▪ I. shoo, v.
(ʃuː)
Forms: 7 shough, 8–9 shue, 9 schue, sheugh, 8– shoo.
[f. shoo int.1 Cf. It. scioiare (Florio).]
1. trans. a. To scare or drive away (fowls, etc.) by calling out ‘shoo’ or by means of movement or gestures. Also with away, from, off, out (of). Also transf.
| 1622 Breton Strange News (Grosart) 12/2 With that the Cock-master came in..and shought away the Hen. c 1798 T. Brown Awd Daisy 40 Ah waved my hat an' shoo'd 'em all away. 1819 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd iii. (1827) 106 Think alswa How to rebut and schue awa Thir damnit faes. 1872 ‘Susan Coolidge’ What Katy did viii, ‘Shue’⁓ing away the other children. 1912 Chesterton Manalive 161 ‘Get inside! get inside!’ cried Moon hilariously, with the air of one shooing a company of cats. 1919 Conrad Arrow of Gold i. i. 9 Shells were falling all round till a tiny French gunboat..shooed the Numancia away out of territorial waters. 1938 W. de la Mare Memory 14 She shoo'd it away with her gloves. 1959 D. Beaty Cone of Silence ii. 25 Then she shooed cups and plate away from her. 1959 Listener 15 Jan. 113/2 He shakes or nods his head to shoo the flies away. 1973 ‘H. Carmichael’ Too Late for Tears viii. 108 Hope you won't mind if I shoo you out now. I've got work to do. 1977 Time 22 Aug. 10/1 Israeli artillery regularly fires into south Lebanon to shoo away Palestinian guerrillas from Lebanese Christian enclaves in the border area. |
b. To drive or urge (a person, animal, etc.) in a desired direction.
| 1903 N.Y. Sun 17 Nov. 12 The police shoo everybody to the south side of the loops. 1923 ‘B. M. Bower’ Parowan Bonanza xiii. 151 You're supposed to shoo a lady gently before you down the aisle. 1946 M. Dickens Happy Prisoner xi. 267 The first pony had already been shooed into the ring. 1973 M. Amis Rachel Papers 150, I do not churlishly flatten her on to the sofa nor shoo her downstairs. |
2. intr. To cry out ‘shoo’ in order to frighten or drive away fowls, etc. Const. at.
| c 1746 J. Collier (Tim Bobbin) View Lanc. Dial. (1806) 22 Still they kept shuing. 1881 M. L. Molesworth Adv. Herr Baby 120 It was very funny to see the way the little footman went ‘shoo-ing’ at the poor cat. |
3. To hasten away, as after being ‘shooed at’.
| 1851 Sternberg Northampt. Gloss. 95 Lady lock, lady lock! shoo all the way home. a 1869 C. Spence Fr. Braes of Carse (1898) 192 The fairies..beat the beldames blank and hollow, And sent them sheughing down the Ballo'. 1882 P. Robinson Under the Sun iii. v. 213 If the domestic says shoo to her [the cat] she shoos at once. |
4. trans. With in, to allow a racehorse to win easily. U.S. slang. Cf. shoo-in.
| 1908 G. E. Smith Racing Maxims & Methods of ‘Pittsburgh Phil’ ix. 123 There were many times presumably that ‘Tod’ would win through such manipulations, being ‘shooed in’, as it were. 1935 D. Runyon Money from Home 128 They are going to shoo in Never Despair. 1976 New Yorker 22 Mar. 85/2 To be sure, Shoemaker's confreres could have shooed him in long before this, but jockeys never, never do such things. |
Hence ˈshooer, in comb. bird-shooer.
| 1849 Halliwell Pop. Rhymes 179 This is the universal bird-shooer's song in the midland counties. |
▪ II. shoo, int.1
(ʃuː)
Forms: 5 schowe, ssou, 7 shooe, shooh, shue, shoogh, 7–8 shough, 9 shu(h, shue, sho (etc.: see Eng. Dial. Dict.), 9– shoo.
[An instinctive exclamation; cf. LG. schu, MHG. schu, schuo (mod.G. schu), F. shou, It. scioia.]
An exclamation used to frighten or drive away poultry, birds, or other intruders. Also shoohoo. Also as n.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 338/1 Schowe ssou, jnterieccio est. 1611 Florio, Scioiare, to cry shooe shooe, as women do to their hens. 1623 Fletcher & Rowley Maid in Mill v. i, Shough, shough, up to your coop, Pea-Hen. 1639 J. Clarke Parœmiologia 145 He cannot say shooh to a goose. 1675 Hobbes Odyss. xv. 139 An eagle..seis'd a great white tame goose grazing near: The standers-by shouted and cri'd, Shue! shue! But yet away the eagle bore him clear. 1681 Otway Soldier's Fort. iv. (1683) 49 Shoogh, shoogh, get you into a corner when I bid you, shoogh, shoogh, shoogh, what there already? 1822 T. Mitchell Aristoph., Wasp i. ii. II. 191 Shuh! shuh! foolish bird, must I stone 'ee? 1829 J. Hunter Hallamsh. Gloss., Shoo, the interjection used in frighting away birds from their prey. 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. xxxix, Shoohoo! Get out, you goblin! 1891 J. L. Kipling Beast & Man India ii. 44 The servant shows the master a fowl standing on one leg. The master crows sho! and the fowl runs away with two. 1894 Crockett Raiders xxxvii. 311 An owl flew by..and I heard him say, ‘Shoo, you beast!’ 1896 J. Barlow Mrs. Martin's Comp. 41 A..burly man, who says ‘shoo-shoo’ to a..cluster of tiny yellow ducks. |
▪ III. shoo, sho, int.2 dial. and U.S.
(ʃuː, ʃʊ, ʃoː)
Also shuh, shah.
[Instinctive: cf. prec.]
An exclamation indicating impatient or contemptuous rejection of a statement. Cf. pshaw.
| 1845 S. Judd Margaret i. xi, ‘Sho! it's humans you are speaking of’, replied Nimrod. 1856 P. Thompson Hist. Boston 722 Shoo or Shah. Pshaw! a peevish reply. 1883 J. C. Harris in Century Mag. May 139/2 Shoo! won't my ole 'oman holler! 1900 S. Weyman Sophia xiv, ‘Sho!’ Lady Betty cried contemptuously. |
▪ IV. shoo
obs. form of she, shoe, show v.