woo

present singular third person woos · participle present wooing · participle past wooed · past wooed · alternative wo · alternative wow · alternative wowe

1. transitiveTo endeavor to gain someone's affection or support.

   They're trying to woo the customers back with this new mobile plan.

   2 more examples

   Behind this carefully crafted strategy of wooing Trump is a desire from Gulf states to solidify and formalize their positions as the US’ indispensable security and economic partners, and extract as much benefit for themselves as they can.

   2025 May 11, Nadeen Ebrahim and Abbas Al Lawati, “Trump is visiting three of the world’s richest nations. Here’s what’s on their wish list”, in CNN, archived from the original on 12 Jul 2025

   He [Mark Zuckerberg] wanted to start an AI unit at Facebook, and to woo [Yann] LeCun [he] invited him over for dinner at his California home. A private chef prepared “chicken with some pretty good white wine”, LeCun recalls.

   2026 January 3, Melissa Heikkilä, “Lunch with the FT: Yann LeCun”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3

2. transitiveOften of a man, to try to persuade (someone) to be in an amorous relationship with.

   Each, like the Grecian artist, wooes / The image he himself has wrought.

   1718, Matthew Prior, epistle to Charles Montagu.

   3 more examples

   Soo leue we syr Launcelot lyenge within that caue in grete payne / and euery day ther came a lady & brouȝt hym his mete & his drynke / & wowed hym to haue layne by hym / and euer the noble knyghte syre Launcelot sayd her nay. "So leave we Sir Launcelot lying within that cave in great pain; and every day there came a lady and brought him his meat and his drink, and wooed him, to have lain by him; and ever the noble knight, Sir Launcelot, said her nay."

   1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XIX, Chapter viii, leaf 393v

   I haue beene wooed, as I intreat thee now, / Euen by the ſterne, and direfull God of warre, / VVhoſe ſinowie necke in battel nere did bow, / VVho conquers where he comes in euery iarre; […]

   1594, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC, [verse 17], lines [97–100]

   You woo me, you court me / You tease me, you please me / You school me, give me some things to think about / Ignite me, you invite me

   2000, Jill Scott, “He Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat)”, in Who Is Jill Scott?: Words and Sounds Vol. 1

3. transitiveTo court solicitously; to invite with importunity; to solicit in love.

   I woo the wind / That still delays his coming.

   a. 1850, William Cullen Bryant, Summer Wind

   2 more examples

   Thee Chauntreſs oft the Woods among, / I woo to hear thy eeven Song;

   a. 1645, John Milton, “Il Penseroso”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 39

   It will be a tragedy if further enterprises of this kind—for example, the one proposed between South Wales, Bristol and the South Coast via Salisbury—are now deferred until they, too, are realised too late to make an impact on a public that is too firmly wedded to the roads to be wooed back to the trains.

   1962 April, “Death from Natural Causes?”, in Modern Railways, page 218

   Synonyms: court

1. alternativeinformalAlternative spelling of whoo, expressing joy or excitement.

   "I got you a new cell phone." "Woo, that's great!"

comparative more woo · superlative most woo

1. alternativeAlternative form of woo woo.

1. alternativeAlternative form of woo woo (“esoteric, pseudoscientific phenomena”).

   The cognitive loopholes and biases that make us woo-prone are a human universal.

   2022 March 8, Laith Al-Shawaf, “Detecting Bull$%#!”, in Psychology Today

   2 more examples

   Physics hasn't been "looking" at it, certain men who embrace the Copenhagen Interpretation rather than Many Worlds or the Pilot Wave angles are resorting to woo.

   2020 February 13, LinuxGal, “Atheists claim a 'thing' happened.”, in alt.atheism (Usenet), message-ID <alpine.DEB.2.21.2002150505580.3311@teresita-Latitude-D630>

   It was, in short, a who's who of woo—alternative health, women's wellness, and spirit-infused diet and fitness.

   2023, Naomi Klein, Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN

plural Woos · alternative Wu

1. A surname from Chinese.

plural Woos · alternative Ou · alternative U · alternative Wo · alternative Wu

1. A surname from Korean.