whoa

alternative rare woa · alternative often proscribed woah · alternative whoah

1. Stop (especially when commanding a horse or imitative thereof); calm down; slow down.

   Whoa, Nelly!

   2 more examples

   The Negroes, having waited for the white people to go upstairs, began to come in. “Whoa now, just a minute,” said a club member, holding up his walking stick. “Just don’t start up them there stairs yet awhile.”

   1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC

   I can see Mickie getting hot, I'm about to grab his arm, hold him back, say, Whoa, whoa, Mick, not here, it ain't worth it what happened inside just now.

   2007, Ron Liebman, Death by Rodrigo, New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 134

2. An expression of surprise.

   Whoa, are you serious?

   2 more examples

   Whoa. Wait a minute, Doc. Are you trying to tell me that my mother has got the hots for me?

   1985, Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, Back to the Future, spoken by Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox)

   Jen: Douglas has asked me to be his PA. Moss: Oh. My. God! Well, that is something and a half. His PA? How... Whoa! His PA... Shut up! His PA! Jen: It means "personal assistant". Moss: Thank you. Right, OK.

   2007 September 28, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, season 2, episode 6

3. Used as a meaningless filler in song lyrics.

   And oh whoa girl, it's a shame. Oh whoa girl, it's a doggone shame.

   2010, Bruce Springsteen, It's a Shame

   1 more example

   I am the type who is liable to snipe you With two seconds left to go, whoa.

   2003, "Weird Al" Yankovic, eBay (song)

present singular third person whoas · participle present whoaing · participle past whoaed · past whoaed · alternative rare woa · alternative often proscribed woah · alternative whoah

1. transitiveTo attempt to slow (an animal) by crying "whoa".

   He was whoaing the horses loudly, and they did seem to be going faster than usual—in fact, they were galloping.

   1926, Josephine Demott Robinson, The Circus Lady, page 38