▪ I. woo, v.1 Now literary.
(wuː)
Forms: 1 woᵹian, 3 wohe, 3–4 woȝe(n, wowen, 3–6 wowe, (4 wouwe, 5 wowyn, wogh), 5–7 wow, wooe, 6–7 wo, 6–8 woe, 6– woo.
[Late OE. wóᵹian (also áwóᵹian in trans. sense), of obscure origin.]
I. intr. (or absol.)
1. To solicit or sue a woman in love; to court, make love.
| a 1050 Liber Scintill. xiii. (1889) 68 Bearn worulde þissere woᵹiað & hi beoð ᵹesealde to gyftum. Ibid., Ne hi ne woᵹiað ne hi ne lædað wif. Ibid. 70 Naht framað flæsc habban mæden ᵹif on ᵹeþance æniᵹ woᵹað. a 1225 Ancr. R. 388 Ase a mon þet woweð [MS. Titus wohes]—ase a king þet luuede one lefdi of feorrene londe. a 1300 K. Horn 793 (Camb.) Whan þu farst to woȝe, Tak him þine gloue. 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 40 Unto þe duke of Normundie he went for to wouwe. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 7 Wher a womman is al one, It makth a man..The more hardi forto wowe. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xiii. 44 Religious men of diuerss placis Cumis thair to wow and se fair facis. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. v. ii. 3 Is't possible, that..but seeing, you should loue her? And louing woo? and wooing, she should graunt? 1670 Ray Prov. 30 To wo is a pleasure in a young man, a fault in an old. 1792 Burns Duncan Gray i, Duncan Gray came here to woo. 1822 Campbell Maid's Remonstr. i, Never wedding, ever wooing, Still a love-lorn heart pursuing,..Wed, or cease to woo. 1859 Tennyson Marr. Geraint 442 A creature wholly given to brawls and wine, Drunk even when he woo'd. |
b. Of animals.
| a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. 44 Wowes this wilde drakes. Ibid., Wormes woweth under cloude. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xii. i. (1495) A ij/1 Males [of birds] drawe to company of females..and wowe wyth beckes & voyce. |
c. in fig. context.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 400 Lo! þus ure Louerd woweð: nis heo to herd i-heorted þet a swuch woware ne mei turnen hire luue to him. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 78 In loves court..The povere vertu schal noght spiede, Wher that the riche vice woweth. c 1400 26 Pol. Poems xx. 120 He [sc. Christ] is worþy be loued, þat so dede wowe. |
2. To make solicitation or entreaty; to sue for; to ‘invite’, ‘call’. Also const. clause.
| 1615 R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 143 Th' Maide..Wooing with teares..That Ioue would giue this Monster th' ouer⁓throw. 1634 Bp. Hall Contempl., N.T. iv. xv, Even after an ill harvest we must sow, and after denials we must woo for God. 1647 Trapp Comm. 2 Cor. iv. 5 (1656) 711 We are Christs Paranymphs, or spokesmen, and must woo for him. 1877 Mrs. Forrester Mignon I. 222 So poor George wooes and prays and pleads in vain. 1896 A. E. Housman Shropsh. Lad iv, Towns and countries woo together. |
