crows, moos, jumps in his nurse's arms. 1892 J. S. Fletcher When Chas. I was King ii, I used to wonder..if that were Farmer Denby's roan cow that mooed so loudly under the western window. |
Hence ˈmooing vbl. n.
| 1844 Thackeray Little Trav. i, A huge penful of Durham oxen..maintain an incessant mooing and bellowing. |
| transf. 1888 Harper's Mag. Apr. 738 The mooing of the waters seemed to deepen. |
▪ IV. moo
obs. f. mo, more; obs. and dial. f. mow.