ahoy

English

Alternative forms

• a-hoy

Etymology

From a- +‎ hoy (a nautical call used in hauling), from Middle English hoy (interjection), a greeting dating back to the fourteenth century. Compare Dutch hoi (“hi!, hello!”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈhɔɪ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔɪ

Interjection

ahoy

1. (nautical) Used to hail a ship, a boat or a person, or to attract attention.
   • 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle:

     While he was thus occupied, a voice, still more uncouth than the former, bawled aloud, ‘Ho! the house, a-hoy!’

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     I made a speaking trumpet of my hands and commenced to whoop “Ahoy!” and “Hello!” at the top of my lungs. […] The Colonel woke up, and, after asking what in brimstone was the matter, opened his mouth and roared “Hi!” and “Hello!” like the bull of Bashan.

   • 2021 September 16, Sarah Naftalis, “The Casino” (6:53 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows‎^[1], season 3, episode 1, spoken by Laszlo Cravensworth (Matt Berry):

     “(grunts) Frankie put glass in the piccata and the restaurant comped us, so we got all these chips. Let's hit the casino.” “All right.” “Come on, Nadia. Let's go watch this Rat Pack show with the girls.” “Did you say "the Rat Pack"?” “Yeah, they're good.” “They're here?” “Yeah, yeah, it's the Rat Pack.” “Chips ahoy!”

2. (humorous) Warning of something approaching or impending.
   • 1989, Forbes, volume 143, numbers 5-7, page 74:

     Lawsuits, ahoy! […] Towns can regulate use of their beaches. But what about the waters offshore?

   • 1992, Championship Run (video game review) in Your Sinclair issue 75, page 61

     Catalytic converters ahoy – Zeppelin's latest is one of those high-rev 3D driving games that simulates racing tracks from all over the world.

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.

Synonyms

• (to attract attention): oi, yo; see also Thesaurus:hey

Derived terms

• ahoy-hoy
• land ahoy
• ship ahoy

Descendants

• → Czech: ahoj
• → Danish: ohøj
• → Dutch: ahoi
• → German: ahoi
• → Slovak: ahoj

Translations

used to hail a ship, etc

• Catalan: hola (ca)
• Czech: ahoj (cs)
• Danish: ohøj
• Dutch: ahoi (nl)
• Esperanto: hoj (eo)!
• Estonian: ahoi
• Finnish: ohoi! (fi)
• French: ohé (fr)
• German: ahoi (de)
• Hungarian: a láthatáron (literally “on the horizon”)
• Italian: ehi
• Latin: salvē (la)
• Polish: ahoj (pl)!
• Portuguese: olá (pt)
• Spanish: ah (es), a la vista
• Swedish: ohoj (sv)!, åhoj (sv)!
• Welsh: ahoi
• Russian: эй! (ru) (ej!)

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".

Noun

ahoy (plural ahoys)

1. An utterance of this interjection.

   There were many ahoys heard from the approaching ship.

Translations

Translations

• German: Ahoi n
• Hebrew: אֲהוֹי (he) (ahoy)

See also

• yoohoo

Anagrams

• Hoya, hoya