Meanings
- obsoleteObsolete spelling of hello.
As for Dick, he looked at her admiringly a while, and then said at last: "Well, Clara, I do wish we were there! But, hilloa! we are getting back way."
1890, William Morris, chapter XXII, in News from Nowhere2 more examples
"Hilloa, brother," quoth [Friar] Tuck, "let me aid thee." So saying, he took the key from the other's hand and quickly opened the door with a turn of it.
1883, Howard Pyle, “Robin Hood Compasseth the Marriage of Two True Lovers”, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC, part fourth, page 146'Ah,' muttered Todd to himself, 'I like boys of a religious turn. They are much easier managed, for the imagination in such cases has been cultivated at the expense of the understanding. Hilloa, who have we here?'
1847, James Malcolm Rymer, Thomas Peckett Prest, chapter 32, in The String of Pearls
present singular third person hilloas · participle present hilloaing · participle past hilloaed · past hilloaed
- obsoleteTo holler, shout loudly
I heard old Jenkins, scarcely recovered from the effects of his potations, hilloaing at the top of his voice for Julia
1836, James White, The adventures of Sir Frizzle Pumpkin, Nights at mess, and other tales
Cite this entry
hilloa. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hilloa
“hilloa.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hilloa. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hilloa,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hilloa.
Source: hilloa on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.