Yahoo

See also: yahoo and Yahoo!

English

Etymology 1

Coined by Jonathan Swift in Gulliver's Travels. According to the Century Dictionary, "[a] made name, prob[ably] meant to suggest disgust".

Noun

Yahoo (plural Yahoos)

1. (literature) One of a race of brutes, who look and act similar to men, inhabiting the same land as the civilized Houyhnhnms.

Derived terms

• yahoo

Etymology 2

From the company name.

Noun

Yahoo (plural Yahoos)

1. (informal) An employee of the Internet company Yahoo!.
   • 1996, Newsweek (volume 127)

     But having two beaming Chief Yahoos on the cover is an implied seal of approval.

   • 2002, Karen Angel, Inside Yahoo!: reinvention and the road ahead:

     Instead of driving down the street to meetings, soon Yahoos need merely stroll the walkways that crisscrossed a bright green lawn.

   • 2004, Chris Turner, Planet Simpson: how a cartoon masterpiece defined a generation:

     Some Yahoos got filthy rich, but many more lost it all.

Anagrams

• ooyah