hoo-boy

A form of hoo boy — Used to express strong emotion, especially relief or mock dread.

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Meanings

interjection
  1. alternativeAlternative form of hoo boy.

    Didn't think I'd like it, but hoo-boy, was I wrong.

    2012, Loree Lough, A Man of Honor, →ISBN, page 246
    2 more examples

    Across the aisle, she was absentmindedly fiddling with a loose piece of yarn that had unraveled from her sweater, wrapping it around her finger the same way Derek was wrapped around her finger. And she didn't even know it. Hoo-boy. She killed him.

    2005, Dallas Woodburn, 3 A.m.: A Collection of Short Stories, →ISBN

    And hoo-boy I'd like to see the expression on her face when whe realizes she has a bus with no driver.

    2010, Jeff Adkins, The Boy Who Skipped, →ISBN, page 202
Cite this entry
APA

hoo-boy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hoo-boy

MLA

“hoo-boy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hoo-boy. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hoo-boy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hoo-boy.

Source: hoo-boy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.