ahoy

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Contents

English [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From "a-hoy"; 'hoy' being a Middle English greeting dating back to the fourteenth century.[1]

Interjection [edit]

ahoy

  1. (nautical) Used to hail a ship, a boat or a person, or to attract attention.
    • 1751: While he was thus occupied, a voice, still more uncouth than the former, bawled aloud, ‘Ho! the house, a-hoy!’, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, Tobias Smollett.

Usage notes [edit]

  • Traditionally, when used from a ship to hail an approaching boat, the standard responses are:
    • "aye aye", if a commissioned officer is in the boat;
    • "no no", if no officer is in the boat;
    • name of ship, if the captain of another ship is in the boat;
    • "flag" if an admiral is in the boat.

Derived terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

Verb [edit]

ahoy (third-person singular simple present ahoys, present participle ahoying, simple past and past participle ahoyed)

  1. To hail with a cry of "ahoy".

Anagrams [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-aho1.htm

See also [edit]