hoo

accusative possessive her · possessive hers · reflexive herself

1. DerbyshireYorkshirefemininenominativesingularthird personSouth Lancashireshe

   'Aye, aye,' said the father, impatiently, 'hoo'll come. Hoo's a bit set up now, because hoo thinks I might ha' spoken more civilly; but hoo'll think better on it, and come. I can read her proud bonny face like a book.

   1854, Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, North and South, Chapter VIII

2. EnglandSouthWestWest Midlandsfemininenominativesingularthird personhe, also a gender-neutral third person pronoun

1. obsoleteExpressing joy, excitement, or victory.

   With, hoo! such bugs and goblins in my life

   c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

   1 more example

   Our enemy is banish'd! he is gone! Hoo! hoo!

   c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

   Synonyms: aah, alright, 'ave it, ay, ayy, awesome, aww yeah, boo-ya

2. GeordieUsed to attract the attention of others.

   "Hoo yee!"

   Synonyms: hey, psst

3. An exclamation of pain.

   1 more example

   Old Peter, summoned to assist at getting Mrs Dibble upstairs, made no pretence of commiseration for the sufferer. "Gone and done it again, have you?" he said with satisfaction. "About the best thing you could have done, the way it'll keep you out of the shop a bit longer," which so far revived Mrs Dibble that she exclaimed fiercely, "I don't want none of your cheek, Peter Bodfish and not a minute you'd stay in my shop if - Hoo! Ow! Me leg - "

   1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 98

plural hoos

1. An uttering of the cry 'hoo'.

   Improvising a stretcher from a cupboard door, they levered Mrs Dibble on to it and got her upstairs to "Hoos!" and "Ows!" of anguish, and laid her on the bed, where Rita administered another stiff dose of gin.

   1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 98

1. GeordieNorthumbrianot comparablehow

1. obsolete outside placenamesA strip of land; a peninsula; a spur or ridge.

1. The village of Hoo St Werburgh on the Hoo Peninsula in Kent, England.

   Hoo, St. Warburgh. […] Richard I confirmed to that Abbey a market in Hoo, of the gift of Maud de Canvill(s).

   1778, Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent, page 563

   2 more examples

   The earliest date connected with the persons mentioned, that can be gathered from the confirmatory charters, is from a confirmation of Henry Wifward's gift of the Combe portion of tithes in Hoo, granted by Bishop Gundulph in the year 1091.

   1840 June, “Church of Hoo St. Werburga, Kent”, in The Gentleman's Magazine, volume 13, page 579

   The Church of Hoo (5 m. N.E. from Strood) is dedicated to St. Werburgh of Mercia, who, although she drove by her prayers the “wild geese” from her fields at Wecdon, in Northamptonshire, has certainly not expelled them from Hoo. Wild fowl of all kinds abound […]

   1868, A Handbook for Travellers in Kent and Sussex, page 90

2. A village and civil parish in East Suffolk district, Suffolk, England (OS grid ref TM2558).

   Bachcroft, Thomas; son of Thomas Bachcroft, of Bexwell, Norfolk. Educated under Mr. Spight. Age 18. Admitted pensioner, March 10, 1518. Man, John; of Hoo, Suffolk; son of Richard Man, mediocris fortunae. Admitted sizar. Tutor, Mr. Reve.

   1888, C. H. Evelyn White, editor, East Anglian, Or, Notes and Queries, page 31