whoo

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: wo͞o, IPA^(key): /wuː/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• Rhymes: -uː
• Homophones: woo (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Interjection

whoo

1. An expression of delight and excitement.
2. The wailing cry of a ghost.
   • 1949, Robertson Davies, The table talk of Samuel Marchbanks:

     "You are mistaken; I am a ghost; whoo!" said I, choking back my rage.

   • 1996, R A Noonan, Wild ghost chase:

     Then he held up his hands and let out a weak ghost-howl. "Whoo?" he moaned, in a tiny voice.

3. The cry of an owl

Synonyms

• (expression of delight): wahoo, whoopee, yay, yippee
• (cry of an owl): tuwhit tuwhoo

Verb

whoo (third-person singular simple present whoos, present participle whooing, simple past and past participle whooed)

1. To make a whoo sound, of delight, whistling, or of an owl etc.
   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Part 6:

     "Upon my honour!" cried he, "there was never before such a beautiful thing in Nature or Art as you look, 'Cousin' Tess ('Cousin' had a faint ring of mockery). I have been watching you from over the wall—sitting like Im-patience on a monument, and pouting up that pretty red mouth to whistling shape, and whooing and whooing, and privately swearing, and never being able to produce a note. Why, you are quite cross because you can't do it."

See also

• whoo doggie
• whoo doggy
• whoo-hoop

 

Middle English

Pronoun

whoo

1. Alternative form of who (“who”, nominative)