whey

plural wheys · alternative whig · alternative whay

1. uncountableusuallyThe liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained in the process of making cheese.

   Little Miss Muffet, She sat on a tuffet, Eating of curds and whey; There came a little spider, Who sat down beside her, And frighted Miss Muffet away.

   1805, Songs for the Nursery, page 23

   1 more example

   {...} if I wished any blessing in the world, it was to find him a worthy object of pride; and I’m bitterly disappointed with the whey-faced, whining wretch!

   1847, Emily Brontë, chapter XX, in Wuthering Heights

alternative whig · alternative whay

1. UKdatedA shout for attention

   He swayed over to the door, peered out, shouted "whey!" and came back, looking severe.

   1928, Ruth Manning-Sanders, Waste Corner

   1 more example

   somebody who was more or less to their senses, shouted... ' Whey! ... Had on lads!' and everybody was trying to get wocken up and sorted out.

   1982, Frank Entwisle, Abroad in England

2. UKA shout of enthusiasm or delight

   Several drunken men shouted from the corner. “Wheyyyy, showtime! Go on, go on!”

   2016 December 30, Hahn Moo-Sook, The House of Pomegranate Trees, Literature Translation Institute of Korea, →ISBN

   1 more example

   ... apart from Max, who rode his pallet like a surfboard with a huge grin plastered across his face. “Wheyyyyyyy!” Max yelled with delight.

   2011 September 1, Case File 12: The Case of the Messy Mucked Up Masterpiece, Hachette UK, →ISBN

3. UKShouted when someone drops a glass or other crockery, especially in a pub.

   12. Smashing a glass and the whole bar choruses "WHEYYYY".

   2014 February 18, Catriona Harvey-Jenner, “25 things only bar staff will understand”, in Cosmopolitan UK

   2 more examples

   If they don't shout "wheyyy" when you smash a glass, did it even smash?

   2020 February 10, Claire Galloway, “15 things only people who have worked in an Edinburgh pub will understand”, in Edinburgh Live

   the sloshed post-work boozers all shout "Wheyyyyyyy!' at a glass that's smashed on the floor

   2024 May 9, Oisín McKenna, Evenings and Weekends, HarperCollins UK, →ISBN