pooh
See also: Pooh
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Originally onomatopoeic for a puff of air, after earlier poh and similar to later pew, phew, pho, phoo, poof. Later influenced by poop, onomatopoeic for the sound of flatulating and defecating, and by interjections of disgust similar to phew, pee-ew.
Pronunciation
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Interjection
pooh
- Expressing dismissal, contempt, impatience, etc.
- Expressing disgust at an unpleasant smell.
- 1859, S.S. Steele, Conjugal Lesson, page 182:
- Pooh!... How you smell of tobacco.
- 1859, S.S. Steele, Conjugal Lesson, page 182:
- (euphemistic) Alternative form of poo: a minced oath for 'shit'.
- 1992 July 22, Time, page 55:
- Mom offers everybody fudge and says ‘Oh, pooh!’ when she gets upset.
- 1992 July 22, Time, page 55:
Synonyms
- (expressing contempt): pht, feh, meh, pshaw, pish, bah, poh; see also Thesaurus:bah
- (expressing disgust at a smell): bleah, eww, ick, uck; see also Thesaurus:yuck
Derived terms
Noun
pooh (countable and uncountable, plural poohs)
- (countable) An instance of saying "pooh".
- 1593, Gabriel Harvey, Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse, London: […] Iohn Wolfe, →OCLC; republished as John Payne Collier, editor, Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. A Preparative to Certaine Larger Discourses, Intituled Nashes S. Fame (Miscellaneous Tracts. Temp. Eliz. & Jac. I; no. 8), [London: [s.n.], 1870], →OCLC, page 181:
- She […] hath ſtiled him with an immortall penne, the bawewawe of ſchollars, the tutt of gentlemen, the tee-heegh of gentlewomen, the phy of citizens, the blurt of Courtiers, the poogh of good letters, the faph of good manners, and the whoop-hooe of good boyes in London ſtreetes.
- 1818, Lord Byron, Beppo, canto vii, l. 4:
- A thing which causes many ‘poohs’ and ‘pishes’.
- (uncountable, childish) Alternative form of poo: feces.
- 1961, Camille Auguste Marie Caseleyr, The Living Come First, page 177:
- ‘You're rather in the pooh with the Adelaide police.’ ‘How much do I stink with them?’
- 1961, Camille Auguste Marie Caseleyr, The Living Come First, page 177:
- (countable, chiefly UK, childish) Alternative form of poo: A piece of feces; an act of defecation.
Verb
pooh (third-person singular simple present poohs, present participle poohing, simple past and past participle poohed)
- (intransitive) To say "pooh".
- 1614, John Taylor, The Nipping or Snipping of Abuses, L4:
- The wrimouth'd Crittick...
That mewes, and puh's and shakes his brainelesse head...
- The wrimouth'd Crittick...
- 1798, Charlotte Smith, The Young Philosopher, Vol. I, page 44:
- The Doctor... pshaw'd and pooh'd for some time.
- 1614, John Taylor, The Nipping or Snipping of Abuses, L4:
- (transitive) To say "pooh" to.
- 1858, Archer Polson, Law & Lawyers, page 15:
- ‘Pooh! pooh!’ re-echoed his mother, ‘don't pooh me, John.’
- 1858, Archer Polson, Law & Lawyers, page 15:
- (intransitive, childish) Alternative form of poo: To defecate or dirty something with feces.
- 1989 April 1, Crisis, page 19:
- My cat poohed in here.
- 2003 March 13, The Sun:
- We all know what happened to them—they... poohed their pants.
- 1989 April 1, Crisis, page 19:
Synonyms
- (all): pooh-pooh
References
- “pooh, n. and int.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2006.
- “pooh, v.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Anagrams
Categories:
- English onomatopoeias
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English interjections
- English euphemisms
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English childish terms
- British English
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English minced oaths
- en:Bodily functions
- en:Feces