▪ I. hoy, n.1
(hɔɪ)
Also 6–7 hoie, hoye, 7 hoigh, huy.
[app. ad. MDu. hoei, pl. hoeyen (Verwijs and Verdam), var. of hoede, heude, huede, mod.Du. † heude, heu, whence also obs. F. heu (Jal). Ulterior origin unknown.]
‘A small vessel, usually rigged as a sloop, and employed in carrying passengers and goods, particularly in short distances on the sea-coast’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.).
| 1495 Paston Lett. No. 937 III. 388 An hoye of Dorderyght. 1497 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 95 An hoy of Andwarpe. 1562 Act 5 Eliz. c. 5 §9 English Hoys and Plats may cross the Seas as far as Caen. 1605 B. Jonson Volpone iv. i, Your Hoigh Carries but three men in her, and a boy. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia vi. 228 Holland and Zeland..hath..twenty thousand saile of Ships and Hoies. 1661 Pepys Diary 16 June, To hire a Margate Hoy. a 1693 Urquhart Rabelais iii. lii. 429 Crears..Huys, Catches, Capers, and other Vessels. 1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 227 Hoys and Lighters are vessels with one mast, and sometimes a bowsprit; abaft the mast is a gaff-mainsail, before it a fore⁓sail, and a jib upon the bowsprit. 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) xviii. xxiii. 173 A coach as long and as crowded as the Margate Hoy. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., In the naval service there are gun-hoy, powder-hoy, provision-hoy, anchor-hoy, all rigged sloop-fashion. |
† b. jocularly. A heavy or clumsy person. Obs.
| 1607 Dekker & Webster North-w. Hoe ii. i, I heare trampling: 'tis my Flemish Hoy. |
c. Comb. (See also hoyman.)
| 1612 Dekker If it be not good Wks. 1873 III. 358 A whole Hoy-full are Landed. a 1618 Raleigh Observ. in Rem. (1661) 167 They [the Dutch] have..Ships called Boyers, Hoybarks, Hoyes, and others. 1714 Mandeville Fab. Bees (1725) I. 321 Low conversation in hoy-boats and stage⁓coaches. 1757 W. Thompson R.N. Advoc. 48 A Hoy Load of..Flags was sent. |
▪ II. hoy, int. (n.2)
(hɔɪ)
Also 6 hoyghe, 7– hoi, 8– hoay.
[A natural exclamation.]
A. int. A cry used to call attention; also to incite or drive beasts, esp. hogs. In nautical language (also written hoay) used in hailing or calling aloft. (Cf. ahoy.)
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. ix. 123 And holpen to erie þis half acre with ‘hoy! troly! lolly’ [A. vii. 109 Hey! trolly-lolly! B. vi. 118 how! trolli-lolli!]. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 176 Wordes..derived from the nature of thynges. As..when one would seme galant, to crie hoigh, whereby also is declared courage. a 1605 Montgomerie Flyting w. Polwart 121 Hoy, hurson, to hell. 1617 Minsheu Ductor, Hoi, a word vsed in driuing hogges. 1620 Bp. Hall Hon. Mar. Clergy ii. ii. Wks. (1648) 721 Away nasty C. E. transformed by Circe! Hoy! back to her Styes, yea thine! 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine s.v. Holloa, If the master intends to give any order to the people in the main-top, he calls, Main-top, hoay! To which they answer, Holloa! 1810 Sporting Mag. XXXV. 213 He hallooed, hoy, stop! 1862 Totten Naval Text Bk. (N.Y.) 340 Hoay, an exclamation, to call attention, as ‘Ship-hoay!’ |
B. as n.
1. A call of ‘hoy!’
| 1641 Brome Joviall Crew iv. ii, Here's a Wedding with a witnesse, and a Holy-day with a hoigh. 1850 W. Jamie Stray Effus. 76 The fisher's ‘Hoy’ was heard afar. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. viii, I see your young man..chopping at the flies on the window-sill..and I give him a Hoy! |
2. Austral. A gambling game, resembling lotto, in which playing-cards are used. Also attrib.
| 1965 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 2 Mar. 15 A hoy evening which the Royal Society of St. George planned to hold at St. George House. 1969 Ibid. 25 Feb. 6/10 Juliet Jones couldn't object to a few games of hoy. 1969 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 24 Aug. 3/3 Police said that bingo, or hoy, which was played in the same way, was illegal in Queensland. 1971 Tel. (Brisbane) 3 Nov. 4/2, I have been advised that the radio competition is above board, but have had no ruling on the game hoy. |
▪ III. hoy, v.
[f. hoy int.]
1. trans. To urge on or incite with cries of ‘hoy!’; to drive or convoy with shouts.
| c 1536 Lyndesay Compl. Bagsche 144, I gat none vther recompence Bot hoyit, & houndit of the toun. 1573 Tusser Husb. lvii. (1878) 130 Hoy out (sir carter) the hog fro thy wheele. c 1590 D. Moysie Mem. Affairs Scotl. (1830) 37 He wes oppinlie onbeset by..rascalis of the toun, and howeid out of the toun by flinging of stones at him. a 1605 Montgomerie Dev. Poems vi. 70 The hevy saulis ar had to hevin; The light, alace, ar hoyde to hell. 1785 Burns Halloween xxiii, They hoy't out Will, wi' sair advice. |
2. intr. To call ‘hoy!’
| 1836–9 Dickens Sk. Boz, Mr. Watkins Iottle ii, Quite hoarse with hoi-ing and imprecating. |
▪ IV. hoy
obs. form of hue.