▪ I. whoo, v.
(hwuː)
[Cf. next.]
† 1. trans. and intr. To hoot. Obs.
| 1599 Porter Angry Wom. Abingt. H 4, He is gone vp and downe, whoing like an Owle for thee. 1614 Breton I would & I would not xx, All the Beggers in the streets would whoo me. |
2. intr. To utter the sound denoted by whoo.
| 1872 Darwin Emotions ix. 232 A booing or whooing noise. 1891 Hardy Tess ix, Pouting up that pretty red mouth to whistling shape, and whooing and whooing,..and never being able to produce a note. |
▪ II. whoo, int.
(hwuː)
Also whooh, woo.
[Variant of hoo int.]
An exclamation of surprise, grief, or other emotion; occas. an imitation of an owl's hoot (cf. tu-whoo). Also repeated and in whoo-whoop.
| 1608 Middleton Mad World iii. ii. E 2, Wife. Will you but heare a word from mee? Curtiz. Whooh. a 1658 Cleveland Content Poems, etc. (1742) 248 The chattring Sembriefs of her [sc. the owl's] Woo hoo, hoo. 1683 Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.) Rehearsal v. i. (ed. 4) 49 Smi. I had rather be bound to Fight your Battel, I assure you, Sir. Bayes. Whoo! there's it now: fight a Battel? there's the common error. 1770 J. Collier (Tim Bobbin) Wks. (1862) 365 On hearing the news of his landlord's death, [Abraham] only cried out, Whoo-who, whoo-who, whoo—. 1787 Grose Prov. Gloss., Whoo, whoo, an interjection, marking great surprize. 1796 F. Burney Camilla iii. v, ‘Pray, can he really read?’ ‘Whoo!’ says I, ‘why he does nothing else.’ 1908 S. Weyman Wild Geese xviii. 282 He heard..the ‘Whoo! hoo! hoo!’ of owls beginning to mouse beside the lake. 1915 G. S. Porter M. O'Halloran xv, Whoohoo it's so good, Mickey! |
So whoo n., an utterance of this exclamation, or a similar sound, a hoot.
| 1845 C. Wilkes Narr. U.S. Expl. Exped. II. 199 At the end of each dance they finished with a loud whoo, or screech. 1851 Mayne Reid Scalp Hunters xviii, An owl hovered around our heads uttering its doleful woo-hoo-a. 1863 Reade Hard Cash I. vii. 217 Down came the gale with a whoo. |
▪ III. whoo
obs. dial. f. hoo, heo, she.
| 1688 Shadwell Sqr. Alsatia iii. i, Whoo kisses daintily; And whoo has a Breath like a Caw. |
▪ IV. whoo
see who pron., who int. and n., whoa, woe.