ahoy

English

Etymology

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

Interjection

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

• 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

• land ahoy
• ship ahoy
• ahoj (Czech, Slovak greeting)

Translations

used to hail a ship, etc

• Czech: ahoj (cs)
• Dutch: ahoi
• Estonian: ahoi (et)
• Finnish: ohoi!

• French: ohé (fr)
• German: Ahoi!
• Polish: ahoj! (pl)
• Swedish: ohoj!, åhoj!

Verb

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

• hoya

See also

• yoohoo