boo

1. A loud exclamation intended to scare someone. Usually used when one has been hidden from the target, and then appears unexpectedly. Often used in playful or jokeful context.
2. An exclamation used by a member of an audience, as at a stage play or sporting event, to indicate derision or disapproval.

   I ask them to record their votes in my favour, and I ask, is there any man who will dare to call me a stranger (hear, hear, and booing)?

   1852 July 15, “Dundalk Election”, in The Freeman's Journal, volume lxxxv, Dublin, page 3

plural boos

1. A derisive shout of the word 'boo' made to indicate disapproval.

   ...Hodgson headed down the tunnel with the boos of fans ringing in his ears after an eighth league defeat of the season...

   2010 December 29, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolverhampton”, in BBC Sport

   1 more example

   Like a moustachioed pantomime villain relishing boos and hisses from the audience, Trump is oblivious to warnings and protestations from the sane world and simply contemptuous of the lickspittle mob desperately hoping to go unnoticed.

   2026 January 24, Michael Pascoe, “America’s mighty economic power has feet of clay”, in Michael West Media

present singular third person boos · participle present booing · participle past booed · past booed

1. intransitiveTo shout extended boos derisively.

   When he took the podium, the crowd booed.

   2 more examples

   Nobody booed and nobody clapped

   2004 October 18, The New Yorker

   Substitute Charlie Austin scored seven minutes into his Southampton debut as a lacklustre Manchester United were booed off at Old Trafford.

   2016 January 23, Phil Dakwes, “Man Utd 0–1 Southampton”, in BBC Sport

   Synonyms: hoot · Antonyms: cheer

2. transitiveTo shout extended boos at, as a form of disapproval or derision.

   The protesters loudly booed the visiting senator.

   Synonyms: hoot, badger, barrack, gird, heckle, jeer, roast, taunt · Antonyms: cheer, acclaim, acclamate, applaud, hail, barrack, beclap, cheer

plural boos

1. CanadaUSslangAfrican-American VernacularA close acquaintance or significant other.

   No matter what I do / All I think about is you / Even when I'm with my boo

   2002, “Dilemma”, in Nellyville, performed by Nelly ft. Kelly Rowland

   3 more examples

   A tall, hooded young woman, clutching a newspaper article, delivered a note to the judge. “My name is Sunkist,” she wrote, “Lionel R. Harris is my boyfriend. Lewis shot my Boo and it was not self-defense . . . . Judge and jurors please listen to me I am 17 years of {age} and a good young lady and my Boo got killed for nothing.”

   1988 December 22, Barton Gellman, “Judge Orders Mistrial In D.C. Slaying Case; Jury Unable to Reach Verdict After 10 Days”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page D1

   At night I think of you / I want to be your lady, maybe / If your game is on give me a call, boo / If your lovin' strong, gonna give my all to you

   1996, “My Boo”, performed by Ghost Town DJ's

   “Something about having to call her boo because he was getting off work and he likes to talk to her for at least half of his commute home.”

   2021, Zakiya Dalila Harris, The Other Black Girl, Bloomsbury, page 309

1. slanguncountableCannabis.

   Like I have smoked boo, drunk whiskey, and shot dope, and I was going through all three bags at once.

   1984, Raphael S. Ezekiel, Voices from the corner: poverty and racism in the inner city, page 56

   2 more examples

   […] sexually promiscuous girl who smoked boo all day and socialized with junkies when she wasn't busy banging away in bed […]

   1967, George E. Andrews, Simon Vinkenoog, The Book of Grass: An Anthology on Indian Hemp, page 213

   Grandpa doesn't want Grandma and their kids and grandkids to know that he had to get penicillin shots all the time, or that he smoked boo (marijuana) on a daily basis, or that he dealt in the black market, or that he had yobos (purchased live-in sex slaves).

   2019, Ron Cook, On Guard in the General's Chorus, page 2

   Synonyms: bhang, benj, broccoli, bud, buddha, cannabis, cheeba, choof

present singular third person boos · participle present booing · participle past booed · past booed

1. Northern EnglandarchaicintransitiveTo make a sound characteristic of cattle; to moo.

   In the north of England people very often speak about the "oxen booing" (not lowing)

   1894, Emily Seytter, “Barnyard Voices”, in Our Animal Friends: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine, volume 21

   2 more examples

   The cow's tether is put about the neck of the individual who has lost the cow, and he must go about booing like a cow till atonement is made.

   1850, “The Missionary Herald”, in The Baptist Magazine, volume 42

   I remember being in the Great Nut Walk and hearing Old Nettle 'booing' like a cow outside .

   1987, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl

plural boos

1. A tail feather from an ostrich.

   White Boos declined 10s. to 15s. per lb.; Femina Boos 2s. 6d. to 5s. per lb., and drab Boos about 2s. 6d. per lb.

   1891 February 1, “Report on the December Public Sales of Ostrich and Osprey Feathers, Bird Skins, &c.”, in The Humming Bird: A Monthly Scientific, Artistic, and Industrial Review, volume I., number 2, page 16, column 1

   2 more examples

   Burglary.—On Monday night or early on Tuesday morning, some thieves effected an entrance into the premises of Mr. W. J. Laybourne, ostrich feather manufacturer, 60, St. John-street, West Smithfield, and carried off 1,000 prime white feathers, 500 long single black, 800 double ditto, 3,000 mixed colours, 500 spadones, 300 white plumes, 300 coloured boos, and 400 long white light feminas, which, with other property, were valued at about £4,000.

   1877 June 15, The Leeds Mercury, volume 114, number 12,225, Leeds, West Yorkshire, page 2, column 5

   The usual kinds of ostrich feathers known to the trade come into the Tripoli market. These are whites, blacks, feminas, byocks, spadonas, boos, drabs and floss.

   1909 August 12, “Ostrich Feathers of Tripoli”, in Neenah Daily Times, volume 53, number 8,451, Neenah, Wis.; Menasha, Wis., column 5

plural Boos

1. countableuncountableA community in Nacka, Stockholm, central Sweden.
2. countableuncountableA surname from Swedish

1. human sciencesThe Boko language.

plural Boos · alternative Woo · alternative Wu

1. A surname from Chinese

plural Boos · alternative Bu · alternative Pu

1. A surname from Korean

plural Boos · alternative de Boo · alternative De Boo · alternative deBoo · alternative DeBoo · alternative Deboo

1. A surname from Dutch