Wiktionary

hoot

See also: Hoot

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English houten, huten, hoten, of North Germanic origin, from or related to Old Swedish huta (“to cast out in contempt”), related to Middle High German hiuzen, hūzen (“to call to pursuit”), Swedish hut! (“begone!”, interjection), Dutch hui (“ho, hallo”), Danish huj (“ho, hallo”).

Noun

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hoot (plural hoots)

  1. A derisive cry or shout.
  2. The cry of an owl.
    I heard the hoot of an owl.
  3. (slang) A fun event or person.
    The party at the weekend was such a hoot! Thanks for the invite.
  4. A small particle; a whit or jot.
    Synonym: (dated) hooter
    We don't care a hoot about what you think.
    • 1878, John Hanson Beadle, Western Wilds, and the Men who Redeem Them, Jones Brothers, →OCLC, page 611:
      Well, it was Sunday morning, and the wheat nothing like ripe; but it was a chance, and I got onto my reaper and banged down every hoot of it before Monday night.
Usage notes
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  • (derisive cry) The phrase a hoot and a holler has a very different meaning to hoot and holler. The former is a short distance, the latter is a verb of derisive cry.
  • (small particle) The term is nearly always encountered in a negative sense in such phrases as don't care a hoot or don't give two hoots.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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hoot (third-person singular simple present hoots, present participle hooting, simple past and past participle hooted)

  1. To cry out or shout in contempt.
    • 1711, John Dryden, “Satire IX”, in Dryden’s Juvenal:
      Matrons and girls shall hoot at thee no more,
  2. To make the cry of an owl, a hoo.
    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
      The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders / At our quaint spirits.
    • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
      Outside an owl was hooting most dismally in the darkness. The villa was on a by-road, and there was no human sound to link them up with life.
  3. To assail with contemptuous cries or shouts; to follow with derisive shouts.
    Mary felt extremely offended when the workers hooted at her.
    • 1708, Isaac Bickerstaff [Jonathan Swift], Predictions for the Year 1708‎[1]:
      And I will be content, that Partridge, and the rest of his Clan, may hoot me for a Cheat and Impostor, if I fail in any single Particular of Moment.
  4. To sound the horn of a vehicle.
    When you arrive to pick me up, hoot, and I'll come outside.
Derived terms
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Translations
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See also
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Etymology 2

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A variant of utu (influenced by etymology 1), borrowed from Maori utu (“payment, revenge, payback”).[1][2]

Noun

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hoot (uncountable)

  1. (New Zealand, slang) Money, especially in the form of cash given as payment.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:money

References

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  1. ^ “hoot, n.2”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
  2. ^ “hoot n.1”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present

Anagrams

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Chickasaw

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From hoyo +‎ -t.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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hoot

  1. dependent participle of hoyo (“to look for”)

Derived terms

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Finnish

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Noun

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hoot

  1. nominative plural of hoo

Anagrams

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Middle English

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Adjective

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hoot

  1. hot

Descendants

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  • English: hot

Scots

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Imitative. Compare English tut, Scottish Gaelic och.

Interjection

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hoot

  1. Precedes a disagreeing or contradictory statement.
  2. An expression of annoyance or disapproval.

Usage notes

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Derived terms

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Noun

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hoot (plural hoots)

  1. A term of contempt.

Verb

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hoot (third-person singular simple present hoots, present participle hootin, simple past hootit, past participle hootit)

  1. (transitive or intransitive) To dismiss idly with contempt or derision; to flout; to pooh-pooh.

Derived terms

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References

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