II. trans.
3. To sue to or solicit (a woman) in love, esp. with a view to marriage; to pay court to, court.
| [c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives vii. 14 Þa ða heo ᵹewende of scole, ða awoᵹode hi sum cniht. a 1020 in Thorpe Charters (1865) 312 Þa foreward ðe Godwine worhte wið Byrhtric þa he his dohter awoᵹode.] |
| c 1290 St. Matthew 84 in S. Eng. Leg. 80 A king..wolde ire habbe to his spouse and wowede hire wel faste. a 1300 K. Horn 546 (Camb.) Ischal..mi kniȝthod proue, Ar ihc þe ginne to woȝe. a 1300 Cursor M. 27998 If þou man nedd þe euer þar-till At force womman..Or woud hir wit wordes slight. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 1247 Dido, He..wowede hyre to han hire as his wyf. c 1440 Generydes 4442 Ther is a knyght hir wowith euery owre, Not for to wedde butt for his paramour. 1530 Palsgr. 783/2 Thou arte but a foole to wo her, she is nat for the. 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 307 Wooe hir, win hir, and weare hir. 1589 Warner Alb. Eng. vi. xxix. (1612) 146 Thus wowde he her, thus wonne he her, thus wowde and wonne hee sped. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. vii. 59 Long thus I woo'd her with dew obseruance, In hope vnto my pleasure to haue won. 1714 T. Lucas Mem. Gamesters (ed. 2) 41 He presum'd to woe a great Lady, who was a Widow. 1842 Tennyson Dora 37 He woo'd and wed A labourer's daughter. 1861 Geo. Eliot Silas M. iii, For four years he had thought of Nancy Lammeter, and wooed her with tacit patient worship. |
b. Of animals.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. i. (1495) X vj b/2 The males woweth & plesyth the females. 1684 J. S. Profit & Pleas. United 35 If she [sc. the Mare] refuse him..you may put a small Stone Nag to wooe her. 1855 Poultry Chron. II. 412 [We] heard their loud gobbling on a sunny spring morning when wooing their mates. |
† c. Said of the female: To solicit the love of.
| c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. ii. v. 344 Scho..Said Iosephe walde haf lyin hyr by, Qwhar to scho wowit hym besely. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xix. viii. 784 [She] wowed hym to haue layne by hym. |
d. in fig. context.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 390 Iesu Crist..þet al o þisse wise wowude ure soule. a 1240 Ureisun in O.E. Hom. I. 187 A swete ihesu..hwine con ich þe woȝe [later text wowen þe] wiþ swete luue. c 1430 Hymns Virgin (1867) 69 In ȝougþe whanne y was wilde & stronge, þe fals world fair dide me wowe. 1601 Shakes. All's Well ii. i. 15 See that you come Not to wooe honour, but to wed it. 1672 Dryden 2nd Pt. Conq. Granada iii. 113 In gaining him, I gain that Fortune too Which he has Wedded, and which I but Wooe. 1784 Cowper Task iii. 126 They are lost In chase of fancied happiness, still woo'd And never won. 1844 Kinglake Eothen iii, Venice..in old times would send forth the Chief of the State to woo and wed the reluctant sea. |
4. To move or invite by alluring means; to entreat or solicit alluringly. (Said properly of persons, fig. of things.) a. const. obj. and inf.
| c 1400 Song Roland 546 His bugle to blow, they hym wowid. 1593 Nashe Christ's T. 4 He..wooed them (with many fayre promises) to repent. 1604 Shakes. Oth. iii. iii. 293 My wayward Husband hath a hundred times Woo'd me to steale it. 1621 H. Elsing Debates Ho. Lords (Camden) 81 He was wood to consent to the patent of Inns. 1629 Milton Nativity 38 Only with speeches fair She [sc. Nature] woo's the gentle Air To hide her guilty front with innocent Snow. 1728–46 Thomson Spring 1036 Then forth he walks,..and wooes the bird of eve To mingle woes with his. 1791 Cowper Iliad i. 217 Begone!—I woo thee not to stay. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. II. 175 A mild air..wooing every bud and flower to burst forth into..beauty. 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's F. 487 Him they lured Into their net.., wooing him to woo. |
b. const. obj. and advb. phr. (or simple adv.).
