Wiktionary

woo

See also: Woo

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English wowen, woȝen, from Old English wōgian (“to woo, court, marry”), of uncertain origin. Cognate with Scots wow (“to woo”). Perhaps related to Old English wōg, wōh (“bending, crookedness”), in the specific sense of "bend or incline (some)one toward oneself". If so, then derived from Proto-Germanic *wanhō (“a bend, angle”), from Proto-Indo-European *wonk- (“crooked, bent”), from Proto-Indo-European *wā- (“to bend, twist, turn”); related to Old Norse vá (“corner, angle”).

Alternative forms

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Verb

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woo (third-person singular simple present woos, present participle wooing, simple past and past participle wooed)

  1. (transitive) To endeavor to gain someone's support.
  2. (transitive) (often of a man) To try to persuade (someone) to be in an amorous relationship with
    • 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XIX, Chapter viii, leaf 393v:
      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."
    • 1594, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC, [verse 17], lines [97–100]:
      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; […]
    • 1718, Matthew Prior, epistle to Charles Montagu.:
      Each, like the Grecian artist, wooes / The image he himself has wrought.
  3. (transitive) To court solicitously; to invite with importunity.
    • a. 1645, John Milton, “Il Penseroso”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 39:
      Thee Chauntreſs oft the Woods among, / I woo to hear thy eeven Song;
    • a. 1850, William Cullen Bryant, Summer Wind:
      I woo the wind / That still delays his coming.
    • 1962 April, “Death from Natural Causes?”, in Modern Railways, page 218:
      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.
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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Interjection

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woo

  1. (slang) Expressing joy or excitement; woohoo, yahoo.
    "I got you a new cell phone." "Woo, that's great!"
Derived terms
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Etymology 3

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Adjective

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woo (comparative more woo, superlative most woo)

  1. Alternative form of woo woo

Noun

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woo

  1. Alternative form of woo woo
    • 2020 February 13, LinuxGal, “Atheists claim a 'thing' happened.”, in alt.atheism‎[1] (Usenet), message-ID <alpine.DEB.2.21.2002150505580.3311@teresita-Latitude-D630>:
      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.
    • 2022 March 8, Laith Al-Shawaf, “Detecting Bull$%#!”, in Psychology Today‎[2]:
      The cognitive loopholes and biases that make us woo-prone are a human universal.
Derived terms
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See also

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Anagrams

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Afar

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈwoː/ [ˈwoː]
  • Hyphenation: woo

Determiner

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wóo

  1. that, those (masculine)

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Afar demonstrative determiners
masculine feminine
proximal á tá
medial amá tamá
distal wóo tóo
very distal wótti

References

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  • E. M. Parker, R. J. Hayward (1985) “woo”, in An Afar-English-French dictionary (with Grammatical Notes in English), University of London, →ISBN
  • Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎[3], Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)

Fula

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Etymology 1

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Particle

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woo

  1. it is said that, it seems that

Etymology 2

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From a Mande language.

Particle

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woo

  1. each, all
  2. (with negative) none, no, only if
    Sikke woo alaa
    There is no doubt
    Mi hoolike woo si mi yiirii gite am
    I wouldn't believe it unless I saw it with my own eyes
Derived terms
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References

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Middle English

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Etymology 1

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From Old English wā, wǣ, from Proto-Germanic *wai, from Proto-Indo-European *wai.

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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woo (plural woos)

  1. woe, torment, anguish
    Synonyms: angwissh, we
Descendants
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  • English: woe
  • Scots: wa, wae

Etymology 2

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Pronoun

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woo

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

Moma

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Etymology

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Cognate with Wolio baa.

Noun

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woo

  1. head

Plautdietsch

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Adverb

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woo

  1. how
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