hoot
See also: Hoot
Contents
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English houten, huten, hoten, of North Germanic origin, from or related to Old Swedish huta (“to cast out in contempt”), related to Middle High German hiuzen, hūzen (“to call to pursuit”), Swedish hut! (“begone!”, interjection), Dutch hui (“ho, hallo”), Danish huj (“ho, hallo”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
hoot (plural hoots)
- A derisive cry or shout.
- The cry of an owl.
- (US, slang) A fun event or person. (See hootenanny)
- A small particle
Usage notes[edit]
- (small particle) The term is nearly always encountered in a negative sense in such phrases as don't care a hoot or don't give two hoots.
- (derisive cry) The phrase a hoot and a holler has a very different meaning to hoot and holler. The former is a short distance, the latter is a verb of derisive cry.
Translations[edit]
derisive cry or shout
cry of an owl
Verb[edit]
hoot (third-person singular simple present hoots, present participle hooting, simple past and past participle hooted)
- To cry out or shout in contempt.
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1711, John Dryden, “Satire IX”, in Dryden’s Juvenal:
- Matrons and girls shall hoot at thee no more,
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- To make the cry of an owl.
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c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. As it Hath Beene Sundry Times Publikely Acted, by the Right Honourable, the Lord Chamberlaine his Seruants, [London]: Printed by Iames Roberts, published 1600, OCLC 35186948, [Act II, scene ii]:
- The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders / At our quaint spirits.
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- To assail with contemptuous cries or shouts; to follow with derisive shouts.
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1708, Isaac Bickerstaff [Jonathan Swift], Predictions for the Year 1708[1]:
- And I will be content, that Partridge, and the rest of his Clan, may hoot me for a Cheat and Impostor, if I fail in any single Particular of Moment.
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- To sound the horn of a vehicle
Translations[edit]
To cry out or shout in contempt
To make the cry of an owl
See also[edit]
Anagrams[edit]
Middle English[edit]
Adjective[edit]
hoot
Descendants[edit]
- English: hot
Scots[edit]
Interjection[edit]
hoot
- Precedes a disagreeing or contradictory statement.
Usage notes[edit]
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from North Germanic languages
- English terms derived from Old Swedish
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- American English
- English slang
- English verbs
- en:Animal sounds
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English adjectives
- Scots lemmas
- Scots interjections