aye aye

alternative ay, ay · alternative aye, aye · alternative aye-aye

1. nauticalResponse to ahoy if a commissioned officer is in the boat.
2. nauticalI acknowledge and will comply.

alternative ay, ay · alternative aye, aye · alternative aye-aye

1. regionalUsed as a greeting or introduction, often expressing caution, surprise, or curiosity.

   Aye Aye. Just a minute pal. Where d'you think you're going?

   1982, Phil Redmond, Brookside, episode 1, shooting script, Liverpool, Merseyside: Mersey Television, page 58; quoted in “just a minute”, under “just, adv.”, in OED Online, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, archived from the original on 27 Jul 2025

   3 more examples

   titus. Brutus, I heard the ſtrangeſt thing laſt week!-⁠-⁠- brutus. Aye, aye! What was it? Tell me.

   1779, Hugh Downman, act III, scene III, in Lucius Junius Brutus; or, The Expulsion of the Tarquins: An Historical Play, London: […] J[ohn] Wilkie, […] Fielding and Walker, […] G[eorge] Kearsley, […] P[eter] Elsmley,^([sic]) […] W[illiam] Davis, […], →OCLC, page 73

   “One night the voice of the bulbul was echoing louder than ever through the desolate old castle, and the miser’s heart trembled with anxiety and fear. […] / “‘Drat the bird!’ quoth the miser. ‘Her hateful song draws silly people forth from their homes even at this late hour, till darkness and the terror connected with this neighbourhood are fast being overcome. Drat the bird!’ / “‘Aye, aye! What’s that you say?’ growled a deep, unmelodious voice close to the startled miser’s ear. ‘Drat the bird, sir? Why, that bird is our sovereign lady the Queen of the Forest.’[”]

   1854, F[red] A[rthur] Neale, “Evening the Fourth”, in Evenings at Antioch; with Sketches of Syrian Life, London: Eyre and Williams, […], →OCLC, page 126

   At regular intervals we are told of increased funding for this and that. Is this increase made possible because cuts have been made elsewhere? Such is my lack of trust that my immediate thought is aye, aye who’s lost out?

   2015 May 23, Martin Toop, “Audits needed”, in Waikato Times, Hamilton, Waikato, →ISSN, →OCLC, page B6