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 91 Þey heo were..bysylych ywowed to cosses and clippynge..; ȝit sche lefte clene mayde. 1601 B. Jonson Poetaster ii. ii, This gentlewoman is wooing Hermogenes for a song. 1612 Two Noble Kinsmen ii. ii. 109 All those pleasures That wooe the wils of men to vanity. 1639 Fuller Holy War v. xxv. 272 With the oratorie of so pious a project to woo money out of peoples purses. 1682 Burton Admirable Curiosities (1684) 23 To little purpose he woed the King and Queen for Reparation. 1703 Rowe Ulysses i. i, Well might you hope to woe me to your Wishes. 1781 Cowper Expost. 627 Those truths..Invite thee, woo thee, to the bliss they share. 1820 Byron Mar. Fal. iv. i. 17, I..will woo my pillow For thoughts more tranquil. 1830 Tennyson Owl ii. ii, Thee to woo to thy tuwhit. 1875 M{supc}Laren Serm. Ser. ii. vii. 121 In spite of every silvery voice that woos him aside. 1882 T. G. Bowles Flotsam & Jetsam 8 A splendid summer day, wooing the very coat off your back. |
5. To sue for or solicit the possession or achievement of; hence fig. to ‘court’, ‘invite’, ‘tempt’.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 533/1 Wowyn', proco, procito. 1570 Levins Manip. 180/1 To wowe, procare, ambire. a 1585 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 140 ‘Mak choice then of those then, Or of a thousand things’;..With that I wowd his wings. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. vii. 10 What a life is this That your poore friends must woe your companie. 1613 ― Hen. VIII, v. i. 140 You take a Precepit for no leape of danger, And woe your owne destruction. 1625 Bacon Ess., Honour & Reputation (Arb.) 67/2 Some in their Actions, doe Wooe and affect Honour, and Reputation. 1639 Fuller Holy War i. iv. 5 Some..rather wooed then waited for their own deaths. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. i. 90 Their Bones were drubb'd so sore They durst not wooe one Combat more. 1781 Cowper Expost. 413 All fasting else..Is wooing mercy by renew'd offence. 1781 ― Hope 420 They that woo preferment. 1792 S. Rogers Pleas. Mem. i. 14 Whose hollow turret wooes the whistling breeze. 1820 Byron Juan iv. xliii, Pale, statue-like, and stern, she woo'd the blow. 1882 W. Ballantine Exper. xxiii. 224 A theatre which for years before had wooed in vain the patronage of the public. 1883 R. Bridges Prometheus 935 She fled Into the sea, preferring there to woo The choking waters. |
Hence wooable (ˈwuːəb(ə)l) a., suitable to be wooed.
| 1903 Zangwill Grey Wig, Merely Mary Ann 262 She was well-nigh of wooable age. |
▪ II. woo, v.2
(wuː)
[Origin unknown.]
= mah jong v.
| 1922 H. Sterling Standard Rules & Instr. Chinese Game Mah Chang (ed. 4) 6 Experienced players invariably prefer to ‘Woo’ quickly with a small score rather than fail to ‘Woo’ at all. Ibid. 12 The Woo hand adds 2 points if he Woo with only one possible piece..or if he hold one of his last pair and Woo with the other. 1943 K. S. Whitehead Mah Jong Chinese Way §59 A player whose hand contains a false set has a ‘foul hand’, and cannot woo. 1973 J. Scarne Scarne's Encycl. Games xxiii. 451 When he completes his hand, four sets and a pair, a player may woo or mah-jongg by showing his whole hand. He wins the deal, ending play. |
▪ III. woo, n.
(wuː)
[f. woo v.1]
(A spell of) caressing or love-making; esp. in phr. to pitch a woo: see pitch v.1 17 d.
| 1937, etc. [see pitch v.1 17 d]. 1938 N. Marsh Artists in Crime ix. 120 Hello, you two, what are you up to? Having a woo or something? 1959 ― Singing in Shrouds vi. 111 A pair of tango dancers..strutted and stalked..and frowned ineffably at each other. ‘What an angry woo,’ Tim said. 1968 Guardian 27 Nov. 9/6 Couples making woo in motor-cars should be careful not to rock them too much. |
▪ IV. woo
var. whoo int.
▪ V. woo
dial. f. wo int.
▪ VI. woo, woo'
dial. ff. wool.