cooee
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Dharug guuu-wi adopted into English by white settlers in Australia from 1790.[1]
Pronunciation
edit- enPR: ko͞o'(w)ē, IPA(key): /ˈkuːʷiː/
Audio (General Australian): (file) - In making the call, the first syllable may be quite elongated; the second is relatively short.
- Rhymes: -uːiː
Noun
editcooee (plural cooees)
- (Australia, informal, onomatopoeia) A long, loud call used to attract attention when at a distance, mainly done in the Australian bush.
- 1943, H. Lorna Bingham, The Lost Tribe, Sydney: Winn and Co., page 32, column 1:
- Then they heard in the distance the "coo-ee" of a white man, which was instantly answered by another "coo-ee".
- 2002, Andrew Parkin, A Thing Apart[1], page 195:
- I call out, “Coo-ee” with long Coo and short ee like whip-bird call. Everybody in my mob know my cooee. Any one of my mob hear that, they give me cooee back.
I listen.
No cooee come back.
- 2006, Saskia Beudel, Walking: West MacDonnell Ranges 2002, in Drusilla Modjeska, The Best Australian Essays 2006, page 309,
- Just as I was preparing to write in my exercise book, I heard a cooee. Cooees were not part of the code.
- (Australia, informal, with "within", also figuratively) A short distance; hailing distance.
- 1996, australian House of Representatives, Parliamentary Debates Australia[2], volume 207, page 1469:
- That is not within cooee of 10 per cent; it is much closer to six per cent.
- 1999, Tony Shillitoe, Joy Ride[3], page 136:
- We were carless, in the dark, and no one to help within cooee.
Translations
editVerb
editcooee (third-person singular simple present cooees, present participle cooeeing, simple past and past participle cooeed)
- (intransitive, Australia, informal) To make such a call.
- 2001, Robert Holden, Nicholas Holden, Bunyips: Australia's Folklore of Fear, page 65:
- ‘Look out for snakes,’ said Long Charlie, flourishing his lantern. ‘And don′t all of us be coo-eeing all the time, or when the little chap sings out we shan't be able to hear him.’
- 2003, Les Hughes, A Young Australian Pioneer: Henry Mundy[4], page 225:
- Slipping out of the tail of the dray, I cooeed as loud as I could which was answered.
- 2006, Saskia Beudel, Walking: West MacDonnell Ranges 2002, in Drusilla Modjeska, The Best Australian Essays 2006, page 310,
- I cooeed back. Another cooee came in what seemed to be a reply. I cooeed again.
Translations
editInterjection
editcooee
- (informal, chiefly Australia, UK) Used to attract someone's attention.
- Cooee! I'm over here!
- 1894, Temple Bar, volume 183, page 587:
- Then, raising her hands to her lips she utters a long, loud, piercing " Cooee ! "
" Coo — ee ! " comes back over the black waters.
- 2001, June E. Barker, First Platypus, Gaygar—The Little Mother Duck, in Helen F. McKay (editor), Pauline E. McLeod, Francis Firebrace Jones, June E. Barker, Gadi Mirrabooka: Australian Aboriginal Tales from the Dreaming, page 58,
- Gaygar could hear her people cooee out to her, "COOEE, GAYGAR! COOEE, GAYGAR!" they would cry.
Synonyms
edit- ahoy! (nautical), hey!, oi! (impolite), yoohoo!; see also Thesaurus:hey
References
edit- ^ R. M. W. Dixon, Australian Aboriginal Words, Oxford University Press, 1990, →ISBN, page 208.
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Dharug
- English terms derived from Dharug
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/uːiː
- Rhymes:English/uːiː/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- Australian English
- English informal terms
- English onomatopoeias
- English terms with quotations
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English interjections
- British English