whoa, int.
(wəʊ)
[Variant of who int.]
† 1. whoa ho ho, used to call attention from a distance. Obs.
| 1623 Shaks. Merry W. v. v. 187 Whoa hoe, hoe, Father Page. 1623 ― Wint. T. iii. iii. 79 He hallow'd but euen now. Whoa-ho-hoa. |
2. A word of command to a horse or other draught-animal to stop or stand still; also used otherwise in conjunction with other words, as come hither whoa, gee-whoa, hait-whoa, whoa back. Hence used jocularly to a person as a command to stop or desist. (Cf. woa.)
| 1843 [see haw int.2 and n.5]. 1849 W. S. Mayo Kaloolah iii. (1850) 32 ‘Soh! whow!’ to his restive horses. ‘Whow! I tell you... Whoa! I tell you.’ 1862 Thoreau Ess., Walking (1895) 22 Who but the Evil One has cried ‘Whoa!’ to mankind? 1865 E. Dickinson Lett. (1894) II. 256 Life..will run away, notwithstanding our sweetest whoa. 1887 W. S. S. Tyrwhitt New Chum ix. 195 Men shouting..: ‘Whoa back! Whoa back!’ 1898 Hamblen Gen. Manager's Story ix. 123 We were four minutes late, and as I shouted ‘whoa’ to Jack [the engine-driver], I could see that he was mad [i.e. angry]. |
Hence whoa v., intr. to shout ‘whoa!’
| 1841 S. C. Hall Ireland I. i. 73 The Englishman..after ‘who-aing’ to his horse, looks over the hedge. |